The New-Year's Bargain

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Coolidge, Susan, 1835-1905

Contributor:

Ledyard, Addie

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource : multiple file formats

Place of Publication:

Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg,

Summary:

"The New-Year's Bargain" by Susan Coolidge is a children's novel written in the late 19th century. The story revolves around two young children, Max and Thekla, who live in a secluded cottage in the Black Forest. As the Old Year prepares to depart, they encounter a mysterious old man named Old Time, who introduces them to the months personified, setting the stage for a whimsical adventure centered on time and seasonal tales. At the start of the tale, on a wintry day, the children gather firewood in the forest when they come upon Old Time and his clay figures representing the twelve months. After a conversation with Old Time, Max steals some of the "sand of time," leading to a comical and chaotic encounter with the personified months who demand restitution. Max proposes a bargain where each month would visit them, share a story, and present gifts in exchange for their moments. This charming setup promises further adventures that intertwine lessons about time, the seasons, and the importance of gratitude and responsibility, making it an engaging read for young audiences. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Contents:

The bargain with the months

The bear story

Little tot

"Maria"

May's garden

The little housekeepers

The last of the fairies

The story of a little spark

The desert island

Nippie nutcracker

"Chusey"

How the cat kept Christmas

Conclusion: What was on the tree.

Credits:

E-text prepared by K Nordquist, Miller, Sue Clark, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org)

Notes:

Reading ease score: 90.6 (5th grade). Very easy to read.

Release date is 2019-01-24