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Three Men Of Gotham
There is a town in England called Go-tham, and many merry s...

Alexander And Bucephalus
One day King Philip bought a fine horse called Bu-ceph'a-lu...

King Canute On The Seashore
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Julius Caesar
Nearly two thousand years ago there lived in Rome a man who...

Sir Humphrey Gilbert
More than three hundred years ago there lived in England a ...

King Alfred And The Cakes
Many years ago there lived in Eng-land a wise and good ...

The Brave Three Hundred
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Sir Philip Sidney
A cruel battle was being fought. The ground was covered wit...

The Barmecide Feast
There was once a rich old man who was called the Bar-me-cid...

The Kingdoms
There was once a king of Prussia whose name was Frederick W...

Maximilian And The Goose Boy
One summer day King Max-i-mil'ian of Ba-va'ri-a was walking...

Antonio Canova
A good many years ago there lived in Italy a little boy who...

The King And His Hawk
Gen'ghis Khan was a great king and war-rior. He led his ...

A Laconic Answer
Many miles beyond Rome there was a famous country which we ...

The Blind Men And The Elephant
There were once six blind men who stood by the road-side ev...

The Inchcape Rock
In the North Sea there is a great rock called the Inch-cape...

The Story Of Regulus
On the other side of the sea from Rome there was once a gre...

Androclus And The Lion
In Rome there was once a poor slave whose name was An'dro-c...

The Ungrateful Soldier
Here is another story of the bat-tle-field, and it is much ...

George Washington And His Hatchet
When George Wash-ing-ton was quite a little boy, his father...



THE MILLER OF THE DEE








Once upon a time there lived on the banks of the River Dee a miller,
who was the hap-pi-est man in England. He was always busy from morning
till night, and he was always singing as merrily as any lark. He was
so cheerful that he made everybody else cheerful; and people all over
the land liked to talk about his pleasant ways. At last the king heard
about him.

"I will go down and talk with this won-der-ful miller," he said.
"Perhaps he can tell me how to be happy."

As soon as he stepped inside of the mill, he heard the miller
singing:--

"I envy no-body--no, not I!--
For I am as happy as I can be;
And nobody envies me."

"You're wrong, my friend," said the king. "You're wrong as wrong can
be. I envy you; and I would gladly change places with you, if I could
only be as light-hearted as you are."

The miller smiled, and bowed to the king.

"I am sure I could not think of changing places with you, sir," he
said.

"Now tell me," said the king, "what makes you so cheerful and glad
here in your dusty mill, while I, who am king, am sad and in trouble
every day."

The miller smiled again, and said, "I do not know why you are sad, but
I can eas-i-ly tell why I am glad. I earn my own bread; I love my wife
and my children; I love my friends, and they love me; and I owe not a
penny to any man. Why should I not be happy? For here is the River
Dee, and every day it turns my mill; and the mill grinds the corn that
feeds my wife, my babes, and me."


"Say no more," said the king. "Stay where you are, and be happy still.
But I envy you. Your dusty cap is worth more than my golden crown.
Your mill does more for you than my kingdom can do for me. If there
were more such men as you, what a good place this world would be!
Good-by, my friend!"

The king turned about, and walked sadly away; and the miller went back
to his work singing:--

"Oh, I'm as happy as happy can be,
For I live by the side of the River Dee!"





Next: SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
Previous: OTHER WISE MEN OF GOTHAM


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