14 Fairy Tales

for both his father and mother were dead,
and his schoolfellows laughed and jeered at
him because his ways were not exactly like
theirs, so that he gradually grew more and
more solitary. He used to stand in the
grass of the fields, and watch the clouds
sweeping overhead, driven by wild rush of
wind or lit by some flash of white light, and
wonder where they came from and whither
they were going; until at last the desire to
know grew so strong, that one day when his
companions had teased him more than usu-
ally, he broke away from their midst, and
cried out: “Be quiet, all of you! I am going
to see for myself.”

At first they did not believe. Everything
looked exactly as it always looked. There
were the same trees, and the street where
they were playing, and the schoolmaster’s
house, and the schoolmaster’s cat spitting at
a strange dog, and the smoke coming out of
the chimneys, telling of dinner; and it was
not likely that Jacob, even if he were a fool,
would give up these solid good things for a