FEATHER-BRAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 951, 19 April 1930, Page 27

FEATHER-BRAIN

Once there was a little elf called Feather-brain, and this is how he came by his name. In the school for elves he was the worst pupil because he spent his time thinking about spider-web swings and thistledown parachutes and things like that instead of attending to his studies. Even during the arithmetic lesson, when the elves had to count the petals on daisies and dandelions without using their fingers, he could never get his sums right, and as for spelling, well, )0 could not even spell “cane,” althougn the master gave it to him at least ten times a day! So they called him Feather-brain.

Before very long, Feather-brain grew so light in the head that he found it difficult to keep his feet when he was walking to school. The airy thoughts in his brain acted like gas in a balloon, and one day he astonished the class by entering school through the window! And sit at his desk he could not. Every now and then he kept floating up and bumping his head against the ceiling. Well this went on day after day until at last the master decided to tie him to his desk, still he could not learn his lessons. They tried cramming him with knowledge of the heaviest kind, but it had no effect whatever; they fed him on facts, they made him read ancient history—still he thought about spider-web swings and thistledown parachutes.

One day when a big wind was blowing Feather-brain floated right up into the sky. At first the sensation of being above the clouds was rather pleasant, but soon he grew afraid, for he knew that this was his punishment for not taking life seriously. He began to think hard, and he felt sorry for all the trouble he had caused in school; he counted the clouds, he pinched himself until he cried with pain, he thought °V\ nous ways by which he could help his parents until at last all the airy thoughts vanished from his head. Gently he began to fall, and the elf children clapped their hands as he came gradually down to earth. Well that cured him. Now he is at the top of the class. Thistledown parachutes are all very well, but they must never be thought of during the arithmetic lesson!