FOR THE CHILDREN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18949, 21 February 1925, Page 4 (Supplement)

FOR THE CHILDREN.

A NIGHT'S ADVENTURE.

]IY "HAJSIODAVA."

"■\Vynken and Blynken are two little eyes. And Nod in a little head. , , , . And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies U the wee one's trundle-bed. . Bo shut your eyes.while mother Pin,is Of wonderful aiphts that be: . \nd you shall see the beautiful things as you rock in the misty sea. Where the old ehoc rocked the fishermen three— ' . ■\Vynken. Blynken and ?\od. For aliout half an hour. Daisy's mother had l»ceti singing that quaint old lullaby that- sho had loved ever sin.-e she had first heard it- when she was very "tiny. She was eight now, so, of course, she was really too old to he sung to sleep, but her mother gave Daisy this special treat because she. Daisy, had been suffering from toothache all afternoon. As Daisy said, coaxingly: , "It's onlv Jfor once. Mummy, cos J know I'll be able to sleep better after. At last Daisy began to feel drowsy, and her tooth had stopped that horrid "thump thump" sort, of ache, and now sho tc.lt much better. When her mother had tucked her up and turned out the light, she lay looking dreamily through the window where she could see the old moon hanging up in the sky, lor all the world like a great globe of electric light As Daisy thought over the lullaby that her mother had been singing, she tried to imagine the three fishermen. Wvnken, Blynken, unci Noel, sailing thrmigh the skies in their wooden shoe-boat, and fishing. among the stars with I heir nets o! silver and gold, "in most tilings, Daisy was a verv matter-of-fact little girl, but she had firm faith in the legends about the old gods and goddesses who used t< inhabit the earth, and she felt sure that some night she would be able to just step off this planet and find some way to the moon or one of the other large planets in the sky. There, she knew, would be many strange things undreamed of on our earth. And, now, as she lay in bed, she thought how lovely it would be if only these three little fishermen would come' down to her in their little boat and take her up with them. Even as she gazed up at. the moon, she saw a dark speck appear on its surface, and as the speck grew larger it was quite plain that, it, was travelling towards earth. At length Daisy could plainly see three lit He figures sit ting in what looked like a large wooden shoe. "Oh!" cried Daisy, sitting up in bed, (her toothache quite forgotten) "l_do believe it is the little boat with Wvnken, Blynken and Nod—and they are coming straight down to me!"

Yes, sure enough the little trait- made straight for Daisy's window where it aliglitcd with just the tiniest thud. Daisy jumped out of bed and ran to the window, which was wide open, and she addressed the biggest of tlie three fishermen, whose name was Nod. At this point, 1 must tell you what these three looked like. Nod. the "head" was very fat and round, and was dressed in a brown, furry suit. Of course, he was very tiny, only about, as big as Daisy's hand, and the other two. Wyukeo and Hlvnken. were smaller still. They were twins, boy and girl, and both wore long nightgowns. When Daisy spoke to Nod. she was so ox-cited that she ran all her words together in one breath, and Nod could hardly understand her. "Daisy dear." he said, "I wish you would not try to talk so fast, but anyway ] know what yon want to say. \ on archoping that Wynken. IJlynkcu and I are here to take you up with us. aren't you Yes, please,, Mr. Nod," Daisy answered eagerly. "I do so want to go with yon," "Well, if you jump in we'll be off." said Nod. "Hut hurry." Daisv climbed out into the boat, where she found that she had become the same size as the twins, and she didn't even wonder whv or how it bad happened. Next minute they were away up, and were soon on the moon, where Daisy gazed around. She was so mirth surprised at. the surroundings that she. exclaimed: "Oh dear! what a horrid place the moon must be to live in. 1 can't see any grass, or trees, or flowers, or even birds or Nod could not help laughing at her disappointment. "Daisy." he said, "don't you know that there has been no life on the moon for longer than anyone can remember'.' And that the moon is really a dead planet The only living persons oil it are the Man-in-the-moon (whom we are going to visit b and Diana, the goddess of the moon. I suppose you remember the storv of the Maii-in-the moon ; how he was always wanting to gather his firewood on Sundays. He wouldn't stop, ev.-n when up here from Earth, and now he always has -to pick up sticks." "Yes. I remember that legend quite well, now." said Daisy. "Br.t nire..y, is that I lie Man-in-the-moon we can see over there on that, hillside The other three looked where she war. pointing. "Yes, yoirTt* right," answered Blynken. "That's the old Man-in-the-moon." In another minute they were beside the old man, who was picking up sticks as fast as he could and putting them in his 1 basket. Daisy noticed that no matter how much he picked up. there were still more sti -ks on the ground. After the old man had wished them "good day," and Nod bad told him who Daisy -was, he i paused for a moment from his toil, and I gave the little girl a kindly smile. "So you have come to the moor) to see | me working out my punishment," he said I to Daisy. "Of course, you know why I i am here, don't you? and that 1 must stay I here till the end of time." Daisy felt awfully sorry for the old man, (you know he was very old. According to legends he must have been there

