2 O, fear not the bugle, though loudly it blows, 3 O, hush thee, my babie, the time soon will come, SEAL LULLABY RUDYARD KIPLING Rudyard Kipling (1865 ) is an English writer. He was born at Bombay, India. He received his education in England, returned to India as a newspaper editor, and later lived several years in the United States. He has written many stories and poems for children. 1 OH! HUSH thee, my baby, the night is behind us, 2 Where billow meets billow, there soft be thy pillow; The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee, PART II STORIES OF ADVENTURE "There's the parrot! Green body and yellow tail; there he is! Poor Robin Crusoe, he called him, when he came home again after sailing round the island. "Poor Robin Crusoe, where have you been, Robin Crusoe?” There goes Friday, running for his life to the little creek!" "Hush! Again a forest and somebody up in a tree-not Robin Hood, but an Eastern King with a glittering scimitar and turban. It is the setting-in of the bright Arabian Nights. "Oh, now all common things become uncommon and enchanted to me. All lamps are wonderful; all rings are talismans. Trees are for Ali Baba to hide in; beefsteaks are to throw down into the Valley of Diamonds that the precious stones may stick to them and be carried by the eagles to their nests, whence the traders, with loud cries, will scare them." "In sooth it was a goodly time, CHARLES DICKENS. ALFRED LORD TENNYSON. PART II STORIES OF ADVENTURE THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, ROBIN HOOD, GULLIVER'S INTRODUCTION In days of old, before there were books and newspapers, there were certain men who delighted in telling wonderful tales of heroes and their adventures. These heroes always outwitted all other men of their time by their cleverness, and excelled in deeds of courage and might. The story-teller told the tales that he himself had heard from the lips of older story-tellers. As he told these tales, the close attention of his hearers and his desire to give even greater pleasure, spurred him on and led him to add. here and there a new adventure. In this way a story which may have had but a small beginning, grew in wonder with each generation. Later, perhaps, some one of greater ability wove the shorter legends that had floated down the ages into one long tale. For hundreds of years the stories which we know as the "Arabian Nights" were told in the tents of the desert or among the dwellers along the Tigris and the Nile or in the gay bazaars of the cities of the East. They were first collected and written down about the time America was discovered. The one who did this-we do not know his name nor where he lived-tells us that there was once a cruel king of India, who determined to rid his land of all women. He had married his vizier's beautiful daughter, who determined with the help of her sister to tell the 140 |