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Read Ebook: The Brownie Scouts and Their Tree House by Wirt Mildred A Mildred Augustine
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Ebook has 1829 lines and 36394 words, and 37 pages
The girls had heard this tale many times, but never tired of having it repeated.
So, starting off "Once upon a time in old England," Miss Gordon launched forth into the story of how a little girl and a boy named Mary and Tommy learned to be helpful in their home.
She told of their visit to the wise old owl in the forest and their plea that he instruct them how to find the brownies who once did all the family work.
"Hoot! Hoot!" said Veve, pretending that she was the owl. "I know of two brownies that live in your house right now!"
"In my house?" echoed Connie, taking on the part of Mary, the little girl.
"In your house," repeated Veve. "But they are idle."
"How can we find those brownies?"
"I'll tell you how to find one of them," said Veve, the owl. "Go to the pool in the woods and turn yourself around three times, saying this charm:
"Twist me and turn me and show me the elf, I looked in the water and saw--"
"MYSELF," shouted the other girls in the Rosedale Brownie troop.
"Oh, you're getting ahead of the story!" Veve protested. "Mary didn't learn that she was the Brownie until a long while later."
"We all know what happened," said Jane impatiently. "The children started doing the work at home, making the old couple think they were the brownies. Then one day they were discovered."
"Even so, they kept on helping," Connie contributed. "And everyone said the children were a blessing, not a burden."
"That's a bob-tailed version of Mrs. Julianna Horatia Ewing's lovely story," Miss Gordon laughed. "More than anything else, it embodies the ideals of our organization."
"I wish there were real brownies today," Veve said wistfully.
"Ones that would do useful things such as washing the breakfast dishes!"
"And making the beds!" added Eileen. At home that particular task fell to her.
"If I had a brownie all my own, I'd want him to plan special surprises for me," declared Veve dreamily. "I wouldn't wear him out doing grubby household tasks."
"What would you ask your brownie to do?" Connie asked.
"Oh--wonderful magic things!"
"For instance?" probed Connie.
"Well--oh, I know! I'd have him build me a tree house!"
"A tree house!" exclaimed Eileen, intrigued by the thought.
"I'd have the brownie build it right here in this oak tree," Veve went on grandly. "It would be a wonderful little house! With windows and doors and a roof! I'd have curtains and a table and chairs!"
"How would you get up to your tree house?" scoffed Jane. "Fly like the birds?"
"Oh, my brownie would build a stairway around the tree trunk. He'd take care of everything!"
"You need a carpenter, not a brownie!" laughed Connie. "Some boys in our neighborhood once built a tree house. It wasn't very sturdy though and fell down when a strong wind came along."
"A tree house would be grand," declared Sunny. "Oh, wouldn't it be heavenly if the Brownies--us, I mean--had a place of our very own up in that oak?"
"Let's all wish hard for it!" proposed Veve, fired by her own imagination. "Maybe--who knows--it might come true!"
"Are you crazy?" demanded Jane scornfully. "You know very well wishes hardly ever come true."
"Well, they could!" Veve insisted.
"Let's all wish," urged Sunny. "What's the difference? Even if it doesn't come true, it won't do any harm."
"It's silly," Jane argued.
Sunny and Veve refused to be turned aside. To humor them, the other girls said they would join in making the wish.
Jane, however, would have no part in the pretense.
"We have to do this right or it won't work," Veve instructed the Brownies. "Everyone close her eyes."
"Not I!" announced Jane.
"Now everyone wish very hard for a beautiful little house right above our heads in this oak," went on Veve, ignoring Jane. "Wish hard, hard, HARD."
Jane snickered.
"Where's your tree house?" she teased. "I don't hear any hammering."
"The charm didn't work because you wouldn't wish," Veve retorted crossly.
"It didn't work because there aren't any brownies," corrected Jane. "Of all the silly ideas--"
A stone clattered down the hillside, rolling and bouncing until it came to rest almost at the base of the oak tree.
"What was that?" Jane interrupted herself, startled by the sound.
Veve was staring at the stone, unable to believe her own eyesight.
"Look!" she finally managed to say.
Attached to the stone--in fact, wrapped entirely around it--was a paper. A rubber band held it tightly in place.
"Well, what do you know?" Jane mumbled.
Darting forward, she seized the stone.
"It's a message for us!" she shouted. "Who says now that there aren't any brownies?"
The Tossed Stone
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