The Betrothed

The little spinning top fell madly in love with the ball which lived with him in the toy chest. He asked the ball to marry him.

'We are made for each other,' said the top, 'you can leap and I can dance. Together we are the perfect couple.'

But the ball was vain and thought that the spinning to was too unimportant to be her husband, so she turned hi down.

'I fly so high up into the sky,' she explained, 'that I have become engaged to a swallow. He's the one I'll marry,'

One day the ball vanished and the spinning top thought she must have gone off to get married. He never forgot her and continued to yearn for her.

Some time later, the spinning top was pushed too hard and it spun off far away and got lost. Fate brought it to a little stream beside a country path, and there he found his old love again. The ball was very badly worn as it had been exposed to the elements for so long, but the spinning top recognised her at once and asked her to marry him again. The ball, who had not thought of the swallow for a long time, was happy to accept this time, even though the spinning top was also very scratched and marked by now.