Page:Tales of old Lusitania.djvu/170



there lived a boy who was so fond of the moon that when quite a little child he would toddle up a high hill to gaze upon her. His father noticed this predilection, and curious to know the reason why he was always gazing at the moon, went up the hill one day when the child was there and inquired why he did so and what he saw in the moon to interest him so much.

To this the child replied: "Father, I love to be near the moon because she often speaks to me. She has told me that one day you will think it an honour to bring me water to wash my hands with, but that I shall shrink back and refuse to be served by you."

The father returned home, wondering what the moon could mean, and related to his wife what the child had said.

The wife, in great alarm, leaped up from her seat, and cried: "I believe the child means to say that