THIRTEENTH EVENING
"I looked through the windows of an editor's house，"
said the Moon."It was somewhere in Germany.I saw handsome furniture，many books，and a chaos of newspa- pers.Sevral young men were present：the editor himself stood at his desk，and two little books，both by young au- thors，were to be noticed.'This one has been sent to me，'
said he.'I have not read it yet，but it is nicely got up;
what think you of the contents?''Oh，'said the person addressed—he was a poet himself—'it is good enough;a little drawn out;but，you see，the author is still young.
The verses might be better，to be sure;the thoughts are sound，though there is certainly a good deal of common- place among them.But what will you have?You can't be alawys getting something new.That he'll turn out anything great I don't believe，but you may safely praise him.He is well read，a remarkable Oriental scholar，and has a good judgement.It was he who wrote that nice review of my Re- flections on Domestic Life.We must be lenient towards the young man.'
"'But he is a complete ass!'objected another of the gentlemen.'Nothing is in poetry than mediocrity，and he certaily does not go beyond that.'
"' Poor fellow!'observed a third，' and his aunt is so happy about him.It was she，Mr.Editor，who got to- gether so many subscribers for your last translation.'
"'Ah，the good woman!Well，I have noticed the book briefly.Undoubted talent—a welcome offering—a flower in the garden of poetry—prettily brought out—and so on.But this other book—I suppose the author expects me to purchase it?I hear it is praised.He has genius， certainly：don't you tink so?'
"' Yes，all the world declares as much，'replied the poet，' but it has turned out rather wildly.The punctua- tion of the book，in particular，is very eccentrics.'
"' It will be good for him if we pull him to pieces， and anger him a little，otherwise he will get too good an opinon of himself.'
"'But that would be unfair，'objected the fourth.
'Let us not carp at little faults，but rejoice over the real and abundant good that we find here：he surpasses all the rest.'
"'Not so.If he be a true genius，he can bear the sharp voice of censure.There are people enough to praise him.Don't let us quite turn his head.'
"'Decided talent，'wrote the editor，'with the usual carelessness.That he can write incorrect verses may be seen in page 25，where there are two false quantities.We recommend him to study the ancients，&c.'
"I went away，"continued the Moon，"and looked through the windows in the aunt's house.There sat the be-praised poet，the tame one;all the guests paid homage to him，and he was happy.
"I sought out the other poet，the wild one;him also I found in a great assembly at his patron's，where the tame poet's book was being discussed.
"'I shall read yours also，'said Maecenas;'but to speak honestly—you know I never hide my opinion from you—I don't expect much from it，for you are much too wild，too fantastic.But it must be allowed that，as a man，you are highly respectable.'
"A young girl sat in a corner;and she read in a book these words：
'In the dust lies genius and glory But ev'rv-day talent will pay.
It's only the old，old story But the piece is repeated each day.'"
FOURTEENTH EVENING
The Moon said，"Beside the woodland path there are two small farm-houses.The doom are low，and some of the windows are quite high，and others close to the ground;and white-thorn and barberry bushes grow around them.The roof of each house is overgrown with moss and with yellow flowers and house-leek.Cabbage and potatoes are the only plants in the gardens，but out of the hedge there grows an elder tree，and under this tree sat a little girl，and she sat with her eyes fixed upon the old oak tree between the two huts.
"It was an old withered stem.It had been sawn off at the top，and a stork had built his nest upon it;and he stood in this nest clapping with his beak.A little boy came and stood by the girl's side：they were brother and sister.
"'What are you looking at?'he asked.
"'I'm watching the stork，'she replied：'our neigh- bour told me that he would bring us a little brother or sister today;let us watch to see it come!'
"'The stork brings no such things，'the boy de- clared，'you may be sure of that.Our neighbour told me the same thing，but she laughed when she said it，and so I asked her if she could say.' On my honour'，and she could not;and I know by that that the story about the storks is not true，and that they only tell it to us children for fun.'
"'But where do the babies come from，then?'asked the girl.
"'Why，an angel from heaven brings them under his cloak，but no man can see him;and that's why we never know when he brings them.'
"At that moment there was a rustling in the branches of the elder tree，and the children folded their hands and looked at one another：it was certainly the angel coming with the baby.They took each other's hand，and at that moment the door of one of the houses opened，and the neighbour appeared.
"'Come in，you two，'she said.'See what the stork has brought.It is a little brother.'
"And the children nodded，for they had felt quite sure already that the baby was come."