52 Fairy Tales

cared nothing for the very prettiest doll I
could find in my pack.”

“Take me home, take me home, p/ease/”
cried a voice from behind. The woman
turned and looked at Jacob kindly.

“Will you not stay and see what I have
to show you?” she said in her deep voice.
“You wanted to know about the clouds.”

“But I know now what I want,” said
the boy very earnestly, “and it is Roschen.
Good Santa Klaus, may I go with you?
The clouds are nothing.”

“Tet him come,” said Klaus in a low
voice. ‘He has a heart.”

And the woman smiled, for though death
often walks in her footsteps, she loves young
things and cherishes the buds, and flings a
snow-covering over the earth. So now she
lifted up Jacob, and wrapped him warmly
round, and carried him to the door, where,
under a sky brilliant with the northern
lights, and thickly sprinkled with stars,
stood a beautiful sleigh drawn by six rein-
deer. Krawk, who always slept with one