&&000 LAIDLAW BROTHERS  (1966)  3RD GRADE         LAI9663R.ASC
DOORWAy TO ADVENTURE by Harold G. Shane et al
Source: SUNY Oneonta xerox scan edit by DPH February 28, 1993

&&111


The old woman said that the duckling
could stay with her. But after three weeks
she said, 
Not one egg have I found!


If I do not have an egg from you by
tomorrow, you must go away. I will not feed
you more of my corn and bread.


That night the poor ugly duckling went
away. At last he came to a little river.
There he lived in the bushes and ate wild
seeds. He was all alone in the world. There
was no one to take care of him.
In a short time the summer was gone. The
wind grew cold and the snow fell. The ugly
duckling was always very hungry. He was
always very cold.

One cold night the duckling went to sleep
on the river water. In the morning he was
caught in the ice. He could not get out. He
was so hungry and afraid that he wanted
to cry.

At last a man came by. He saw that the
little duck was caught in the ice. He wanted
to help the poor little thing.



When the dog again came to get the
princess, he did not see the bag. He did not
see the corn fall out to show where he carried
the girl.

The next day the =King could see well
enough where the princess had been. He sent
men to bring the soldier to him.

When the little soldier stood before him,
the =King said, 
No one may see the princess.
No one may take her from my castle. When
she was a very little girl, a fairy said that
some day she would be the wife of a poor
soldier. Well! This cannot be! We will cut
off your head this very day! Then you will
never win the princess.

Four big soldiers took the little soldier into
the castle yard.  Good =King,  cried the little
man,  may I have a last wish? May I look at
my tinderbox once more?

Very well,  said the =King,  but be quick
about it.


The soldier took the tinderbox from his
pocket. He opened it as if to light the fire. No
sooner did the box fly open than the saucer
eyed dog stood before the soldier. Help me!
he cried. 

Don't let them cut off my head!


The great dog went to work. He sent the
=King's men flying high into the air.


One day a little Indian boy was looking for
fruit to eat. He looked in the bushes near the
foot of the =Great =Mountains. To his surprise
he heard something cry out. Soon he saw a
large, young bird. It was an eagle! The eagle
was still too small to fly.

As he came near the bird, =Waukewa saw
that something was wrong with it. One of
its wings looked queer. The boy saw that the
eagle had fallen from its nest. His eyes were
kind as he said, 
Little eagle, did you break
your wing when you fell?

The bird seemed to know that =Waukewa
could help him. It lay still even when the boy
touched it. It did not cry out again.  Yes,
said =Waukewa, 
there is a bad break in your
wing bone, little eagle.


The =Indian boy carried the bird with great
care. Then he began the long walk home.
When he got there, the boy tied up the eagle's
wing. Now the bone would grow straight and
well again.

For many days =Waukewa took care of the
bird. He gave it water to drink and corn and
bread to eat. At last the eagle could fly again.
It had grown to be a big, fine bird. =Waukewa
knew that the time had come for him to let
the eagle go back to its wild mountain nest.



The morning at =Sun-Dance was a fine one.
There were horse races, Indian dances, and
many other things to see. There was pop to
drink and there were peanuts to eat.  
=ChiWee and =Loki had never seen so many people.
They had come from all over the country to
see the racing and dancing.

Later in the day came the games for
children. =Loki was first in a game with
arrows. A fine knife was the prize.


I am so proud of you,
 said =Chi-Wee.
Then, at last, came the race for little
=Indian girls. All of them wanted to win the
beautiful dress.

=Chi-Wee looked around her at the other
girls. Two or three she knew, but the others
she did not know. The strange little girl next
to =Chi-Wee was very poor. Her dress looked
as if it would not last much longer.


If I win this race,  she said softly to  
=ChiWee,  my mother will be glad. She cannot
buy me a new dress. I can run fast. I
think I will win.




=Master =Till was walking along a country
road. He was hungry. It seemed that he was
always hungry! He came to a turn in the
road. There before him was a beautiful
castle. It was the home of a prince.

=Till went up to the door of the castle. He
said that he was a great painter, and he asked
to see the prince. The soldier at the door let
=Till go inside the castle where he met the
prince.

=Master =Till said that he would paint a
beautiful picture of the prince. 
I will use only the finest colors,
 said =Till. 
And people will come from far and near to see how great
you look in your fine clothes.

The prince did not care to have his picture
painted.  Go away,  he told =Master =Till.

But wait!  said =Till. 
It is a magic picture that I will paint.

What is this?  asked the prince, 
who was a silly man.  A magic picture?


Oh, yes!
 said =Till. 
I will do it in such a
way that fools cannot see it. When it is done,
you can tell which of your friends are the
fools. They will not see the picture! It will
not be there when~they look at it.


The silly prince liked the thought of having
a picture that only a wise man could see. He
gave =Till one =hundred pieces of gold and told
him to go to work.



=Andy learned that it was not easy to skate.
He fell down time and again. But after a
while the boy came to be a very good ice
skater. None of the children living along the
river could go as fast as he could.

One fine day =Andy skated up the river. He
was a long way from home when one of his
skates came off. He sat down on the ice. He
had not had time to put the skate back on his
foot when he heard a noise.

