He seemed the
favorite of every one, except those few envious, wicked boys.
The great ladies of the city entreated for him to come and sing at
their feasts; and all their guests stopped in the midst of their eager
talk to listen to him, and they gave him sweetmeats and praised him to
the skies, and they offered him wine from their silver flagons, and
when he refused it, as his mother bade him, they praised him more than
ever, and once the host himself, the burgomaster, emptied the silver
flagon of the wine he had refused, and told him to take it home to his
mother and tell her she had a child whose dutifulness was worth more
than all the silver in the city.
But when he told his mother this, instead of looking delighted, as he
expected, she looked grave, and almost severe, and said:
"You only did your duty, my boy. It would have been a sin and a shame
to do otherwise. And, of course, you would not for the world."
"Certainly I would not, mother," he said.
But he felt a little chilled. Did his mother think it was always so
easy for boys to do their duty? and that every one did it?
Other people seemed to think it a very uncommon and noble thing to do
one's duty.
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