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But," said he, "you were the only one in the world good enough to be touched by my kind heart and unhappy state, so this palace and all that belongs to me is but a poor return for your goodness."

So saying he led Beauty to the great hall of the palace, which was now thronged; for at the same instant that the Beast was changed, the whole palace became full of courtiers, all of whom had been made invisible when the prince was enchanted. What was Beauty's joy to find there her father and sisters, transported by the kind fairy who had appeared to her in her sleep. "Beauty," said she, "here is the reward of your wise choice. You have chosen goodness, and you shall have beauty and wisdom as well." Then, turning to the frowning sisters, she punished them by turning them into two statues to stand by the door of their sister's palace until their hard hearts should be softened. The prince married Beauty, and they lived happily together for many, many years.

FIVE OUT OF ONE SHELL

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

NOTE TO THE PUPIL. This and the following selections are by Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish writer, who was born in 1805 and died in 1879. He wrote tragedies and poems, but is most widely known as a writer of stories for children.

These tales have been translated into many languages. There are many editions in cheap form. You should own his fairy tales if possible. They are original, sweet, and pure. The selections given will give you a good idea of the style in which they are written.

THEF

HERE were five peas in one shell. They were green, and the pod was green, and so they thought all the world was green, and that was just as it should be. The shell grew and the peas grew.

The sun shone without and warmed the husk, and the rain made it clear and bright. It was mild in the bright day and in the dark night, just as it should be, and the peas as they sat there became bigger and bigger, and more and more thoughtful, for something they must do.

"Are we to sit here forever?" asked one. "I'm afraid we shall become hard by long sitting. sitting. It seems to me there must be something outside." And weeks went by. The peas became yellow, and the pod also.

"All the world's turning yellow," said they, and they had a right to say it. Just then they felt a tug at the shell. The shell was torn off, passed through little hands, and fell down into the pocket of a jacket, along with other full pods.

"Now we shall soon be opened!" they said; and that was just what they were waiting for. "I

should like to know who of us will get farthest!" said the smallest of the five. "Yes, now it will soon show itself." "What is to be will be," said the

biggest.

"Crack!" the pod burst, and all the five peas rolled out into the bright sunshine. There they lay in a child's hand. A little boy was clutching them, and said they were fine peas for his peashooter, and he put one in and shot it out.

"Now I'm flying out into the wide world; catch me if you can!" !" And he was gone. "I," said the second, "I shall fly straight into the sun. That's a shell worth looking at, and one that just suits me." And away he went.

"We'll go to sleep wherever we are sent," said the next two, "but we shall roll on all the same." And they did roll and fell down on the ground before they got into the peashooter, but they were put in for all that. "We shall go farthest," said they.

"What is to be will be," said the last, as he was shot out of the peashooter, and he flew up against the old board under the garret window, just into a crack which was filled with moss and soft mold, and the moss closed round him; there he lay, held fast, but not forgotten.

In the little garret lived a poor woman, who went out in the day to clean stoves, chop wood, and to do

other hard work of the saine kind, for she was strong and liked to work. But she was always poor; and at home in the garret lay her only child, who was very ill and weak; and it seemed as if she could not get well.

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"She is going to her little sister," the woman said. "I had only the two children, but it was not an easy thing to care for both, so the good God took one to himself to care for; now I should be glad to keep the other that was left me; but I suppose they are not to remain apart.

But the sick girl did not go. She lay quiet all day long, while her mother went to earn money out of doors.

It was spring; and early in the morning, just as the mother was about to go out to work, the sun shone through the little window, and threw its rays across the floor, and the sick girl fixed her eyes on "What may that

the lowest pane in the window. green thing be that looks in at the window? It is moving in the wind."

And the sick girl's bed was moved nearer the window, so that she could always see the growing pea; and the mother went forth to her work.

"Mother, I think I shall get well," said the sick child in the evening. "The sun shone in upon me to-day so warm and bright. I shall get well

soon, and get up and go out into the warm sunshine."

"God grant it!" said the mother, but she did not think it would be so; but she took care of the little green plant which had given her child the pleasant thoughts of life, so that it might not be broken by the wind.

She tied a piece of string to the window sill and to the upper part of the frame, so that the pea might have something around which it could twine when it shot up; and it did shoot up; one could see how it grew every day.

"Why, here is a flower coming," said the woman one day; and now she began to hope that her sick child would get well. In the last few days she had sat up in bed of her own will, and had sat upright, looking with her eyes full of delight at the little garden in which only one plant grew.

A week after, for the first time, she sat up for a whole hour. Quite happy, she sat there in the warm sunshine; the window was open, and outside, before it, stood a pink pea blossom, fully blown. The sick girl bent down and gently kissed the pretty leaves.

"The Heavenly Father himself has planted that pea, and made it grow, to be a joy to you, and to me also, dear child," said the glad mother; and she smiled at the flower as if it had been a good angel.