Once upon a time, There were five peas in a pod. They were green, the shell was green, and so they believed that the whole world must be green also, which was a very natural conclusion. The shell grew, and the peas grew. They accommodated themselves to their position, and sat all in a row. The sun shone and warmed the shell, and the rain made them grow strong. It was mild and agreeable in broad daylight, and dark at night, as it generally is. The peas as they sat there grew bigger and bigger, and ever more thoughtful, for they felt there must be something else for them to do.

"Are we to sit here forever?" asked one;
It seems to me there must be something outside, I feel sure of it."

"Sitting is not so bad" said the laziest pea, "as long as I can sleep."
"Oh I certainly agree" said his brother, who was also lazy and fond of sitting.

Suddenly they felt a pull at the shell, it was torn off, and held in small warm human hands.
Then it was slipped into the pocket of a jacket in company with other full pods.

"Now we shall soon be opened!" said one, which was just what they all wanted.

"I should like to know which of us will travel furthest," said the smallest of the five,
"we shall soon see now!"

"What is to happen, will happen." said the largest pea.

POP! went the shell as it burst, and the five peas rolled out into the bright sunshine. There they lay in a child's hand. A little boy was holding them tightly, and said they were fine peas for his pea-shooter. And immediately he put one in and shot it out. "Now I am flying out into the wide world," said the smallest pea, "catch me if you can!" and he was gone in a moment. "I," said the second, "intend to fly straight to the sun. The sun is a shell that lets itself be seen, and it will suit me exactly." And away he went. "We will go to sleep wherever we find ourselves," said the two next, "and we'll still be rolling onwards." And they did certainly fall on the floor, and roll about before they got into the pea-shooter, but they were put in for all that. "We shall roll farther than the others!" said they. "What is to happen will happen." exclaimed the last as he was shot out of the pea-shooter.

As he spoke he flew up against an old board under a window,
and fell into a little crevice, which was almost filled up with moss and soft earth.
The moss closed itself round him, and there he lay, a captive indeed, but not unnoticed by God.

"What is to happen will happen." said he to himself.

Within the house lived a strong and industrious woman, who went out each day to chop wood and wash clothes and do any other work she could find. Yet she remained always poor, and at home lay her only daughter. The girl was not quite grown up, and was very delicate and weak. For a whole year she had kept to her bed, and it seemed as if she could neither live nor die. Quietly and patiently she lay all the day long, while her mother was away from home at her work. Spring came, and one morning the early sun shone brightly through the little window, and threw its rays over the floor of the room. just as the mother was going to work, the sick girl fixed her gaze on the lowest part of the window. "Mother," she whispered, "what can that little green thing be that peeps in at the window? It is moving in the wind." The mother stepped to the window and half opened it. "Oh!" she said, "there is a little pea which has taken root below and is putting out its green leaves. How could it have got into that crack?" And so the bed of the sick girl was drawn nearer to the window, so that she might see the budding plant, and the mother went out to her work.

"Mother, I believe I can get well," said the sick child in the evening, "the sun has shone in here so
brightly and warmly today, and the little pea is thriving so well! I shall get on better, too,
and go out into the warm sunshine again."

"God grant it!" said the mother, although she did not really believe
it would be so. But she propped up the green plant which had given her child such pleasant
hopes of life, so that it might not be broken by the winds. She tied a piece of string
to the window-sill and to the upper part of the frame, so that the pea-tendrils
might twine round it when it shot up. And it did shoot up, indeed it might
almost be seen to grow from day to day.

"Now here is a flower coming," said the old woman one morning,
and now at last she began to encourage the hope that her sick daughter might really recover.

A week after, the girl sat up for the first time. She sat for a whole hour, feeling quite happy
by the open window in the warm sunshine, while outside grew her plant
with a sweet pink pea-blossom in full bloom.
The little maiden bent down and gently kissed the delicate leaves.

This day was like a festival to her.

But what became of the other four peas?

Why the one who flew out into the wide world shouting, "Catch me if you can!" fell onto the ground
in front of a shop, and ended his travels in the belly of a pigeon.

The two lazy ones indeed did roll the farthest, but they were
eaten by the same pigeon, so they were at least of some use.

And The fourth, who wanted to reach the sun, fell into an old sink and lay there
in the dirty water for days and days, 'till he had swelled to a great size.

"Oh I am getting beautifully fat," said the proud pea, "I expect I may become so big that I shall burst! No pea could do more that that, I think. I am the most remarkable of all the five which were in the shell." And the sink happily confirmed the opinion. "I," said the sink, "shall stand up for my pea."

The End