GIFT OF
ELLA STERLING MIOHELS
>
THE
O A K-T REE
FAIRY
BOOK ;r
FAVORITE FAIRY TALES
EDITED BY
CLIFTON JOHNSON
M
ILLUSTRATED BY
WILLARD BONTE
BOSTON
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
1905
-3" 5$
Copyright, 1905,
BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
All rights reserved
Published November, 1905
GIFTO*
Uzfc*%
printers
8. J. PARKHILL & Co., BOSTON, U. S. A.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
HERE are the old favorites in a version
especially suited for the home fireside.
The interest, the charm, and all the sweet-
ness have been retained ; but savagery, distressing
details, and excessive pathos have been dropped.
Surely our little people are better off without some
of the sentiments of that barbaric past when the
tales originated. Felix Adler, in his notable work
on " The Moral Education of Children," years
ago appealed for just such a version as this,
wherein there should be " less of falsehood, glut-
tony, drunkenness, and evil in general " than in
the usual tellings, and from which " malicious step-
mothers and cruel fathers should be excluded."
The same need has been widely felt by parents and
teachers. "The Oak-Tree Fairy Book" supplies
this want, and can be read aloud or placed in the
hands of the children with entire confidence. The
changes are not, however, very radical in most
instances, and I have made no alteration in inci-
1664
viii INTRODUCTORY NOTE
dents where there did not seem to be an ethical
necessity for so doing.
The first sixteen tales in this book have a special
claim to the attention of American readers, for they
were picked up in this country. Two or three of
them are to be found in nearly all our fairy-tale
collections, and it would not be safe to say that any
of them originated here ; yet there are none of the
sixteen but that differ in an interesting way from the
usual versions, and most of them are quite unfa-
miliar to the present generation. I am indebted for
them to friends and correspondents and to the
American Journal of Folk Lore. Readers acquainted
with similar tales not in the ordinary collections will
confer a favor if they will communicate with me.
CLIFTON JOHNSON
HADLEY, MASS.
If the stories you read in the following pages and the pictures that illustrate
them please you, watch for " The Birch-Tree Fairy Book " next year.
CONTENTS
PAGE
JOHNNY-CAKE i
THE TWIST-MOUTH FAMILY 9
THE TALE OF A BLACK CAT 12
THE TALKING EGGS 17
THE TRAVELS OF A Fox 27
JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK . . . 34
THE Two BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH .... 46
THE OLD WOMAN AND HER PIG 59
LADY FEATHERFLIGHT 63
THE LITTLE RED HEN AND THE WHEAT 83
A BEAR STORY 86
FOOLISH JIM AND CLEVER JAMES 87
THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCESS 93
THE OGRE'S WIFE 99
THE Fox AND THE LITTLE RED HEN 107
THE HOBYAHS in
THE THREE BEARS 118
ToM-TiT-ToT 124
THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN 133
LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD 146
THE FOUR MUSICIANS 152
x CONTENTS
PAGE
TEENY-TINY 160
THE WOLF AND THE SEVEN LITTLE GOSLINGS . . . . 163
THE MAGIC FIDDLE 168
THE CLEVER WIFE 178
TITTY MOUSE AND TATTY MOUSE 187
THE STORY OF CHICKEN-LICKEN 192
KING O'TOOLE AND HIS GOOSE 196
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS 202
THE FAIRY Cow 210
THE MASTER OF ALL MASTERS 215
MR. MICRAWBLE 219
THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE 226
CINDERELLA 236
HOP-O'-MY-THUMB 251
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 266
THE FATE OF A LITTLE OLD WOMAN 282
THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK . . . . 286
MR. VINEGAR 303
THE GIANT OF THE BLACK MOUNTAINS 311
LAZY JACK 322
THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER 328
THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM 333
THE SALT FISH AND THE EEL . 337
A MISSING MAN FOUND 341
THE KETTLE THAT WOULD NOT WALK 344
THE LITTLE HORSE AND ITS KIND MASTER . . . . 347
THE GOTHAM MEN AND THE CUCKOO 349
THE HARE THAT WAS SENT TO YORK 351
CONTENTS xi
PAGE
THE CRANE IN THE WHEATFIELDS 353
THE MEN OF GOTHAM AND THE WATCH 356
THE CHEESES THAT RAN AWAY 358
THE LOST LEGS 361
THE HIDING OF THE CHURCH BELL 363
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Jack and the beanstalk Frontispiece
Johnny-cake started toward the open door 2
On went Johnny-cake 2
The bear hurried after Johnny-cake 3
On ran Johnny-cake . 5
Johnny-cake and the fox 7
The father blows upward 9
The mother blows downward 10
Mary blows out of the right corner of her mouth . I o
Dick blows out of the left corner of his mouth .... 1 1
John blows straight 1 1
The black cat 12
A pail of water from the well 1 8
The witch takes off her head and combs her hair ... 19
The snakes and toads and frogs followed her 23
The witch 25
The fox goes off with the rooster 28
The end of the fox 32
Jac! asks for something to eat 39
Running away with the giant's bedquilt 45
He picked up the bag 4.7
The tree shakes its apples down on the old witch ... 57
xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACE
The old woman and her pig 61
The giant pulls Jack out of the cupboard 66
The magic forest stops the giant 75
The little red hen and her bread . 85
A bear story 86
Jim finds a basket of cakes 90
The princess on the balcony . 95
The crocodile dived 105
The fox brings home the little red hen 109
One night the Hobyahs came 1 1 1
The Hobyahs run off 1 1 1
The little girl in the bag 1 1 6
The big dog jumps out 117
Golden Hair is found by the three bears 122
Tom-Tit-Tot is angry 131
The merchant begs the dwarf not to take his son . . . . 135
The giants began a desperate struggle 143
Little Red Riding-Hood meets the wolf 147
At the robbers' window 156
The teeny-tiny woman on her way to the teeny-tiny field . 1 6 1
They set forth in search of the wolf 166
"Have pity, have pity ! " begged the old man . . . . 173
She tumbled him into the big box 185
Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse 187
Fox-lox shows the way 195
He threw the bird up into the air 198
The wolf is terrified .... - 207
Out leaped the fairy cow 213
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv
PAGE
The servant pounds on her master's door 217
Mr. Micrawble catches Tommy 220
Tommy asks about the pudding 223
The fisherman releases the fish 227
Another talk with the fish magician 229
Cinderella brings the pumpkin 241
One of her slippers dropped off 247
The ogre in his seven-league boots 261
Hop-o'-my-Thumb gets the magic boots 264
The merchant pleads with the beast 272
Beauty and the mirror 277
Sir Gammer Vans pops out of the thumb bottle . . . . 283
Jack and the goat 286
The landlord steals the donkey 291
The magic stick punishes the innkeeper 299
Mr. Vinegar gets the door on his back 304
The owl laughs at Mr. Vinegar , . . . 309
Suddenly a huge giant appeared 312
The witch hurried off to tell the giant 319
Lazy Jack brings home a cheese 325
Carrying the donkey 327
Watching the elves 330
A dispute 334
Drowning the eel 339
Finding the missing man 343
He told the kettle where he lived 345
The little horse and its kind master 348
A fence for the cuckoo 350
xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
A messenger 352
Saving the wheat 354
An evil spirit destroyed 357
Sending the cheeses to Nottingham 359
The lost legs 362
Saving the church bell 364
The end 366
THE OAK-TREE FAIRY BOOK
JOHNNY-CAKE
ONCE upon a time there was an old man
and an old woman and a little boy. One
morning the old man got up and started
the kitchen fire, and the old woman got up and
made a Johnny-cake and put it in the oven to
bake it.
The little boy slept in the kitchen, and the old
woman shook him to awaken him, and said, " Your
father and I are going out to work in the garden,
and do you get up, and pretty soon y6u, ffiu.st turn-
the Johnny-cake."
So the old man and old womUn /went :ou,attd;
began to hoe potatoes in the garden and left the
little boy to watch the oven ; but the little boy was
lazy, and he lay snug and warm in bed, half asleep.
By-and-by he said to himself, " Oh, dear, I shall
have to get up to turn the Johnny-cake ! "
But the Johnny-cake called out, "No, you
needn't; I can turn myself."
The little boy was not sure about that, and he
2 JOHNNY-CAKE
scrambled out of bed and began to dress ; but he
had only got his trousers on when he saw the oven-
door swing back, and out jumped
Johnny-cake and .started toward the
open door of the house. The little boy
ran to shut the door, but Johnny-cake was
too quick for him and was down the steps and out
into the road before the little boy could catch him.
" Johnny-cake 's running away, Johnny-cake's
running away ! " shouted the little boy, and hur-
ried after him as fast as he could scamper, and
the old man and old woman threw down their
hoes and hastened to join in the chase.
But Johnny-cake outran all three, and shortly
was gone from sight, and his pursuers sat down,
'panting for; .brjeath, on a bank to rest.
' On went Johnny-cake, and by-and-
'by' 'he : earti it .to four mowers in a
meadow, who looked up from their
work and called out, " Where are ye going, Johnny-
cake?"
"Oh," said Johnny-cake, "I've outrun an old
man and an old woman and a little boy, and I can
outrun you, too-o-o ! "
"Ye can, can ye ? We '11 see about that ! " said
they, and they threw down their scythes and ran
JOHNNY-CAKE 5
after him; but they could not catch up with him,
and presently they had to sit down by the road-
side to rest.
On ran Johnny-cake, and by-and-
by he came to two ditch-diggers, who
"were digging a ditch.
"Where are ye going, Johnny-cake? " they
asked.
" Oh," said he, " I 've outrun an old man and
an old woman and a little boy and four mowers,
and I can outrun you, too-o-o I "
"Ye can, can ye? We'll see about that!" said
they, and they threw down their spades and ran
after him; but Johnny-cake soon outstripped them,
and, seeing they could never catch him, they gave
up the chase and sat down to rest.
On went Johnny-cake, and by-and-
by he came to a bear.
" Where are ye going, Johnny-
cake ? " the bear asked.
"Oh," said Johnny-cake, "I've outrun an old
man and an old woman and a little boy and four
mowers and two ditch-diggers, and I can outrun
you, too-o-o!"
" Ye can, can ye ? We '11 see about that ! "
growled the bear, and hurried as fast as his legs
6 JOHNNY-CAKE
could carry him after Johnny-cake, who kept right
on along the road.
Pretty soon the bear was left so far behind that
he saw he might as well give up the hunt first as
last. So he stretched himself by the wayside to rest.
On went Johnny-cake, and by-and-
by he came to a wolf.
Where are ye going, Johnny-cake ? "
the wolf asked.
" Oh," said Johnny-cake, " I 've outrun an old
man and an old woman and a little boy and four
mowers and two ditch-diggers and a bear, and I can
outrun you, too-o-o /"
"Ye can, can ye? We'll see about that!"
snarled the wolf; and he set off at a gallop after
Johnny-cake, who went on and on so fast that the
wolf soon saw there was no hope of catching him,
and lay down to rest.
On went Johnny-cake, and by-and-
by he came to a fox, who was stretched
out for a nap among some bushes a
little aside from the road.
The fox heard Johnny-cake coming, and he cried
out in a sharp voice, without getting up, " Where
are ye going, Johnny-cake?"
" Oh," said Johnny-cake, " I 've outrun an old
JOHNNY-CAKE 7
man and an old woman and a little boy and four
mowers and two ditch-diggers and a bear and a wolf,
and I can outrun you, too-o-o! "
The fox said, " I can't quite hear ye, Johnny-
cake. Won't ye come a little closer? "
So Johnny-cake went a little closer, and called
out in a very loud voice, "I've outrun an old man
and an old woman and a little boy and four mowers and
two ditch-diggers and a bear and a wotf, and I can out-
run you , TOO-O-O ! "
" I can't quite hear ye. Won't ye come a little
closer?" said the fox, putting a paw behind one of
his ears to help him hear better.
So Johnny-cake came up quite close, and screamed
out still louder, "I 'VE OUTRUN AN OLD MAN AND
AN OLD WOMAN AND A LITTLE BOY AND FOUR
MOWERS AND TWO DITCH-DIGGERS AND A BEAR AND
A WOLF, AND I CAN OUTRUN YOU, TOO-O-O ! "
8 JOHNNY-CAKE
" Ye can, can ye ? " yelped the fox, and he
snapped up Mr. Johnny-cake in his sharp teeth
and ate him ; and that was the end of poor
Johnny-cake.
Tbe bear hurried as fast as his legs could carry him after Johnny-cake*
THE TWIST-MOUTH FAMILY
THERE was once a father and a mother
and several children, and all but one of
them had their mouths twisted out of
shape. The one whose mouth was not twisted
was a son named John.
When John got to be a young man he was sent
to college, and on the day he came home for his
first vacation the family sat up late in the evening
to hear him tell of all he had learned. But
finally they prepared to go to bed, and the mother
said, " Father, will you blow out the light ? "
" Yes, I will," was his reply.
" Well, I wish you would," said she.
"Well, I will," he said.
So he blew, but his mouth
was twisted and he blew up-
ward, this way and he
could n't blow out the light.
Then he said, "Mother,
will you blow out the light ? "
10 THE TWIST-MOUTH FAMILY
" Yes, I will," was her reply.
" Well, I wish you would," said he.
" Well, I will," she said.
So she blew, but her mouth was
twisted and she blew downward,
this way and she couldn't blow
out the light.
Then she spoke to her daugh-
ter and said, " Mary, will you blow
out the light ? "
" Yes, I will," was Mary's reply.
" Well, I wish you would," said her mother.
"Well, I will," Mary said.
So Mary blew, but her mouth
was twisted and she blew out of
the right corner of her mouth, ^
this way and she could n't blow
out the light.
Then Mary spoke to one of her
brothers and said, " Dick, will you blow out the
light?"
"Yes, I will," was Dick's reply.
" Well, I wish you would," said Mary.
"Well, I will," Dick said.
So Dick blew, but his mouth was twisted, and
he blew out of the left corner of his mouth, this
THE TWIST-MOUTH FAMILY *
II
way and he could n't blow out
the light.
Then Dick said, " John, will you
blow out the light ? "
" Yes, I will," was John's reply.
"Well, I wish you would," said
Dick.
" Well, I will," John said.
So John blew, and his mouth was not twisted
and he blew straight, this way and he blew out
the light.
The light was out, and they were all glad that
John had succeeded, and the father said, " What a
blessed thing it is to have larnin* ! "
THE TALE OF A BLACK CAT
ONCE there was a little boy named Tommy ;
and there 's a " . That stands for
Tommy. I
Tommy's house was not a very good one.'
So he built a new wall on this side of it.
And then he built a new wall on that side
of it.
You can see now that he had two nice rooms in
his house, though not very large. Next he put in
windows to look out of one in this room\Q|
and one in that room.^la/
Then he made a tall ^V chimney
00
on this side of his house. n \J/
And then he made a tall \n| D / chimney on the
other side of his house. \|/
After that he started some grass beside his door,
like this.
a/ Not far away from Tommy's house
lived a little girl J| fl
named Sally; V|/ and there 's an C
That stands for Sally. JC
THE TALE OF A BLACK CAT
When Tommy had finished his house he thought
he would like to go and tell Sally what he had been
doing, so he came out
of his door and walked
along, this way, over to
where she lived.
Sally was glad to see him, and he went into
the ^itchen and sat down and explained to her
how he had built two new walls to his house
and put in windows and made two tall chim-
neys, and how he had started the grass in front
of his door. " And now, Sally," said he, " I want
you to come over and see how well I Ve fixed
things."
" I '11 put on my bonnet and go right back with
you," said Sally ; but when she was ready to start
she said, " We might go down cellar first and get
some apples to eat on the way."
So they went down cellar, like this.
14 THE TALE OF A BLACK CAT
They got some apples, and then they came up
outdoors by the hatchway, like this.
L
Now they started for Tommy's house, but the
walking was bad, and they had gone only u few steos
when they tumbled down, like this.
However, they were quickly up, like this.
And they walked along until they were nearly to
THE TALE OF A BLACK CAT 15
Tommy's house when they tumbled down again,
like this.
And they were no sooner up on their feet, like this,
irniu
than they tumbled down once more, like this.
III 111
But they were nearly to Tommy's house now, and
1 6 THE TALE OF A BLACK CAT
they got up and were going into the yard straight
toward the door, like this,
III
when Sally pointed toward the doorstep and
cried out, " O-o-o-o-o-o-oh ! See that big BLACK
CAT ! "
m
THE TALKING EGGS
THERE was once a girl named
Blanche, and when she was ten
years old her father and mother
died, and she went to live with an aunt
who had a daughter Rose. This daugh-
ter was selfish and disagreeable, and yet
her mother did everything she could for
her ; while she treated Blanche, who was
pleasant and obliging, very badly. Rose
could sit all day long in a rocking-chair and do
nothing if she chose, but Blanche was kept con-
stantly at work, and had to eat in the kitchen.
Among other things, she was obliged to go twice a
day to bring water from a well more than a mile
and a half distant from the house.
One morning, when she approached the well with
her bucket, she found an old woman standing beside
the well who said, "Pray, my little one, give me a
drink, for I am very thirsty."
1 8 THE TALKING EGGS
"That I will do gladly," replied Blanche, and
she drew from the well a nice fresh bucketful.
The old woman drank, and then said, " Thank
you, my child, you are a good girl, and I shall not
forget your kindness."
A few days afterward Blanche was used so
roughly by her aunt that she ran away into the
woods. She was afraid to return home, and she
sat down at the foot of a great tree and cried, and
knew not what to do. But pretty soon she saw the
old woman who had spoken to her at the well
coming toward her.
" Ah, my child," said the old woman, " why are
you crying? What has hurt you?"
" My aunt, with whom I live, has beaten
me," Blanche answered, " and I am afraid to go
home."
" Well, my dear," the old woman said, " come
with me, and I will give you some supper and a
bed ; but you must promise not to laugh at any-
thing you will see."
Blanche promised, and the old woman took her
by the hand and they walked on deeper into the
woods until they arrived at the old woman's cabin.
When they went inside the old woman said, " Now
you make a fire, my child, to cook the supper for us."
THE TALKING EGGS
While Blanche made the fire the old woman sat
down in her chair beside the hearth and took off her
head, and after adjusting it carefully on her knees
she combed her hair. Blanche thought that very
strange, and she was a little frightened, but she said
nothing.
Presently the old woman set her head back on
her shoulders and went to a cupboard and took out
a large bone. " Here," said she, handing the bone
to Blanche, " put this in the pot
that hangs on the crane."
Blanche put the bone in the pot,
and lo! in a moment the pot was
full of good meat. Then
the old woman gave
Blanche a grain of rice
and said, "You see that
wooden mortar in the cor-
ner with the pestle
in it ? Put this grain
of rice into the mor-
tar and pound it."
So Blanche put the
grain of rice into the
mortar and began to
pound it, and imme-
20 THE TALKING EGGS
diately the mortar was full of rice, and this they
cooked, and had it and the meat for their supper.
The next morning, after breakfast, the old woman
said to Blanche, " You must now return home, but,
as you are a good girl, I want to make you a pres-
ent of some talking eggs. Go to the chicken-
house, and all the eggs which say c Take me ! ' you
may carry away with you ; and all those which say
c Do not take me ! ' you must leave. When you
are on your way home throw the eggs behind your
back to break them."
Blanche did just as she was bidden. She went
to the chicken-house, and the eggs in the nests
began to speak, and some said, " Take me ! " and
some said, " Do not take me ! " Those that said
" Take me ! " she put in her apron and carried
away with her, and when she had walked to the
borders of the forest she stopped and threw the
eggs one by one behind her back.
Many pretty things came out of those eggs
diamonds, gold, beautiful dresses, and, lastly, a
splendid carriage with two fine horses and a driver.
She put the dresses and diamonds and gold into the
carriage, and then got in herself and was driven
home ; and you may be sure her aunt was very
much surprised to see her when she came with
THE TALKING EGGS 21
such riches, and wanted to know where she got
them.
So Blanche told how she had met the old woman
in the woods, and how the old woman took her
home and kept her over night, and how in the
morning the old woman had given her the talking
eggs that were no sooner broken than there came
forth from them all the wonderful things she had
brought home.
Her aunt was far from pleased that Blanche
should have so much and her own daughter so
little, and the next day she said, " Rose, you must
go to the forest, now, and look for that same old
woman, for I want you to have as many nice things
as Blanche has."
The plan suited Rose very well, and she went
to the woods and wandered about until she met the
old woman. It was then late in the afternoon, and
Rose said, " Please, ma'am, will you take me home
with you ? It is a long way to my own home."
" Yes," said the old woman, " you can go with
me, for it is almost dark, but you must not laugh
at anything you see."
So they walked on deeper into the woods until
they arrived at the old woman's cabin. They went
inside, and when the old woman sat down and took
22 THE TALKING EGGS
off her head to comb her hair Rose laughed. Rose
laughed, too, at all the other things she saw that
were strange, and tried to make funny remarks
about them.
" Ah ! my child," said the old woman, " you are
not a good girl, and I fear you will be punished for
your actions."
The next morning the old woman gave Rose her
breakfast, and then told her she must return home.
Rose started at once, but as soon as she was outside
the cabin she went to the old woman's chicken-
house, saying to herself, " I must have some of
those talking eggs before I go."
She opened the door, and the eggs in the nests
immediately began to speak, and some said, " Take
me ! " and some said, " Do not take me ! "
" Oh, yes ! " exclaimed Rose, " I understand your
tricks, and I shan't bother myself with you that
say 'Take me!' It's the others I want, and you
may say * Don't take me ! ' all you please, but you
are the very ones I shall carry away with me."
So she took all the eggs that told her not to take
them, and went off with them in her apron. At
the edge of the forest she threw them behind her
back, and out of them came a lot of snakes, toads,
and frogs. Rose ran and shrieked, and the snakes
The snakes and toads and frogs followed her all the way borne
THE TALKING EGGS 25
and toads and frogs followed after her all the way
home. She reached her mother's so tired she could
hardly speak, and had just strength left to shut the
door behind her and keep out all the dreadful
creatures that had chased her.
" Oh, mercy ! " exclaimed her mother, when Rose
told her what had happened; "it is that wretch
Blanche who is the cause of all this, and she shall
be punished as she deserves."
So she called Blanche, and said to her, " Take
your things and get out of the house. You shall
not live with us any longer."
There was nothing for Blanche to do but to
call for her coach, and put into it the fine
dresses and diamonds and gold she had got
from the talking eggs, and then drive away.
She took a road that passed through the forest,
and it happened that the king's son was hunt-
ing there, and she met him on his horse.
When he saw the beautiful girl weeping in
the carriage, he asked her why she cried.
"Alas!" said she, "I have been
turned out of the house that has
been my home,
and I know not
where to go."
