Atondido Stories
humor. He had teased each one of his sisters to give him her bit
of cheese, and this, added to his own slice, made his stomach
feel as heavy as lead.
Klaas's bed was up in the garret. When the house was first
built, one of the red tiles of the roof had been taken out and an-
other one, made of glass, was put in its place. In the morning,
this gave the boy light to put on his clothes. At night, in fair
weather, it supplied air to his room.
A gentle breeze was blowing from the pine woods on the
sandy slope, not far away. So Klaas climbed up on the stool to
sniff the sweet piny odors. He thought he saw lights dancing un-
der the tree. One beam seemed to approach his roof hole, and
coming nearer played round the chimney. Then it passed to and
fro in front of him. It seemed to whisper in his ear, as it moved
by. It looked very much as if a hundred fire-flies had united their
cold light into one lamp. Then Klaas thought that the strange
beams bore the shape of a lovely girl, but he only laughed at
himself at the idea. Pretty soon, however, he thought the whis-
per became a voice. Again, he laughed so heartily, that he forgot
his moping and the scolding his mother had given him. In fact,
his eyes twinkled with delight, when the voice gave this invita-
tion:
"There's plenty of cheese. Come with us."
To make sure of it, the sleepy boy now rubbed his eyes and
cocked his ears. Again, the light-bearer spoke to him: "Come."
Could it be? He had heard old people tell of the ladies of the
wood, that whispered and warned travellers. In fact, he himself
had often seen the "fairies' ring" in the pine woods. To this, the
flame-lady was inviting him.
Again and again the moving, cold light circled round the red
tile roof, which the moon, then rising and peeping over the
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