THE DARNING-NEEDLE故事

　　 THERE was once a darning-needle who thought herself so

　　 fine that she fancied she must be fit for embroidery. "Hold me

　　 tight," she would say to the fingers, when they took her up,

　　 "don't let me fall; if you do I shall never be found again, I

　　 am so very fine."

　　 "That is your opinion, is it?" said the fingers, as they

　　 seized her round the body.

　　 "See, I am coming with a train," said the darning-needle,

　　 drawing a long thread after her; but there was no knot in the

　　 thread.

　　 The fingers then placed the point of the needle against

　　 the cook's slipper. There was a crack in the upper leather,

　　 which had to be sewn together.

　　 "What coarse work!" said the darning-needle, "I shall

　　 never get through. I shall break!- I am breaking!" and sure

　　 enough she broke. "Did I not say so?" said the darning-needle,

　　 "I know I am too fine for such work as that."

　　 "This needle is quite useless for sewing now," said the

　　 fingers; but they still held it fast, and the cook dropped

　　 some sealing-wax on the needle, and fastened her handkerchief

　　 with it in front.

　　 "So now I am a breast-pin," said the darning-needle; "I

　　 knew very well I should come to honor some day: merit is sure

　　 to rise;" and she laughed, quietly to herself, for of course

　　 no one ever saw a darning-needle laugh. And there she sat as

　　 proudly as if she were in a state coach, and looked all around

　　 her. "May I be allowed to ask if you are made of gold?" she

　　 inquired of her neighbor, a pin; "you have a very pretty

　　 appearance, and a curious head, although you are rather small.

　　 You must take pains to grow, for it is not every one who has

　　 sealing-wax dropped upon him;" and as she spoke, the

　　 darning-needle drew herself up so proudly that she fell out of

　　 the handkerchief right into the sink, which the cook was

　　 cleaning. "Now I am going on a journey," said the needle, as

　　 she floated away with the dirty water, "I do hope I shall not

　　 be lost." But she really was lost in a gutter. "I am too fine

　　 for this world," said the darning-needle, as she lay in the

　　 gutter; "but I know who I am, and that is always some

　　 comfort." So the darning-needle kept up her proud behavior,

　　 and did not lose her good humor. Then there floated over her

　　 all sorts of things,- chips and straws, and pieces of old

　　 newspaper. "See how they sail," said the darning-needle; "they

　　 do not know what is under them. I am here, and here I shall

　　 stick. See, there goes a chip, thinking of nothing in the

　　 world but himself- only a chip. There's a straw going by now;

　　 how he turns and twists about! Don't be thinking too much of

　　 yourself, or you may chance to run against a stone. There

　　 swims a piece of newspaper; what is written upon it has been

　　 forgotten long ago, and yet it gives itself airs. I sit here

　　 patiently and quietly. I know who I am, so I shall not move."

　　 One day something lying close to the darning-needle

　　 glittered so splendidly that she thought it was a diamond; yet

　　 it was only a piece of broken bottle. The darning-needle spoke

　　 to it, because it sparkled, and represented herself as a

　　 breast-pin. "I suppose you are really a diamond?" she said.

　　 "Why yes, something of the kind," he replied; and so each

　　 believed the other to be very valuable, and then they began to

　　 talk about the world, and the conceited people in it.

　　 "I have been in a lady's work-box," said the

　　 darning-needle, "and this lady was the cook. She had on each

　　 hand five fingers, and anything so conceited as these five

　　 fingers I have never seen; and yet they were only employed to

　　 take me out of the box and to put me back again."

　　 "Were they not high-born?"

　　 "High-born!" said

　　the darning-needle, "no indeed, but so

　　 haughty. They were five brothers, all born fingers; they kept

　　 very proudly together, though they were of different lengths.

　　 The one who stood first in the rank was named the thumb, he

　　 was short and thick, and had only one joint in his back, and

　　 could therefore make but one bow; but he said that if he were

　　 cut off from a man's hand, that man would be unfit for a

　　 soldier. Sweet-tooth, his neighbor, dipped himself into sweet

　　 or sour, pointed to the sun and moon, and formed the letters

　　 when the fingers wrote. Longman, the middle finger, looked

　　 over the heads of all the others. Gold-band, the next finger,

　　 wore a golden circle round his waist. And little Playman did

　　 nothing at all, and seemed proud of it. They were boasters,

　　 and boasters they will remain; and therefore I left them."

　　 "And now we sit here and glitter," said the piece of

　　 broken bottle.

　　 At the same moment more water streamed into the gutter, so

　　 that it overflowed, and the piece of bottle was carried away.

　　 "So he is promoted," said the darning-needle, "while I

　　 remain here; I am too fine, but that is my pride, and what do

　　 I care?" And so she sat there in her pride, and had many such

　　 thoughts as these,- "I could almost fancy that I came from a

　　 sunbeam, I am so fine. It seems as if the sunbeams were always

　　 looking for me under the water. Ah! I am so fine that even my

　　 mother cannot find me. Had I still my old eye, which was

　　 broken off, I believe I should weep; but no, I would not do

　　 that, it is not genteel to cry."

　　 One day a couple of street boys were paddling in the

　　 gutter, for they sometimes found old nails, farthings, and

　　 other treasures. It was dirty work, but they took great

　　 pleasure in it. "Hallo!" cried one, as he pricked himself with

　　 the darning-needle, "here's a fellow for you."

　　 "I am not a fellow, I am a young lady," said the

　　 darning-needle; but no one heard her.

　　 The sealing-wax had come off, and she was quite black; but

　　 black makes a person look slender, so she thought herself even

　　 finer than before.

　　 "Here comes an egg-shell sailing along," said one of the

　　 boys; so they stuck the darning-needle into the egg-shell.

　　 "White walls, and I am black myself," said the

　　 darning-needle, "that looks well; now I can be seen, but I

　　 hope I shall not be sea-sick, or I shall break again." She was

　　 not sea-sick, and she did not break. "It is a good thing

　　 against sea-sickness to have a steel stomach, and not to

　　 forget one's own importance. Now my sea-sickness has past:

　　 delicate people can bear a great deal."

　　 Crack went the egg-shell, as a waggon passed over it.

　　 "Good heavens, how it crushes!" said the darning-needle. "I

　　 shall be sick now. I am breaking!" but she did not break,

　　 though the waggon went over her as she lay at full length; and

　　 there let her lie.

　　 THE END