26 THE TALKING EGGS
The prince tried to console her, and as they
talked he became so charmed with her beauty and
innocence that he asked her to be his wife. Then
they went home together to the king's palace, and
there they lived happily ever after.
THE TRAVELS OF A FOX
ONE day a fox was digging behind a stump
and he found a bumblebee ; and the fox
put the bumblebee in a bag and took
the bag over his shoulder and travelled.
At the first house he came to he went in and
said to the mistress of the house, " Can I leave
my bag here while I go to Squintum's ? "
" Yes," said the woman.
" Then be careful not to open the bag," said the
fox.
But as soon as he was out of sight the woman
said to herself, " Well, I wonder what the fellow
has in his bag that he is so careful about. I will
look and see. It can't do any harm, for I shall
tie the bag right up again."
However, the moment she unloosed the string
out flew the bumblebee, and the rooster caught
him and ate him all up.
After a while the fox came back. He took up
his bag and knew at once that his bumblebee was
28
THE TRAVELS OF A FOX
gone, and he said to the woman, " Where is my
bumblebee?"
And the woman said, " I untied the string just
to take a little peep to find out what was in your
bag, and the bumblebee flew out and the rooster
ate him/'
"Very well," said the
fox; " I must have the
rooster, then."
So he caught the rooster
and put him in his bag and
travelled.
At the next house he
came to he went in and
said to the mistress
of the house, " Can
I leave my bag
here while I
go to Squin-
tum's?"
"Yes," said
the woman.
"Then be
careful not to
open the bag,"
said the fox.
THE TRAVELS OF A FOX 29
But as soon as he was out of sight the woman
said to herself, " Well, 1 wonder what the fellow
has in his bag that he is so careful about. I will
look and see. It can't do any harm, for I shall
tie the bag right up again."
However, the moment she unloosed the string
the rooster flew out and the pig caught him and
ate him all up.
After a while the fox came back. He took
up his bag and knew at once that his rooster
was gone, and he said to the woman, " Where is
my rooster? "
And the woman said, " I untied the string just
to take a little peep to find out what was in your
bag, and the rooster flew out and the pig ate
r him."
" Very well," said the fox, " I must have the pig,
then."
So he caught the pig and put him in his bag
and travelled.
At the next house he came to he went in and
said to the mistress of the house, " Can I leave
my bag here while I go to Squintum's?"
" Yes," said the woman.
"Then be careful not to open the bag," said
the fox.
30 THE TRAVELS OF A FOX
But as soon as he was out of sight the woman
said to herself, " Well, I wonder what the fellow
has in his bag that he is so careful about. I
will look and see. It can't do any harm, for I
shall tie the bag right up again."
However, the moment she unloosed the string
the pig jumped out and the ox gored him.
After a while the fox came back. He took up
his bag and knew at once that his pig was gone,
and he said to the woman, " Where is my pig ? "
And the woman said, " I untied the string just
to take a little peep to find out what was in your
bag, and the pig jumped out and the ox gored
him."
" Very well," said the fox, " I must have the ox,
then."
So he caught the ox and put him in his bag
and travelled.
At the next house he came to he went in and
said to the mistress of the house, " Can I leave
my bag here while I go to Squintum's ? "
" Yes," said the woman.
cc Then be careful not to open the bag," said the
fox.
But as soon as he was out of sight the woman
said to herself, "Well, I wonder what the fellow
THE TRAVELS OF A FOX 3 1
has in his bag that he is so careful about. I will
look and see. It can't do any harm, for I shall
tie the bag right up again."
However, the moment she unloosed the string
the ox got out, and the woman's little boy chased
the ox out of the house and across a meadow and
over a hill, clear out of sight.
After a while the fox came back. He took
up his bag and knew at once that his ox was
gone, and he said to the woman, " Where is
my ox ? "
And the woman said, " I untied the string just
to take a little peep to find out what was in your
bag, and the ox got out and my little boy chased
him out of the house and across a meadow and
over a hill, clear out of sight."
" Very well," said the fox, " I must have the
little boy, then."
So he caught the little boy and put him in his
bag and travelled.
At the next house he came to he went in and
said to the mistress of the house, " Can I leave
my bag here while I go to Squintum's ? "
" Yes," said the woman.
"Then be careful not to open the bag," said the
fox.
32 THE TRAVELS OF A FOX
The woman had been making cake, and when
it was baked she took it from the oven, and her
children gathered around her teasing for some
of it.
" Oh, ma, give me a piece ! " said one, and
" Oh, ma, give me a piece ! " said each of the
others.
And the smell of the cake came to the little boy
in the bag, and he heard the children beg for
the cake, and he said, " Oh, mammy, give me
a piece ! "
Then the woman opened the bag and took the
little boy out; and she put the house-dog in the
bag in the little boy's place, and the little boy
joined the other children.
After a while the fox came back. He took up
his bag and he saw that it was tied fast and he
thought that the little boy was safe inside. " I have
been all day on the road," said he, " without a
thing to eat, and I am getting hungry. I will just
step off into the woods now and see how this little
boy I have in my bag tastes."
So he put the bag on his back and travelled deep
into the woods. Then he sat down and untied the
bag, and if the little boy had been in there
things would have gone badly with him.
THE TRAVELS OF A FO^ 33
But the little boy was at the house of the
woman who made the cake, andi when the fox
untied the bag the house-dog jurrtped out and
killed him. l/-IJr\ \l
JACK
AND THE BEAN-STALK
LONG, long ago there lived a poor widow
who had a little boy named Jack. It was
not easy for the woman to get a living ;
but she owned a cow that gave a great deal of
milk, and some of the milk they drank and some
she sold. So they contrived to get along until at
last the cow went dry.
" What shall I do now ? " said the woman sor-
rowfully, and she was ready to weep.
" Cheer up, mother," said Jack ; " I will go and
get work."
"You are too small," replied his mother. "No
one would hire you. Ah, well, . I must take our
cow to market and sell her."
So the woman tied a rope to the cow's horns
and led her away ; but she had not gone far
when she met a funny-looking old man who
stopped and said, " Good-morning, madam."
" Good-morning to you," was her response.
JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK 35
"And where are you off to this morning?"
asked the old man.
" I am going to market to sell my cow," the
woman answered.
" If that is the case," said the old man, " I '11
save you the trouble of going any farther, for I
will buy your cow right here."
" And how much will you give me for her ? "
inquired the woman.
Then the old man took a little bag from his
pocket and opened it for her to look inside ; but
all she saw in the bag was a handful of beans.
" I will give you these beans for your cow," said
the old man.
" I would rather not make such an exchange
as that," the woman said. " Those beans would
not be enough for one meal."
" Oh, they are not for you to eat ! " exclaimed
the old man. "You must plant them. They are
magic beans that will bring you good luck, and
they are worth much more than your cow."
The woman looked again, and she saw that
the beans were very curious and of many pretty
colors; and at last she said she would take them
and let the old man have the cow. But on her
way home, the more she thought about what she
36 JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK
had done the more foolish she thought she had
been, and when she reached the house she poured
the beans out into her hand to look at them, and
then threw them into the fireplace.
" I can't bear the sight of them," said she, " and
now we shall soon starve, I suppose/'
She thought that was the last of the beans,
but one of them had rolled out across the floor,
and the next day as she was sweeping she swept
up the little bean. She did not notice it, and she
swept it along and along and might have swept
it into the fireplace; but her little boy Jack saw
it and he picked it up and said, " I 'm going to
plant this bean, mother."
So he took it out to the garden and dug a
hole and planted it. After that he was all the
time running out to see if his bean had come
up, and when it did come up he was all the
time running out to see how it was growing.
On the first morning after he planted it he
found its first leaves had already pushed their way up
out of the ground. The next morning it was as
tall as he was ; and the next day after that it was
as high as the house, and the next day after that
it was as high as the church steeple. So it kept
growing until its top was clear out of sight.
JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK 37
Then Jack said, " I 'm going to climb this
bean-stalk," and he climbed and climbed and
climbed, and at last he reached the sky.
There he found "a strange country without a
tree, shrub, house, or living creature anywhere in
sight. He sat down on a stone to rest and said,
" Humph ! if this is all there is up here I may
as well go back home."
But while he was resting he noticed that a
rough path led away from near where he sat over
a hill, and then he saw a beautiful lady walking
along the path toward him. She spoke to Jack
as soon as she came to him, and he rose and
took off his hat. "I am a fairy," said she, " and
the country where you now are is on the borders
of Fairy-land. I have come to tell you something
about your father. Do you remember him ? "
" No," replied Jack, " and when I ask my
mother about him she always begins to cry and
will say nothing."
"I thought as much," said the fairy, "and you
will understand why your mother never speaks of
him when you hear my story. He was a brave
and generous knight, and the fairies were his
friends and made him many wonderful presents.
But after a time a wicked giant came to your
38 JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK
father's castle and killed him, and carried off all
the wonderful things the fairies had given him.
At the same time the giant carried off your
mother and you, who were then a little baby. He
shut you both up in one of his dungeons, but at
last he offered to restore your mother and you to
liberty on condition that she should never speak about
her wrongs to any one. She agreed, and he carried
her to a place a great distance from where she had
liv.ed and been known before, and left her there
>#ith just money enough to rent a little cottage
and buy a cow.
" That giant lives in this country, and if you
follow the path by which you saw me come you
will find his castle over yonder hill. All that he
has is rightfully yours, and perhaps you can con-
trive some way to regain possession of what he
stole from your father." ^
Then the fairy went on her way, and Jack, after
thinking things over, concluded he would go on
by the path that led toward the hill. Beyond the
hill in a valley he came to a great castle, and on
the doorstep sat a giant woman. It was almost
night, and Jack went up to the giantess and said
very politely, " Good-evening, ma'am. Would you
be so kind as to give me some supper ? "
JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK
39
" Is it supper you want ? " said the big woman.
" It 's supper you '11 be if you don't move away
from here. My man is a giant, and he likes to
eat little boys."
" But I am very hungry," said Jack, " and
I 've had no food at all this day since early
morning."
"Well, well," said the giantess, "I don't wonder
you are hungry, then. Come along to the kitchen
and I'll see what I can find for you."
40 JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK
So the giant's wife took Jack into the kitchen
and gave him a piece of cheese and a bowl of
bread and milk. He had not quite finished eat-
ing when, tramp ! tramp ! tramp ! he heard the
steps of some one coming, and the whole castle
trembled with the heavy footfalls.
" Gracious me ! " exclaimed the giant's wife,
" that 's my man. Be quick now and jump into
the oven or he'll catch you ;" and she bundled
Jack into the oven just as the giant came in.
The giant looked around the room and sniffed
the air. " Fe-fi-fo-fum, I smell fresh meat ! "
said he.
" Yes," his wife responded, " the crows brought
a piece of raw flesh to-day to the top of the house
and dropped it on the roof."
" Ha ! " said the giant, " I thought it was some-
thing nearer and fresher than that ; " but he sat
down at the table and Jack watched him through
a crevice of the oven door, and was amazed to
see the quantity of food that he ate.
After supper was done the giant's wife cleared
away the dishes and went off to bed. " I am
getting a bit sleepy myself," said the giant ; " but
I must have a look at my money," and he went
to a big chest and took out several bags full of
JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK 41
gold coins and returned to the table. He sat
down and began to empty the bags one by one
and was counting his wealth when he nodded off
into a nap, and was soon snoring with a noise like
thunder.
Jack then climbed out of the oven, and by
getting on a chair beside the table he reached
one of the bags of gold, and off he ran with it.
As soon as he came to the bean-stalk he called
out, " Hump it and bump it and down I go," and in
a little while he was at the foot of the bean-stalk
in his mother's garden.
Then he hurried to the house. There was a
light in the window, and his mother was waiting
for him in great anxiety, and was overjoyed to
have him safely back.
They had money enough now, but Jack could
not help thinking how many things the giant had
which were rightfully theirs, and it was not long
before he again climbed the bean-stalk. This time
he carried some food, so that he did not have to beg
of the giant's wife, and when he came to the
great castle he got behind a rock and watched
until he saw the giantess come out to the well
with a pail after water. While she was busy at the
well he ran into the kitchen and hid in a closet.
42 JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK
In a little while the woman brought in the pail
of water, and by and by, tramp ! tramp ! came the
giant. He began to sniff as soon as he entered
the kitchen. "Fe-fi-fo-fum ! I smell fresh meat!"
he said.
u Do you ? " said his wife. " Supposing we
look around, then. If there 's anybody hiding here
it 's likely to be in the oven."
So they both went to the oven, but luckily
Jack was not there. " Well," said the giant's
wife, " it 's empty, and I thought it would be, and
I 'm tired of hearing your fe-fi-fo-fum ! "
The giant wanted to look farther, but his wife
said, " No, I won't have you mussing up the
house. I know just how you would do it. You
would turn everything that you could lay your
hands on topsy-turvy. Besides, your supper is
ready."
So the giant sat down and had his supper.
After he had eaten, he said, "Wife, bring me the
hen that lays the golden eggs."
She brought the hen and put it on the table.
" If you don't need me any more, my dearie,"
said she, " I will go to the next room to finish
some sewing I have there."
" No, I don't need you," replied the giant, " go
JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK 43
along." Then he took the little hen, and said,
" Lay ; " and the hen laid an egg of solid gold.
The giant took the egg in his hand, and looked
at it for a while ; but pretty soon he fell asleep
and snored so that the house shook. Then Jack
crept out of the closet and climbed on a chair
by the table and grabbed the little hen and ran.
That frightened the hen, and it gave a cackle
which woke the giant. He sat up and rubbed
his eyes, and Jack, who was now out of the door,
heard him calling, " Wife, wife, what have you
done with my golden hen ? "
Jack heard her come hurrying to the kitchen
from the next room and asking, " Why, my
dear?" -
But Jack kept running, and he got too far away
to hear any more. In a short time he came
to the bean-stalk, and shouted, " Hump it and
bump it and down I go ! " and soon he was at
the foot of the bean-stalk and went into the house
to his mother.
They took the best of care of the hen, and
every day Jack told it to lay, and it laid a golden
egg. But after a time Jack went up the bean-stalk
again, and he kept going up every few days, until
he had carried off pretty much all that the giant
44 JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK
had. Finally, one night he tried to get the giant's
bed-quilt. The quilt was made of silk of many
colors, and it had beautiful jewels on it, and all
along the edge were little silver bells that . went
tinkle, tinkle when Jack began to pull it.
The giant heard the bells and called out, " Who 's
round my house this dark, dismal night?"
Jack kept perfectly still until the giant was
snoring, and then he pulled the quilt off a little
farther. The bells went tinkle, tinkle, and the
giant woke up and called out, " Who's round
my house this dark, dismal night?'
So Jack stopped pulling and stayed as quiet as
a mouse; but every time the giant fell asleep
Jack gt the bed-quilt a little farther off, till at
last he had it all, and ran away with it. How-
ever, the bells made such a jingling as Jack ran
that the giant was roused from his sleep and
jumped up and started after hk.. Jack ran very
swiftly, and got to the bean-stalk first. cc Hump
it and bump it and down I go," he shouted, and
it did not take him lonp to get to his mother's
garden.
But the giant was climbing down the bean-stalk
after him, and the bean-stalk was shak.ing beneath
the monster's weight. Jack could hea>- the giant
JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK
coming, and when he looked
"p he saw the giant's legs just
appearing through the clouds.
Then Jack hurried to the
woodshed and got a hatchet
and began to chop at the bean-
stalk. The giant felt the bean-
stalk quiver, and stopped to
iook down to find out
vhat was the matter.
Just at that moment
jack gave a blow
with his hatchet that
brought bean-stalk,
giant, and all tum-
bling to the earth, and
that was the end of
the wicked giant.
As for Jack a .d
his mother, they were
rich people after that.
45
THE TWO BROTHERS AND
THE OLD WITCH
ONCE upon a time there were two boys who
were brothers, and they were very poor.
At last the older boy said, " I will go out
into the world and try to make my fortune."
So he left his home, and he travelled about the
world looking for work a long time. Finally, he
reached a house in which an old witch woman lived,
and she said she would give him work and pay him
well.
" What shall I have to do ? " the boy asked.
"You must take care of my garden," said she,
" and mow my meadow, and cut my wood, and once
a week you must clean my fireplace; but I warn
you never to look up the chimney."
The boy agreed to this bargain, and for many
months he cared for the old woman's garden, and
mowed her meadow, and cut her wood, and cleaned
her fireplace. He liked his situation well enough,
except that the old woman did not pay him his
THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH 47
wages. Whenever he asked her for money she said,
" If you had it you would spend it. No, no, I am
Ir.ying up what is due you in a stout leather bag
safely stowed away, and when you get to be as old
as I am you can have it."
This did not suit the boy, but he kept on with
his work until one day, as he was cleaning the fire-
place, he heard a noise in the chimney, and he
looked up. Immediately something heavy fell
48 THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH
whack on his head, bringing with it a lot of soot
that half blinded him. As soon as he could ge>
the soot out of his eyes he saw on the hearth a
slender leather bag, and when he picked it up he
found it was full of money. " This must be m)
wages," said he, and he walked out of the door,
carrying the bag, and started off along the road
toward home.
By and by he came to a meeting-house, and the
meeting-house said, " Wait, wait, my lad, and sweep
me ! I have not been swept for seven long years."
But the boy said,
"I 'm in a hurry and cannot stay ;
Perhaps I '11 stop some other day."
He hastened on, and by and by he came to a
weedy field, and the field said, " Wait, wait, my lad,
and weed me. I have not been weeded for seven
long years."
But the boy said,
I *m in a hurry and cannot stay ;
Perhaps I 'll stop some other day."
He hastened on, and by and. by he came to a
cow, and the cow said, " Wait, wait, my lad, and
milk me. I have not been milked for seven long
years."
THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH 49
But the boy said,
" I 'm in a hurry and cannot stay ;
Perhaps I '11 stop some other day."
He hastened on, and by and by he came to a well,
1 the well said, " Wait, wait, my lad, and clean
me. I have not been cleaned for seven long years."
But the boy said,
" I J m in a hurry and cannot stay ;
Perhaps I '11 stop some other day."
He hastened on, and by and by he came to an
apple-tree so loaded with fruit that its branches
w.ere breaking down, and the tree said, " Wait,
wait, my lad, and shake me. The apples you see
on me have been growing for seven long years, and
no one has come to shake them off or pick them."
But the boy said,
" I 'm in a hurry and cannot stay ;
Perhaps I J ll stop some other day."
However, instead of keeping on he sat down
under the tree, and began to count his money.
Some time after he left the house where he had
been working the old witch woman came in and
saw the soot scattered about the fireplace. She
looked up the chimney and discovered that her
bag of money was gone. " That boy has taken it,"
she cried, " and I must catch him."
50 THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH
So she started in pursuit, and by and by she
came to the meeting-house and said,
" Meeting-house, meeting-house,
Have you seen a boy
With a willy-willy wag
And a long leather bag,
Who's stolen all the money
That ever I had?"
" Yes/' replied the meeting-house, " he has gone
on down the road."
So the witch went along until she came to a
weedy field. Then she said,
' Field of mine, field of mine,
Have you seen a boy
With a willy-willy wag
And a long leather bag,
Who 's stolen all the money
That ever I had?"
" Yes," replied the field, " he has gone on down
the road."
So the witch went along until she came to a cow.
Then she said,
" Cow of mine, cow of mine,
Have you seen a boy
With a willy-willy wag
And a long leather bag,
Who 's stolen all the money
That ever I had ?"
THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH 51
" Yes," replied the cow, " he has gone on down
the road."
So the witch went along until she came to a well.
Then she said,
"Well of mine, well of mine,
Have you seen a boy
With a willy-willy wag
And a long leather bag,
Who 's stolen all the money
That ever I had ? "
"Yes," replied the well, "he has gone on down
the road."
So the witch went along until she approached the
apple-tree, under which the boy was sitting count-
ing his money. But he saw her coming, and he
climbed the tree to hide among the branches. As
soon as the witch was near enough she said,
"Tree of mine, tree of mine,
Have you seen a boy
With a willy-willy wag
And a long leather bag,
Who 's stolen all the money
That ever I had?'*
"Yes," was the tree's reponse, "he's up here
among my branches."
Then the old woman pulled the boy out of the
tree and gave him a sound beating, and he went
52 THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH
away crying ; while she took the bag of money and
returned home.
A year or two after the first brother left to seek
his fortune the other brother also started out into
the world. He travelled about here and there and
everywhere, looking for work and finding none.
But, finally, he reached the house of the old witch
woman, and she said she would give him work and
pay him well.
" What shall I have to do ? " the boy asked.
"You must take care of my garden," said she,
"and mow my meadow, and cut my wood, and
once a week you must clean my fireplace; but I
warn you never to look up the chimney."
The boy agreed to this bargain, and for many
months he cared for the old woman's garden, and
mowed her meadow, and cut her wood, and cleaned
her fireplace. He liked his situation well enough,
except that the old woman did not pay him his
wages. Whenever he asked her for money she
said, " If you had it you would spend it. No, no,
I am laying up what is due you in a stout leather
bag stowed safely away, and when you get to be as
old as I am you can have it."
This did not suit the boy, but he kept on with
his work until one day, as he was cleaning the fire-
THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH 53
place, he heard a noise in the chimney and he
looked up. Immediately something heavy fell
whack on his head, bringing with it a lot of soot
that half blinded him. As soon as he could get
the soot out of his eyes he saw on the hearth a
slender leather bag, and when he picked it up he
found it was full of money. " This must be my
wages/' said he, and he walked out of the door,
carrying the bag, and started off along the road
toward home.
By and by he came to a meeting-house, and
the meeting-house said, " Wait, wait, my lad, and
sweep me ! I have not been swept for seven long
years !"
It was a large meeting-house, and he knew the
sweeping would be a hard task. However, he
stopped and swept the building very thoroughly.
Then he went on, and by and by he came to a
weedy field, and the field said, " Wait, wait, my
lad, and weed me ! I have not been weeded for
seven long years."
i It was a large field, and he knew the work would
be far from easy. However, he stopped and weeded
the whole field.
Then he went on, and by and by he came to a
cow, and the cow said, "Wait, wait, my lad, and
54 THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH
milk me ! I have not been milked for seven long
years."
The boy was in a hurry, but he stopped and
milked the cow.
Then he went on, and by and by he came to a
well, and the well said, " Wait, wait, my lad, and
clean me ! I have not been cleaned for seven long
years."
The boy was in a hurry, but he stopped and
cleaned the well.
Then he went on, and by and by he came to an
apple-tree so loaded with fruit that its branches
were breaking down, and the tree said, " Wait,
wait, my lad, and shake me ! The apples you see
on me have been growing for seven long years,
and no one has come to shake them off or pick
them."
