THE JOLLY CABORDMEN.

There was once a nation of remarkably genial people who knew no evil and would not have practiced it if they had known it. They were very industrious, and their days were so busy and they took such an interest in their work, that they had no time to be wicked or sad.

They were called Cabordmen, for what reason I know not, for the name of their country was not Cabord. Their principal industry was tilling the soil, and they generally worked with a will.

THE JOLLY CABORDMEN AT WORK.

When they first settled their country the land was poor and very little grew upon it that was worth having. But, year by year, the soil became richer, on account of the care they took of it, and all sorts of valuable grains, and grasses, and vegetables, and fruits were grown, and these Cabordmen had all and more than they wanted of the good things of the earth.

So they waxed rich and happy, and there never was a time whena man was hungry that he did not have some good things to eat, and it very seldom happened that any of these hard workers found himself without an appetite at meal-time.

For people who work hard and well are very apt to have all they want and to want all they have. If they do not want it to use themselves, they want it to sell or give away.

So, in time the people of this country became not only very comfortable but very wealthy.

They had great barns full of grain and vast stores of everything needful for their use and livelihood, and as they often sold their surplus productions to other nations, they had great vaults full of money.

But they all worked away every day, just the same as they used to, because they were so accustomed to toil, that they would not have been happy without work.

So, of course, they became richer and richer, and jollier and jollier until at last they became so prosperous and happy that other nations began to take notice of them. It was rather unusual, in those days to see a whole nation so jolly.

The people in the adjoining countries were by no means so happy and prosperous. Most of them were much better pleased with fighting than with work, and it, therefore, often happened that they were hungry when there was very little to eat.

For war is a very bad thing for crops. It is sometimes as injurious as a long drought. For somebody must plant and hoe or there will be little to eat in a land, and if the people spend most of their time in warfare there cannot be much agricultural work going on.

But these outside people, especially those who lived in the land of Voldor to the north of the country of the Cabordmen, had an idea that it was a great deal easier to make war and capture supplies than to raise crops themselves.

This is why, after having carefully watched the Cabordmen for someyears, and noting their great possessions, they resolved to make war upon these industrious and jolly people.

So they gathered together an army, which was an easy thing for them to do, and invaded the country of the Cabordmen.

Our jolly friends were much astounded and distressed when the great army of the Voldorites marched over their borders.

THE VOLDORITES MARCH INTO THE COUNTRY OF THE CABORDMEN.

Now the poor Cabordmen knew not what to do. They were not soldiers, and, indeed, there was not so much as a single sword or spear or shield in the whole country. They never had gone to war and they were not prepared for it, nor did they know anything about fighting. It was altogether a new business to them.

They gathered together and held hasty consultations, but they could decide upon no plan to repel the invaders. What could they—a nationof simple, jolly husbandmen—do against a great army of well armed and practised warriors?

There seemed to be nothing left for them but to surrender at once, and let the Voldorites help themselves to whatever they wanted. In this case the poor Cabordmen and their families would not only be stripped of every thing, but it was very likely indeed that the invaders would carry off many of them as prisoners, and take them to Voldor, and make them cultivate the land of their captors.

This was terrible to think of. But they could devise no plan to escape this dreadful fate.

The Voldorites were now encamped upon the northern edge of their territory, which was yet uninhabited and barren. The enemy so far had met with none of the Cabordmen, but many of the latter had seen the great army from afar without having made themselves visible.

Night came on while the people were in this fearful condition of fear and suspense. Less than a day’s march would bring the fierce enemy into their midst. No one went to bed, for who could sleep at such a time? No fires or lamps were lighted. They all gathered together by the faint light of the new moon, and bewailed their sad condition.

There was only one person among them who seemed to have retained his courage and thoughtfulness. This was a young man named Adar Gan Ip.

He was named Adar because he was a painter. Ip was his family name, and he was called Gan after his grandfather. He was the only painter in the whole nation, and he had learned his trade in a neighboring country, where he had been to sell grain.

He principally painted signs and portraits. He did not paint many portraits, because the people had but little time to sit for them, but he painted a good many signs on barns and granaries. People liked tohave their names on their barns. He had no paint but one pot of white paint. So when he painted portraits he painted only old men, so that the white paint would do for their hair and beards as well as for their faces. Having no colored paint for eyes, he always painted portraits with the faces turned around, so that the eyes could not be seen.

This young man was, as I have said, the only person among the Cabordmen who seemed to have his wits about him.

He conceived a plan of safety, and lost no time in putting it in execution.

The Cabordmen placed great confidence in him because of the excellence of his portraits, and so when he told them his plan—or that part of it which they were to carry out—they agreed to it at once.

