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In a far-away country there were once some hills that were full of elves. They often played queer tricks upon the people they did not like,but sometimes they were kind.
This is the story of how an elf once helped a little shepherd boy named Hans, who tended the King’s sheep. Hans lived with his mother in a wee house, with a tiny garden about it. All they owned in the world was the white goat that gave them milk to drink. Every day Hans drove the King’s flocks to the valley, and watched them,and tended the lambs. When night came he drove them back to the sheepfold again.
Then, do you think that he played? No,indeed. All day his good mother had been busy spinning and cooking and sweeping; so Hans,when his day’s work was done, cut the wood and milked the white goat and weeded the garden. They were busy and happy — Hans and his mother — but they were also very poor.
One day, when it was winter, the good mother grew so ill that she could not lift her head from the pillow. An old, old woman, who came to take care of her, said to Hans, “There is only one thing that will cure your mother; it is the little brown herb that grows at the top of the mountain. But I am afraid that you cannot get it, because the mountain is covered with ice and snow.”
“Oh, I don’t mind the snow,” cried Hans. “I will gladly go and find the little brown herb if you will take good care of my mother while I look for it. I don’t know how long I shall be gone.”
So Hans kissed his good mother, strapped on his snow-shoes, took a strong stick, and started out to find the brown herb. Oh, but it was cold!The wind whistled through the tree-tops, and the sleet blew in Hans’s face. The drifts of snow were so deep in some places that they nearly covered him; but on he tramped, pushing and poking about with his stick.
“I must find the brown herb!” Hans said over and over to himself.
Up the mountain he climbed to the very top,until he could see the river down below him.The crust on the snow was thick and hard, and his fingers ached. But he pounded with his stick, and stamped with his feet until he had broken through the crust to see if he could find the brown herb.