The boy was sorry for the tree, and he shook
off enough of the apples, so that the branches
were no longer in danger of breaking. " Thank
you," said the tree ; " now I can move my branches
and shake off the rest myself when I choose."
The boy then sat down under the tree to count
his money.
Some time after he left the house where he had
been working the old witch woman came in and
THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH 55
saw the soot scattered about the fireplace. She
looked up the chimney and discovered that her
bag of money was gone. " That boy has taken
it," she cried, " and I must catch him."
So she started in pursuit, and by and by she
came to a meeting-house and said,
" Meeting-house, meeting-house,
Have you seen a boy
With a willy-willy wag
And a long leather bag,
Who's stolen all the money
That ever I had ? "
But the meeting-house would not reply, and it
loosened some of its shingles, and let them slide
down onto the old woman, and she was glad to get
away.
Then she went along until she came to what had
been the weedy field, and she said,
" Field of mine, field of mine,
Have you seen a boy
With a willy-willy wag
And a long leather bag,
Who's stolen all the money
That ever I had?"
But the field would not reply, and it raised a
great cloud of dust and let it blow around the
old witch, so that she was glad to get away.
56 THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH
Then she went along until she came to a cow,
and she said,
" Cow of mine, cow of mine,
Have you seen a boy
With a willy-willy wag
And a long leather bag,
Who 's stolen all the money
That ever I had?"
But the cow would not reply, and it shook its
horns at the old woman and frightened her, so that
she was glad to get away.
Then she went along until she came to a well,
and she said,
"Well of mine, well of mine,
Have you seen a boy
With a willy-willy wag
And a long leather bag,
Who ' s stolen all the money
That ever I had?"
But the well would not reply, and it caused its
water to rise and overflow, so that the old witch
would have been drowned if she had not hastened
to get away.
Then she went along until she approached the
apple-tree, under which the boy was sitting count-
ing his money. But he saw her coming, and he
"Apple-tree, apple-tree, hide me,
So the old witch can't find me ! "
THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH 57
" Climb up among my branches and I will hide
you,
said the tree.
The boy climbed up, and the tree hid him with
its leaves. Pretty soon the old woman came and said,
58 THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE OLD WITCH
" Tree of mine, tree of mine,
Have you seen a boy
With a willy-willy wag
And a long leather bag,
Who 's stolen all the money
That ever I had ? "
But the tree would not reply, and it shook its
apples down on the old witch till she was glad to
get away. She never found the boy, and he went
home with the leather bag full of money, and after
that he always prospered.
THE OLD WOMAN AND
HER PIG
ONCE an old woman was sweeping her
house and she found a piece of money,
and she took the money to market and
bought a pig. Then she told the pig to run
home, and the pig said, " I won't ! "
So the old woman looked around and she saw
a dog, and she said, " Dog, dog, bite pig and make
piggy run home. I see by the moonlight 'tis
half-past midnight time pig and I were at
home an hour ago."
But the dog said, " No, pig does n't do me
any harm ; " and he would n't.
So the old woman looked around and she saw a
stick, and she said, " Stick, stick, bang dog, dog won't
bite pig, and piggy won't run home. I see by
the moonlight 'tis half-past midnight time pig
and I were at home an hour ago."
But the stick said, " No, dog does n't do me
any harm ; " and it would n't.
60 THE OLD WOMAN AND HER PIG
So the old woman looked around and she saw a
fire, and she said, " Fire, fire, burn stick, stick won't
bang dog, dog won't bite pig, and piggy won't
run home. I see by the moonlight 'tis half-past
midnight time pig and I were at home an
hour ago."
But the fire said, " No, stick does n't do me
any harm ; " and it would n't.
So the old woman looked around and she saw
a puddle of water, and she said, " Water, water,
quench fire, fire won't burn stick, stick won't bang
dog, dog won't bite pig, and piggy won't run
home. I see by the moonlight 't is half-past mid-
night time pig and I were at home an hour
ago."
But the water said, "No, fire doesn't do me
any harm ; " and it would n't.
So the old woman looked around and she saw
an ox, and she said, " Ox, ox, drink water, water
won't quench fire, fire won't burn stick, stick won't
bang dog, dog won't bite pig, and piggy won't
run home. I see by the moonlight 'tis half-
past midnight time pig and I were at home an
hour ago."
But the ox said, " No, water does n't do me
any harm ; " and it would n't.
LADY FEATHERFLIGHT
ONCE there was a poor woman who had a
son named Jack, and they lived on the
edge of a wood. Times were hard, and
they did not always have enough to eat, and at
last the woman said to her son, " Jack, you must
now go out into the wide world ; for if you stay
here we shall both starve. We have only half a
loaf of bread left, but you shall take that with
you, and I wish it were larger. The world lies
on the other side of the forest. Find your way
to it and gain your living honestly."
So she bade Jack good-by, and he started. On
he went, farther and farther into the forest, and he
walked all day and saw no farm or dwelling or
path. Then he knew that he was lost, but he
kept on as long as daylight lasted, and when
it became dark he lay down and slept. During
the day he had eaten nearly all of his bread, and
the next morning he ate what was left and wan-
dered on again through the trackless woods until
64 LADY FEATHERFLIGHT
evening. Night came, and he was looking for a
spot where he could lie down and sleep when he
saw lights before him. So he went toward the
lights and presently came to a large palace. He
knocked at the entrance and a beautiful young
woman opened the door.
" My good lady," said Jack, " I have been lost
for two days in this great forest, and I beg that
you will give me something to eat."
"No, no/' said she, "go away as quickly as
you can. The owner of this palace is a giant.
He will soon come home and he will surely
eat you."
" Can't you hide me ? " asked Jack. " Unless
I have food and shelter I shall die."
" I cpuld not hide you so but that he would find
you," said she. " Oh, do go away at once ! "
" Perhaps he would not eat me," argued Jack.
"He has not eaten you."
" That is because he wants me to take care of
his house and cook his food," said she; "but I
do not know how soon he will change his mind.
Please, sir, hurry away, or it will be too late."
However, Jack insisted that rather than starve
in the forest he would risk death at the hands
of the giant. So finally she yielded and allowed
LADY FEATHERFLIGHT 65
him to enter, and when she had given him some-
thing to eat hid him in a cupboard beside the
fireplace.
After a while the giant came banging at the door,
shouting, C Featherflight, let me in, let me in! "
She unlocked the door, and as he came tramp-
ing into the room he said, " Where 's that man ? I
began to smell him ten miles away as I was com-
ing through the woods."
" Don't you think you were mistaken ? " asked
Featherflight.
But the giant did not reply. He sniffed the air
for a moment and then went to the cupboard
beside the fireplace and pulled Jack out.
" Did you mean him ? " said Featherflight.
" Why, that is nothing but a poor, thin, little
fellow who would scarcely make you half a mouth-
ful, and his bones would stick in your throat.
Would n't it be better to keep him and make him
work for you ? But your supper is ready now, and
you can think about what to do with him afterward."
So she set before the giant a vast quantity of
meat and drink, and he ate so much and gobbled
it down so fast that the sight made Jack's hair
stand on end as he stood watching him. When
the giant had finished, he looked at Jack scorn-
66
LADY FEATHERFLIGHT
fully and remarked, " Ah, it is as Featherflight
said you are only half a mouthful ; but there is
room for flesh on your bones, and we shall have
to fatten you. Meanwhile, you must earn your
victuals. See here, my young snip, can you do
a day's work in a day ? "
LADY FEATHERFLIGHT 67
" Yes," answered Jack bravely, " I can do a
day's work in a day as well as another."
So the giant said, " Well, go to bed now. I
will tell you what your work shall be in the
morning."
Jack went to bed, and early the next day the
giant took him out to the farmyard and showed
him a large barn from the roof of which a recent
storm had blown off the thatch. " Behind this
barn," said the giant, " you will find a great heap
of* feathers. Thatch me this barn with those
feathers, and if the job is not done by the time
I come back to-night, I shall eat you at once,
without waiting for you to get any fatter."
Then he left, laughing as he went ; for he
thought he had given Jack a job he could not
possibly do.
Jack found a ladder and a basket and began
work. He filled the basket and climbed the ladder,
and tried hard to lay and fasten the feathers in
place on the roof, but the wind would catch them
and scatter them far and wide. He kept at his
task for hours, and the heap of feathers was half
gone. Yet he had only succeeded in thatching a
narrow strip along one edge of the roof. Finally,
he sat down at the foot of the ladder, completely
68 LADY FEATHERFLIGHT
discouraged. Pretty soon Lady Featherflight came
with some food for him, and he told her his
troubles.
" Well/* said she, " while you are eating I will
see what I can do to help you/'
Then she began walking around the barn, sing-
ing as she went,
"Birds of land and birds of sea,
Come and thatch this roof for me."
She was walking around the second time when
the sky grew dark with what seemed like a heavy
cloud that hid the sun. The cloud came nearer
and nearer to the earth, and at length proved to be
made of hundreds and thousands of birds. They
came directly to the barn, and each alighted on
the roof with a feather in its beak, and after
tucking the feather neatly in flew away. Thus by
the time Jack's meal was finished the roof was
finished, too.
Then Featherflight said, " Now let us talk and
enjoy ourselves until the giant comes home."
So they walked about the garden and grounds,
and Jack thought those hours were the pleasantest
he had ever known in his life. Toward evening
they went into the house and Jack helped Feather-
flight prepare the giant's supper, which consisted
LADY FEATHERFLIGHT 69
of fourteen loaves of bread, two sheep roasted
whole, and a pudding you could not have put in
a bushel basket.
By and by the giant came back and pounded
at the door with his fists, shouting, " Let me in,
let me in!"
As soon as he entered he called to Jack and
asked how he had got on with his thatching.
" You '11 have no fault to find," said Jack. " I
told you I could do a day's work in a day as well
as another, and I can."
The giant made no response, but sat down and
ate his supper. The next morning he had Jack
go out with him while he looked at the barn roof.
" I know very well that was not your doing," he
remarked.
Then he went on a little beyond the barn and
showed Jack a vast heap of grain seeds of many
different kinds. " Here is your day's work," said
he. "Separate the seeds each into its own pile,
and if the job is n't done by the time I come
back to-night I shall eat you at once, without
fail."
So saying he left, laughing to himself as he went.
Jack sat down before the heap, took a handful
of seeds, put wheat in one pile, rye in another,
70 LADY FEATHERFLIGHT
barley in another, and oats in another. But though
he worked very industriously, the great heap was
scarcely diminished at all when noon came. Jack
was tired out, and he sat down with his back against
the foundation wall of the barn, feeling very sorrow-
ful. Pretty soon Featherflight came with some
food for him, and he told her how badly he was
getting along with his day's task.
" Well," said she, " while you are eating I will
see what I can do to help you."
Then she began walking around the heap of
seeds, singing as she went,
" Little insects, far and near,
Come and sort the seeds heaped here."
She was walking around the heap the second
time when the ground all about appeared as if it
were moving. From behind each lump of earth,
each daisy stem and blade of grass, there came
some little insect, gray, black, brown, or green, and
began to work at the seeds ; and there was such
a multitude of insects that by the time Jack's
meal was finished the sorting was done.
For the rest of the day Jack and Lady Feather-
flight walked and talked in the garden to their
hearts' content. With the approach of evening
they went into the palace, and Jack helped get
LADY FEATHERFLIGHT 71
supper, and then the giant came thumping at the
door, and shouting, "Let me in, let me in!"
As soon as Featherflight opened the door the
giant called to Jack to know how he had succeeded
with his seed-sorting.
" You '11 have no fault to find," said Jack ; " for
I spoke only the truth when I told you I could
do a day's work in a day as well as another."
Then the giant sat down and ate with a great
appetite four fat pigs, three hens and a gander,
finishing off with a monster pudding. After he
had disposed of these things he was so sleepy he
could not hold his head up, and he said to Jack,
" Go to bed, youngster ; I '11 see your work
to-morrow."
In the morning he called Jack early out to the
farmyard, and looked at the seeds. " You never
did that sorting alone," said he.
Then he walked on a little farther and showed
Jack a heap of sand and said, " From this sand
you must make me a hundred ropes with which
I may tether my herd of cows, and if the job is
not done by the time I am back to-night I shall
eat you immediately."
So saying he turned on his heel and went away
laughing.
72 LADY FEATHERFLIGHT
Jack took some sand into his hands to see if
he could by any means twist it into the form of
a rope. But his efforts were wasted, and he
threw the sand away and went into the palace to
tell Featherflight how things were. " I know you
would help me if you could," said he ; " but this
task is beyond you, and I feel myself between
the giant's teeth already."
" Don't be so disheartened," she responded.
" Sit down and we will plan what to do."
They talked and planned all the day until at
last they had to stop to get the giant's supper
ready. At length the giant came slamming at the
door, and he was no sooner in than he wanted
to know how Jack had got along with his rope-
making.
" It is as I told you," replied Jack ; " I can
do a day's work in a day as well as another, and
you are welcome to see what I have done in the
morning."
Then the giant sat down and ate heartily and
went off to bed. But Jack and Lady Feather-
flight waited in the kitchen until they heard the
giant snoring, and then Featherflight took the
keys of the treasure-room and they went together
and got several bags of gold. After that they
LADY FEATHERFLIGHT 73
hurried out and selected the best horse in the
best stable, and Jack mounted with Featherflight
behind him and off they went.
At three o'clock the next morning the giant
woke and called out, " Jack, get up ; " for Jack's
room was near by, and the giant's command would
certainly have been heard had Jack been in his
room as the giant supposed.
But there was no response, and the giant turned
over and went to sleep. At four o'clock the giant
woke again and called out, " Jack, get up!"
But he received no reply, and he turned over
and went to sleep. At five o'clock he awoke the
third time and shouted, "JACK, GET UP!"
" What ails the fellow ? " he growled when he
received no answer. " I '11 rouse him out in a
way he won't like," and the giant went stamping
along the passage.
Of course Jack's room was empty, and after
the giant had looked in and noticed that the bed
had not been slept in he went downstairs to the
kitchen. Everything was cold and silent there
-no fire, no Jack, no Featherflight. "Ah, ha!"
he exclaimed, "they've like enough run away."
Then he hastened out to the farmyard and
found the door of his best stable open and his
74 LADY FEATHERFLIGHT
best horse gone. But the giant was so big and
strong that he could outrun any horse in the
world, and he went after Jack and Featherflight
as swift as the wind. They had been galloping
all the night, but now the day was come and
presently Jack heard a sound behind them, and
turning to look he saw the giant striding along to
catch them. "Oh, Featherflight," he cried, "all
is lost!"
But Featherflight said, " Keep steady, Jack, let
the horse go right on."
Then she took from her pocket a little stick
and threw it back over her left shoulder. Im-
mediately there grew up behind them a hard-
wood forest so dense and tangled the giant could
not get through it.
" We are saved," said Jack.
" That 's not so certain," responded Feather-
flight ; " but at any rate we have gained some time."
The giant was obliged to go home to get an ax.
However, he quickly returned and hacked and
hewed his way through the woods and was on
the trail again. Presently Jack heard him coming.
"Oh, Featherflight," he said, "there is the giant!
He will soon overtake us. We cannot escape him
this time."
The magic forest stops the giant in bis pursuit of Jack and
Lady Featberjligbt
LADY FEATHERFLIGHT 77
" Keep steady, Jack," she said, " and let the
horse go straight on."
Then she took from her pocket a little vial of
water and threw it back over her right shoulder,
and the vial broke when it fell to the ground, and
the water became a deep lake between them and the
giant. Jack was so elated then that he stopped the
horse and waved his hat toward the giant who was
standing on the farther shore.
The giant shook his fist at them and looked
this way and that, in doubt what to do next.
"How can I get over?" the monster bellowed.
" Drink your way through," shouted Jack.
So the giant stooped down and drank and drank
and drank until he burst, and that was the end
of him.
As for Jack and Featherflight, they went on
now more leisurely, for they no longer feared pur-
suit. By and by they came near to a town and
stopped under a tree. " Featherflight," said Jack,
" you climb this tree and hide, and I will go to
the town to get a parson to come and marry us.
Another thing I must do is to buy a suit of
fine clothes before I am seen with so beautiful a
lady as yourself."
So Featherflight climbed the tree and hid in the
7 8 LADY FEATHERFLIGHT
thick leafage. She found a comfortable place to
sit among the branches, and then she observed
that directly below her was a clear spring into
which she could look and see the reflection of
her face as in a mirror. This spring was used by
all the housewives of the town, and every morn
and noon and evening they resorted thither to
gossip and fill their pails and pitchers. No water
was so sweet anywhere else. Featherflight had not
been long in the tree when the carpenter's wife
came and bent over the spring. There she saw
Featherflight's lovely face reflected ; but she thought
it was her own and she looked with astonishment,
exclaiming, " What ! I a carpenter's wife and so
handsome ; and here I am a common drudge come
to this spring for water. Well, I '11 do no more
such work ! I '11 go away from this poor little
town and seek my fortune."
So she threw down her pitcher, and off she
went along the road that led away from the
town.
The next woman who came for water was the
butcher's wife, and as she bent over the clear
spring she saw Featherflight's lovely face ; but
she thought it was her own. She gazed with
astonishment, exclaiming, " What ! I a butcher's wife
LADY FEATHERFLIGHT 79
and so handsome ; yet here I am a common drudge.
Well, I '11 do no more housework ! I '11 leave this
poor little town at once and seek my fortune."
So she threw down the pail she had in her hand,
and off she went along the road that led away from
the town.
In the same manner all the other wives of the
town came and looked in the spring and were sur-
prised at what they thought was their own beauty
and went away to seek their fortunes.
But presently the men of the town began to
want their dinners, and one by one they went
out on the streets each to ask the others if they
had by any chance seen his wife. No, not a wife
had been seen since they had gone for water.
Then the men began to fear foul play, and all
together they walked out of the town to the
spring. When they reached it they found many
broken pitchers and overturned pails strewn around,
and were certain then their wives had met with
some mysterious disaster. One of the men hap-
pened to glance into the spring and saw a face
reflected. He knew it was not his own, and he
began to look about. In a moment or two he
saw Lady Featherflight among the branches of the
tree, and he called to his comrades, " Here is some
8o LADY FEATHERFLIGHT
one in the tree. I '11 wager she knows what has
become of our wives, and has had something to
do with spiriting them away."
" Yes ! " cried another. "Here is the enchan-
tress. She has bewitched our wives. Let us kill
her ! "
They began to drag her out of the tree in spite
of all she could say or do ; but just then Jack
came galloping back on his horse with the parson
mounted behind ; and in his fine new clothes you
would hardly have known him to be the poor
ragged fellow who passed over the road in the
other direction only a short time previous. As he
drew near he saw the crowd and shouted, "What 's
the matter ? What are you doing with that
lady ? "
The men replied, "We are going to hang her.
She has bewitched our wives, and murdered them,
too, for all we know."
r Then the parson got down off the horse from
behind Jack and told the men to stop and let
Lady Featherflight tell her own story. So they
asked her what sh% had to say for herself, and
when she told them how their wiyes had mistaken
her face in the spring for theirs and what the
wives had said they were silent for a few moments,
LADY FEATHERFLIGHT 8 1
and then one and all exclaimed, " Well, if that is
what our wives think of themselves we will seek
for them no farther. They can come home when
they get ready ; " and the men turned and walked
back to the town.
The parson married Jack and Lady Feather-
flight on the spot, and then they also went to
the town, and there they saw a splendid mansion
they thought they would like and Jack bought it.
In that they lived happily for many months, but at
last Jack began to wish for more of the giant's
treasure and proposed that they should go back
after it. " But how could we cross the lake you
made ? " said he.
" We might build a bridge/* replied Lady
Featherflight.
The bridge was built and they went over it
with many wagons and horses, and loaded the
wagons at the giant's palace with great riches. But
as the wagons on their return were crossing the
bridge the last one broke the bridge down, and
all the gold and silver and jewels on that wagon
were lost in the lake.
" Alas ! " Jack lamented, " now the bridge is
gone and we can get nothing more from the
giant's treasure-room."
82 LADY FEATHERFLIGHT
But Lady Featherflight said, " Why not mend
the bridge ? "
" To be sure ! " said Jack, <c why not ? "
So the bridge was mended
And my story 's ended.
THE LITTLE RED HEN AND
THE WHEAT
ONCE there was a little red hen, and she
found a grain of wheat in the barnyard
and said, " Who will plant this wheat ? "
" I won't," says the dog.
" I won't," says the cat.
" I won't," says the goose.
" I won't," says the turkey.
" I will, then," says the little red hen. " Ca-ca-
ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-^^-cut ! "
So she planted the grain of wheat. Pretty soon
the wheat began to grow and the green leaves came
up out of the ground. The sun shone and the rain
fell and the wheat kept on growing until it was a
tall, strong stalk and had a big head of ripe grain at
the top.
" Who will reap this wheat ? " says the little red
hen.
" I won't," says the dog.
" I won't," says the cat.
84 THE LITTLE RED HEN AND THE WHEAT
cc I won't," says the goose.
" I won't/' says the turkey.
" I will, then," says the little red hen. " Ca-ca-
ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-</tf<z-cut ! "
So she reaped the wheat.
" Who will thresh this wheat ? " says the little
red hen.
" I won't," says the dog.
" I won't," says the cat.
" I won't," says the goose.
" I won't," says the turkey.
" I will, then," says the little red hen. " Ca-ca-
So she threshed the wheat.
" Who will take this wheat to mill to have it
ground ? " says the little red hen.
" I won't," says the dog.
" I won't," says the cat.
" I won't," says the goose.
" I won't," says the turkey.
c I will, then," says the little red hen. " Ca-ca-ca-
ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-^2#-cut ! "
So she took the wheat to mill, and by and by she
came back with the flour.
" Who will bake this flour ? " says the little red hen.
" I won't," says the dog.
THE LITTLE RED HEN AND THE WHEAT 85
*" I won't," says the cat.
" I won't," says the goose.
" I won't," says the turkey.
" I will, then," says the little red hen. " Ca-ca-ca-
a-ca-ca-^/tftf-cut ! "
So she baked the flour and made a loaf of bread.
" Who will eat this bread ? " says
the little red hen.
" I will," says the dog.
" I will," says the cat.
" I will," says the goose.
" I will," says the turkey.
" I will," says the little red hen. " Ca-ca-ca-ca-
ca-ca-ca-ca-^^-cut ! " and she ate the loaf of bread
all up.
A BEAR STORY
A I was going up stin-dum-stair-um I met a
high-gig-gle-y-bon-bear-um carrying off my
fin-dum-fair-um ; and I said, " I wish I
had my gish-me-gair-um ; I 'd show that high-gig-
gle-y-bon-bear-um how
to carry off my fin-dum-
fair-um ! "
In plain English this
nursery tale is as follows :
As I was going up
stairs I met a bear carry-
ing off my hog ; and I
said, " I wish I had my
gun ; I 'd show that bear
how to carry off my
hog!"
