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THE DARNING-NEEDLE

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  OF course you know what is meant by a magnifying glass-

  one of those round spectacle-glasses that make everything look

  a hundred times bigger than it is? When any one takes one of

  these and holds it to his eye, and looks at a drop of water

  from the pond yonder, he sees above a thousand wonderful

  creatures that are otherwise never discerned in the water. But

  there they are, and it is no delusion1. It almost looks like a

  great plateful of spiders jumping about in a crowd. And how

  fierce they are! They tear off each other's legs. and arms and

  bodies, before and behind; and yet they are merry and joyful

  in their way.

  Now, there once was an old man whom all the people called

  Kribble-Krabble, for that was his name. He always wanted the

  best of everything, and when he could not manage it otherwise,

  he did it by magic.

  There he sat one day, and held his magnifying-glass to his

  eye, and looked at a drop of water that had been taken out of

  a puddle2 by the ditch. But what a kribbling and krabbling was

  there! All the thousands of little creatures hopped3 and sprang

  and tugged4 at one another, and ate each other up.

  "That is horrible!" said old Kribble-Krabble. "Can one not

  persuade them to live in peace and quietness, so that each one

  may mind his own business?"

  And he thought it over and over, but it would not do, and

  so he had recourse to magic.

  "I must give them color, that they may be seen more

  plainly," said he; and he poured something like a little drop

  of red wine into the drop of water, but it was witches' blood

  from the lobes5 of the ear, the finest kind, at ninepence a

  drop. And now the wonderful little creatures were pink all

  over. It looked like a whole town of naked wild men.

  "What have you there?" asked another old magician, who had

  no name- and that was the best thing about him.

  "Yes, if you can guess what it is," said Kribble-Krabble,

  "I'll make you a present of it."

  But it is not so easy to find out if one does not know.

  And the magician who had no name looked through the

  magnifying-glass.

  It looked really like a great town reflected there, in

  which all the people were running about without clothes. It

  was terrible! But it was still more terrible to see how one

  beat and pushed the other, and bit and hacked6, and tugged and

  mauled him. Those at the top were being pulled down, and those

  at the bottom were struggling upwards7.

  "Look! look! his leg is longer than mine! Bah! Away with

  it! There is one who has a little bruise8. It hurts him, but it

  shall hurt him still more."

  And they hacked away at him, and they pulled at him, and

  ate him up, because of the little bruise. And there was one

  sitting as still as any little maiden9, and wishing only for

  peace and quietness. But now she had to come out, and they

  tugged at her, and pulled her about, and ate her up.

  "That's funny!" said the magician.

  "Yes; but what do you think it is?" said Kribble-Krabble.

  "Can you find that out?"

  "Why, one can see that easily enough," said the other.

  "That's Paris, or some other great city, for they're all

  alike. It's a great city!"

  "It's a drop of puddle water!" said Kribble-Krabble.

  THE END

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