THE STARFISH’S STORY. 171

roamed restlessly here and there upon the ebb and flow of the
tide like the rest of his family, and this is why one is always
finding them stranded on the beach looking so forlorn—at least,
if that is not the reason, somebody else had better find out
another one.

The artist came down to the shore for many days. He
wished to paint a larger picture of Jamie with his shrimping

 

net—and while he was doing it they used to talk. That is to
say at first it was only Jamie who talked while the artist
listened ; Jamie told the artist what he thought about the stars,
and of how he was sure they went down into the sea and were
lost, while lots of new ones came up behind; but that the sun
dipped in and rose out again all right on the other side.
Afterwards the artist told Jamie what e thought him-
self ;—that the sun stood still while the earth went round it—