FOOLISH JIM AND CLEVER
JAMES
THERE was once a fellow who was so
simple that people called him Foolish
Jim. Every one made fun of him, for he
would keep a candle burning all through the day,
and when it began to be dark he would blow the
light out. He would carry an umbrella spread over
his head to protect himself from the rain when there
was not a cloud in the sky. He would wear an
overcoat on the hottest day of summer and walk
about outdoors in his shirt sleeves in midwinter.
Indeed, he did everything contrary to common
sense. By and by the king heard of him, and,
thinking Foolish Jim would afford some amuse-
ment, he sent for him. When Jim came he looked
so awkward that the king and all his courtiers began
to laugh.
" Do you know how to count ? " asked the king.
" I know how to count eggs," Foolish Jim
replied, " for yesterday I found four and two."
" How many does that make? " said the king.
88 FOOLISH JIM AND CLEVER JAMES
" I can't say/' Jim answered, " but I will go and
count the eggs and find out."
" Very well," said the king.
So Foolish Jim went and counted the eggs, and
when he returned he told the king there were four
and two.
The king and his friends made merry over this
response for some time, but at last the king said,
" How would you like to marry my daughter,
Foolish Jim ? "
"That would just suit me," Jim replied.
" All right," said the king ; " then I must explain
to you that about a month ago I agreed my daughter
should marry the first man who guessed a riddle
that I have made. I allow three guesses, and who-
ever tries the three times and fails is put to death.
Fifty men have lost their lives already. So take
warning and remember that you need not try unless
you choose."
" Oh, yes ! I will try," said Jim. " Let me hear
the riddle."
" The riddle is this," responded the king. " What
is it that early in the morning walks on four legs, at
noon on two, and in the evening on three legs ?
You may come again on the first day of April and
answer me."
FOOLISH JIM AND CLEVER JAMES 89
So Jim went away, and he did nothing but think
until the first of April came. Every one knew that
he was going to try to guess the king's riddle, and
they all thought he would surely fail. Most of
them were sorry for him, and the only person who
was glad was a bad man who was one of Jim's
neighbors. This man wanted to have Jim's horse,
and he said to himself, " Jim is so foolish there is
no chance whatever of his guessing that riddle. I
may as well save him the trouble of going to the king,
and at the same time get his horse for my own."
The first day of April came, and the bad man
put a basket of poisoned cakes on a bridge over
which Foolish Jim was to pass. " He will eat
those cakes," said the man, " and then he will die
and I will take the horse."
Pretty soon Foolish Jim came riding along, and
when he saw the basket of cakes on the bridge he
got off his horse and picked them up. " This is
very queer," said he ; "a basket of cakes and no
one in sight to whom they might belong."
They smelled good and were very tempting, but
he was a little suspicious. " I will give a few of
them to my horse before I eat any," said he.
So he took up several of the cakes and fed them
to the horse, and almost immediately the poor
9
FOOLISH JIM AND CLEVER JAMES
beast fell dead on the bridge. " See/' said Foolish
Jim, " if I had not been prudent, it is I who would
be dead instead of my horse. Well, well, and now
I shall have to go the rest of the way on foot/'
Before he started he threw his horse into the
river, and as the body was being carried away by
the current three buzzards alighted on it and began
to eat. Foolish Jim watched his horse until it
FOOLISH JIM AND CLEVER JAMES 91
floated around a turn in the river and disappeared.
" Now, said he, wagging his head, " I shall have
something to ask the king to guess."
When Foolish Jim arrived at the king's palace
he found no rivals, for so many had failed and been
beheaded that others who were inclined to have a
try at the riddle were a good deal discouraged. But
Jim went directly to the king and said," If I guess
your riddle, will you give me your daughter ? "
" Yes/' the king replied.
" Well, the riddle is easily answered," said Foolish
Jim.
" Say no more," commanded the king, " but let
us have the answer at once."
" Hearken, then," said Foolish Jim. " A little
child before he is able to stand walks on four legs ;
when he grows stronger he walks on two, and when
he is old he has to carry a cane and that makes
three legs."
All persons present had been listening with th^ir
mouths wide open, they were so astonished.
" You have guessed right," said the king, " and I
see you are not so foolish as you would have people
believe. My daughter will be your wife."
" I beg you will allow me to ask you a riddle now,"
said Foolish Jim.
92 FOOLISH JIM AND CLEVER JAMES
The king thought he was so keen at guessing
riddles that it would be impossible to ask one he
could not correctly answer. " Certainly," he replied,
" and if I do not guess it I will forfeit my kingdom
to you."
Then Foolish Jim said, " I saw a dead being that
was carrying three living beings and was nourishing
them. The dead did not touch the land and was
not in the sky. Tell me what it was, or I shall
take your kingdom/'
The king tried to guess. He said this, that, and
a thousand things ; but in the end he had to give
up, and Foolish Jim said, "The dead being was my
horse. He died on a bridge. I threw him into
the river, and as he floated away three buzzards
alighted on him and were eating him, and he did
not touch the land and was not in the sky."
Everybody now saw that Foolish Jim was smarter
than all of them together. He married the king's
daughter and took the monarch's place and governed
the kingdom, and instead of being called Foolish
Jim he was known as <c Clever James."
THE BEGAR AND THE
PRINCESS
ONCE there was a boy who had a wonderful
horse. When he wanted to ride, all he had
to do was to say, " Saddle and bridle my
little horse,'* and no matter where the boy was the
horse came immediately, all ready to be mounted.
Then the boy would go for a ride, and when he
had ridden as much as he pleased, he would dis-
mount and say, " Off saddle, off bridle," and at
once in place of the horse there was a little cloud of
mist that in a moment afterward had melted into
nothing.
The boy lived with his mother, but at length he
grew up, and was tired of staying at home. So he
set out to seek adventures. He told no one where
he was going, but mounted his horse and travelled
for a long time until he arrived in the country of a
great king. As he was riding through this country
he came to a large city, and in the midst of the city
lived the king in a handsome palace. The young
94 THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCESS
man stopped his horse before the palace and sat
admiring the fine building when a coach came forth
from the gates and passed him. In the coach sat
the king's daughter, and she was very beautiful.
"Ah!" said the young man, "I wish I might
marry that beautiful princess. I must contrive
some way to speak with her."
So he dismounted and said, " Off saddle, off
bridle," and his horse was instantly gone from sight.
Now he went to a second-hand clothing shop in
the city and bought the most ragged suit of clothes
he could get, and after that he sought out a lodg-
ing-place for the night.
The next morning he dressed himself in the
ragged clothes and put his other clothes in a bundle
and returned to the king's palace. He went in at
a side gate and around to the rear to the kitchen,
and made signs that he wanted work. He would
say no words, but only mumbled, and the king's
servants thought he was an idiot. However, they
were kind to him, and he helped them at their work
and they let him sleep on the kitchen hearth. As
they did not know his name they called him " The
Beggar."
He remained in the kitchen for a whole week,
and when Sunday came everybody in the palace
THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCESS
95
went to church except the beggar and the princess.
As to the beggar, no one thought of his going,
for his clothes were not good enough ; and the
princess stayed at home because she was not feeling
well that day.
The rest of the household were no sooner out
of the way than the beggar put on his fine garments,
which he had kept tied up in a bundle, and said,
"Saddle and bridle my little horse."
96 THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCESS
The horse appeared at once, and the young man
began to ride back and forth on the paths of the
palace gardens. Pretty soon the princess saw him
and she stepped out on a little balcony and called
to him to know who he was. So he came close up
under the window, and they talked together until
they heard the people coming from church. Then
the young man dashed away to get out of sight, and
in his haste ran his horse across a flower-bed and
broke some of the pots and tender plants. But he
got safely to the kitchen and made his horse dis-
appear and put on his shabby clothes again.
The damage in the garden was reported to the
king, and he tried to discover who had done it, and
was very angry. He summoned his servants, but
they said that the beggar was the only one who
had remained at home. So the king questioned
the beggar, but he would only mumble in reply,
and the king could do nothing with him.
The next Sunday every one went to church except
the princess and the beggar. She stayed at home
because she wanted to see him again, and no one
expected him to go because his clothes were not
good enough. But when the other servants were
gone it did not take him long to get into his fine
garments and call for his horse. Then he rode in
THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCESS 97
the garden, and presently he saw the princess at her
window waiting to speak with him.
They talked together just as they had the week
before, until they heard the people coming from
church, and then the young man had to hurry to
get out of sight. There was no time to lose, and
he galloped across a flower-bed and broke some
more pots and tender plants.
The king was furious when he saw this new
damage, and he declared that the rascal who was
spoiling his garden must be caught.
So the third Sunday the king stayed at home from
church, and hid in the palace cellar where there was
a narrow window that looked out on the garden.
Thence he^watched, and presently he saw the young
man riding on the paths, and he ran out and caught
the horse by the bridle.
c What do you mean, you villain, by riding
around in my garden this way ? " shouted the king.
" I '11 have your head taken off as soon as my
servants get back from church."
The young man leaped down from his horse and
said, " Off saddle, off bridle," and the king saw a
little puff of fog disappearing, and the horse was
gone, and his hand that had gripped the horse's
bridle was empty.
7
98 THE BEGGAR AND THE PRINCESS
He rubbed his eyes. " Good heavens ! " he ex-
claimed, " can you do such things as that ? "
"Yes," said the young man, "and I beg you will
hear my story."
So he told the king all about himself and his
wonderful horse, and the king was very much
interested. Last of all the young man told the
king how he loved his daughter, and that he wanted
to marry her; and the king said he was willing.
So the young man sent for his mother, and he
married the princess, and they lived a long time
and were very happy.
THE OGRE'S WIFE
ONCE upon a time there was a pretty young
girl who was very proud, and she never
failed to find some pretext or other for
sending promptly away every young man who came
to court her. One was too fat, another was too
thin, this one had red hair, that one had big feet.
In short she refused all her suitors.
Finally her mother picked a pumpkin and had it
put on the top of a very tall pole. " Do you see
that pumpkin ? " said she to her daughter. " The
young man who climbs up and gets that pumpkin
will be your husband."
The daughter said she did not object ; but
her reason for not objecting was that she did not
think any young man could climb so slender and
lofty a pole. They sent notices far and wide and
appointed a day for the climbers to show their
agility. ' When the day came a crowd of young
men presented themselves, and the last to arrive
was handsomer and more beautifully dressed than
100 THE OGRE'S WIFE
any of the others. He was an ogre in disguise, but
nobody knew him, and the young girl admired his
appearance so much that she said to her mother, " I
hope he will get the pumpkin/'
One after another the young men tried to climb
the pole, and one after another they failed to climb
high enough to seize the pumpkin and had to
return to the ground without it. However, when
the turn of the ogre came he climbed with ease right
up to the top of the pole and brought the pumpkin
down with him. Then he said to the young girl,
" Come now, we will go home to my house."
The girl put on her best dress and got into the
ogre's carriage and went away with him. On the
road they met a man who said to the ogre, " Give
me my hat and gloves which I lent to you."
The ogre took off his hat and gloves and gave
them to the man. " Here, take your old hat and
gloves ! " said he, and drove on.
Pretty soon another man met them and said to
the ogre, " Give me my coat which I lent to you."
The ogre took off his coat and gave it to the man.
" Here, take your old coat ! " he said, and drove on.
After a while another man stopped them and
said to the ogre, " Give me my collar and cravat
which I lent to you."
THE OGRE'S WIFE IOI
The ogre took off his collar and cravat and gave
them to the man. " Here, take your old collar and
cravat ! " he said, and drove on.
He was not at all well dressed now, and .the
young girl did not think he looked nearly ao hand-
some as when she first saw him, and'-she was
beginning to be very much frightened. At last,
when they were almost to the ogre's house, another
man met them and said, " Give me my horses
which I lent to you."
The ogre gave him the two horses that drew
the carriage. " Here, take your old horses ! " he
said.
When the man was gone with the horses, the
ogre ordered his wife to get out and draw the
carnage the rest of the way. This she did, and she
was more scared than she had ever been before in
her life. Pretty soon they came to where the
ogre lived, and he said to his wife, " I shall be
away until evening. Go in and stay with my
housekeeper until I return."
She went indoors, and the housekeeper said,
" Ah, my dear, you have taken a bad husband.
You have married an ogre."
The poor girl was very much distressed when she
heard what he really was, and she said to the old
102 THE OGRE'S WIFE
woman, " Could you not tell me how I can run
away ? "
"Yes, I will tell you," replied the old woman.
"Go a;nd hide in the chicken-house, and spend the
night there. It is time now to give the chickens
their, evening feed. You will find a sack of corn just
inside the door. Let them have all of the corn they
will eat, especially the rooster. It is the rooster's
business to awake his master in the morning, and if
he has a full crop he will oversleep and give you a
better chance to get away. Start as soon as you
can see, and carry with you four eggs from the
chicken-house nests. If you find the ogre chasing
you, throw an egg on the ground behind you."
The young lady did all that the ogre's house-
keeper told her to do, and in the earliest gray of
the morning she left the chicken-house, carrying
four eggs tied up in her handkerchief.
The ogre's rooster had eaten so much corn
that he overslept and gave the girl a long start,
but when he awoke he at once began to crow
and make a great racket, shouting, " Master,
master ! get up quickly ! Some one has run away !
Cock-a-doodle-do ! "
The ogre got up without delay and started at a
tremendous pace after his wife. She presently saw
THE OGRE'S WIFE 103
him coming and dashed an egg on the ground
behind her. Immediately there rose between her
and her pursuer a high, strong wooden fence, and
the ogre could neither get through it nor over it,
and had to go home to get an ax to cut the fence
down. But after a time he returned and chopped a
passage for himself, and then went on faster than ever.
As soon as the girl saw him coming she threw
back another egg, and there rose a brick wall so
lofty the ogre could not climb over it, and he had
to go home for a heavy hammer with which to
break the wall down. But after a time he returned
and smashed his way through, and then went on
faster than ever.
The girl heard him coming and threw back another
egg, and behind her burned a long line of fire, and
the ogre had to go home for ajar of water to put
out the fire. After a time he returned and with
the water, quenched the fire, and then went on faster
than ever.
When the girl heard him coming she threw her
last egg ; but in her haste she made a misthrow,
and the egg, instead of falling behind her, fell in
front of her, and 'immediately she found herself on
the bank of a broad river that shut off farther
flight. However, close by the shore she saw a big
104 THE OGRE'S WIFE
crocodile warming itself in the sun, and the girl
said, " Grandmother, I pray you, cross me over.
Grandmother, I pray you, save my life."
The crocodile replied, " Sit down on my back
and I will cross you over."
So the girl sat down on the broad back of the
crocodile and it swam swiftly out into the stream
away from the ogre, and she escaped to the other side.
Then the crocodile swam back, and the ogre said,
" Cross me over, crocodile ; cross me over, too."
The crocodile replied, " Very well, sit down on
my back."
The ogre sat down on the crocodile's back, and
the crocodile swam toward the other shore, but
when it reached the middle of the river it dived
under the water and the ogre was drowned.
The girl had been carried safely over, and she
climbed the bank and found an old black horse
feeding in a pasture, and she said to it, " I pray
you, horse, save my life."
" Well," said the horse, " get up on my back and
I will carry you to your mother."
So the girl mounted the old black horse, and the
horse carried her safely to her mother's house, and
there she is still.
When the crocodile reached the middle of the river he dived
THE FOX AND THE LITTLE
RED HEN
ONCE upon a time there was a little red
hen which lived in the edge of a piece of
woodland.
On the other side of the woods dwelt a cunning
robber fox with his mother, and one day the robber
fox said, " Mother, you make a fire and get the
pot boiling, for I 'm going to catch the little red
hen and we '11 cook her as soon as I come back and
have her for dinner."
So he slung a bag over his shoulder, and started
for the little red hen's house.
The little red hen never suspected any danger,
and she did her morning work as usual, and then
looked at her clock to see what time it was. " Well,"
said she, " now I must begin to get dinner, and the
first thing I '11 do is to step out into the yard for a
few chips to make my fire burn more briskly."
So out she went, and while she was filling her
apron with the chips the fox came along and
108 THE FOX AND THE LITTLE RED HEN
slipped into the house without her seeing him, and
hid behind the door. " I '11 catch her easily enough,
now," said he.
Pretty soon the little red hen went in and was
just going to shut and lock the door when she saw
the fox. Then she was so frightened that she
dropped all her chips and flew up to a peg in the
wall.
"Ha, ha!" laughed the robber fox, "it won't
take me long to bring you down from there ; "
and he began running round and round after his
tail.
The little red hen kept turning about on the peg
to watch him, and in a few minutes she got so
dizzy that she fell off.
Then the fox picked her up, and put her in his
bag, and started for home feeling very smart. But
he grew tired by and by and sat down to rest ; and
the little red hen began to wonder if she could
contrive to escape. She did not want to be eaten,
and she thought and thought until she happened to
think that she had her scissors in her pocket. She
did not waste any more time, but took the scissors
and snipped a hole in the bag and jumped out.
The ground just there was strewn with stones,
and the little red hen picked up several as large as
THE FOX AND THE LITTLE RED HEN 109
she could lift and put them in the bag in her place.
Then she ran home as fast as she could go.
After a while the fox got up and went on.
" How heavy this little hen is ! " he said to himself.
" She must be very plump and fat. Ah ! won't
she make a good dinner ! " and he smacked his lips
to think of how nice she would taste.
When he came in sight of his house he saw his
mother standing in the doorway watching for him,
and he called out, " Hi, mother, have you got the
pot boiling? "
" Yes, yes," his mother replied ; " and have you
got the little red hen?"
110 THE FOX AND THE LITTLE RED HEN
" She 's here in this bag I have on my shoulder,"
was his answer, "and she'll make a fine dinner."
He was soon at the house and he and his mother
went inside. " Now," said he, " when I count
three you take the cover off the pot and I '11 pop
the little red hen right into the hot water."
"Very well," said his mother.
" All ready ! " said the fox, " one, two, three ! "
His mother took the cover off, and splash went
the stones into the boiling water, and the pot tipped
over and scalded the robber fox and his mother
to death.
But the little red hen lives in the woods by
herself yet.
THE HOBYAHS
ONCE there was an old man and an old
woman and a little girl, and they all lived
together in a house made of hempstalks,
and they had a little dog named Turpie.
One night the Hob-
yahs came
and said,
"Hobyah!
Hobyah!
Hobyah ! Tear down the hempstalks, eat up the
old man and woman, and carry off the little girl ! "
But little dog Turpie barked so that the Hobyahs
all ran off; and the old man said, " Little dog
Turpie barks so that I cannot sleep nor slumber,
and if I live till morning I will sell him."
112
THE HOBYAHS
So when it was morning the old man took little
dog Turpie and was gone all day trying to sell
him. "You can have him for four shillings," said
he to every person he met; but no one would buy
him. Some did not want a dog, others lacked
money, and the old man had to bring little dog
Turpie back home.
That night
the Hobyahs
came again
and said,
"Hobyah! Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Tear down the
hempstalks, eat up the old man and woman, and
carry off the little girl."
But little dog Turpie barked so that the Hobyahs
all ran off; and the old man said, " Little dog
Turpie barks so that I cannot sleep nor slumber,
and if I live till morning I will sell him."
So when it was morning the old man took little
dog Turpie and was gone all day trying to sell him.
" You can have him for three shillings," said he to
THE HOBYAHS
every person he met; but no one would buy him.
Some did not want a dog, and others did not have
the three shillings. The only man who wanted a
dog and had the money refused to buy when he
learned that the reason why Turpie' s master wished
to sell him was because he barked so ; and the old
man had to bring little dog Turpie back home.
That night the
H o b y a h s
came again
and said,
"Hobyah!
Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Tear down the hempstalks,
eat up the old man and woman, and carry off the
little girl!"
But little dog Turpie barked so that the Hobyahs
all ran off; and the old man said, " Little dog
Turpie barks so that I cannot sleep nor slumber,
and if I live till morning I will sell him."
So when it was morning the old man took little
dog Turpie and was gone all day trying to sell him.
THE HOBYAHS
"You can have him for two shillings," said he to
every person he met; but no one would buy him,
and the old man had to bring little dog Turpie
back home.
That night
the Hobyahs
came again
and said,
" Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Tear down the
hempstalks, eat up the old man and woman, and
carry off the little girl ! "
But little dog Turpie barked so that the Hob-
yahs all ran off; and the old man said, " Little dog
Turpie barks so that I cannot sleep nor slumber,
and if I live till morning I will sell him!"
So when it was morning the old man took little
dog Turpie and was gone all day trying to sell him.
"You may have him for one shilling," said he to
every person he met ; but no one would buy him,
and the old man had to bring little dog Turpie
back home.
THE HOBYAHS
That night the
H o b y a h s
came again
and said,
"Hobyah!
Hobyah! Hobyah! Tear down the hempstalks,
eat up the old man and woman, and carry off the
little girl ! "
But little dog Turpie barked so that the Hobyahs
all ran off; and the old man said, " Little dog
Turpie barks so that I cannot sleep nor slumber,
and if I live till morning I will give little dog
Turpie away."
So when it was morning the old man took little
dog Turpie, and he was not gone long before he
gave little dog Turpie away, and he returned
without him.
That night
the Hobyahs
came again
and said,
Il6 THE HOBYAHS
" Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Hobyah ! Tear down the
hempstalks, eat up the old man and woman, and
carry off the little girl ! "
There was no little dog Turpie to bark this time,
and the Hobyahs tore down the hempstalks, ate up
the old man and woman, and carried the little girl
off in a bag.
And when the Hobyahs came to where they
lived among the
rocks in the forest
they set the bag
down with the
little girl in it,
and every Hobyah knocked on the top of the bag,
and said, " Look me ! look me ! "
Then they crawled into the holes among the rocks
and went to sleep, for the Hobyahs slept in the
daytime.
The little girl cried a great deal, and a man with
a big dog came that way and he heard her crying.
So he opened the bag and asked her how she came
there, and she told him. Then he put the dog
in the bag and took the little girl to his home.
That night the Hobyahs went to the bag and
knocked on the top of it and said, " Look me !
look me!"
THE HOBYAHS
Iiy
But when they opened the bag the big dog
jumped out and ate them all up; so there are no
Hobyahs now.
THE THREE BEARS
ONCE upon a time there was a little girl
named Golden Hair, and she lived near a
forest-covered mountain. Many pretty
flowers grew in the woods on the mountain-side,
and Golden Hair liked to gather them. Usually
she did not go far from home after the flowers, but
one day she rambled on and on, picking blossoms
here and there, until she was much deeper in the
woods than she had ever been before.
