Short Stories
really a very big basket, and he knew that if he filled it he would
have no flowers left for the market and he was very anxious to
get his silver buttons back.
“‘Well, really,’ answered the Miller, ‘as I have given you my
wheelbarrow, I don’t think that it is much to ask you for a few
flowers. I may be wrong, but I should have thought that friend-
ship, true friendship, was quite free from selfishness of any
kind.’
“‘My dear friend, my best friend,’ cried little Hans, ‘you are
welcome to all the flowers in my garden. I would much sooner
have your good opinion than my silver buttons, any day’; and he
ran and plucked all his pretty primroses, and filled the Miller’s
basket.
“‘Good-bye, little Hans,’ said the Miller, as he went up the
hill with the plank on his shoulder, and the big basket in his
hand.
“‘Good-bye,’ said little Hans, and he began to dig away quite
merrily, he was so pleased about the wheelbarrow.
“The next day he was nailing up some honeysuckle against
the porch, when he heard the Miller’s voice calling to him from
the road. So he jumped off the ladder, and ran down the garden,
and looked over the wall.
“There was the Miller with a large sack of flour on his back.
“‘Dear little Hans,’ said the Miller, ‘would you mind carrying
this sack of flour for me to market?’
“‘Oh, I am so sorry,’ said Hans, ‘but I am really very busy to-
day. I have got all my creepers to nail up, and all my flowers to
water, and all my grass to roll.’
115