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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1869 Excerpt:... her: exactly like her, he thought his wife should have been. ' Ah, who are you who are so beautiful?' he asked, stroking her cheek. She blushed rosy red. ' I'm your wife,' she answered." The girls laughed much at that tale, and ridiculed the lad. But Godfather asked Arne if he had listened well to it. " Well, now I'll tell you something," said a little girl with a little round face, and a very little nose:--' " Once there was a little lad who wished very much to woo a little girl. They were both grown up; but yet they were very little. And the lad couldn't in any way muster courage to ask her to have him. He kept close to her when they came home from church; but, somehow or other, their chat was always about the weather. He went over to her at the dancing-parties, and nearly danced her to death; but still he couldn't bring himself to say what he wanted. ' You must learn to write,' he said to himself; 'then you'll manage matters.' And the lad set to writing; but he thought it could never be done well enough; and so he wrote a whole year round before he dared do his letter. Now, the thing was to get it given to her without anybody seeing. He waited till one day when they were standing all by themselves behind the church. ' I've got a letter for you,' said the lad. ' But I can't read writing,' the girl answered. " And there the lad stood. " Then he went to service at the girl's father's house; and he used to keep hovering round her all day long. Once he had nearly brought himself to speak; in fact, he had already opened his mouth; but then a big fly flew in it. ' Well, I hope, at any rate, nobody else will come to take her away,' the lad thought; but nobody came to take her, because she was so very little. " By-and-by, howev...