What they were to do was very simple; each person was to take two days’ provision, and to clear out of the country, every man, woman, and child of them. They were to march away as fast as they could over the south border, and to stay there until they heard from Adar Ip. They were to take nothing with them but their two days’ provision and the clothes they wore, which were generally scanty, as the climate was mild, and were to leave their houses and fields, and everything just as they were at that time. Doors all open, and everything lying where it had been last used.

So up got every man, woman and child, took food for two days, and departed, leaving Adar Ip behind. They were all great walkers, being so accustomed to activity in the field, and before morning they had all passed out of sight over the south border of the land.

Then with his pot of white paint in one hand, and his brush in the other, went Adar Ip, at the first peep of day, to the grave-yards of the Cabordmen. There were three of these, not very far from the centre of their country, which was a small country as you may well imagine.

The Cabordmen, being very healthy, seldom died of any disease butold age; and there were not very many persons buried in the three grave yards. In the first, and largest, there were seventy-two graves; in the second, forty-one, and the third, a new one, only thirteen. The graves were all leveled and sodded over, so that the surface of the grave yard seemed like a beautiful lawn.

In one enclosure were the grandfathers, in another the grandmothers, and in the third the very old maids and bachelors who had died. There were no grave-stones or anything of the kind, but at the gate of each enclosure was a board, stating how many persons were buried therein. Every time it was necessary, which was very seldom, Adar Ip painted out the old number on the board and put in a new one.

When our young painter reached the first grave yard he quickly painted three ciphers after the figures on the board by the gate. Then running to the second enclosure he painted a three and two ciphers on that board, and on the third, he painted a six and a five and a four after the figures that were already there. Then he hurried away and hid himself.

In the course of the morning the Voldorite army reached the settlements of the Cabordmen. They did not stop long at the first houses, but hurried on, carefully looking out on every side for some sign of resistance from the people. But they saw no such sign, and they saw no people. This naturally surprised them very much. And the farther they went the more they were surprised.

At last the leaders ordered a halt, and gathered together for consultation.

“I cannot imagine,” said the chief, “what this means. We must look out for some ambush or trap. By the way, has any one seen any of these Cabordmen?”

Careful inquiries were made, but no one had seen a Cabordman since they had entered the country,

“This is indeed remarkable,” said the chief of the Voldorites. “Icannot imagine what it means. No ambush has been discovered, no fortifications, no people. The houses are all open. Everything seems as if no enemy were expected. All their valuables are here. Where are they?”

Nobody knew, but just then a man who had been in the vicinity of the grave-yards came running to the place where the officers were gathered together, and he urged them to come back with him and see what he had seen.

They all followed him, and when they saw the boards at the entrance of the enclosures they were utterly astounded.

“What!” cried the chief, walking from one enclosure to another, “Here lie buried seventy-two thousand Cabordmen, and here forty-one thousand and three hundred Cabordwomen, and here thirteen thousand, six hundred and fifty-four unmarried Cabordmen and women! Comrades, we have found them! The whole nation lies buried here!”

A deep silence fell upon the group of officers, and upon the vast body of soldiers that had gathered around them.

At length the chief spoke again:

“It must have been a terrible pestilence,” he said. “The whole nation lies buried here. I have added up these figures. I know there were not more than one hundred and twenty-six thousand nine hundred and fifty-four of them all put together. They are all dead and buried here. It must have been awful!”

Some of the officers and soldiers then began to whisper together. Then some one said out loud that this must be a dreadfully unhealthy country. Then some of them began to move away as if they were going to the rear to attend to something important in that direction. Then the chief mounted his horse and rode away, and in ten minutes that whole army made up its mind that it would be exceedingly imprudent to remain any longer in such an unwholesome country, and away they all marched towards Voldor.

The farther they went the more frightened they became, and soon a perfect panic pervaded the army, and they set off at the top of their speed, horsemen and footmen for their own barren but salubrious land.

THE FLIGHT OF THE VOLDORITES.

Away they went over the hills and the plains, and in two hours there was not a Voldorite in the land of the Cabordmen.

Then uprose Adar Ip, and fled towards the southern border to inform his countrymen of their happy deliverance.

They all returned quickly and found everything as it had been left. Nothing had been taken, for none of the invaders wanted anything that had been in a land where such a terrible mortality had prevailed.

Great was the joy and great the gratitude exhibited towards the ingenious young Ip. The people presented him with a well filled granary,and ordered him to paint on its walls at the public expense, the history of his exploit.

“I wonder,” said one old man, “who they thought buried all these people, if everybody was dead.”

“I don’t know,” said Adar Ip. “But I think that they had such a high opinion of the industry and prudence of our people that they supposed we had doubtless made suitable arrangements for a contingency of this kind.”

After this, the Cabordmen were never again disturbed, and they became jollier than ever.

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