Maud Lindsay

Dumpy the Pony

There was once a little boy who had a very dear pony whose name was Dumpy.

His fairy godmother had given him this pony and she had said, "Here is a friend who will love you and serve you all the days of your life—

Dumpy the Pony liked to trot and canter and gallop away, and the little boy liked to ride, so they both were as happy as happy could be as long as the little boy remembered what his fairy godmother had said.

One day, however, he ate his fare and drank his fill, and ran off to his play without a thought of the friend in the barnyard who was waiting to greet him.

When Dumpy the Pony saw him going away he began to call:—

But the little boy was chasing a yellow butterfly and did not hear him. The yellow butterfly flew over the heath and over the fields, lighting on the flowers and whirling in the sunshine, and it seemed to say to the little boy:—

But the little boy was chasing a yellow butterfly and did not hear him.

"Catch me if you can. Catch me if you can."

So he ran after it over the heath and over the fields, through the flowers and out in the sunshine, answering gayly:—

"I'll catch you if I can. I'll catch you if I can."

He did not think of Dumpy the Pony till the evening shadows began to gather and he went scampering home. When he got back to the barnyard his good friend Dumpy was nowhere to be seen. He looked in the barn and behind the barn and out in the wood-lot, but he could not find him anywhere, so he sat down on the wood-pile and began to cry:—

He cried so loud that the baby birds who lived in a tree near by waked up and called, "Mother dear, mother dear!"

"Hush, hush!" said the mother bird; "it is only a little boy who is crying because he has lost his pony."

"Will he never find him again?" said the baby birds.

"When he remembers what his fairy godmother told him," answered the grandfather owl, who was the wisest bird in the world.

The little boy could not remember what his fairy godmother had said, but early next morning he put some bread and cheese in his pocket and started out to go to her house, that he might ask her to help him.

There were yellow butterflies flying over the fields and over the heath, lighting on the flowers and whirling in the sunshine, but, though each one of them seemed to say, "Catch me if you can, catch me if you can," the little boy would not run after them.

He went, instead, as fast as he could, down the long green lane that led to his fairy godmother's house, and he had not gone far before he met an old horse, who was limping along with a stone in his foot.

"Who will help me? Who will help me?" said the old horse.

"I will," said the little boy, for he thought of Dumpy the Pony, "I will"; and he ran to take the stone from the horse's foot.

"Bless you," said the old horse.

"Why do you bless me?" asked the child.

answered the old horse, and he galloped away down the long green lane, the very way that the little boy was going.

"Why, that's just what my fairy godmother says," cried the child, and he hurried after the horse to ask where he had learned it, but before he could overtake him he came to a well by the wayside, and by the well stood a thirsty cow.

"Who will help me? Who will help me?" cried the thirsty cow.

"I will," answered the little boy, and he made haste to let down the bucket that she might have water to drink.

"Bless you," said the thirsty cow.

"Why do you bless me?" asked the child.

answered the old cow, and before the little boy could say a word she swished her tail over her back and trotted off down the long green lane, the very way that he was going.

The lane was long and the sun was hot and the little boy was tired, so he sat down on the grass to eat his bread and cheese, and while he was eating a hungry hen came up to watch him.

"Who will help me? Who will help me?" said the hungry hen.

"I will," answered the little boy, as he divided his bread and cheese; "I will," and he gave her half of it.

"Bless you," said the hungry hen.

"Why do you bless me?" asked the child.

answered the hen, and she stretched out her wings and hurried away down the long green lane, the very way that the little boy was going.

She was soon out of sight, and the little boy went on alone till he came to the turning of the lane, where the house of his fairy godmother stood.

"Come in," said the fairy godmother, when he knocked at her door, and when he went in, there in his fairy godmother's house he saw the old horse and the thirsty cow and the hungry hen that he had met in the long green lane.

They were just as much at home as if they had been in a barn and when the little boy had told his fairy godmother what he wanted and asked her to help him, she said to them,

"What do you say, my trusty friends?"

"He helped me," answered the horse.

"He gave me drink," said the cow.

"He fed me," cried the hen, and when the fairy godmother had listened to them she opened her great back door, and there in her barnyard what do you think the little boy saw? Dumpy the Pony!

He was as glad to see the little boy as the little boy was to see him, and they went home together, where they lived happily ever after. Every day Dumpy the Pony took the little boy to ride, trotting and galloping to his heart's delight, and every day the little boy fed Dumpy the Pony and gave him drink, for he never forgot again what his fairy godmother said:—