said the man, "then rejoice,"and he lifted his arm. The leaves of the forest put on colors of redand gold, and bright tints covered the woodlands. The rose-bushesgleamed with scarlet hips, and the branches of the elder-trees hungdown with the weight of the full, dark berries. The wild chestnutsfell ripe from their dark, green shells, and in the forests theviolets bloomed for the second time. But the queen of the yearbecame more and more silent and pale.
  "It blows cold," she said, "and night brings the damp mist; I longfor the land of my childhood." Then she saw the storks fly awayevery one, and she stretched out her hands towards them. She looked atthe empty nests; in one of them grew a long-stalked corn flower, inanother the yellow mustard seed, as if the nest had been placedthere only for its comfort and protection, and the sparrows wereflying round them all.
  "Tweet, where has the master of the nest gone?" cried one, "Isuppose he could not bear it when the wind blew, and therefore hehas left this country. I wish him a pleasant journey."
  The forest leaves became more and more yellow, leaf after leaffell, and the stormy winds of Autumn howled. The year was now faradvanced, and upon the fallen, yellow leaves, lay the queen of theyear, looking up with mild eyes at a gleaming star, and her husbandstood by her. A gust of wind swept through the foliage, and the leavesfell in a shower. The summer queen was gone, but a butterfly, the lastof the year, flew through the cold air. Damp fogs came, icy windsblew, and the long, dark nights of winter approached. The ruler of theyear appeared with hair white as snow, but he knew it not; hethought snow-flakes falling from the sky covered his head, as theydecked the green fields with a thin, white covering of snow. Andthen the church bells rang out for Christmas time.
  "The bells are ringing for the new-born year," said the ruler,"soon will a new ruler and his bride be born, and. I shall go torest with my wife in yonder light-giving star."
  In the fresh, green fir-wood, where the snow lay all around, stoodthe angel of Christmas, and consecrated the young trees that were toadorn his feast.
  "May there be joy in the rooms, and under the green boughs,"said the old ruler of the year. In a few weeks he had become a veryold man, with hair as white as snow. "My resting-time draws near;the young pair of the year will soon claim my crown and sceptre."
  "But the night is still thine," said the angel of Christmas,"for power, but not for rest. Let the snow lie warmly upon thetender seed. Learn to endure the thought that another is worshippedwhilst thou art still lord. Learn to endure being forgotten whileyet thou livest. The hour of thy freedom will come when Springappears."
  "And when will Spring come?" asked Winter.
  "It will come when the stork returns."
  And with white locks and snowy beard, cold, bent, and hoary, butstrong as the wintry storm, and firm as the ice, old Winter sat on thesnowdrift-covered hill, looking towards the south, where Winter hadsat before, and gazed. The ice glittered, the snow crackled, theskaters skimmed over the polished surface of the lakes; ravens andcrows formed a pleasing contrast to the white ground, and not a breathof wind stirred, and in the still air old Winter clenched his fists,and the ice lay fathoms deep between the lands. Then came the sparrowsagain out of the town, and asked, "Who is that old man?" The raven satthere still, or it might be his son, which is the same thing, and hesaid to them,-
  "It is Winter, the old man of the former year; he is not dead,as the calendar says, but he is guardian to the spring, which iscoming."
  "When will Spring come?"