story, “A Little Acorn”; to Mr. Bliss Carman for “A Lyric of Joy”; Mr. Clinton Scollard for “The Little Brown Wren”; Mr. James Whitcomb Riley for the quotation from “Mister Hop-Toad”; Mrs. Agnes McClelland Daulton and Rand, McNally & Co., for two stories, “A Great Family” and “Jolly Little Tars”; Mr. Warren J. Brier for “Mr. Pine and Mr. Maple”; Mrs. Margaret Deland for her poem, “Jonquils”; Miss Helen Keller for “Edith and the Bees”; Mrs. Annie Trumbull Slosson for “A Child’s Easter”; and Mr. Alfred Noyes for his poem “Little Boy Blue”; and to the following publishers who have granted permission to reprint selections in this collection from works bearing their copyright: to G. P. Putnam’s Sons for “The Selfish Giant,” by Oscar Wilde; to Houghton Mifflin Co., for the poem, “Talking in Their Sleep,” by Edith M. Thomas; to the _Atlantic Monthly_ and Silver Burdette Company for “The Maple Seed”; to A. Flanagan and Co., of Chicago, for “The Promised Plant,” from “Child’s Christ-Tales,” by Andrea Hofer Proudfoot, and “Pussy Willow,” from “Little People’s Doings and Misdoings” by Kate Louise Brown; to Doubleday, Page & Co., for “The House Wren,” from “Birds Every Child Should Know,” by Neltje Blanchan, and “Briar Rose” from “The Fairy Ring,” edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith; to Grace Duffield Godwin for “An Eastern Legend,” from Houjon Songs, published by Sherman, French & Co.; to Henry Holt & Co., for the selection, “Buz and Hum,” by Maurice Noël; _The Churchman_ for “In the Garden: An Easter Prelude”; Fleming H. Revell Co., for “When Thou Comest Unto Thy Kingdom”; to _The Sunday School Times_ for the “Story of Blue-Wings” and “The Wind, a Helper”; to _The Youth’s Companion_ and Miss Helen Keller for the selection, “The Spirit of Easter”; to Messrs. Dodd, Mead and Co., and Mr. Paul R. Reynolds, for the selection from “The Children’s Bluebird,” by Maurice Maeterlinck. CONTENTS PAGE SPRING STORIES AND LEGENDS APRIL 2 _Robert Browning_ THE SPRING-MAIDEN AND THE FROST GIANTS (Norse Legend) 3 _Eleanor L. Skinner_ HOW THE BLUEBIRD WAS CHOSEN HERALD 14 _Jay T. Stocking_ THE SPRINGTIME 32 _Eugene Field_ THE SELFISH GIANT 41 _Oscar Wilde_ THE PROMISED PLANT 50 _Andrea Hofer Proudfoot_ BRIER ROSE 54 _Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith_ PICCIOLA (Adapted) 61 _St. Saintine_ ST. FRANCIS, THE LITTLE BEDESMAN OF CHRIST 67 _William Canton_ PROSERPINA AND KING PLUTO (Greek Myth) 71 _Eleanor L. Skinner_ THE WONDER—A PARABLE (From “Parables”) 82 _Friedrich Adolph Krummacher_ NATURE STORIES AND LEGENDS GREEN THINGS GROWING (Poem) 86 _Dinah Mulock Craik_ THE STORY OF A LITTLE GRAIN OF WHEAT 87 _May Byron_ THE LITTLE ACORN 100 _Lucy Wheelock_ THE STORY OF TWO LITTLE SEEDS 104 _George MacDonald_ HOW THE FLOWERS CAME (Selected) 107 _Jay T. Stocking_ THE LEGEND OF TRAILING ARBUTUS (Indian Legend) 115 _Eleanor L. Skinner_ THE FAIRY FLOWER (Adapted from “Norwood”) 120 _Henry Ward Beecher_ THE SNOWDROP 127 _Hans Christian Andersen_ WHAT THE DANDELION TOLD 131 _Clara Maetzel_ VERSE 137 _James Russell Lowell_ A GREAT FAMILY 138 _Agnes McClelland Daulton_ THE BIRTH OF THE VIOLET (Legend) 142 _Ada M. Skinner_ A LYRIC OF JOY (Poem) 148 _Bliss Carman_ AMONG THE TREE-TOPS ROBIN’S CAROL (From “Angler’s Reveille”) 150 _Henry van Dyke_ HOW THE BIRDS CAME (Indian Legend) 151 _Ada M. Skinner_ HOW THE BIRDS LEARNED TO BUILD NESTS 154 _James Baldwin_ OUT OF THE NEST 158 _Maud Lindsay_ THE STORY OF BLUE-WINGS 164 _Mary Stewart_ AN EASTERN LEGEND (Poem) 170 _Grace Duffield Goodwin_ THE HOUSE WREN 171 _Neltje Blanchan_ THE LITTLE BROWN WREN 173 _Clinton Scollard_ THE CHILDREN OF WIND AND THE CLAN OF PEACE...