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ONCE upon a time lived a poor little maiden, whose father and mother
were both dead, and the child was so very poor that she had no
little room to live in nor even a bed to lie on. At last all her
clothes were gone excepting those she wore, and she had nothing to
eat but a piece of bread, which she held in her hand. She was good
and pious, and although forsaken by all the world, she knew that God
would take care of her, and she went out into the field and prayed
to him.
She was walking along the road with a piece of bread in her hand,
when she met a poor old man, who said to her, "Please give me
something to eat; I am so hungry." She gave him the whole piece, and
continued her walk.
Presently she saw a little child sitting by the roadside crying, and
as she passed, the child cried to her, "Oh, my head is so cold! do
give me something to cover it." Instantly she took off her hood and
gave it to the child.
A little farther on the maiden met another child, who said she was
freezing for want of a cloak; so she gave up her own.
At length she entered a forest, where it was quite dark, and here
she intended to sleep. She had not gone far before she found another
poor little child, with scarcely any clothing at all, and nearly
dying with cold. The good maiden thought to herself, "It is quite
dark now, and no one will see me;" so she took off her skirt and
covered the poor, shivering child with it.
Now the good maiden had nothing left in the world, and she was
turning to go into the forest and cover herself with leaves, when
suddenly a golden shower fell around her from heaven. A little angel
had watched the kind maiden and took pity on her and sent down a
shower of stars, which turned into golden dollars when they reached
the ground. She found herself covered from head to foot with warm
clothes. Then she gathered up the money, carried it away, and was
rich the rest of her life.
The Shower of Gold
A Fictional Short Story by
Agnes Taylor Ketchum & Ida M. Jorgensen
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