THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES I ONCE upon a time there lived in the village of Montignies-sur-Roc a little cow-boy, without either father or mother. His real name was Michael, but he was always called the Star Gazer, because when he drove his cows over the commons to seek for pasture, he went along with his head in the air, gaping at nothing. As he had a white skin, blue eyes, and hair that curled all... more...

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY AND WRITINGS OF PLATO By THOMAS TAYLOR "Philosophy," says Hierocles, "is the purification and perfection of human life. It is the purification, indeed, from material irrationality, and the mortal body; but the perfection, in consequence of being the resumption of our proper felicity, and a reascent to the divine likeness. To effect these two is the province of... more...

THE SHEPHERDESS She walks—the lady of my delight—   A shepherdess of sheep.Her flocks are thoughts.  She keeps them white;   She guards them from the steep.She feeds them on the fragrant height,   And folds them in for sleep. She roams maternal hills and bright,   Dark valleys safe and deep.Into that tender breast at night   The chastest stars may peep.She walks—the lady of my... more...

In passing through this vale of tears,   That various scenes display;Ambition oft her standard rears,   And mortals lead astray. The anxious merchant counts his gain   From vessels on the sea;They’re lost upon the watery main,   And all his prospects flee. Dejection seize his harrass’d mind,   While struggling with dispair;Dame Fortune smiles and proves more kind,   His spirits for to... more...

Kial was disgusted with the slow, cumbersome train. He disliked using this uncomfortable means of travel, but since he wanted to learn more about these strange creatures who were his ancestors, he had decided to try to become used to their ways. He was lonely in this strange, backward age and when he unexpectedly saw another being like himself in the same coach, he hastened to make his presence known.... more...

CHAPTER I CUP AND LIP The case in question concerned a letter in a yellow envelope, which was dumped along with other incoming mail upon one of the many long tables where hundreds of women and scores of men sat opening and reading thousands of letters for the Bureau of P. C.—whatever that may mean. In due course of routine a girl picked up and slit open the yellow envelope, studied the enclosed... more...

The Cat's Elopement [From the Japanische Marchen und Sagen, von David Brauns (Leipzig: Wilhelm Friedrich).] Once upon a time there lived a cat of marvellous beauty, with a skin as soft and shining as silk, and wise green eyes, that could see even in the dark. His name was Gon, and he belonged to a music teacher, who was so fond and proud of him that he would not have parted with him for anything... more...

LYDFORD BRIDGE.Lydford Bridge. LYDFORD BRIDGE. This is an interesting scene from the wild and wonderful in Nature. Its romantic luxuriance must win the attention of the artist, and the admiration of the less wistful beholder; while the philosophic mind, unaccustomed to vulgar wonder, may seek in its formation the cause of some of the most important changes of the earth's surface. Our esteemed... more...

ayjay Kelvin was sitting in the lounge of the interplanetary cargo vessel Persephone, his feet propped up on the low table in front of the couch, and his attention focused almost totally on the small book he was reading. The lounge itself was cozily small; the Persephone had not been designed as a passenger vessel, and the two passengers she was carrying at the time had been taken on as an... more...

THE CULPRIT FAY. “My visual orbs are purged from film, and lo!   “Instead of Anster’s turnip-bearing vales“I see old fairy land’s miraculous show!   “Her trees of tinsel kissed by freakish gales,“Her Ouphs that, cloaked in leaf-gold, skim the breeze,   “And fairies, swarming—” Tennant’s Anster Fair. I. ’Tis the middle watch of a summer’s night—The earth is dark, but... more...