The Golden Windows

by Laura E. Richards

1. All day long the little boyworked hard, in fieldand barn and shed, for his people were poor farmers,and could not pay a workman; but at sunset there came an hour that was allhis own, for his father had given it to him. Then the boy would go up to thetop of a hill and look across atanother hill that rose some milesaway. On this far hill stood a house with windows of clear gold and diamonds. They shone and blazed so that it made the boy wink to look at them: but after a whilethe people in the house put up shutters,as it seemed, and then it looked like any common farmhouse. The boy supposedthey did this because it was supper-time;and then he would go into the house and have his supper of bread and milk, andso to bed.

2. One day the boy's father calledhim and said: "You have been a good boy, and have earned a holiday. Take thisday for your own; but try to learn some good things."The boy thanked his fatherand kissed his mother; then he put a piece of bread in his pocket, and startedoff to find the house with the golden windows.

3. It was pleasant walking. His bare feet made marks in the white dust, and when he looked back, the footprints seemed to be following him,and making company for him. His shadow, too, kept beside him, and would danceor run with him as he pleased; so itwas very cheerful.

4. After a long time he came to ahigh green hill; and when he had climbed the hill, there was the house on thetop; but it seemed that the shutters were up, for he could not see the goldenwindows. He came up to the house, and then he could well have wept, for thewindows were of clear glass, like any others, and there was no gold anywhereabout them.

5. A woman came to the door, andlooked kindly at the boy, and asked him what he wanted."I saw the goldenwindows from our hilltop," he said, "and I came to see them, but now they areonly glass."The woman shook her head and laughed."We are poor farming people,"she said, "and are not likely to have gold about our windows; but glass isbetter to see through."

6. She bade the boy sit down on the broad stone step at the door, and broughthim a cup of milk and a cake, andbade him rest; then she called her daughter, a child of his own age, and nodded kindly at the two, and went backto her work.

7. The little girl was barefooted like himself, and wore abrown cotton gown, but her hair wasgolden like the windows he had seen, and her eyes were blue like the sky atnoon. She led the boy about the farm, and showed him her black calf with the white star on itsforehead, and he told her about his own at home, which was red like a chestnut, with four white feet. Thenwhen they had eaten an apple together, and so had become friends, the boy askedher about the golden windows. The little girl nodded, and said she knew allabout them, only he had mistaken the house.

8. "You have come quite the wrongway!" she said. "Come with me, and I will show you the house with the goldenwindows, and then you will see for yourself."They went to a knoll that rose behind the farmhouse,and as they went the little girl told him that the golden windows could only beseen at a certain hour, about sunset."Yes, I know that!" said the boy.When theyreached the top of the knoll, the girl turned and pointed; and there on a hillfar away stood a house with windows of clear gold and diamond, just as he hadseen them. And when they looked again, the boy saw that it was his own home.

9. Then he told the little girlthat he must go; and he gave her his best pebble,the white one with the red band, that he had carried for a year in his pocket;and she gave him three horse-chestnuts,one red like satin, one spotted, andone white like milk. He kissed her, and promised to come again, but he did nottell her what he had learned; and so he went back down the hill, and the littlegirl stood in the sunset light and watched him.

10. The way home was long, and itwas dark before the boy reached his father's house; but the lamplight andfirelight shone through the windows, making them almost as bright as he hadseen them from the hilltop; and when he opened the door, his mother came to kisshim, and his little sister ran to throw her arms about his neck, and his fatherlooked up and smiled from his seat by the fire.

11. "Have you had a good day?"asked his mother.Yes, the boy had had a very good day."And have you learnedanything?" asked his father."Yes!" said the boy. "I have learned that our househas windows of gold and diamond."