" Now I must go back,'* said Golden Hair at
last. " I did n't intend to come such a long way
and I 'm tired and hungry."
Just then she looked on ahead up the lonely
hollow into which she had wandered, and there
among the trees was as nice a little house as she
had ever seen.
" I did n't know any one lived here in the woods,"
said Golden Hair. " I will go and find out whose
house it is."
So she ran up to the door and rapped, but she
got no response.
THE THREE BEARS 119
"Well," said she, "the people that, belong to
this house can't be far away, for I saw smoke
coming out of the chimney. I suppose I might
step in if the door is n't locked."
She lifted the latch, and the door was not
locked, and she went in and looked about. The
room in which she found herself was the kitchen,
and a fire was burning in the fireplace, and on
a table were three bowls of porridge a big
bowl, and a middle-sized bowl, and a little bowl.
" The people that live here have set the table for
dinner, I think," said Golden Hair. " Oh, how
hungry I am ! I wonder if they would care if I ate
some of their porridge without waiting till they
came back. I will taste, anyway."
So she went to the table and took a spoonful of
porridge from the big bowl.
" This is too hot," she said. " I will try the next."
Then she took a spoonful of porridge from the
middle-sized bowl.
" This is not so hot as the other," said she, " but
it is hotter than I like. I will try the next."
Then she took a spoonful of porridge from
the little bowl, and that was just right and she ate
it all.
" Now, I wish I could sit down to rest for a while
120 THE THREE BEARS
in a good easy chair," said Golden Hair. " They
would have their easy chairs in the parlor, I sup-
pose. I will look in and see."
So she went into the parlor and there she found
three nice rocking-chairs, a big chair, and a
middle-sized chair, and a little chair. She tried the
big chair, but it was too high.
" Dear me ! " said Golden Hair, " I can't touch
my feet to the floor. I don't like this chair, I will
try the next/'
Then she tried the middle-sized chair. She could
touch her feet to the floor in that, but it was too
high for her to feel entirely comfortable, and she
tried the little chair. That was just right, and she
began rocking back and forth in it, when crack !
smash ! the chair broke and Golden Hair tumbled
to the floor.
" That was a nice little chair," she said as she
picked herself up. " I 'm sorry it is broken. I
was having such a good rest in it, too ! I don't
care for the other chairs, and I think I would like
to lie down and have a nap. I must see where the
beds are."
So she went upstairs and into a chamber, and
there she found three beds a big bed, and a
middle-sized bed, and a little bed. She tried the
THE THREE BEARS 121
largest bed, and it was too hard. Then she tried
the middle-sized bed, and that was not so hard as
the big bed, but it was not soft enough to please
Golden Hair. Then she tried the little bed, and
that was just right, and she lay down on it and
covered herself up and fell fast asleep.
Now the house that Golden Hair was in belonged
to three bears a big bear, a middle-sized bear, and
a little bear. Shortly before Golden Hair rapped
at their door they had cooked their porridge for
dinner and set it on the table. Then they had
gone out for a little walk to give the porridge time
to cool. While Golden Hair was asleep the bears
came home. As soon as they entered the kitchen
and looked at the table they saw that things were
not as they had left them.
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TASTING
MY PORRIDGE ! " growled the big bear in his
great, gruff voice.
" AND SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TASTING MY POR-
RIDGE !" said the middle-sized bear.
" And somebody has been tasting my porridge and
eaten it all up ! " piped the little bear.
"We will look around," said they, " and see if
there has been any more meddling."
Then they went into the parlor.
122 THE THREE BEARS
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SITTING IN
MY CHAIR!" growled the big bear in his
great, gruff voice.
<f AND SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY
CHAIR ! " said the middle-sized bear.
" And somebody has been sitting in my chair and
broken it all to pieces," piped the little bear.
Then they went upstairs to the chamber.
THE THREE BEARS 123
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TUMBLING
MY BED ! " growled the big bear in his great,
gruff voice.
"AND SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TUMBLING MY
BED ! " said the middle-sized bear.
" And somebody has been tumbling my bed, and here
she is I " piped the little bear.
Golden Hair waked up just then, and before the
three bears could catch her she slipped from the bed
and scrambled down the stairs and out at the door.
Then she ran home as fast as her legs could carry
her, and she never went near the three bears' house
again.
TOM-TIT-TOT
ONCE upon a time there was a woman who
baked five pies. But she left them in
the oven too long, and when she took
them out the crusts were so hard that she said to
her daughter, " Put these pies on a shelf in the
pantry and leave them there, and they '11 come
again."
She meant that the crusts would get soft presently,
but that was not the way her daughter understood
her ; and the girl said to herself, " Well, if the pies
will come again I '11 eat them right now."
So she ate all the five pies. By and by it was
supper-time, and the woman said, " Daughter, go
you and get one of those pies. I dare say they 've
come again now."
The girl went into the pantry and looked, and
there was nothing but the dishes. So back she
came and said, " No, they 're not come again."
" Not one of them ? " asked the mother.
TOM-TIT-TOT 125
" Not one of them/' replied the girl.
"Well," said the woman, "1*11 have one for
supper anyway."
" But you can't if none of them are come," said
the girl.
" But I can," said the mother. " Go you and
bring the best one."
" Best or worst," said the girl, " I Ve eaten them
all, and I can't bring you one until one is come
again."
Then the woman said no more, and after she had
finished her supper she took her spinning to the
door, and as she spun she sang,
" My daughter has eaten five, five pies to-day.
My daughter has eaten five, five pies to-day."
The king was coming down the street, and he
heard her sing ; but he did not catch the words.
So he stopped and said, " What was that you were
singing, my good woman ? "
The woman was ashamed to let him know what
her daughter had been doing, and in replying she
changed her song to
" My daughter has spun five, five skeins to-day.
My daughter has spun five, five skeins to-day."
" Stars of mine ! " exclaimed the king, " I never
126 TOM-TIT-TOT
heard tell of any one who could do that. Such
talent is worth having."
Then he said, " Look you here, I want a wife
and I '11 marry your daughter ; and for eleven
months she shall have all she likes to eat, and all
the gowns she likes to get, and all the company
she likes to see. But the twelfth month she'll
have to spin five skeins every day or back I '11
send her to you."
"All right," said the woman, for she thought
what a grand marriage her daughter would be mak-
ing; and as for the five skeins, the king would
very likely have forgotten all about them by the
end of eleven months.
So the king married the woman's daughter, and
the girl had all she liked to eat, and all the gowns
she liked to wear, and all the company she liked to
see. But when the eleven months were nearly over
she began to think about the skeins and to wonder
if the king had them in mind. Time went on,
and not one word did he say about the skeins until
the first day of the twelfth month. Then, early
in the morning, he took her into a room she
had never set eyes on before. There was noth-
ing in it but a spinning-wheel and a stool and a
bed.
TOM-TIT-TOT 127
" Now, my dear/' said the king, " I '11 have some
flax and some food sent you at once, and here
you'll be shut in, and if you haven't spun five
skeins by night, back you '11 go to your mother."
Then the servants brought in flax and food
enough to last for the day, and the king went off
about his business. The queen was very much
frightened, for she had never learned how to spin,
and what was she to do with no one to come near
her to help ? She sat down and cried, but pretty
soon she heard a soft rapping on the window. So
she opened the window, and there on the ledge
stood a queer little black man. He looked up at
her and said, " What are you a-crying for ? "
" Why do you ask ? " said she.
" Never you mind," was his answer ; " but tell
me what you are a-crying for."
" It would do me no good if I did tell you,"
she said.
" You don't know that," said the little man.
" Well," said she, " it can do no harm, anyway ; "
and she told him all about the pies and the five
skeins and everything.
" Then you think it 's likely you won't be queen
much longer, I suppose," said the little man when
she finished. "But listen this is what I'll do.
128 TOM-TIT-TOT
Every morning I '11 come to your window and take
the flax and bring it spun at night."
" And what do you expect me to pay you ? "
she asked.
The little black man looked out of the corners
of his eyes and replied, " I will give you three
guesses every night to guess my name , and if you
have n't guessed it before the month is up, you
shall be mine."
" I agree," said she ; for she thought she would
be sure to guess his name by the end of the month.
" Very well," said the little man, and he took
the flax and went away.
The day passed and evening came. Then there
was a knocking at the window, and when the
window was opened the little black man stepped
in with five skeins of flaxen thread on his
arm. " Here it is," said he, " and now what 's my
name ? "
" Is your name Bill? " said she.
" No, it is n't," said he.
"Is it Ned?" said she.
" No, it is n't," said he.
"Well, is it Joe?" said she.
" No, it is n't," said he, and then he laughed and
winked and scurried out of the window.
TOM-TIT-TOT 129
When the king came in he found the five skeins
ready for him. " I see I sha'n't have to send you
back to your mother to-night," said he. "You
have done very well, and I will have more food
and flax brought to you in the morning."
So saying, he locked the door and went away.
The days which followed were just like the first.
Every morning a new supply of flax and food was
left in the room, and the little black imp came
regularly to get the flax and bring the skeins, and
from sunrise to sunset the girl sat trying to think
of names for him. But she could never seem to hit
the right one. The end of the month got nearer
and nearer, until the last day but one had come.
The imp brought the five skeins at night as usual
and said," Well, have you guessed my name yet? "
" Is it Nicodemus ? " said she.
" No, it is n't," said he.
" Is it Elijah ? " said she.
" No, it is n't," said he.
" Is it Methuselah ? " said she.
" No, it is n't," said he.
Then he looked at her with his eyes glowing
like coals of fire, and he said, " Woman, there 's
only to-morrow night, and then you '11 be mine ; "
and out he went through the window.
9
130 TOM-TIT-TOT
The little man had hardly gone when the queen
heard the king coming along the passage. In he
walked, and he glanced at the five skeins and said,
" Well, my dear, it seems to be pretty certain now
that I sha'n't have to send you back to your
mother, and I 'm going to eat my supper in here
with you to-night."
Pretty soon the servants brought in dishes and
food and another stool, and the two sat down and
ate. But the king had only taken three or four
mouthfuls when he stopped and began to laugh.
" What is there to laugh about ? " asked the queen.
" Why," said he, " I was out hunting to-day,
and as I was climbing a high hill among the forest
trees I heard a sort of humming sound. So I got
off my horse and I went along very softly and soon
I came in sight of a little hut, and before the hut
burned a fire, and beside the fire sat the funniest
little black imp that ever was ; and he had a tiny
spinning wheel on which he was spinning like mad ;
and as he spun he sang,
' Nimmy, nimmy not,
My name's Tom-Tit-Tot.' "
When the girl heard the king repeat these words
she wanted to jump up and clap her hands, but she
never stirred or said a word.
TOM-TIT-TOT IJI
The next day the little man got the flax at the
accustomed time, and in the evening he was back
with it nicely spun in five handsome skeins. He
knocked at the window-panes, and when the queen
let him in he was grinning from ear to ear. " What 's
my name ? " he said as he gave her the skeins.
" Is it Spindleshanks ? " said she.
" No, it is n't," said he.
132 TOM-TIT-TOT
" Is it Cowribs ? " said she.
"No, it isn't," said he, and he laughed loud and
long. "Take time, woman," he advised. "Next
guess and you are mine, ha ! ha ! ha ! " and he
stretched out his black arms toward her.
But the queen pointed her finger at him and
said,
" Nimmy, nimmy not,
Your name 's Tom-Tit-Tot. 5 '
At that the little black man gave an awful shriek.
" Some witch told you ! Some witch told you ! " he
cried. Then he dashed out of the window into the
dark and she never saw him any more.
THE KING OF THE GOLDEN
MOUNTAIN
A CERTAIN merchant sent two richly laden
ships on a voyage. He invested all his
property in them, and he hoped to make
great gains ; but the ships were wrecked, and the
merchant was reduced from wealth to poverty and
had to live in a poor little cottage.
One day, as he was walking along by the sea-
shore thinking sadly of his future, a rough-looking
dwarf stood before him and asked why he was so
sorrowful.
" I would tell you/' said the merchant, " if it
would do any good."
" Who knows but that it may ? " said the little
man. " Tell me your troubles and perhaps I can
be of some service."
Then the merchant related how all his wealth
had gone to the" bottom of the sea.
" Oh, well, don't mourn any longer about that,"
said the dwarf. " Only promise that twelve years
IJ4 THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN
hence you will bring to me here whatever meets
you first on your return home, and I will see that
you shall never want for gold/*
The merchant promised and thought he had
the best of the bargain ;. but when he approached
his home, who should come running to meet him
but his little boy. The merchant was greatly
distressed to think that he had bound himself to
give his boy to the dwarf. " Very likely, though,
the dwarf was only joking/' said he ; " for I see no
sign of that gold he told me I was to have."
A few days afterward the merchant was cleaning
out an old lumber-room, and under a heap of
rubbish in a corner he found a box full of gold
pieces. Then he was fearful that the dwarf was
in earnest. However, there was the gold, and what
was he to do with it P He concluded to go into
business once more, and he was not long in be-
coming richer than he had been before.
Time went on, and the son grew up and the
end of the twelve years drew near. The merchant
was very anxious now, and one day he told his son
about his promise to the dwarf.
" Well," said the son, " I would not worry ;
perhaps things may not turn out as badly as you
think."
The merchant begs the dwarf not to take bis son from him
THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN 137
When the appointed date came they went together
to the sea-shore, and there they found the little
dwarf. The merchant begged the dwarf not to
insist on taking his son from him, and they argued
for a long time. At last the dwarf said, <c I will
yield up my rights on one condition, which is that
your son shall get into an open boat and be set
adrift on the sea without sail or oars.'*
"Oh, cruel dwarf!" said the merchant. "If I
must choose between the sea and you I choose the
sea."
Then the dwarf led the way to a boat that was
drawn up on the beach near where they had been
talking. They dragged the boat to the water, the
son got in, and the dwarf pushed it off.
The merchant hoped his son would drift to
shore, but the wind and currents carried the little
boat farther and farther away until he could see it
no longer. Then he hoped his son would be
rescued by some vessel, but the weeks and months
slipped away without his hearing anything from him,
and finally he gave his son up for lost.
However, the young man was not drowned in
the sea as his father thought. He sat securely in
the little boat, and it rocked along over the waves
until it was wafted to the shores of a country the
IJ 8 THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN
merchant's son had never before seen. Not far
from where he came to land was a lofty mountain,
and the color of the mountain was yellow, like gold,
and on its summit was a beautiful castle.
So the merchant's son walked away from the
sea and climbed the golden mountain ; but when he
reached the castle he discovered that it was empty
and desolate, for it was enchanted. He went all
through the great building and saw not a living
thing till he entered one of the chambers where he
found a white snake ; and this white snake spoke
to him.
" Oh, how glad I am to see you ! " it said. " I
am not really a snake. A wicked dwarf has
enchanted me. I am the Queen of the Golden
Mountain. Twelve long years have I waited for
a deliverer."
" If you will tell me in what way I can be of
service to you," said the merchant's son, " I will do
anything I can to disenchant you."
" Then listen to me," said the queen. " This
night twelve black men will come and they will ask
you why you are here ; but be silent. Give them
no answer. Let them do what they will, even if
they beat and torment you. Speak not a word, or
you cannot save me. At twelve o'clock they will
THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN 139
go. The second night twelve other black men will
come, and they will do as did the first twelve. The
third night twelve more black men will come and
they will try their worst to make you speak ; but
if you withstand them till the twelfth hour of that
night I shall be free."
" Have no fear/' replied the young man ; " your
wishes shall be obeyed."
Everything came to pass as the queen had said,
and the merchant's son was threatened and beaten
and tormented. Yet he spoke not a word, and at
twelve o'clock on the third night the black men
hastened away howling with rage and disappoint-
ment. Then the white snake became a beautiful
young queen. The castle, too, was disenchanted
and was all that the home of a queen should
be; and the merchant's son fell in love with the
queen, and she fell in love with him. So it was
not long before a wedding was celebrated in the
castle, and the merchant's son became the King of
the Golden Mountain.
Eight years passed, and then the king said, " I
must go to visit my father. In all the years I have
been here he has had no word from me, and he
must think I am dead."
" No, no," said the queen, " do not go."
140 THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN
But the king grew more and more anxious to
return to his father, and at last the queen consented.
When he was about to start she gave him a wishing-
ring, and said, " Take this ring and put it on your
finger. You have but to turn it around when you
wish and whatever you wish for will be granted.
Only promise that you will not make use of it to
bring me hence to your father's."
He promised what she asked and put the ring
on his finger. Then he wished himself near the
town where his father lived. A moment later he
found himself at the town gates ; but the clothes he
wore were so different from those worn by the
people of that region that the town guards were
suspicious and would not let him in. So he walked
off across the fields trying to think what he would
do next.
Presently he came to a shepherd's hut. " I will
make an exchange of clothes here," said he, and he
sought out the shepherd and offered him a golden
guinea for some of his old garments.
The shepherd was very glad to part with them
at that price, and when the king put them on and
left his own fine apparel behind, the shepherd
could only think that the poor man had lost his
wits.
THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN 141
The king now went back to the town, and, in
his shepherd's garb, the guards supposed him to be
a peasant and let him pass without question. He
hastened to his father's house, and told the merchant
that he was his son.
" But my son is dead, long since," said the
merchant; and he would not believe it possible that
this ragged fellow was his son, whom he had seen
disappear eight years previous in the little boat.
" Is there no mark by which you would know
if I am really your son ? " the king asked at length.
" Yes," replied the merchant, " my son had a
mark like a raspberry on the under side of his right
arm, just above the elbow."
Then the king pulled up the sleeve on his right
arm and showed the mark, and the merchant was
satisfied that the young man was his son, and he
listened with wonder while the son related how he
had married a queen and was King of the Golden
Mountain.
" What ! " cried the merchant, "you tell me you
are a king ? That cannot be true, else you would
not be travelling about in a shepherd's frock."
The son was very much troubled when his father
did not believe him. " I will prove to you that I
speak the truth," said he, and forgetting his promise
142 THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN
to his queen he turned his ring and wished to have
her there with him.
Instantly she stood before him in her royal robes,
and the merchant could not doubt longer that his
son was King of the Golden Mountain as he had
said. But the queen wept because the king had
broken his word. She stopped crying presently,
yet she did not forget his broken promise, and that
night while he was asleep she drew the ring from his
finger and wished herself at home in her kingdom.
When the king awoke he was alone, and the ring
was gone from his finger. He was very sorrow-
ful then, and he said, " I will journey forth into
the world and perhaps I can find my kingdom
again."
So saying, he set out and travelled for many days.
At last he came near to a hill on the top of which
he heard loud and angry voices. " I must find
out what is going on here," said the king, and
he climbed the hill and crept along till he was
near enough to see that two giants were disput-
ing over the possession of a cloak and a pair of
boots.
He listened and learned that the cloak made its
wearer invisible, and that the boots carried the
person who put them on wherever he wished to
THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN 143
go. The giants began a desperate struggle, when
one of them said, " Why should we kill each other ?
Let us bury the things that make the trouble
between us right here and have no more to do
with them."
"Yes," said the other, "let us bury them/'
So they scraped a hole in the dirt, threw in the
cloak and boots, covered them up and went off.
144 THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN
Then the king ran to the spot where the cloak and
boots were buried and dug them up, and when he
had shaken the dirt out of them he put them on.
They fitted perfectly, for they were magic garments
that increased or decreased in size to suit the
stature of the wearer. " Now," said he, " I wish I
was back at the Golden Mountain."
He was there at once; but no one knew he had
come because the cloak he had on made him in-
visible. He found the queen very melancholy on
account of her long separation from him. u I would
wish him back," said she, looking at the ring on
her- finger, " if he had not broken his promise."
This she said again and again, and at length the
tears gathered in her eyes and she said, " I cannot
bear to have him away any longer," and she turned
the ring and said, " I wish he was here."
But the king was already there, only she could
not see him. She looked about disappointed.
" Can it be that the magic is gone from my ring ? "
she exclaimed. cc I will try again."
She turned the ring once more and this time she
said, " I wish to be carried to the king."
As the king was in the same room there was
nothing for the ring to do, and she remained just
where she was. Then the king took pity on her
THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN 145
and threw off the cloak he was wearing, and the
queen saw him and they ran to each other's arms.
The king was happy and the queen was happy,
and they lived happily together on the Golden
Mountain ever after.
10
LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD
ONCE upon a time there was a little girl
who lived in a village near a forest, and
she was such a nice little girl that every
one was very fond of her. When she went any-
where she always wore a little red riding-hood her
grandmother had given her, and so people called
her " Little Red Riding-Hood."
One day her mother, who had just made some
custards, said to her, " My dear, you shall go and
see how your grandmother is ; and you may take
her a custard and a little cake of butter. I will
put them in a basket that you can carry on your
arm."
Little Red Riding-Hood was soon on the way
to her grandmother's cottage, which was in the
forest, a half hour's walk from the village. But
she had not gone far into the woods when she
met a wolf.
" Good day, little girl/' said the wolf.
LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD 147
He was very polite, though at the same time he
was wishing he could eat her ; and that is what
he would have done had he not been afraid of
some wood-cutters who were at work near by.
148 LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD
" Where are you going, my pretty little lady ? " he
asked.
" I am going to see my grandmother/* she replied,
" and I am taking her a custard and a cake of butter
from my mother."
" And where does she live ? " the wolf inquired.
" Oh," said Little Red Riding-Hood, " you keep
right along this road, and she lives in the first
house."
" Well, good by," said the wolf. " I 'm going
to be passing your grandmother's and I will stop
and tell her you are coming to see her."
Then the wolf ran on, and when he arrived at
the grandmother's house he went to the door and
knocked tap, tap !
He got no answer, and he knocked louder
slam, slam !
But still there was no response, and after a minute
he stood on his hind legs and reached up one of his
forepaws to the latch and opened the door. He
found not a soul in the house ; for the grandmother
had gone to market in the town. She had started
early and had left her bed unmade and her nightcap
lying on the pillow.
" I know what I '11 do," said the wolf; and after
shutting the door he put the grandmother's night-
LITTLE RED RIDING-HOGto 149
cap on his head and lay down in th/bjed and drew
the covers up over himself.
Meanwhile Little Red Riding-Hood was coming
along the forest road. She did not hurry. Some-
times she stopped to pick flowers, and sometimes
she paused to hear the biyra /singing among the
trees. But presently she reached her grandmother's
cottage and knocked at thq d/or tap, tap !
"Who is there?" asked/the wolf, softening his
rough voice as much as tye could.
"It's me, Granny your Little Red Riding-
Hood," she replied; and then she said, "Are you
sick, Granny ? Your voice is very hoarse."
" I have a cold," answered the wolf, " and I am
not feeling well enough to get up to-day. You can
press your finger on the latch and come in."
