Will you sing for
us?" he asked the shell.
"I sing all the time," the shell replied, "for I cannot help singing,
but my singing is a secret and so is very soft and low. Put your head
close to the opening in my shell and listen!"
The dolls took turns doing this, and heard the shell sing softly and
very sweetly.
"How strange and far away it sounds!" exclaimed the French doll. "Like
fairies singing in the distance! The shell must be singing the songs of
the mermaids and the water-fairies!"
"It is queer that anything so rough on the outside could be so pretty
within!" said Raggedy Andy. "It must be a great pleasure to be able to
sing so sweetly!"
"Indeed it is," replied the beautiful shell, "and I get a great
happiness from singing all the time."
"And you will bring lots of pleasure to us, by being so happy!" said
Raggedy Andy. "For although you may not enter into our games, we will
always know that you are happily singing, and that will make us all
happy!"
"I will tell you the secret of my singing," said the shell. "When anyone
puts his ear to me and listens, he hears the reflection of his own
heart's music, singing; so, you see, while I say that I am singing all
the time, in reality I sing only when someone full of happiness hears
his own singing as if it were mine."
"How unselfish you are to say this!" said Raggedy Andy.
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