They were outnumbered, seven to
one; but when the last of the English soldiers lay dead, twice their
number of Hillsmen lay dead around them!
When the relief party reached the spot, later in the day, they found the
bodies of their comrades, full of wounds, huddled over and in the
barricade, or crushed on the rocks below. They were mutilated and
battered, and bore every sign of the terrible struggle. _But round both
wrists of every British soldier was bound the red thread!_
The Hillsmen had paid greater honour to their heroic foes than to the
bravest of their own brave dead.
* * * * *
Another instance is the short poem, which, while being perfectly simple,
is rich in suggestion of more than the young child will see for himself.
The following example shows the working out of details in order to provide
a satisfactorily rounded story.
THE ELF AND THE DORMOUSE[1]
[Footnote 1: Adapted from _The Elf and the Dormouse_, by Oliver Herford,
in _A Treasury of Verse for Little Children_. (Harrap. 1s. net.)]
Once upon a time a dormouse lived in the wood with his mother. She had
made a snug little nest, but Sleepy-head, as she called her little
mousie, loved to roam about among the grass and fallen leaves, and it was
a hard task to keep him at home.
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