So Little Red Riding-Hood pressed her finger
on the latch and opened the door and went in.
" I have brought you a custard, dear Granny," said
she, " and a cake of butter from my mama, and
some flowers that I picked in the forest."
" You can put your basket on the table and take
off your hood," said the wolf.
Little Red Riding-Hood put the basket on
the table, and after she had taken off her hood
she went to the bedside. " Oh, Grandmama,
150 LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD
Grandmama," said she, " what hairy arms you
have ! "
" All the better to hug you with, my dear," the
wolf replied.
" And oh, Grandmama, what great ears you
have!" said little Red Riding-Hood.
" All the better to hear you with, my dear," the
wolf replied.
" And oh, Grandmama, what great eyes you
have ! " said Little Red Riding-Hood.
" All the better to see you with, my dear," the
wolf replied.
" And oh, Grandmama, what a long nose you
have ! " said Little Red Riding-Hood.
" All the better to smell the sweet flowers you
have brought me," the wolf replied.
" And oh, Grandmama, what great white teeth you
have ! " said Little Red Riding-Hood.
" All the better to gobble you up with ! " cried
the wicked wolf, and he leaped from the bed toward
Little Red Riding-Hood with his mouth wide
open.
But while the wolf and the little girl had been
talking the grandmother had come home from
market. She looked in at the door and saw the
wolf in her bed, and then she ran to the woodpile
LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD 151
in the yard and got an ax. Just as the wolf sprang
toward Little Red Riding-Hood the grandmother
rushed in at the door with the ax and gave the
wolf such a blow that it killed him, and Little Red
Riding-Hood was not harmed at all.
THE FOUR MUSICIANS
THERE was once a donkey who had
worked for his master faithfully many
years, but his strength at last began to fail,
and every day he became more and more unfit for
work. Finally his master concluded it was no
1 onger worth while to keep him and was thinking of
putting an end to him. But the donkey saw that
mischief was brewing and he ran away. " I will go
to the city," said he, " and like enough I can get
an engagement there as a musician ; for though
my body has grown weak, my voice is as strong as
ever."
So the donkey hobbled along toward the city,
but he had not gone far when he spied a dog lying
by the roadside and panting as if he had run a long
way. " What makes you pant so, my friend ? "
asked the donkey.
" Alas ! " replied the dog, " my master was going
to knock me on the head because I am old and
weak and can no longer make myself useful to
THE FOUR MUSICIANS 153
him in hunting. So I ran away ; but how am I
to gain a living now, I wonder?"
" Hark ye ! " said the donkey. " I am going to
the city to be a musician. You may as well keep
company with me and try what you can do in the
same line."
The dog said he was willing, and they went on
together. Pretty soon they came to a cat sitting in
the middle of the road and looking as dismal as
three wet days. " Pray, my good lady," said the
donkey, " what is the matter with you, for you
seem quite out of spirits ? " (
" Ah me ! " responded the cat, " how can I be
cheerful when my life is in danger ? I am getting
old, my teeth are blunt, and I like sitting by the
fire and purring better than chasing the mice about.
So this morning my mistress laid hold of me and
was going to drown me. I was lucky enough to
get away from her ; but I do not know what is to
become of me, and I 'm likely to starve."
" Come with us to the city," said the donkey,
" and be a musician. You understand serenading,
and with your talent for that you ought to be able
to make a very good living."
The cat was pleased with the idea and went
along with the donkey and the dog. Soon after-
154 THE FOUR MUSICIANS
ward, as they were passing a farmyard, a rooster
flew up on the gate and screamed out with all his
might, " Cock-a-doodle-doo ! "
" Bravo ! " said the donkey, " upon my word you
make a famous noise ; what is it all about ? "
" Oh," replied the rooster, " I was only foretelling
fine weather for our washing-day ; and that I do
every week. But would you believe it ! My
mistress does n't thank me for my pains, and she
has told the cook that I must be made into broth
for the guests that are coming next Sunday."
"Heaven forbid!" exclaimed the donkey; "come
with us, Master Chanticleer. It will be better, at
any rate, than staying here to have your head cut
off. We are going to the city to be musicians ;
and who knows ? perhaps the four of us can get
up some kind of a concert. You have a good voice,
and if we all make music together, it will be some-
thing striking. So come along."
"With all my heart," said the cock; and the
four went on together.
The city was, however, too far away for them to
reach it on the first day of their travelling, and
when, toward night, they came to a thick woods,
they decided to turn aside from the highway and
pass the night among the trees. So they found a
THE FOUR MUSICIANS 155
dry, sheltered spot at the foot of a great oak and the
donkey and dog lay down on the ground beneath
it ; but the cat climbed up among the branches, and
the rooster, thinking the higher he sat the safer he
would be, flew up to the very top. Before he went
to sleep the rooster looked around him to the four
points of the compass to make sure that everything
was all right. In so doing he saw in the distance a
little light shining, and he called out to his com-
panions, " There must be a house no great way off,
for I can see a light."
" If that be the case," said the donkey, " let us
get up and go there. Our lodging here is not what
I am used to, and the sooner we change it for better
the more pleased I shall be."
"Yes," said the dog, "and perhaps I might be
able to get a few bones with a little meat on them at
that house."
" And very likely I might get some milk," said
the cat.
" And there ought to be some scraps of food for
me," said the rooster.
So the cat and the rooster came down out of the
tree and they all walked off with Chanticleer in the
lead toward the spot where he had seen the light.
At length they drew near the house, and the donkey,
i S 6
THE FOUR MUSICIANS
see?"
being the tallest of the company, went up to the
lighted window and looked in.
" Well, what do you see ? " asked the dog.
" What do T
answered
the donkey. " I
see that this is a
robber's house.
There are swords
and pistols and
blunderbusses on
the walls, and there
are chests of money
on the floor,
and all sorts
of other plunder
lying about. The
robbers are
sitting at a
table that is
loaded with
the best
of eat-
ables and
drinkables,
and they
THE FOUR MUSICIANS 159
and flew into his face, spitting and scratching. Then
he cried out in fright and ran toward the door, and
the dog, who was lying there, bit the robber's leg.
He managed, however, to get out in the yard, and
there the donkey struck out with a hind foot and
gave him a kick that knocked him down, and
Chanticleer who had been roused by the noise, cried
out " Cock-a-doodle-doo ! Cock-a-doodle-doo ! "
The robber captain had barely strength to crawl
away to the other robbers. " We cannot live at
that house any more," said he. "In the kitchen is
a grewsome witch, and I felt her hot breath and her
long nails on my face, and by the door there stood
a man who stabbed me in the leg, and in the yard
is a black giant who beat me with a club, and on the
roof is a little fellow who kept shouting, c Chuck
him up to me ! Chuck him up to me ! '
So the robbers went away and never came back,
and the four musicians found themselves so well
pleased with their new quarters that they did not
go to the city, but stayed where they were ; and I
dare say you would find them there at this very
day.
TEENY-TINY
ONCE upon a time there was a teeny-tiny
woman lived in a teeny-tiny house in a
teeny-tiny village. One day this teeny-
tiny woman put on her teeny-tiny bonnet and went
out of her teeny-tiny house to take a teeny-tiny walk.
And when the teeny-tiny woman had gone a teeny-
tiny way she came to a teeny-tiny gate ; and the
teeny-tiny woman opened the teeny-tiny gate and
went into a teeny-tiny field. And when the teeny-
tiny woman had gone into the teeny-tiny field she
saw a teeny-tiny bone beside a teeny-tiny tree, and
the teeny-tiny woman said to her teeny-tiny self,
" This teeny-tiny bone will make me some teeny-
tiny soup for my teeny-tiny supper."
So the teeny-tiny woman put the teeny-tiny bone
into her teeny-tiny pocket and went home to her
teeny-tiny house. And when the teeny-tiny woman
got home to her teeny-tiny house she was a teeny-
tiny tired, and she went up her teeny-tiny stairs to
her teeny-tiny chamber and put the teeny-tiny bone
TEENY-TINY
161
into a teeny-tiny cupboard. Then she went to
sleep in her teeny-tiny bed, and when she had been
asleep a teeny-tiny time she was awakened by a
teeny-tiny voice from the teeny-tiny cupboard which
said :
" Give me my bone ! "
And the teeny-tiny woman was a teen-tiny
frightened. So she hid her teeny-tiny head under
the teeny-tiny clothes and went to sleep again.
1 62 TEENY-TINY
And when she had been asleep for a teeny-tiny
time, the teeny-tiny voice cried out again from the
teeny-tiny cupboard a teeny-tiny louder :
" Give me my bone ! "
This made the teeny-tiny woman a teeny-tiny
more frightened. So she hid her teeny-tiny head
a teeny-tiny farther under the teeny-tiny clothes.
And when the teeny-tiny woman had been asleep
again a teeny-tiny time, the teeny-tiny voice from
the teeny-tiny cupboard said again a teeny-tiny
louder :
" Give me my bone ! "
And the teeny-tiny woman was a teeny-tiny more
frightened ; but she put her teeny-tiny head out of
the teeny-tiny clothes and said in her loudest teeny-
tiny voice :
"TAKE IT!"
THE WOLF AND THE SEVEN
LITTLE GOSLINGS
ONCE there was a goose who had seven little
goslings of whom she was very fond, and
she did everything she could for them.
What troubled her most was to keep them safe from
a big gray wolf who lived near by in the forest, and
who sometimes came prowling around the house
that the goose lived in. Whenever she had to
go out to look for food she called the goslings
all together and said, " Dear children, I am obliged
to leave you for a little while to go and get some-
thing for us to eat. Take care of yourselves and do
not let the wolf come in. You will know him by his
rough voice and his black paws. If he once gets
in the house he will eat you."
The goslings always replied, " Oh, we will be
very careful, dear mother. You need not worry
about us."
One day, when the mother goose had gone out
to get food, the wolf came to the house and rapped,
164 THE WOLF AND SEVEN LITTLE GOSLINGS
and said in his rough voice, " Dear children, open
the door. I am your mother. I have brought
you something very nice."
The seven little goslings made answer, " You are
not our mother. She has a fine, sweet voice. Your
voice is rough. You are the wolf, and we will not
open the door."
Then the wolf bethought himself of a trick. He
went to a shopkeeper and said, " Give me a great
piece of chalk."
The shopkeeper gave the wolf the chalk, and
the wolf ate it, and it made his voice fine and
sweet. Then he went back to the house of the
seven little goslings and said with his fine, sweet
voice, " Dear children, let me come in. I am your
mother, and every one of you shall have something
to eat."
But the seven little goslings looked through the
crack beneath the door and saw his black paws.
Then they said, "Oho! our mother does not
have black feet. You are the wolf, and we will not
open the door."
So the wolf went to a baker and said, " Baker,
sprinkle my feet with flour."
The baker did not wish to do this, but the wolf
said, " If you do not obey I will eat you."
THE WOLF AND SEVEN LITTLE GOSLINGS 165
So the baker strewed the wolf's feet with flour,
and the wolf went back to the seven little goslings
and said, " Dear children, open the door. I am
your mother, and every one of you shall have some-
thing to eat."
The wolfs voice was sweet and fine, and when
the little goslings looked under the door and saw
the wolf's paws as white as snow, they thought he
was their mother. They opened the door and the
wolf leaped in.
The goslings were very much frightened then and
they hid themselves as quickly as they could. One
went under the table, the second into the bed, the
third into the oven, the fourth behind the meal-
chest, the fifth in a closet, the sixth beneath a great
pot, and the seventh went into the clock. But the
wolf found them all and ate them except the
youngest, who was in the clock, and then he went
away.
Shortly afterward the mother goose came home.
The door was open ! Tables and chairs were over-
turned ! the kitchen pots were broken ! the bed-
clothes were on the floor ! and, what was worse, the
children were gone ! Nowhere could she find them.
Then she called them each by name, and there was
nothing but silence in response until she came to
1 66 THE WOLF AND SEVEN LITTLE GOSLINGS
the name of the youngest, when a little squeak-
ing voice answered, " Dear mother, I am in the
clock."
She pulled him out, and he related to her what
had happened.
The old goose
said to the little
one, " Come with
me. I will take the
carving knife, and
we will see if we
can find that wicked
wolf. He has not
gone far. After
eating so much he
has lain down some-
where to sleep."
So the mother
goose took the carv-
ing knife and set
forth with the little
gosling close be-
hind her. They followed the wolf's tracks into a
meadow, and there they found him fast asleep and
snoring.
" Here he is," whispered the mother goose.
THE WOLF AND SEVEN LITTLE GOSLINGS 167
" No doubt he feels very comfortable after eating
six of my children for his supper."
Then she stole up to the wolf and gave him a
blow with the carving knife that killed him. After
that she cut him open and out stepped the six little
goslings one by one ; for he had swallowed them
whole and they were more frightened than hurt.
They were very glad to escape from their dark
prison, and as they walked along behind the mother
goose toward home, there neverwere happier goslings
in the world than they were.
. THE MAGIC FIDDLE
A7ARMER once had a servant who worked
for him three years without being paid any
wages. The servant did his work well and
faithfully, and was the first of the farmer's help to
get up in the morning and the last to go to bed at
night. If there was any hard work to be done
which no one else would do he was always ready to
undertake it. He never made any complaint, and
never failed to be good-natured and contented. But
at last it came into the man's head that he would
not continue without pay any longer. So he went
to his master and said, " I have worked hard for
you a long time, and now I think I should have
some money for my labor."
The farmer was miserly and not altogether honest,
and as he knew that his man was very simple-
hearted he took out his purse and gave him three-
pence. " There is a penny," said he, " for each
year you have served me."
THE MAGIC FIDDLE 169
The servant thought threepence was a great
deal of money to have, and he said to himself,
"Why should I work here any longer? I can
now travel into the wide world and make myself
merry."
Then, with his money jingling in his pocket, he
set out roaming over hill and valley. As he tramped
singing along the road a little dwarf hopped out of
a wayside bush and asked, " What makes you so
happy, sir ? "
" Why ! what should make me downhearted ? "
said the man. " I am sound in health and rich in
purse. I have saved up the pay for three years'
work and have it all safe in my pocket."
" How much may that come to ? " inquired the
dwarf.
" Full threepence," replied the servant.
" Listen," said the dwarf. " I wish you would
give the threepence to me. I am very poor."
When the man heard this he was so sorry for
the dwarf that he gave him the threepence ; and
the little dwarf said, " As you have been so kind to
me I will grant any wish that you may care to
make ; so choose whatever you like."
" Aha ! " said the servant. " You are a wonder-
worker, I see," and, greatly rejoiced at his good
170 THE MAGIC FIDDLE
luck, he paused to think what he most wanted.
" I like many things better than money," said he.
" Now if you could give me a fiddle that would set
every one dancing who hears me play on it, that
would please me more than anything else I can
think of."
"All right," said the dwarf, "you can have what
you ask for ; " and out of a bag he carried he pulled
a fiddle and bow and handed them to his com-
panion.
" Heart alive ! what more can one desire ? " said
the servant.
Then the dwarf went his way and the hired man
walked on singing as before. But he had not gone
far when an old man called to him from a roadside
field. The old man had an ax in his hands and
was standing under a great oak-tree that he had
begun to cut down. " This work is too hard for
me," said the old man. " But a stout fellow like
you would make nothing of it, and if you will finish
chopping through this tree-trunk I will pay you
five shillings."
" Give me the ax," said the servant. " I am
quite willing to earn a little money, for mine is all
gone ; " and he threw off his coat and went to
work.
THE MAGIC FIDDLE X y!
By and by the oak crashed to the ground.
" There," said the servant, " now 1 '11 take my
five shillings and be stepping along/'
" I did not think you could do the work so soon
or I would not have offered you so much," said the
old man.
" Well, that is no fault of mine," the servant
replied.
" But five shillings is more than the work is
worth," argued the old man. " Here, I will give
you three shillings, and that is a great plenty."
" No, I will take nothing less than what you
agreed to give me in the first place," the servant
declared.
" Then you will not get anything," said the other.
" We will see about that," was the servant's
response, and he took up his fiddle and began
playing, and the old man began to dance.
" How is this ? " the old man cried. " Is that
fiddle enchanted?"
" Yes," said the servant.
" Then for heaven's sake, my good fellow, play
no more ! " shouted the old man. " I don't want
to dance. My bones are too stiff for me to be
springing about like this. Master, master ! do let
the fiddle alone."
172 THE MAGIC FIDDLE
" You don't like dancing, eh ? " laughed the
servant. " Well, it is good enough for you after
treating me so meanly ; " and he played away more
briskly than ever.
"Have pity, have pity!" begged the old man,
" and I will give you your money."
So the servant stopped fiddling. Then the old
man handed over the five shillings ; but he was so
angry that as soon as he had rubbed his aching
joints he hurried to the town, muttering as he went,
" The miserable fiddler ! Just wait I will get
even with him."
As soon as he reached the town he complained
to the constables that he had been robbed. " You
will know the rascal who robbed me easily enough,"
said the old man ; " for he is always singing, and he
carries a violin under his arm."
The constables set off at once in search of the
rogue, and presently they caught him and brought
him before the court to be tried.
"That is he," said the old man, "that is the
very fellow who stole my five shillings."
" No," said the servant. " I did not steal.
You gave me the money for playing a tune to you
on my fiddle."
" What ! " exclaimed the judge, " five shillings for
Have pity, have pity ! ' ' begged the old man
THE MAGIC FIDDLE 175
a tune on a fiddle ! That 's not at all likely. I
fear you are a liar as well as a thief."
" I speak the truth," said the servant.
" Heaven defend us ! " screamed the old man.
" His lies are as thick as flies on the wall. He stole
my money, and you can't believe a word he says."
" Prisoner/' said the judge, " you deserve
hanging."
Then the judge turned to the officers and said,
" Take the five shillings from him and give them to
the old man ; and after that you may conduct the
culprit to the gallows."
So the officers took away the servant's money
and marched him off to the gallows, while the old
man cried after him, " You vagabond ! You dog
of a fiddler ! Now you will get your just deserts."
A crowd followed the culprit to the place of
execution, and the officers were about to put the
rope around his neck when he said to the judge,
" My lord, grant me one last request."
" What is it ? " asked the judge.
" Only this," replied the servant " that I may
play on my fiddle once more."
" Very well," replied the judge, " play away."
" Oh, no, no ! " shouted the old man, " for mercy's
sake don't let him play his fiddle."
176 THE MAGIC FIDDLE
But the judge said, " It is only for this once ; he
will soon have done."
" Then bind me fast, oh, bind me fast before he
begins," cried the old man.
The servant wasted no time in starting a tune,
and at the first scrape all the people began to wag
their heads his accuser and the judge, the officers,
the jailer, the hangman, and every one else who was
within hearing. They could not help themselves.
At the second scrape they all lifted their legs and
the hangman let go his hold of the honest servant
to make ready to dance.
At the third scrape they one and all leaped into
the air, and began to caper about old and young,
fat and lean, danced as hard as they could. Even
the dogs got up on their hind legs and pranced
about with the rest. The dancing was merry and
pleasant enough at first, but when it had gone on
for a while and there seemed to be no end to the
playing or leaping, the people began to cry out for
the servant to stop fiddling. But that he would
not do till the judge had promised he should not
be hanged, and the old man had given back to him
his five shillings.
So the judge promised and the old man handed
over the money. Then the servant tucked the
THE MAGIC FIDDLE 177
fiddle under his arm and started off again on his
travels, and the people who had been dancing
around the gallows heard him singing as he walked
down the street out of the town.
THE CLEVER WIFE
ONCE there was a famous castle-builder by
the name of Gobborn Seer, and he had a
son called Jack. In the course of time
Jack grew to be a young man, and the old castle-
builder began to think of teaching* him his trade
and leaving his business to him. " Jack is a good
boy," said he ; " but he is not quick with his brains.
I must see what I can do for his education."
So one day he sent Jack to sell a sheepskin,
and he said to him, " You must bring me back the.
skin and the value of it as well."
Jack went, but he could not find any one who
would leave him the skin and give him its price,
too, and he came home discouraged.
" Never mind," said his father, " you can try
again to-morrow."
The next day Jack went out once more with the
skin, but nobody wished to buy it on such terms.
" Well," said his father, when Jack returned home,
" so you have not sold the skin yet ? However, go
out to-morrow and your luck may be better."
THE CLEVER WIFE 179
On the third day Jack set off as before and
trudged hither and yon till nearly nightfall and
could not find a customer who would pay him for
the skin without having it. At last he came to
a bridge across a little river, and when he was half
way over the bridge he stopped and leaned on the
parapet, thinking of his troubles. " I shall never
be able to get rid of this horrid sheepskin if I live
to be as old as Methuselah," said he. " I 'm think-
ing I 'd better run away from home and have quit
of the job."
While he was talking to himself thus he looked
over the side of the bridge and saw a girl washing
clothes on the border of the stream. At the same
time she looked up and saw him, and said, " If it
may be no offence asking, what is it you feel so
badly about ? "
Jack held up the sheepskin that she might see it,
and replied, " My father has given me this skin
to sell, and I am to fetch it back and the price of
it besides."
" Is that all ? " laughed the girl. " Such a task
ought not to trouble you in the least. Bring the
skin down here."
Jack carried it down to her and she washed it
in the stream and took the wool from it. Then
l8o THE CLEVER WIFE
she paid him its value and kept the wool, but gave
him the skin to carry back.
When Jack reached home he told his father all
that had happened, and his father said, " That was
a clever woman you met at the bridge, and she
would make you a good wife. Do you think you
could find her again ? "
<c I think so," replied Jack.
" Well, then/' his father said, " you go and see
if she is at the same place to-morrow, and if she
is there, bid her come home with you and take a
cup of tea with us."
The young fellow did as his father suggested,
and, sure enough, he found the girl at the water-
side and told her how his old father had a wish to
meet her, and would she be pleased to take tea
with them?
The girl thanked him kindly and accepted the
invitation. When she came the old man did not
have to talk with her long to assure himself that
she was uncommonly keen-witted, and then he
asked her if she would marry his Jack.
"Yes," said she, and they were married.
Not long afterward Gobborn Seer told his son
he must come with him and build the finest castle
that ever was seen. The castle was to be for their
THF CLEVER WIFE 181
king, who wished to outdo all the other kings in
the world with his wonderful castle. So they set
off for the place where the castle was to stand, and,
as they walked along, the old man said to Jack,
" Can you not shorten the way for me ? "
" It is many long miles we have to go," replied
Jack, "and I would shorten them if I could, but
I fear that is not possible."
" Ah, well ! " said the old man, " if you cannot
shorten the way, you are no good to me and had
better go back home."
So poor Jack returned, and when he entered the
house door his wife cried out, "Why! how is it
that you are back so soon ? "
He told her what his father had said and what
he had replied.
