124 Fairy Tales |

think of that a farm should have—cocks and
hens, and cows and horses, and hay-ricks
and wheat-stacks, and a great dog called
Wolf. I do not know whether spring,
summer, autumn, or winter was pleasantest ;
apple blossom and blue hyacinths ; or sweet
flowery hay; or the red apples and the busy
coming and going in the rick-yard; or the
roaring fires and the ashen faggots, and the
chestnuts popping merrily in the embers.
Best of all, whatever season came, there
were always the good father and mother,
so that Barthel and Joan were very happy
children.

Yet there were days when you would not
have believed it, for if lessons or spinning
interfered with their plans, you might have
supposed there never was such an ill-used
little couple. And at such times, as nobody
else would listen to them, they talked a great
deal about it to Ju-Ju, the ginger-coloured
puppy, who agreed with every one, because
he said it helped you on in the world. Old
Wolf was different. He loved the children,