THE LITTLE GRAY GRANDMOTHER. 49
to run so fast when sent on an errand that even his dog , Oyster , could not keep up with him ? And as for Lelia , everybody knew that it was just after the Little Gray Grandmother had paid them a visit Lelia had found herself holding that bottle of Attic salt from far-away Greece , two grains of which placed on the end of her tongue , caused good humor and wit to flow with every word she said until she was equal to a bit of sunshine on a dark day . All of them were as certain as certain could be that she had presented Doodle when he was a very little child with those soft , warm mittens which somehow grew as he grew and so always just fitted his hands . What wonderful mittens they were , too ! All Doodle had to do on the coldest day was to reach out his hand in his hearty , cheery way , to any one , and no matter how cold that person might be , even if his teeth were chattering with the cold , he was sure to feel a warm glow all over his body . This was how Doodle got into the way of taking care of all the lame dogs and sick cats that came along ; and why all the old people liked him . They said he made them feel And Tom and Wilhelm and the rest of them , had not the Little Gray Grandmother left a gift for each of them ?
young again.
Ah, but they were a happy family ! What if they did have to eat herring and dry bread all the year round , with potatoes now and then thrown in , and had to live in a hut , didn't they have a Little Gray Grandmother , when 30 many city children , who thought themselves fine because they lived in big houses , had never even heard of her !
Now , you can understand why all the children were gathered together eagerly looking at something which lay on the sand before them . The Little Gray Grandmother had been there and had left something . What was it ? They could not tell . It glittered like the surface of a pool of water when it is quite still and the sun shines down upon it , and they could see their faces reflected on it just as they had often seen them in the well back of the house , only this mirrored their faces much more clearly than the well did . What was it? For whom had the Little Gray Grandmother intended it ? These were the questions they could not answer . So they decided to take it in to the dear - mother and have her explain it to them .
Ah , the dear - mother , she must know , she knew almost everything and what she didn't know she always tried to find out for them.
THE LITTLE GRAY GRANDMOTHER. 51
That was the finest thing about the dearmother . Of course she cooked their food for them , and made their clothes , and nursed any of them when they were ill , and all such things , but the great thing about her was that she never seemed too busy to look at what they brought her and was always ready to answer their questions . Therefore they with one accord decided to take this new gift into the house and ask the dear- mother about it .
Of course she admired it ; she always admired everything they brought her , if it was only a star- fish or a new kind of sea - weed . She said it was made of some sort of precious metal , and that it seemed to be a mirror such as they used in olden times before lookingglasses had been invented . " Perhaps ," she added , " it has been washed up from the sea . " But the children cried , " Oh , no , the Little Gray Grandmother left it . " They were very , very sure of that . But for whom had it been left ? Even the dear-mother could not settle this question .
At last it was decided that it should be hung on the cottage wall that all might use it ; so there it hung for many a year , and ah , such strange things as the children saw reflected in it ! It was not at all like an ordinary mirror ,