And George would tell them stories--queer stories with twisted
faces and broken backs, that danced and capered merrily enough as a
rule, but sometimes stood quite still and made horrible grimaces. The
children liked the cheerful moral stories better, such as Arthur's
Boots.
"Once upon a time," George would begin, "there was a boy called
Arthur, who lived in a house like this, and always tied his
bootlaces with knots instead of bows. One night he stood on the
roof and wished he had wings like a sparrow, so that he could
fly away over the houses. And a great wind began, so that everybody
said there was a storm, and suddenly Arthur found he had a little
pair of wings, and he flew away with the wind over the houses. And
presently he got beyond the storm to a quiet place in the sky, and
Arthur looked up and saw all the stars tied to heaven with little
bits of string, and all the strings were tied in bows. And this
was done so that God could pull the string quite easily when He
wanted to, and let the stars fall. On fine nights you can see them
dropping. Arthur thought that the angels must have very neat
fingers to tie so many bows, but suddenly, while he was looking,
his feet began to feel heavy, and he stooped down to take off his
boots; but he could not untie the knots quick enough, and soon he
started falling very fast. And while he was falling, he heard the
wind in the telegraph wires, and the shouts of the boys who sell
papers in the street, and then he fell on the top of a house.
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