At the Back of the North Wind for Children   By: George MacDonald (1824-1905)

Eleventh Impression

THE CHILDREN'S CLASSICS

Each beautifully illustrated in color and tastefully bound

BY WASHINGTON IRVING THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW RIP VAN WINKLE

SELECTED TALES OF WASHINGTON IRVING'S ALHAMBRA

BY JOHN RUSKIN THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER

BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES

SELECTED HANS ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES

BY MISS MULOCK THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE THE ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE

BY EMMA GELLIBRAND J. COLE

BY JOHANNA SPYRI MONI THE GOAT BOY

BY OUIDA MOUFFLOU AND OTHER STORIES THE NÜRNBERG STOVE A DOG OF FLANDERS

SELECTED WONDERLAND STORIES ALL TIME TALES

BY JONATHAN SWIFT GULLIVER'S TRAVELS (LILLIPUT LAND)

BY GEORGE MACDONALD THE PRINCESS AND THE GOBLIN THE PRINCESS AND CURDIE AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND

[Illustration: NORTH WIND, WHO WAS DANCING WITH HIM, ROUND AND ROUND THE LONG BARE ROOM Page 111 ]

George Macdonald Stories For Little Folks

AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND

Simplified by

ELIZABETH LEWIS

Author of "The Princess and the Goblin Simplified"

With Six Full Page Illustrations in Color by Maria L. Kirk

[Illustration]

Philadelphia and London J. B. Lippincott Company Copyright, 1914 By J. B. Lippincott Company Electrotyped and Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company The Washington Square Press, Philadelphia, U.S.A.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. DIAMOND MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF NORTH WIND 9

II. DIAMOND'S FIRST TRIP WITH THE NORTH WIND 20

III. NORTH WIND SINKS A SHIP 31

IV. THE LAND AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND 41

V. DIAMOND'S FATHER LOSES HIS EMPLOYMENT 52

VI. DIAMOND LEARNS TO DRIVE A HORSE 62

VII. DIAMOND DRIVES THE CAB 73

VIII. DIAMOND VISITS NANNY 84

IX. THINGS GO HARD WITH DIAMOND'S FAMILY 93

X. DIAMOND IN HIS NEW HOME 102

XI. ANOTHER VISIT FROM NORTH WIND 109

XII. NORTH WIND CARRIES DIAMOND AWAY 119

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

NORTH WIND, WHO WAS DANCING WITH HIM, ROUND AND ROUND THE LONG BARE ROOM Frontispiece

AGAINST THIS HE LAID HIS EAR, AND THEN HE HEARD THE VOICE QUITE DISTINCTLY 12

IT WAS THE BACK DOOR OF A GARDEN 29

HE WAS SURE IT WAS NORTH WIND, BUT HE THOUGHT SHE MUST BE DEAD AT LAST 47

WITHIN A MONTH HE WAS ABLE TO SPELL OUT MOST OF THE VERSES FOR HIMSELF 73

HE FASTENED THE CHEEK STRAP VERY CAREFULLY 78

AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND

CHAPTER I

DIAMOND MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF NORTH WIND

There was once a little boy named Diamond and he slept in a low room over a coach house. In fact, his room was just a loft where they kept hay and straw and oats for the horses. Little Diamond's father was a coachman and he had named his boy after a favorite horse.

Diamond's father had built him a bed in the loft with boards all around it, because there was so little room in their own end of the coach house. So when little Diamond lay there in bed, he could hear the horses under him munching away in the dark or moving sleepily in their dreams. His father put old Diamond, the horse after whom he was named, in the stall under the bed because he was quiet and did not go to sleep standing, but lay down like a reasonable creature.