" You stupid ! " said his clever wife, " why did n't
you tell a tale? That would have shortened the
road ! He would have forgotten the miles and
the weariness. Now listen till I repeat to you a
story, and then you catch up with your father and
begin it at once. He will like hearing it, and by
the time it is done you will have arrived where the
castle is to be."
Jack heard the story, and then he ran as fast as
he could until he overtook his father. The old
1 82 THE CLEVER WIFE
man said never a word, but Jack began his story,
and the road was shortened as his wife had said.
At the end of their journey they found many
workmen assembled and waiting for them. The
workmen had been sent there by the king to labor
under the direction of the old castle-builder and
his son, and without delay they were set to laying
the foundations of the castle. For a year the
builders worked, and Gobborn Seer and Jack and
their helpers had erected such a castle that thousands
came to admire it. Last of all the king came also.
" Is the castle done ? " he asked.
"I have just a ceiling to finish in an upper
hall," replied Gobborn Seer, " and then it will want
nothing."
"Very well," said the king, "I shall return
to-morrow and pay you for your labor."
But after the king had gone a friendly courtier
sent for Gobborn and his son and told them he
had learned that the king was so afraid they would
now build some other king as fine a castle as his
that he meant on the morrow to throw them into
prison and keep them there for the rest of their lives.
" That sounds bad," said the old man to Jack,
"but keep a good heart and we will come off all
right yet."
THE CLEVER WIFE 183
The next day, when the king arrived, Gobborn
told him he had been unable to complete the upper
hall for lack of a certain tool. " I shall have to
go home for that tool," said he.
"No, no!" exclaimed the king, "you can send
just as well."
"Yes, I might send Jack, I suppose," the old
man responded.
"Don't do that," the king said; "it will be
better to have Jack here with you. Let one of
the workmen do the errand."
" But the tool I want is a very delicate one,"
explained Gobborn, "and there's not a workman
among them all to whom I would trust it."
" Well, then, what would you say to having
my own son do the errand for you ? " asked the,
king.
" Let him go, by all means," Gobborn replied,
" and I will send a note by him to Jack's wife
telling her where to find the tool."
Then he wrote this message : " I need my seequir.
It is in the big tool chest in the attic. Don't let
the prince who does this errand return without it."
"Jack," said the old castle-builder when the
prince had gone, " if your wife is as clever as I
think she is we can rest easy now. That message
184 THE CLEVER WIFE
will give her a hint of what she is to do, and we
can trust her to accomplish the rest."
As soon as Jack's wife read the letter the
prince brought she saw that something was wrong.
" There is no such tool as a seequir," she thought,
" and that big chest in the attic is empty ; and yet
the note says for me not to let the prince return
without the tool. Well, I won't."
Then she said to the prince, " I think I shall
have to ask you to help me get that tool."
" I am at your service, madam," replied the prince
with a polite bow.
So Jack's wife led the way to the attic and said,
" Here is the big chest. I will lift the lid and you
must reach down into the bottom of the chest after
the tool."
" With pleasure," responded the prince, but no
sooner had he leaned over with his head and arms
in the chest than Jack's wife gave him a shove that
tumbled him into the big box, heels and all, and
then she slammed down the cover and locked it.
Next she hunted up an augur and bored some holes
in the lid to let in a little air and light to the
prisoner.
" Now, Prince," said she, "I want to know what
is the matter with my husband and his father."
THE CLEVER WIFE 185
The prince did not wish to say.
"You are going to tell me the whole story,"
ordered Jack's wife, " and if you don't start with
it right off I shall bring up a kettle of hot water
from the fire and pour some through these augur
holes. That will loosen your tongue, I '11 be bound."
So the prince told how Gobborn Seer and his
son were going to be imprisoned.
" We '11 have to put a stop to such doings," said
Jack's wife. " Do you hear me, Prince ? you
and I will have to put a stop to such doings."
" Yes," replied the prince, " I hear you."
He did not feel much like arguing, shut up in
that box with those augur holes in the lid that only
1 86 THE CLEVER WIFE
let in a little light and air, but which might admit
a good deal of hot water.
" Very well," said Jack's wife, " I 'm going to
get some paper and a pen and ink, and I '11 slip
them in through these holes to you. Then you
can write a letter to the king, your father, and let
him know that you will never return alive unless
the old castle-builder and his son are released."
She got the writing materials and poked them
through the augur holes to the prince, and he wrote
as she directed.
The letter frightened the king and he at once
paid Gobborn for his work and let him and his
son go to their home.
"Jack," said his father, as they were on the way,
" your wife has helped us nobly. You ought now
to reward her by building a castle for her far finer
than the one we have made for the king;" and that
was what Jack did, and they lived in it happily
ever after.
TITTY MOUSE [AND^ATTY
MOUSE \
TITTY MOUSE and Tatty Mouse lived
in a house, and one day when they were
hungry they went out into a wheat field
that was near by, and Titty Mouse brought home
an ear of wheat and Tatty Mouse brought home an
ear of wheat. Titty Mouse took her ear of wheat
and picked all the grain out of the husks, and Tatty
Mouse took her ear of wheat and picked all the
grain out of the husks.
Then Titty Mouse put her wheat in the pot to
boil, anH Tatty Mouse put her wheat in the pot to
boil ; and when the wheat was boiled Titty Mouse
1 88 TITTY MOUSE AND TATTY MOUSE
was taking the pot off the fire and her foot slipped
and the hot water from the pot splashed on her.
She was scalded so badly that she went to bed sick,
and Tatty sat down and cried.
A three-legged stool saw the jjears dropping from
Tatty's eyes, and it asked, " Tatty, why do you
weep ? "
"Titty's sick," replied Tatty, "and so I weep."
" Then I '11 hop," said the stool. So the stool
hopped.
A broom in the corner of the room saw the stool
hopping and it asked, " Stool, why do you hop ? "
"Oh!" replied the stool, "Titty's sick, and
Tatty weeps, and so I hop."
" Then I '11 sweep," said the broom. So the
broom began to sweep.
The door saw the broom sweeping and it asked,
" Broom, why do you sweep ? "
" Oh ! " replied the broom, " Titty 's sick,
and Tatty weeps, and the stool hops, and so I
sweep."
" Then I '11 creak," said the door. So the door
creaked.
Just outside the door by the house wall stood an
old bench, and when the door creaked the bench
asked, " Door, why do you creak ? "
TITTY MOUSE AND TATTY MOUSE 189
"Oh," replied the door, "Titty's sick, and
Tatty weeps, and the stool hops, and the broom
sweeps, and so I creak."
" Then I '11 run round the house," said the old
bench. So the old bench ran round the house.
A fine large waftiut-tree grew in the yard and
shadowed the house very pleasantly, and when the
tree saw the bench running it asked, " Bench, why
do you run round the house P "
" Oh ! " replied the bench, " Titty 's sick, and
Tatty weeps, and the stool hops, and the broom
sweeps, the door creaks, and so I run round the
house."
"Then I '11 shed my leaves," said the walnut-tree.
So the walnut-tree let fall all its beautiful green
leaves.
A little bird was perched on one of the boughs
of the tree, and when the leaves all dropped to the
ground the bird asked, " Walnut-tree, why do you
shed your leaves ? "
" Oh ! " replied the tree, " Titty 's sick, and Tatty
weeps, the stool hops, and the broom sweeps, the
door creaks, the old bench runs round the house,
and so I shed my leaves."
" Then I Ml moult all my feathers," said the little
bird. So it let fall all its pretty feathers.
190 TITTY MOUSE AND TATTY MOUSE
When the feathers came drifting down to the
ground a little girl happened to be walking along
under the tree carrying a pail of milk for^ her
brothers' and sisters' supper. She looked up and (
asked, Cf Little bird, why do you drop all your .
feathers ? "
" Oh ! " replied the little bird, " Titty 's sick, and ,
T arty weeps, the stool hops, and the broom sweeps, .
th^ door creaks, the old bench runs round the house,^
the -valnut-tree sheds its leaves, and so I r/.oult
^2; c
all n ; feathers."
"iV.n I'll spill the milk," said the little girl 4
So she dropped the pail and spilled the milk.
Not fa** away an old man was climbing up a
ladder to mend the roof of the barn. He saw tli^
little g : -l dr ^p her pail and he asked, " Lit ie ^
what do you mean by spilling the milk ? Your
brothers and sisters will now have no milk for tl ~ir
supper."
" Oh ! " replied the little girl, " Titty 's sick, and
Tatty weeps, the stool hops, and the broom sweeps,
the door creaks, the old bench runs round the
house, the walnut-tree sheds its leaves, the little bird
moults all its feathers, and so I spill the milk."
"Then I '11 tumble off the ladder," said the old
man. So he tumbled off the ladder ; and the little
TITTY MOUSE AND TATTY MOUSE 191
;irl was frightened and ran away ; and the l ; ttle bird
'as frightened and wanted to get away too, but it
ad moulted all its feathers and when it tried to fly it
ropped to the ground. Then the great walnut-
ee fell right on the house and smashed it all to
eces ; and when the house came down the old
nch was upset and the door was knocked out,
d the door in falling upset the broom, and the
oom fell against the stool and upset that ; anr
or 1: .tie Titty Mouse and poor little Tatty Mov ;
jre buried beneath the ruins. But whether *ey
e nurt or not I have never heard said.
THE STORY OF CHICKEN-
LICKEN
ONE fine summer morning Chicken-licken
went to the woods and an acorn fell from
an oak-tree and hit her right on the head.
" Gracious me ! " said Chicken-liken, " the sky has
fallen. I must go and tell the king."
So Chicken-licken turned back, but she had not
gone far when she met Hen-len. " Where are vou
going, Hen-len ? " she asked.
" I 'm going to the woods to get something to
eat," replied Hen-len.
And Chicken-licken said, " Oh ! Hen-len, don't
go ; for I was going, and the sky fell on my head,
and now I 'm going to tell the king."
" I will go with you," said Hen-len.
So Hen-len turned back, and they went along
until pretty soon they met Cock-lock. " Where
are you going, Cock-lock ? " they asked.
" I 'm going to the woods to get something to
eat," replied Cock-lock.
THE STORY OF CHICKEN-LICKEN 193
Then Hen-len said, " Oh ! Cock-lock, don't go ;
for I was going, and I met Chicken-licken, and
Chicken-licken had been to the woods, and the sky
had fallen on her head, and we are going to tell
the king."
" I will go with you," said Cock-lock.
So Cock-lock^ turned back and they went along
until pretty soon they met Ducky-daddies.
" Where are you going, Ducky-daddies ? " they
asked.
" I 'm going to the woods to get something to
eat," replied Ducky-daddies.
Then Cock-lock said, " Oh ! Ducky-daddies,
don't go ; for I was going, and I met Hen-len, and
Hen-len had met Chicken-licken, and Chicken-
licken had been to the woods and the sky had
fallen on her head, and we are going to tell the
king."
" I will go with you," said Ducky-daddies.
So Ducky-daddies turned back and they went
along until pretty soon they met Goosie-poosie.
" Where are you going, Goosie-poosie ? " they asked.
:c l'm going to the woods to get something to
eat," replied Goosie-poosie.
Then Ducky-daddies said, "Oh! Goosie-poosie,
don't go ; for I was going, and I met Cock-lock,
13
194 THE STORY OF CHICKEN-LICKEN
and Cock-lock had met Hen-Jen, and Hen-len had
met Chicken-licken, and Chicken-licken had been
to the woods and the sky had fallen on her head,
and we are going to tell the king."
" I will go with you," said Goosie-poosie.
So Goosie-poosie turned back and they went
along until pretty soon they met Turkey-lurkey.
" Where are you going, Turkey-lurkey ? " they
asked.
" I 'm going to the woods to get something to
eat/' replied Turkey-lurkey.
Then Goosie-poosie said, " Oh ! Turkey-lurkey >
don't go ; for I was going, and I met Ducky-daddies,
and Ducky-daddies had met Cock-lock, and Cock-
lock had met Hen-len, and Hen-len had met
Chicken-licken, and Chicken-licken had been to
the woods and the sky had fallen on her head, and
we are going to tell the king."
" I will go with you," said Turkey-lurkey.
So Turkey-lurkey turned back and they went
along until pretty soon they met Fox-lox ; and
Fox-lox said, " Where are you going, my pretty
dears ? "
And they replied, " Chicken-licken went to the
woods and the sky fell on her head, and we are
going to tell the king."
THE STORY OF CHICKEN-LICKEN 195
" All right," said Fox-lox, " come along with me,
and I will show you the way."
So they went along with Fox-lox, and he took
them to his hole, and he and his young ones soon
ate up poor Chicken-licken, Hen-len, Cock-lock,
Ducky-daddies, Goosie-poosie, and Turkey-lurkey,
and they never saw the king to tell him that the
sky had fallen.
KING O'TOOLE AND HIS
GOOSE
IN Ireland there was once a king called King
O'Toole, and he was very fond of hunting.
Up he got every morning at the rising of
the sun, and away he went over the mountains
after the deer. As long as he had his health this
kind of life just suited King O'Toole ; but in the
course of time he grew old and was stiff in his
limbs, and could go hunting no more. Then the
king was very sad, and at last he got a goose which
he hoped might divert him somewhat.
The goose did its best, and it used to fly about
over the lake near the king's castle and swim in
the water and dive and catch fish. The king liked
to watch the goose, and for a considerable time it
entertained him very well; but at last the goose
got stricken in years like its master, and could not
divert him any longer. Then King O'Toole felt
so downhearted that life seemed to him scarcely
worth living. One morning he was walking by
KING O'TOOLE AND HIS GOOSE 197
the lake lamenting his unhappy fate, and thinking
he might as well drown himself when he met a
young man.
" God save you," said the king.
" God save you kindly, King O'Toole," said the
young man, who was none other that Saint Kavin
in disguise.
" I have never seen you before," said the king.
" Who are you ? "
" I 'm an honest man," replied Saint Kavin.
" Well, honest man," said the king, " you wear
good clothing and look prosperous and as if you
had money laid by. How do you get your living,
may I ask ? "
" By making old things as good as new," was
Saint Kavin's reply.
" Is it a tinker you are ? " inquired the king.
" No," responded the saint. " I'm not a tinker.
I Ve a better trade than that ; and what would you
say, King O'Toole, if I made your old goose young
again ? "
At the thought of having his old goose young
once more the king's eyes were ready to jump out of
his head. Then he whistled, and the old goose
came waddling to him from behind a clump of
bushes near by.
KING O'TOOLE AND HIS GOOSE
The minute the saint set eyes on the goose he
took pity on its feebleness and said, " I '11 do the job
for you, King O'Toole."
" Bedad ! " exclaimed the king, " if
you do I '11 say you are the cleverest
fellow in siven
parishes."
"But you'll
have to say more
than that," .was
^'^a^SBpT^V/
Saint Kavin's re-
sponse. " I 'm
not going to re-
pair your old
goose for noth-
ing, and I want
to know how
much you 're
going to give
me."
" I '11 give you
whatever you
ask," said the king. ^^ " Is n't that fair ? "
" Yes, yes," said Saint Kavin, " that 's the way
to do business. Now this is the bargain I'll make
KING O'TOOLE AND HIS GOOSE 199
with you, King O'Toole you give me all the
ground the goose goes over in its first flight after
I make it young and strong."
" Done ! " said the king.
" Well, then," continued Saint Kavin, " I '11 go to
work at once," and he called the old goose to him
and took it up by its two wings. " Criss o' my
cross on you," said he and threw the bird up into
the air and how the goose did fly ! It went swift
and high and cut as many capers as a swallow before
a shower of rain.
The king stood with his mouth open watching
with delight the bird's every motion, and when it
came and lit at his feet he patted it on the head and
said, " My dear, you are the darlint of the world."
But the goose in its flight had covered a great
deal of country. It had been over the castle and
all the king's land for a mile around. " And now
what have you to say to me for makin' your goose
like that ? " asked Saint Kavin.
" I 'm very much beholden to you," replied the
king.
" And will you give me all the ground the goose
flew over ? " Saint Kavin inquired.
" I will," said King O'Toole, and you 'd be
welcome to it even if it took' the last acre I had."
200 KING O'TOOLE AND HIS GOOSE
" And you '11 keep your word true ? " questioned
the saint.
" Of course I will," affirmed the king.
" It 's well for you, King O'Toole, that you
speak as you do," declared Saint Kavin ; " for if
you did not keep your promise I 'd never let your
goose fly again."
" Waste no more words ! " exclaimed King
O'Toole, "the land is yours."
" But I don't want your land," said Saint Kavin.
" I only came here to try you, and you 're a very
dacint man, King O'Toole ; and now I '11 tell you
that I 'm disguised, and that is the reason you do
not know me."
" Musha ! then," said the king, " and who might
you be ? "
" I 'm Saint Kavin," was the reply.
"Oh, queen of heaven!" the king exclaimed,
falling on his knees hef^e the saint, " is it the
great Saint Kavin I 've been discoursing with all
this time ? "
" It is," said the saint.
" Be jabers ! I thought I was only talking to a
lump of a gossoon ! " said the king.
" Well, you know the difference now," remarked
the good saint.
KING O'TOOLE AND HIS GOOSE 2OI
And so King O'Toole had his goose made young
again to divert him as long as he lived. But by
and by the king died, and soon afterward the goose
got into trouble with a big eel in the lake. The
goose was fishing and got hold of the eel by mistake,
and, instead of the goose killing the eel, the eel
killed the goose. However, the eel did not eat the
goose, for it did not dare eat what Saint Kavin had
laid his blessed hands on.
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
ONCE upon a time there was an old mother
pig and three little pigs and they lived in
the middle of an oak forest. While the
children were still quite small the acorn crop failed.
That made it difficult for Mrs. Piggy-wiggy to find
enough for her children to eat, and the little pigs had
to go hungry. So at last the mother pig sent the
little pigs off to seek their fortunes.
The first little pig to go walked on and on until
he met a man carrying a bundle of straw, and the
little pig said, " Please, man, give me that straw
to build me a house."
So the man gave the little pig the straw, and the
little pig built a house of it. In this house of straw
the little pig lived very comfortably ; but one day
a wolf came along and rapped at the door. " Little
pig, little pig, let me come in," said the wolf.
" No, no, by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin,"
said the little pig.
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS 2OJ
" Then I '11 huff and I '11 puff and I '11 blow your
house down," said the wolf.
So he huffed and he puffed and he blew the
house down and carried the little pig off to his den.
The second little pig that left the mother pig
walked on and on until he met a man carrying a
bundle of brush, and the little pig said, " Please,
man, give me that brush to build me a house."
So the man gave the little pig the brush, and the
little pig built a house of it. In this house of brush
the little pig lived very comfortably ; but one day the
wolf came along and rapped at the door. " Little
pig, little pig, let me come in," said the wolf.
" No, no, by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin,"
said the little pig.
" Then I '11 huff and I '11 puff and I '11 blow your
house down," said the wolf.
So he huffed and he puffed, and he puffed and
he huffed, and at last he blew the house down and
carried off the little pig.
The third little pig, after he left the mother pig,
walked on and on until he met a man with a load
of bricks, and the little pig said, " Please, man, give
me those bricks to build me a house."
So the man gave the little pig the bricks and the
little pig built a house of them. In this house of
204 THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
bricks the little pig lived very comfortably; but
one day the wolf came along and rapped at the
door. " Little pig, little pig, let me come in," said
the wolf.
" No, no, by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin,"
said the little pig.
" Then I '11 huff and I '11 puff and I '11 blow your
house down," said the wolf.
So he huffed and he puffed, and he huffed and
he puffed, and he puffed and he huffed ; but the
house was built of bricks and he could not blow it
down. At last he had no breath left to huff and
puff with, so he sat down outside the little pig's
house and thought for a while. Presently he said,
" Little pig, I know where there is a nice field of
turnips."
" Where ? " asked the little pig.
" Not half a mile from here, at Farmer Smith's,"
replied the wolf. " If you will be ready to-morrow
morning I will call for you and we will go together
and get some turnips for dinner."
"At what time do you mean to go?" said the
little pig.
" Oh, at six o'clock," the wolf answered.
"Very well," said the little pig, "I will be
ready."
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS 205
But the little pig got up at five o'clock and he
went off to Farmer Smith's and filled a basket
with turnips and returned home before the wolf
came. He had locked the door and was busy
about his housework when he heard the wolf
rapping outside.
" Little pig, are you ready ? " the wolf said.
" Ready ! " exclaimed the little pig, " I have
been to the turnip field and got back, and I 'm
paring the turnips for dinner now."
The wolf was very angry at this, but he was
bound to catch the little pig in some way or other.
So he thought a moment and then he said, " Little
pig, I know where there is a nice apple-tree loaded
with apples."
" Where ? " asked the little pig.
" Down in the valley at Farmer Brown's," replied
the wolf. " If you will be ready to-morrow morning
I will call for you at five o'clock and we will go
together and get some apples for dinner."
"Very well," said the little pig, "I will be
ready."
But the next morning the little pig was up 2^ four
o'clock and he hurried down to Farmer Brown's
in the valley. He hoped to return home before
the wolf arrived ; but he had farther to go than the
206 THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
day before, and he had to climb the tree to fill the
bag he had brought with the apples. So the wolf
got to the little pig's house while the little pig was
gone for the apples, and found the house empty.
Then the wolf ran to Farmer Brown's as fast as he
could go, and when he came to the apple-tree the
little pig was just preparing to climb down from
among the branches.
" Little pig/' said the wolf, " you treat me very
badly. You should have waited for me."
The little pig was much frightened, but he said,
" These are splendid apples. I will throw you
down one ; " and he threw the apple so far that while
the wolf was gone to pick it up the little pig jumped
to the ground and ran home.
Early the next day the wolf came to the little
pig's house again and said, " Little pig, there is a
fair at the town in the valley this afternoon. Will
you go ? "
" Oh, yes," replied the little pig. " I will go. At
what time do you want to start ? "
" At three," said the wolf.
But the little pig went off before the time, as
usual, and got to the fair and bought a churn. He
was carrying the churn home when he saw the wolf
coming. Then he could not tell what to do. So
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
207
he crawled into the churn to hide. But he happened
to be near the top of a hill, and no sooner was he
in the churn than it began to roll and bump down
the hill with the little pig squealing and kicking
inside ; for he was badly scared and thought he
would be bumped to death, or, if not that, he was
sure the wolf would get him.
The wolf, however, imagined the churn was some
208 THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
strange beast that meant him harm. He had never
seen or heard the like in all his life, and he was so
terrified he turned about and ran home without
going to the fair. He did not venture out again
till toward evening. Then he went to the little
pig's house and said, " Little pig, did you go to
the fair ? "
" Oh, yes," said the little pig, " I went to the fair,
and why did n't you go ? "
" I started to go," replied the wolf, " but when
I was nearly there a great howling round thing
chased me. It had its mouth wide open and could
easily have swallowed me whole. I had to run with
all my might or it would have caught me."
