up in the blue castle of Gott hoime the four seasons gathered one day around their parents king wind and queen sun alike beautiful and alike young were they and there was not much difference between them except that winter was the tallest and strongest spring was most gentle of them all summer had eyes of the deepest blue and autumn had ruddier hair it is time said the bearded gray king that ye go forth to conquer the world sec that ye conquer it not for your own glory but to do your duty in it for only he conquers truly who conquers to uplift side by side the four brothers climbed down the bridge of mist and 1 fog till they reached the cold and colorless earth and soon they reached a crossroads cross roads whence faur high ways led north south east and west at the crossroads cross roads sat a wrinkled little old man whose face wore so puzzled a look that the four brothers nudged each other and smiled he looked more puzzled than ever when he saw them and asked who they were they told him he listened with strained attention and immediately j 1 mixed their names up when be addressed them you must excuse me he said 1 I am old probability you know and I 1 was put here long ago to watch the weathers go by there are so many of them and they are so queer that my brain does not seem to work so very well the brothers told him of thear errand and he nodded his head sagely I 1 it is high time he said that something was done about it ever since the three giant kings of the land of white silence conquered the other lands all things have been sad and bleak and dim who arc these giant kings asked winter 1 I must tell you quickly said old probability looking more puzzled than ever my brain gets so mixed up you know listen originally the world was divided equally into four countries the land of white silence ruled by the three giants december january and february the land of whispers where march april and may reigned the land of fires whose monarchs were june july and august and the land of silver smokes where september october and november were kings all these kings used to go abroad in peace until the three giant kings of the land of white silence conceived the plan of conquering the others it must have been during the ensuing battles that I 1 got so mixed up said the little old man with a whimsical air the weathers passed in such troops then that I 1 keep them straight in my head well he continued in the end the three giants won they chained the three kings of the land of whispers fast in their valleys with fetters of ice they laid a charm on the land of silver smokes so that all things are asleep there they so terrified the kings of the land of fires that they shiver at the mere thought of more battles and huddle close to their roaring flames and now the three giants rule and all things are sad how can we find these lands asked the four seasons the old man clapped his hands immediately a gray croud came fleeting from the north a black crow came flapping from the west a blue bird came flitting from the east and a butterfly came fluttering from the south copyright 1904 by mcclura these arc guides aid old probability 1 I cannot tell you which h which because my head is so tangled up with weather you must choose for yourselves 1 I will choose the gray cloud for my guide cried winter and I 1 will take the blue bird eald spring summer chose the butterfly and autumn selected the black crow swiftly the gray cloud flew back toward the north it swooped like a vulture darkening the earth with its gloomy wings eagerly behind it ran winter not to be outstripped swiftly though the guide might fly they traveled a day and a night and then they reached a land where there was neither day nor night but just a dim dead dawn we have arrived aid the cloud and hung itself on the sky down like a bat with its wings spread from horizon to horizon winter looked over a vast frighten ing land beset with toothed peaks dead white peaks shot with cafe bale ful green over it ell was neither sound nor motion neither wind nor wing neither light nor dark winter tore a hemlock from the ground and beat the lee with it shattering the silence of the white land at once three mighty forms arose among the peaks tall and beautiful but terrible clad in white armor without a word they sprang on winter he swept around him with his tree and threw them headlong out in a moment they were on him again they tossed snow over him till he was as white as they they gripped him and blew into hi face till his bright blue eyes became pale and cold they wrestled with him and the four great fighters swayed over the frozen plains and back again until hi very heart had turned to ice at last he threw january and stunned him he truck december a mighty blow that laid him insensible on the ice but he biggest 0 the three giants wa february and he seized winter by the throat and fore ed him slowly backward then it seemed indeed s if if would go hard with the young prince from jot thol me his breath came short and his senses swam slowly he was being overborne when his mother queen sun came to rescue she shone on february till he sobbed with pain from the heat lie began to weaken but still he would not yield until the heat became 0 o great that he tt reamed with water then winter fathered all of his remaining strength th eizel february around the girdle lifted him high in the air and hurled him down so violently that ever since then february is the hortet hort ct month tn the year but winter had not escaped without in wa white forever and his 1 cart ha remained cold and his eyes have remained pale to this day the blue bird flying eagerly eastward led spring to a beautiful land where all the stood tall and w serene and through all the valleys and glen there were gentle and whisperings that was the land of whisper and there lay march and april and may the th ace asplen did kings chained fast with shining ice links around ankles and wrists spring had no battle to fight as had winter he blew hi breath on the fetters around aarif and may and rubbed the chains till they began to melt and in a moment the two arose free and glad but march had fought so hard that the three giant kings had put extra heavy fetters on him so it required a long while to remove them march was chilled to the bone and that is why he is so uncertain to this day never quite knowing whether he is cold or warm summer found the I and of fires easily afar off he could see the red reflection of the flame on the sky and when he entered the thick woods and the flowery valley of the land of the three kings june july and august he found them cowering close to mighty burning pile up be cried apt we have delivered you but the three kings did not eair they only answered quavering not we have felt the deadly cold once and we dare not stir so summer had to stride among the licking flames and lift the three to their feet and in doing it the fires blew into his face and suffused his eyes with ruddy glow the flames swept at his nostrils and filled his body with consuming heat that is why summer issott burning now he cannot in comfort unless hi father wind sends rain clond in h 2 to cool him and when at clouds fall to appear S up the land he brafa flame follows in his lana lies parched and baked it was a beautiful land into K the flapping black crow led although all the and leafless there it was no the leaflessness of the land of w silence for the trees all stood in prayer and the shrubs all had tte arms twined closely around bat ao 10 that had been put to sleep i As autumn stepped gently the still aisles of the woods be i soft silver abie arid i before him sat tile three kines october and and grave and bearded tino lAgi emaly and watching him wide melancholy eyes they nodded told ti the deliverance of the world afa made room beside them long they sat and smoked nothing but into the soul of ae stole their solemnity and abw melancholy and ever autumn himself is 0 solemn and thoughtful and aba among his woods in the jo ilver smokes they say the of autumn are sad but more than the lands of all the sons so that i how the four season the world and old probability still sits at crossroads cross roads puzzled by the wrife JULIUS cullel