for thousands of years), and she wondered if be could not be released from that very hard punishment. "I'lense. Mr. Man-in-the-moon, is there nothing that we could do to release you ? she asked. "It, seems so hard that you must stay here always." The old man shook"his head rather sorrowfully. "No, Daisy, it's no use. I sinned, and had to be punished, just, as all those who sin must be punished. So there is no l hope for me now." Daisy turned away, feeling very sad. H seemed awful to her young mind that people must be punished so severely ; and she was not sorry when Blvnken broke "Time's getting on, you three, and we must hurry. So good-night, Mr. Man-in-the-moon, you'll be seeing us again, perhaps tomorrow riight." "Good-night," the other three said, and in a few minutes they were on their way back to their little craft, turning now arid then to wave to the old man. until he was hidden from their sight. Soon they were m the boat and away up into the sky among the stars, which were, all winking at each other as hard as they could. Daisy thought, that this was what made the stars appear to (winkle when she was on Earth, as indeed, if was. Just then Wvnken gave an excited little cry. "Quick, look. Daisy! There's Diana, the goddess of the Moon, just going back from her hunting." Daisy looked up and saw a splendid j chariot drawn by two coal-black horses, speeding very smoothly and silently through the air, and m it was seated a : in,.st beautiful woman, with a bow in her hand ahd a quiver full of arrows at, her side. By the side of the chariot ran three great, dogs, the like ot which Daisy had never seen on earth. "Oh! aren't they beautiful"'" she exclaimed. excitedly, "but (here! they are almost out, of sight now,' and she turned round in the boat to catch a last glimpse of Diana. "She does drive quickly," said Nod, "and sometimes goes so fast that people on earth see her chariot flush through the sky and they think it is a falling star or a ,'omet: they don't know that it is Diana's chariot." "Weil. 1 always thought is was ;i full ing star." said Daisy, "but I'll < know better after this; but, please Mr. Nod. art you going to do any fishing to-night ; "Yes, of course," said Nod. and wit I that be hauled out the "nets of silver and scold" and with the help of Wynken and Blynken. lie let them down over the side of the boat, down among the stars. It was not long before some fish got caught in the nets, but as they were stars, of course, slipper! through the net. Although amused at this, Daisy soon tired ot watching and she begged Nod to take, her to the planet Jupiter; she wanted to see is she went, the "Big Bear and Little Bear" stars, which were really a woman

and her son. whom Jupiter. the greatest god of all,* bird tmired into stars, because hi.s wife, .Juno, bad turned the woman into a bear out of jealousy. Jupiter must lie a kind Rod. she thought, and she wanted to see his planet. So oft they went and were soon walking about on the great planet, where, to Daisy's great surprise, everything that grew or lived on it, was a dull, milkv-white colour. She had just left the side of Wynken and was exploring a hit of interesting-looking bush when she nearly fainted us an enormous and awful-looking monster appeared out of the. bush. She started to run away, but, her foot caught in a root and down she fell, the monster, which she had, in (hat brief moment', recognised as the Dinosaur, a. prehistoric monster of earth, close behind her. And now wiji one wild scream of terror, she cried, "Nod, save me," and tried to beat off the monster with her hands. She shut her eyes and screamed again 1 but. the monster had Iter down. When she. screamed and opened her eyes, as she thought for the last time —she saw, not the hideous bead of the monster, but the anxious face of her mother! and at the same time she saw that, she was lying in her own little bed in her own lied room, with half her bed I clothes on the floor. "Whatever is the matter, darling asked her mother. "I've had to hold you down in bed, you've been screaming the place down, nearly." Daisy shuddered and clung to Tier mot her. "Oh, Mummy, darling," she sobbed. "I tbought if was the motislcr had hold of me, but it must have been a dream. Oh, and Wynken and Blynken and Nod. too. they must be a dream. lam disappointed about them, 'l'hey were so nice," and she told her mother all about it. "Never mind." said mother, "It was only a dream, but most, of it was a verv nice dream. Now girlie, you must, try to sleep." and she cuddled Daisy till tin worn out, little girl fell fast asleep, to dream no more that night.