=Andy looked up. Right behind him were
seven Indian braves! Suddenly =Andy was
very afraid. The tall red men were so near
him that he did not even have time to get to
his feet. 
They will catch me!
he thought.
And they did!
The =Indians took =Andy far up the river.
They walked for one whole day. Not once did
they tell him where they were taking him.
That night they tied =Andy's hands and feet.
He lay by the fire and tried to sleep.

The next day, after a cold breakfast, the
=Indians once again went up the ice-covered
river.  =Andy had to go with them. At last the
boy and the =Indians came to their town on
the river. There were many other braves.
The men had red and white and blue paint on
their faces! Andy knew that this would mean
trouble. Soon each brave would take his knife
and arrows. They would go after the white
men and burn the town. How could he tell
his mother and father and friends that the
=Indians were coming?



Doctor =Dean and the =Indian Chief

It was a warm night in summer. None of
the children wanted to go to bed.


Tell us a story, =Grandfather,
 they said.

Tell us the story of how the =Indian chief
wanted our great grandmother to be the wife
of his son.



What?  said =Grandfather. 
Do you want
to hear that old story once again?



Oh, yes,  the children cried. 
We can never hear it often enough. Tell it again.

Well,  =Grandfather began, 
it all happened when this part of the country
was wild and full of =Indians. Your  
great grandmother, my mother, she was, was
coming out here in a covered wagon. She was
a little girl.

Then =Grandfather told of how =Mary =Dean,
his mother, had reached the =Black =Hills with
her father, =Doctor =Dean.

One day as their covered wagons were
moving along under the hot sun, a party of
=Indians rode up on their horses. The =Indian
chief was named =Straight =Arrow.



For three days the covered wagons stopped
near the =Indian town. The next day, when
=Doctor =Dean went to see =Gray =Wolf, the boy
sat up. He was almost well again. The red
spots were gone from his face.

=Straight =Arrow walked back to the wagons
with =Doctor =Dean. 
You go now, my friend doctor,
 he said.  You make =Gray =Wolf
well. He be all right now, I know.

Before you go, I give three horses to you,

the chief went on. 
I make sure you have no
trouble in my country. I hope you and
golden-hair girl be happy in new home where
the sun go down.


=Doctor =Dean was glad to hear the chief say
that the wagons could go. He was sure that
the chief would see that no one stopped the
white men.


When the sun came up, the =King jumped
from his bed.

There was a small table near his bed.
=Midas touched it and it turned to gold! It
was no joke.  =Mercury had really given him
the golden touch! Why even =Midas' clothes
were gold now!

The =King ran about his bedroom touching
everything on which he could lay his hands.
Bed, tables, chairs, all of them, turned to
gold. Then =Midas ran into the garden. At
his touch bushes and flowers turned to hard
gold.  They are beautiful! Beautiful!
 cried =Midas. 
At last I am a happy man. I am the
happiest man in the world. I can have all the
gold I want.

After a time the =King grew hungry.
Someone had set his breakfast table in his
bedroom.  =Midas sat down at the table. He
picked up a piece of well-browned fish to eat.

But what happened? Before =Midas could
put the fish in his mouth it turned to cold,
hard gold! His hot-cakes turned to gold! His
fruit and milk turned to gold!

The =King was now very hungry. 
Oh, dear,  he said. 
What will I do? The food
turns to gold faster than I can eat it.
He was even a little afraid.




Come, my dear little one,
 said =Midas.

We will make the flowers into real ones
again. We will make them beautiful once
more.



But, =Father,  said the little girl. 
I thought you loved gold.

Oh, no,  laughed =Midas. 
The only gold I love now is the gold of your beautiful hair.


Then, hand in hand, father and girl went
into the ugly, golden garden. Together they
put water from the river on the flowers and
bushes until they were once again beautiful.

At last =Midas stood in the middle of the
green garden. His hand lay on his little girl's
head and he looked up to the sky.

Oh, =Mercury,
 he said, 
how much you
have helped me to learn today.


How well I know now that gold alone
means nothing. It cannot make us happy.

With these words =Midas went into his house
to turn back all the other things he had made
into gold.

=Aladdin went through the door in the
mountain's side. It was very dark, but he was
a brave boy. He was not afraid. On he went
until he came to a great room full of gold. In
the middle of the room, on a small table, a
little lamp was burning.

Quickly the boy picked up all the gold he
could put into his pockets. Then he took the
lamp and went back the way he had come.

Before =Aladdin got through the magic door,
the magician said, 
=Give me the lamp.



No,  said the boy. 
I will give you the
lamp after I come out of this little door.

The magician grew angry. He said some
magic words once again. As he did so there
was another great noise and the door closed!



In =1812 our country and =England were at
war. The soldiers of =England paid some of
the =Indians to burn the homes of =Americans.
The =Indians would come out of the deep
woods with angry war cries. They would
burn down the farm houses and take the cows
and horses away with them.

At first the war did not go well for our
country. Many people had to leave their
farms. They went to towns and cities where
there were enough soldiers to keep the
=Indians away.  =James and =Mary =Tyler lived on a farm with
their four children. James would not move
them to town when he was told that the
=Indians might come at any time.


I think we should go,
 =Mary said.
No,
 said =James. 
We must believe that
=God will take care of us. We must believe that
both the red men and the white men are our
friends.



=Well,  said =Mary,  if we stay here you
must take in the latchstring on the door.
Then the =Indians cannot just walk in on us.