Page:The Children Who Followed the Piper.djvu/139

WHO FOLLOWED THE PIPER flowers that lifted up their heads like golden clocks.

Then Golden Hood stood upon her stool and she looked through the seventh window. She saw a bare tree with a raven on the top of it; she saw a black house with smoke coming out of it; she saw a bent old woman sitting under the tree.

Seeing the smoke Golden Hood thought of the fire that she had to tend. She jumped off the stool and came to it. The fire was out and there was nothing but gray ashes on the hearth, and no vapor came out of the cauldron that was over the fire.

Oh, what was she to do? For seven hours she had been looking out through the seven windows, not knowing how time was passing, and now the fire that she had been set to watch was out, and she had no way of lighting it again! But now she thought of the smoke she had seen coming out of the black house. She would go to it and get some coals of fire and bring them back and light the fire under the cauldron.