King Dolor was never again seen nor heard of in his own country. But the good he had done there lasted for years and years; he was long missed and deeply mourned, at least so far as anybody could mourn one who was gone on such a happy 5 journey. Whither he went, or who went with him, it is impossible to say. But I myself believe that his godmother, who had taken first the form of an old woman, then of a lark, and then of a magpie, - that this same 10 godmother took him on his traveling cloak to a beautiful mountain home. QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. As you read Part VI, you will see that Prince Dolor had now come to the time when he was left alone, and had to fight out, without help, his own battle between being useful or useless to others. Read Part VI carefully till you understand this. 2. What thought came to Prince Dolor after he had been alone for five days? What 4. fine and and unselfish determination did he arrive at? Find the answer to this and read it aloud. 3. Now we begin to see who 66 or what Prince Dolor's our is. Both are necessary. Now you see, as you go on with Prince Dolor's story, that he was made King of Nomansland by just accepting things as they are, his lameness, his lone liness, or anything else, 5. Nomansland is that strange as they are, can be king. You can get the "wonderful spectacles" and the "silver ears." You see that the story of poor little Prince Dolor is only your own story, after all. You are often miserable and unhappy. You are shut up in "Hopeless Tower" in a desert. The Tower is right in the Beautiful Mountains yet you do not see them until you want to. Then the dear little old woman in gray comes and gives you a "traveling cloak," and you find after all that all the world is really the Beautiful Mountains when you put on your wonderful spectacles and your silver ears. Tell the story of King Dolor and how he made his people love him. What became of him at last, and why did his people want him to stay? Why did they not shout about him, as they shouted Now try to find out how you are Prince or Princess at home love you as Prince Dolor's people loved him. If not, why don't they? Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, better known as Miss Mulock, was born at Stoke-upon-Trent, England, in 1826. She wrote several famous novels, and a few excellent poems. Children will always remember her as the author of "The Little Lame Prince." died at Shortlands, Kent, England, in 1887. She LOOK FOR SUNSHINE If the day be dark and dreary, If you're feeling sad and weary, You will always find a path of blue Friends are falling every day Help them up along the way, Show them sunshine. If you help the world in seeing, In the sunshine. LOUISE PYE THE WATER LILY JAMES JEFFREY ROCHE This is a poem intended to tell us how beautiful and splendid things may come from a very humble origin. The lily root had its lowly birth in "the slimy bed of a sluggish mere," which means a standing pool of water. The stem of the lily was a very coarse and ugly thing, and the "gelid fish" (cold, icy fish), the turtle, and the water snake saw nothing beautiful in the lily stem. But after a time, out of the slime of its birth, it grew up and up, and at last burst into a glorious water lily, one of the most beautiful of flowers. And the butterfly, the bee, the sun, the sky, and the air thought not of its slimy bed, its lowly birth and its coarse, dull stem; but of Now, of course, the poet intends the lily to mean a human being. A boy, let us say, like Abraham Lincoln, is born in the most lowly circumstances, and is surrounded by those who can see no worth in him. But he grows up out of the lowliness of his origin into a man of surpassing beauty of character and life and deeds. You must now find out what "the slimy bed of a sluggish mere," the fish, the turtle, and the water snake meant in his life before he blossomed into the wonderful man he was. Also what the butterfly, the bee, the sun, the sky, and the air were in such a life as his. Write out all these things in one column, and put opposite each what you think it meant in Lincoln's life. Read aloud the last stanza to show how the story of the water lily applies to human beings. Study carefully the meanings of these words before studying In the slimy bed of a sluggish mere And the slender stem that upward grew Was coarse of fiber and dull of hue, The gelid fish that floated near The clumsy turtle paddling by, But the butterfly and the honey bee, The sun and sky and air, They marked its heart of virgin gold And its odor rich and rare. 5 10 15 |