Page 609 - Child's own book

berries in the winter tim e; but no one has yet discovered the
right place.
Perhaps they all want the strawberries for themselves.

PETEU THE GOATHERD.
— ♦—

N ear the Kyflfhauser mountains there once lived a goatherd
named Peter Klaus, who used to pasture his flock on those hills,
close by.
Even in his early manhood Peter was of a vagrant disposi­
tion, loving idleness much better than work, and never happier
than when roaming about with his dog, and half a dozen young
urchins at his heels*
Peter got married, and knew little of happiness ever after.
His wife put up with his wandering, dissolute habits for a
tim e; but her temper was at last so soured, that she would
scold for hours together, till neither poor Peter nor his dog
dare show himself inside the door-step. On these occasions they
would both lie outside, basking in the sunshine, a whole morn­
ing long. But even here the}' were not always safe from the
eternal lecturing ; for if the good dame found them within
reach of her tongue, so sure were they to receive a full
measure of abuse.
At last, human nature could hear such a life no longer.
Peter kissed his children, took his gun and his wallet, and with
his faithful dog, set out for a ramble through the wide world,
neither knowing nor caring where. But Peter remembered his
flock on the KyffhauseT; and out of love for the poor dumb
creatures, the goatherd once more bent his sad steps up the