Page:Fairy Tales for Worker's Children.djvu/46

 would stay near the huts with his playfellow, so that he might hide himself quickly in case the rich man might pass by.

It was as tho the little grey dog knew that Benjamin had saved his life. He did not leave the side of the little boy, obeyed him, and showed himself to be quite intelligent. Benjamin spoke to him like to a person, and the dog looked at him as wisely as tho he understood every word.

Benjamin's parents were young and strong, the best workers on the sugar plantation. Therefore the severe overseer was satisfied with them and beat them less often than he did the other slaves. On that account they were both, in spite of their hard life, satisfied, and in the evenings when they returned to their hut and their little Benjamin, all three of them were gay and happy.

Benjamin's mother Hannah was also an excellent seamstress, she knew how to weave pretty baskets from reeds and rushes, and was a very good cook.

One day the eldest daughter of the rich man, who lived with her husband in the north, come to visit her father. She was glad to see her old home again and everything seemed to her more beautiful than in the north. She complained of the trouble she had in getting servants in the city, "These whites are not nearly as desirable as the blacks," said she. "They cannot be driven to work with whips. You should present me with a good slave, father, so that it will be more comfortable for me. My husband will be quite angry about it, for the people in the north are crazy, they claim that the blacks are also human beings, and that slavery must be abolished. But he loves me dearly, and will be glad if he sees me happy."

The rich man thought a while and said, "The young slaves that I own are all clumsy, incapable; the old ones of course could not become accustomed to living in a large city and would be more trouble than help to you. Whom can I give you?" 40