The Japanese Twins | Page 6

had such a happy time together watching the new baby.
Bot'Chan acted just like all the other babies in the world. First he got
his fist into his mouth by accident, and sucked it. Then he got it out

again without meaning to, and punched himself in the nose with
it--such a funny little nose, no bigger than a small button! Then he
opened his mouth wide and yawned.
"See how sleepy the little mouse is," said the Mother. "Run out and
play now, my children, and let him rest."
Taro and Take left the room softly and went out on the porch. They sat
down on the top step to talk over the wonderful thing that had
happened.
It was springtime and the flowers in the garden were just pushing their
leaves through the ground. The sun was shining, and a little new yellow
butterfly, that had only just crept out of its snug cocoon that very day,
was dancing about in the sunshine.
"I suppose we were new once, too, weren't we?" said Take, watching
the butterfly.
"I suppose we were," Taro answered. "We grew right up out of the root
of a tree. Natsu told me so."
"I wonder which tree it was," Take said.
"It must have been one of the trees in our own garden, of course," Taro
answered; "or else we shouldn't be here."
"Wouldn't it have been a terrible accident if we had happened to grow
in some other garden?" said Take. She looked quite scared just at the
very thought of such a thing.
"Maybe if we had we shouldn't have been ourselves at all," Taro
answered. He looked a little scared, too.
"Who should we have been, then?" asked Take.
"I don't know, I'm sure," Taro said. "I can't think. But, anyway, we're
lucky that it didn't happen. We're here--and we're ourselves!"

"Let's go into the garden this minute and see if we can find Bot'Chan's
tree," said Take. "He's so new that maybe we can find the very spot
where he grew."
"The fairies would surely hide the place so we couldn't find it," said
Taro; "but we can try. Let's go softly; then maybe they won't hear us."
They tiptoed out into the garden. How I wish you could see their
garden! There are all sorts of wonderful places in it! It isn't very large,
but it has in it a little bit of a toy mountain, and a tiny lake with little
weeny goldfish in it, and a little stream of water, like a baby river, that
runs into the lake. And, best of all, there is a curved bridge, painted red,
just big enough for the Twins to walk over, if they are very careful and
don't bounce! The Twins' Grandfather made this garden for their Father
to play in when he was a little boy, so they all love it dearly.
There are iris plants and lilies beside the tiny lake, and a funny little
pine tree--a very little pine tree, just a few feet high--grows out of some
rocks on the side of the mountain.
The Twins crossed the tiny red bridge and crept up the stepping- stones
on the mountain-side until they reached the little pine tree.
"Do you s'pose it could be the pine tree?" Take whispered.
"Maybe; it's so small--just the right size for Bot'Chan," Taro whispered
back.
The Twins looked carefully all around the pine tree, but its trunk was
gnarled and old. It is hard to believe that so little a tree could be so old,
but the Japanese know how to keep a tree small, like a toy tree, even if
it has been growing for a hundred years.
This tree wasn't a hundred years old, because their Grandfather had set
it out when the Twins' Father was a little boy, and the Twins' Father
wasn't anywhere near a hundred years old.
"I don't believe a darling little pink baby could ever grow here," said

Take, when she had looked all around the pine tree. "Let's look at the
plum tree."
They ran to the plum tree that stood at the other end of the garden.
They looked all about it.
On the south side of the plum tree, in the sunshine, there was a long
branch near the ground; and on the branch--what do you think?--there
was a whole row of tiny pink buds, almost ready to burst into bloom!
"Oh, Taro, Taro, look here!" Take cried. "Here's the Baby's very own
branch; I'm sure of it, for there aren't any other buds on the whole tree
that are as near out as these!"
"Let's cut off this spray and carry it into the house to put in the vase,"
said Taro.
"Oh, yes, and I'll show Mother how beautifully I