"I have been tying knots," said the second child.
"Come, then," said the sailor man, and he held out his hand to the second child. "I will take you out in the boat, and teach you to sail her."
"But I am the eldest," cried the first child, "and I know a great deal more than she does."
"That may be," said the sailor man; "but a person must learn to tie a knot before he can learn to sail a boat."
"But I have learned to tie a knot," cried the child. "I know all about it!"
"How can I tell that?" asked the sailor man.
"Little boy," said the nurse one day, "you would be far better at work. Your garden needs weeding sadly; go now and weed it, like a good child!"
But the little boy did not feel like weeding that day.
"Well, I don't want to," said the little boy.
"But you must!" said the nurse. "Don't be naughty, but go at once and do your work as I bid you!"
She went away about her own work, for she was very industrious; but the little boy sat still, and thought himself ill-used.
By and by his mother came into the room and saw him.
"What is the matter, little boy?" she asked; for he looked like a three-days' rain.
"Nurse told me to weed my garden," said the little boy.
"Oh," said his mother, "what fun that will be! I love to weed, and it is such a fine day! Mayn't I come and help?"
"Why, yes," said the little boy. "You may." And they weeded the garden beautifully, and had a glorious time.
Once a child was sitting on a great log that lay by the roadside, playing; and another child came along, and stopped to speak to him.
"What are you doing?" asked the second child.
"I am sailing to the Southern Seas," replied the first, "to get a cargo of monkeys, and elephant tusks, and crystal balls as large as oranges. Come up here, and you may sail with me if you like."
So the second child climbed upon the log.
"Look!" said the first child. "See how the foam bubbles up before the ship, and trails and floats away behind! Look! the water is so clear that we can see the fishes swimming about, blue and red and green. There goes a parrot-fish; my father told me about them. I should not wonder if we saw a whale in about a minute."
"What are you talking about?" asked the second child, peevishly. "There is no water here, only grass; and anyhow this is nothing but a log. You cannot get to islands in this way."