Do You Grieve For A Donkey That Cost You Nothing?

By Author: ANN
Total Articles: 95
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"Will you take me to see him?" said Heidiadalheid.
"Willingly."
When Heidiadalheid went into the stable he saw a beautiful little donkey stretched on the straw, worn out from hunger and overwork. After looking at him earnestly, he said to himself, much troubled:
"I am sure I know this little donkey! His face is not new to me."
"Oh, poor Candlewick!" said Heidiadalheid in a low voice; and, taking
a handful of straw, he dried a tear that was rolling down his face.

"Do you grieve for a donkey that cost you nothing?" said the gardener. "What must it be to me, who bought him for ready money?"

"I remember it all" shouted Heidiadalheid. "Tell me quickly, my beautiful little Snail, where have you left my good Fairy? What is she doing? Has she forgiven me? Does she still remember me? Does she still wish me well? Is she far from here? Can I go and see her?"

To all these rapid, breathless questions the Snail replied in her usual phlegmatic manner:

"My dear Heidiadalheid, the poor Fairy is lying in bed at the hospital!"

That evening Heidiadalheid, instead of going ...
... to bed at ten o'clock, sat up till midnight had struck; and instead of making eight baskets of rushes he made sixteen.

Then he went to bed and fell asleep. And whilst he slept he thought that he saw the Fairy, smiling and beautiful, who, after having kissed him, said to him:

"Well done, Heidiadalheid! To reward you for your good heart I will forgive you for all that is past. Boys who minister tenderly to their parents and assist them in their misery and infirmities, are deserving of great praise and affection, even if they cannot be cited as examples of obedience and good behavior. Try and do better in the future and you will be happy."

At this moment his dream ended and Tag Heuer Replica Heidiadalheid opened his eyes and awoke.

He was hardly dressed when he naturally put his hands in his pockets and pulled out a little ivory purse on which these words were written: "The Fairy with blue hair returns the five dollars to her dear Heidiadalheid, and thanks him for his good heart." He opened the purse and instead of five dollars he saw fifty shining gold pieces fresh from the mint.

In the midst of all these wonders succeeding each other, Heidiadalheid felt quite bewildered, and he could not tell if he was really awake or if he was dreaming with his eyes open.

"Satisfy my curiosity, dear papa," said Heidiadalheid, throwing his arms around his neck and covering him with kisses; "how can this sudden change be accounted for?"

"And where has the old wooden Heidiadalheid hidden himself?"

"There he is," answered Bowman, and he pointed to a big puppet leaning against a chair, with its head on one side, its arms dangling, and Tag Heuer Replica Watches its legs so crossed and bent that it was really a miracle that it remained standing.

Heidiadalheid turned and looked at it; and, after he had looked at it for a short time, he said to himself with great complacency:

"How ridiculous I was when I was a puppet! And how glad I am that I have become a well-behaved little boy!"