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Page 13
"_Carpenter, carpenter, on your way!
Carry a message for me to-day:
My love to my mother, wherever she be,
I know she is always thinking of me_."
The carpenter gladly consented; and after he had turned back to carry
the message, the little boy followed the path, which led up hill over
rocks and steep places, through brambles and briars, until his feet grew
weary; and when he came down into the valley again, he saw a river that
was very dark and very deep.
There was no white swan or wise wind to help him. No tree in the forest
could bridge it over, and the carpenter and his men were far away.
"I must get over. There is a way," said the little boy bravely; and, as
he sat down to rest, he heard a murmuring sound. Looking down, he spied
a tiny boat fastened to a willow tree.
"_I am the boat with a helping oar,
To carry you over from shore to shore_,"
repeated the boat; and when the little boy had unfastened it, he sprang
in, and began to row himself over the dark water.
As he rowed, he saw a tiny bird flying above him. The bird needed no
boat or bridge, for its wings were strong; and when the little boy saw
it, he cried:--
"_Little bird, little bird, flying so gay!
Carry a message for me to-day:
My love to my mother, wherever she be;
I know she is always thinking of me_."
The little bird flew swiftly back to carry the message, and the boy
rowed on till he reached the opposite shore. After he had thanked the
boat with its helping oar, he tied it to a tree as he had found it, and
then hastened away, singing his happy song again.
By and by he heard an answer to his song, and he knew that it was the
great sea, calling "Come! Come! Come!" And when he reached the shore
where the blue waves were dancing up to the yellow sands, he clapped his
hands with delight; for there, rocking on the billows, was a beautiful
ship with sails as white as a lady's hands.
"I knew there would be a way!" said the little boy, as he sprang on deck
and went sailing over the deep blue sea,--sailing, sailing, sailing, day
after day, night after night, over the beautiful sea.
At night the stars would look down, twinkling and blinking; and as the
little boy watched them, he would say:--
"_Little stars, little stars, shining so bright!
Carry a message for me to-night:
My love to my mother, wherever she be;
I know she is always thinking of me_."
The little boy went on sailing, sailing, day and night, until he came to
a land beyond the sea,--a land so full of delight that the little boy
felt that his journey was ended, until one day when a great storm came.
The wind blew, the thunder crashed, the lightning flashed, the rain came
pouring down, and the little boy wanted to go home.
"I will find a way!" he cried at last; and, just as he spoke, the sun
came bursting out, the storm clouds rolled away, and there in the sky
was a rainbow bridge that seemed to touch both sky and earth.
Then the little boy's heart leaped for joy, and he ran with feet as
light as feathers up the shining bow; and when he reached the highest
arch, he looked down on the other side and saw home and his mother at
the rainbow's end.
"Mother! Mother!" he called, as he ran down into her arms. "Mother, I've
always been thinking of you, and God has taken care of me."
_THE OPEN GATE_
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