" Ha, ha ! " laughed the little pig, " it was I who
frightened you. I had been to the fair and bought
a churn, and when I saw you I crawled into it and
rolled down the hill."
Then the wolf was so angry that he declared
he would eat up the little pig without any more
delay. " You can't keep me out, even if you have
locked the door," shouted the wolf. " I will come
down the chimney ! "
The little pig had a big pot of water boiling on
the fire, and when he heard the wolf scrambling up
the roof he took the cover off the pot. A minute
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS 209
later the wolf came down the chimney and fell right
into the pot, and the little pig put the cover on and
that was the last of the wicked wolf. After that the
little pig lived very happily in his house of bricks
and there he is to this day.
THE FAIRY COW
THERE was once an old woman whose
home was a poor little cottage in a country
village. She got a living by doing odd
jobs for the farmers' wives round about. It was
not much she could earn, yet, with a silver piece
here and a few pennies there, and sometimes the
gift of a bit of meat, or a little tea, she contrived to
get along without serious discomfort, and she was as
cheerful as if she had not a want in the world.
One summer evening as she was going home she
came on a stout, black pot lying at the side of the
road. " Now who could have left that pot here ? "
said she, looking about to see if any one was in sight
to whom it might belong. " It would be just the
very thing for me," she continued, " if I had some-
thing to put in it. But stop ! maybe it has been
thrown away and has a hole in the bottom. Ah,
yes ! that is the trouble, I '11 be bound. Still, the
hole would not prevent the pot doing fine to put
some flowers in for the window, and I 'm thinking
I '11 take it home any way."
THE FAIRY COW 21 1
So she bent her stiff old back and lifted the lid
to look inside. But what she saw so surprised her
that she jumped back to the middle of the road,
exclaiming, " Mercy me ! the pot is full to the brim
of gold pieces. Who would have thought it ! "
For a while she could do nothing but walk round
and round her treasure, admiring the yellow gold and
wondering at her good fortune and saying over
and over, cc Well, I do be feeling rich and grand."
Presently, however, she picked up the pot and
started again toward home. " No one will see what
I 'm taking along with me," said she ; " for the sun
is gone and it is growing dark, and I '11 have all the
night to myself to think what I '11 do with this
mass of golden money. I could buy a fine house
with it and live like the queen herself and not do a
stroke of work, but just sit comfortable by the fire
all day with a cup of tea ; or maybe I '11 go to the
minister and ask him to keep the money for me,
and then I 'd get a little of it from him every week
as I was wanting ; or perhaps I '11 bury it in a hole
in the garden and only save out one or two pieces
to put on the mantel between my china teapot and
the candles for ornament, you know. Ah ! I feel
so grand I don't know myself rightly ! "
By this time she had become rather tired with
212 THE FAIRY COW
carrying such a heavy weight and she stopped to
rest. She set the pot down and then thought
she would have another look at her wealth. But
when she took the cover off she saw that instead of
gold the pot was full of shining silver. She stared
and rubbed her eyes and stared again.
" I would have sworn it was gold," she said ;
" but I reckon I must have been dreaming. Well,
whatever it was I 'm better off with silver than gold.
It'll be far less trouble to look after, and not so
likely to be stolen. Those gold pieces would have
made a sight of bother to keep 'em safe. Yes, yes,
I 'm well quit of them, and with the pot full of silver
I 'm as rich as any one need be."
Then she set off homeward again cheerfully
planning all the things she was going to do with
her money. But by and by she grew tired once
more and paused to rest for a minute or two ; and
of course she had to have another look into the
pot. As soon as she took off the cover she cried
out in amazement, for there was nothing inside but
a lump of iron. " Well, well ! " she cried, " that
does beat all ! and yet how nice it is to have such a
fine heavy piece of iron. I can sell it easy, and the
pennies it brings will come very handy. Ah, yes,
it is far better to have this iron than a lot of gold or
THE FAIRY COW 2 13
silver that would have kept me from sleeping nights
thinking bad men would be prowling around to rob
me. Oh, I am doing very well indeed ! "
On she went, now, pot in hand, chuckling to
herself over her good fortune until her arm was
tired of the burden, and for the third time she set
the pot down that she might rest and have another
glance at its contents. She took off the cover and
peeped in and was astonished to find nought except
a stone. "Deary me!" she said, "a stone is it
this time ! Yes, yes, and glad I am to have it.
I 've been wanting a stone like that to hold my
door open with. It will be the very thing! Ah,
did any one ever hear of such fine luck as mine!"
She was in haste to see how the stone would look
in the corner by her door, and she hurried on until
she came to her cottage gate. In order to unfasten
the gate she put the pot down, and when she stooped
to pick it up she heard something inside and took
the cover off. Instantly out leaped an animal that
grew in a moment into a big cow, and the pot dis-
appeared. The cow shook its legs and flourished its
tail and bellowed and laughed and ran off kicking its
feet into the air.
The old woman gazed after it in speechless be-
wilderment till it was fairly out of sight. " Well/'
2I 4
THE FAIRY COW
she said at last, " I surely am the luckiest body
hereabouts. Fancy my seeing a fairy cow all to
myself, and making so free with it too ! I never in
all my life felt so grand ! "
Then she went into her cottage and sat down by
the fire to think over her good luck.
THE MASTER OF ALL
MASTERS
A GIRL once hired herself for a servant to a
queer old gentleman who, as soon as she
came to his house ready for work, said,
" Before you begin I want to give you some in-
structions."
" Very well, sir," said she.
" In my house I have my own names for things,"
he continued, "and I beg you to carefully heed and
remember what I say."
" Oh, certainly, sir, I will do that," she replied.
" Now, firstly," said he, " what will you call me ? "
" Oh, I will call you master, or mister, or what-
ever you please, sir," said she.
"No, no," said he, "you must call me c master
of all masters ' ; and what would you call this ? " he
asked pointing to his bed.
" Oh, I would call it a bed, or a couch, or what-
ever you please, sir," she replied.
" No," said he, " that 's my ( barnacle ' ; and what
2l6 THE MASTER OF ALL MASTERS
do you call these ? " he inquired, pointing to his
pantaloons.
" Oh, I call them breeches, or trousers, or what-
ever you please, sir," said she.
" You must call them c squibs and crackers,' " said
he; "and what would you call her?" he asked,
pointing to the cat.
" Oh, I would call her cat, or pussy, or whatever
you please, sir," said she.
" You must call her white-faced simminy,' " said
he ; " and what do you call this ? " he asked, waving
his hand toward the fire.
" Oh, I call it fire, or flame, or whatever you
please, sir," said she.
" You must call it hot cockalorum/ " said he ;
" and what do you call this ? " he asked, pointing to
some water.
" Oh, I call it water, or wet, or whatever you
please, sir," she replied.
"No," said he, " * pondybus ' is its name here;
and what do you call the building in which I reside ?"
" Oh, I call it house, or cottage, or whatever you
please, sir," said she.
" You must call it * high-topper mountain/ " he
ordered.
That very night the servant awoke her master
THE MASTER OF ALL MASTERS
217
from a sound sleep by pounding with her fists on
his door and shouting in great fright,
" Master of all masters, get out of
your barnacle and put on your
squibs and crackers ; for white-
faced simminy has got a spark
of hot cockalorum
on her tail, and un-
less you get some
pondybus, the high-
topper mountain
will be all on hot
cockalorum!"
In saying
this she had
used just the
words her
master had
ordered, but by so
doing she had been
so long explaining what
was the matter that the
house was on fire by
the time she finished. The flames spread rapidly,
and though the servant and her master escaped, the
building burned to the ground.
21 8 THE MASTER OF ALL MASTERS
The queer old gentleman built another house
presently and hired another servant; but he let
her call things by their ordinary names, and did
not attempt to teach her invented ones of his
own.
MR. MICRAWBLE
TOMMY TODKINS was sometimes a good
boy and sometimes a bad boy ; and when
he was a bad boy he was a very bad boy.
On stormy days his mother used to say to him,
" Now, Tommy, don't go out on the street until it
stops raining."
" But I want to go," said Tommy.
" No, you would get wet and be sick, I 'm
afraid," replied his mother, " and besides Mr.
Micrawble might catch you."
Yet when Tommy was a bad boy he would go
out on the street in spite of what his mother said,
no matter if it did rain ; and one day, sure enough,
Mr. Micrawble caught him and popped him in a
bag upside down and carried him off.
As soon as Mr. Micrawble reached home he pulled
Tommy out of the bag and felt of his arms and legs.
" You 're rather lean," said he. C{ However, you 're
all the meat I 've got for supper and it 's high time
I had you boiling in the pot but dear me ! I Ve
220 MR. MICRAWBLE
forgotten to get the potatoes and turnips and oth
vegetables. You 'd not taste good alone."
Then he called to Mrs. Micrawble, "Sally.
Here, I say, Sally ! "
So Mrs. Micrawble came and asked, " What do
you want, my dear?"
" Oh, I Ve caught a little boy for supper," re-
plied Mr. Micrawble, " but I Ve forgotten the
vegetables. Look after him, will you, while I gc
for them ? "
"All right," said Mrs. Micrawble, and off he
went.
Then Tommy Todkins said to Mrs. Micrawble,
" Does Mr. Micrawble always have little boys for
supper ? "
"Yes, mostly," answered Mrs. Micrawble; "for
if the little boys are bad enough and get in his way
he 's sure to catch them."
"And don't you have anything else but boy-meat
no pudding? " Tommy inquired.
"Ah! I love pudding," said Mrs. Micrawble;
" but it 's very seldom, indeed, that I get it."
" Why ! my mother is making a pudding this
very day," said Tommy, " and she 'd give you some
of it if I asked her. Shall I run and get some?"
"Now, that's a thoughtful boy," responded Mrs.
MR. MICRAWBLE
223
^icrawble. "You can go, only don't stay long,
.,,1 be sure to get back for supper."
So Tommy ran home as fast as he could go, but
he did not think it was safe to return with the pud-
ding for Mrs. Micrawble. Many a long day passed
and Tommy was as good as good could be, and
never went out to play on rainy days. However,
224 MR. MICRAWBLE
it was very hard to be always good, and finally he
ventured out one wet afternoon, and, as luck would
have it, Mr. Micrawble happened along and picked
Tommy Todkins up and carried him off once more
in his bag.
When Mr. Micrawble got home and shook
Tommy out of the bag and had a look at him he
said, "Ah, you 're the youngster that served me and
my wife such a shabby trick a while ago, and left us
without any supper. Well, you sha'n't do that
again. Here, get under the sofa, and I '11 sit on
it and watch till the pot boils for you."
So poor Tommy Todkins had to crawl under the
sofa, and Mr. Micrawble sat on it and waited for
the pot to boil ; and he waited and he waited and
he waited, but still the pot did not boil. Then
Mrs. Micrawble went out to chop some wood for
the fire, and Mr. Micrawble fell asleep.
" Now, I must get away from here," said Tommy
to himself when he heard Mr. Micrawble snoring,
and he crept out from under the sofa and was step-
ping softly along toward the door when he saw Mrs.
Micrawble coming across the yard with her arms
full of wood. He was too late to escape in that
direction and he looked around for a place to hide.
The door of the brick oven at the side of the fireplace
MR. MICRAWBLE 225
was open, and by standing on a chair he got up to
it and crawled in. Then he pulled the door closed,
but the door creaked and awakened Mr. Micrawble.
"What was that I heard?" said Mr. Micrawble,
and he looked under the sofa to see if Tommy was
still there. " Sally, my dear Sally ! " he called just
as his wife came in with the" wood, " that boy has
gone ! "
" Well, I have been in the yard all the time,"
said Mrs. Micrawble, "and he couldn't have come
from the house without my seeing him. Perhaps
he went upstairs."
" Yes," said Mr. Micrawble, " he must have gone
upstairs. We will go up and find him."
But as soon as Tommy Todkins heard their foot-
steps going up the stairs he climbed out of the oven
and hurried home. After that he did not go onto
the street to play when it stormed, and Mr.
Micrawble never caught him again.
THE FISHERMAN AND HIS
WIFE
THERE was once a fisherman who lived with
his wife in a poor little hut close by the
sea. One day, as the fisherman sat on the
rocks at the water's edge fishing with his rod and
line, a fish got caught on his hook that was so big
and pulled so stoutly that he captured it with the
greatest difficulty. He was feeling much pleased
that he had secured so big a fish when he was sur-
prised by hearing it say to him, " Pray let me live.
1 am not a real fish. I am a magician. Put me in
the water and let me go."
"You need not make so many words about the
matter," said the man. " I wish to have nothing to
do with a fish that can talk.'"
Then he removed it from his hook and put it
back into the water. " Now swim away as soon as
you please," said the man, and the fish darted straight
down to the bottom.
The fisherman returned to his little hut and told
his wife how he had caught a great fish, and how it
THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE
227
had told him it was a magician, and how, when he
heard it speak, he had let it go.
" Did you not ask it for anything ? " said the wife.
" No," replied the man ; " what should I ask
for?"
" What should you ask for ! " exclaimed the wife,
228 THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE
"You talk as if we had everything we want, but see
how wretchedly we live in this dark little hut. Do
go back and tell the fish we want a comfortable
house."
The fisherman did not like to undertake such an
errand. However, as his wife had bidden him to
go, he went ; and when he came to the sea the water
looked all yellow and green. He stood on the
rocks where he had fished and said,
" Oh, man of the sea !
Come listen to me ;
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
Hath sent me to beg a gift of thee ! ' '
Then the fish came swimming to him and said,
" Well, what does she want ? "
" Ah," answered the fisherman, " my wife says
that when I had caught you I ought to have asked
you for something before I let you go. She does
not like living any longer in our little hut. She
wants a comfortable house."
" Go home then," said the fish ; " she is in the
house she wants already."
So the man went home and found his wife
standing in the doorway of a comfortable house,
and behind the house was a yard with ducks and
THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE
229
chickens picking about in it, and beyond the yard
was a garden where grew all sorts of flowers and
fruits. " How happily we shall live now ! " said
the fisherman.
Everything went right for a week or two, and
then the wife said, " Husband, there is not enough
room in this house, and the yard and garden are a
great deal smaller than they ought to be. I would
230 THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE
like to have a large stone castle to live in. So go to
the fish again and tell him to give us a castle/'
" Wife," said the fisherman, " I don't like
to go to him again, for perhaps he will be angry.
We ought to be content with a good house like
this."
" Nonsense ! " said the wife, " he will give us a
castle very willingly. Go along and try."
The fisherman went, but his heart was heavy,
and when he came to the sea the water was a dark
gray color and looked very gloomy. He stood on
the rocks at the water's edge and said,
" Oh, man of the sea !
Come listen to me ;
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
Hath sent me to beg a gift of thee ! "
Then the fish came swimming to him and said,
" Well, what does she want now ? "
" Ah," replied the man very sorrowfully, " my
wife wants to live in a stone castle."
" Go home then," said the fish ; " she is at the
castle already."
So away went the fisherman and found his wife
standing before a great castle. " See," said she, "is
not this fine ? "
THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE 231
They went into the castle, and many servants
were there, and the rooms were richly furnished
with handsome chairs and tables ; and behind the
castle was a park half a mile long, full of sheep and
goats and rabbits and deer.
" Now," said the man, " we will live contented
and happy in this beautiful castle for the rest of
our lives."
"Perhaps so," responded the wife; "but let us
consider and sleep on it before we make up our
minds," and they went to bed.
The next morning when they awoke it was
broad daylight, and the wife jogged the fisherman
with her elbow and said, "Get up, husband; bestir
yourself, for we must be king and queen of all the
land."
" Wife, wife," said the man, " why should we
wish to be king and queen ? I would not be
king even if I could be."
" Well, I will be queen, anyway," said the wife.
" Say no more about it ; but go to the fish and
tell him what I want."
So the man went, but he felt very sad to think
that his wife should want to be queen. The sea
was muddy and streaked with foam as he cried
out,
2J2 THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE
" Oh, man of the sea !
Come listen to me ;
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
Hath sent me to beg a gift of thee ! * '
Then the fish came swimming to him and said,
" Well, what would she have now ? "
f Alas ! " said the man, " my wife wants to be
queen."
" Go home," said the fish ; " she is queen already."
So the fisherman turned back and presently he
came to a palace, and before it he saw a troop
of soldiers, and he heard the sound of drums
and trumpets. Then he entered the palace and
there he found his wife sitting on a throne, with
a golden crown on her head, and on each side
of her stood six beautiful maidens.
" Well, wife," said the fisherman, " are you
queen ? "
" Yes," she replied, " I am queen."
When he had looked at her for a long time he
said, " Ah, wife ! what a fine thing it is to be queen !
Now we shall never have anything more to wish for."
" I don't know how that may be," said she; "never
is a long time. I am queen, 't is true, but I begin to
be tired of it. I think I would like to be pope next."
THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE 233
" Oh, wife, wife ! " the man exclaimed, " how can
you be pope? There is but one pope at a time in
all Christendom."
" Husband," said she," I will be pope this very
day."
"Ah, wife!" responded the fisherman, "the fish
cannot make you pope and I would not like to ask
for such a thing."
" What nonsense! " said she. " If he can make
a queen, he can make a pope. Go and try."
So the fisherman went, and when he came to the
shore the wind was raging and the waves were dashing
on the rocks most fearfully, and the sky was dark with
flying clouds. The fisherman was frightened, but
nevertheless he obeyed his wife and called out,
" Oh, man of the sea !
Come listen to me ;
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
Hath sent me to beg a gift of thee ! "
Then the fish came swimming to him and said,
"What does she want this time?"
" Ah ! " said the fisherman, " my wife wants to be
pope."
" Go home," commanded the fish ; "she is pope
already."
234 THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE
So the fisherman went home and found his wife
sitting on a throne that was a hundred feet high,
and on either side many candles of all sizes were
burning, and she had three great crowns on her
head one above the other and was surrounded by
all the pomp and power of the Church.
"Wife," said the fisherman, as he gazed at all
this magnificence, " are you pope ? "
" Yes," she replied, " I am pope."
" Well, wife," said he, " it is a grand thing to be
pope; and now you must be content, for you can
be nothing greater."
" We will see about that," she said.
Then they went to bed ; but the wife could not sleep
because all night long she was trying to think what she
should be next. At last morning came and the sun
rose. " Ha ! " cried she, " I was about to sleep, had
not the sun disturbed me with its bright light. Can-
not I prevent the sun rising ? " and she became very
angry and said to her husband, " Go to the fish and
tell him I want to be lord of the sun and moon."
" Alas, wife ! " said he, " can you not be content
to be pope ? "
" No," said she, " I am very uneasy, and cannot
bear to see the sun and moon rise without my leave.
Go to the fish at once ! "
THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE 235
The man went, and as he approached the shore a
dreadful storm arose so that the trees and rocks
shook, and the sky grew black, and the lightning
flashed, and the thunder rolled, and the sea was
covered with vast waves like mountains. The
fisherman trembled so that his knees knocked to-
gether, and he had hardly strength to stand in the
gale while he called to the fish :
" Oh, man of the sea!
Come listen to me ;
For Alice my wife,
The plague of my life,
. Hath sent me to beg a gift of thee! "
Then the fish came swimming to him and said,
" What more does she want ? "
" Ah ! " said the man, " she wants to be lord of
the sun and moon."
" Go home to your hut again," said the fish.
So the man returned, and the palace was gone,
and in its place he found the dark little hut that had
formerly been his dwelling, and he and his wife have
lived in that little hut to this very day.
CINDERELLA
ONCE upon a time there was a girl whose
father and mother had died, and she had
gone to live with a family of wealthy rela-
tives. They did not like to be burdened with her
and they treated her very badly, though she was
the sweetest, best-tempered creature that ever was.
The lady of the house was proud and disagreeable,
and she had two daughters who were very much
like her. They made their poor relative work in
the kitchen and do all the household drudgery. It
was she who washed the dishes and scrubbed down
the stairs and swept the floors. She had to sleep
in the garret on a wretched bed of straw, while the
rooms of the two sisters were very elegant, and were
furnished with nice feather-beds and had full-length
looking-glasses in which the young ladies could
admire themselves all day long.
The poor girl bore her troubles with patience
and never complained. When she had finished her
day's work she used to sit in the chimney-corner
on a low stool among the ashes and cinders, and so the
CINDERELLA 237
sisters nicknamed her Cinderella. But Cinderella,
in spite of hard work and shabby clothes, was a
hundred times prettier than they were, decked out
in all their finery.
It happened after a time that the king's son gave
a grand ball which was to continue for two nights
and to which he invited all persons of fashion for
miles around; and as the two young ladies made a
great figure in society they, of course, received
invitations. " We shall certainly go," said they,
" and perhaps we may have the chance to dance with
the prince."
So they were wonderfully busy choosing such
dresses as might be most becoming, and could talk
of nothing but their fine clothes day in and day out.
" I shall put on my red velvet dress with point lace
trimmings," said the elder.
"And I," said the younger sister, "shall wear
my gold-brocaded train and my circlet of diamonds."
Their preparations made no end of trouble for
Cinderella, and she was kept constantly engaged in
plaiting ruffles, sewing, arranging bows and ribbons,
and in washing and ironing the sisters' linen. But
she helped willingly all she could, and when the
great day came, offered to dress the young ladies'
hair. They were glad to have her do that, and
2j8 CINDERELLA
while she was brushing and combing they said to
her, " Cinderella, would not you like to go to the
ball ? "
" Yes," said she, " but so grand a ball as this is
to be is not for such as I am."
" You are quite right," they said, " for every one
would laugh to see a ragged kitchen girl there."
Cinderella finished the young ladies' hair and
assisted them to dress, and they never before in
their lives had been arrayed half so becomingly.
Indeed, they were so delighted that at dinner-time
they could scarcely eat a morsel ; and, besides, it
was not easy to eat much, for they had laced very
tight to make their waists as slender as possible.
What they had said to Cinderella about the ball
set her to thinking how nice it would be if she really
could attend it, and finally she asked the sisters'
mother, who chanced to come into the kitchen
while she was washing the dinner dishes, to let her
g-
"You, Cinderella ! " exclaimed the lady. " Why!
you are wearing the only dress you have and just
look at it ! What could put such an idea into your
head? But, see here," said she, taking up a dish
of peas that was on a shelf, " I will throw this
basinful of peas into the ash-heap behind the house,
CINDERELLA 239
and jf you can get every pea picked out of the
ashes in an hour's time you can go to the ball
with my daughters."
Then thejady, followed by Cinderella, carried
the peas out and threw them into the ashes. "Here
is the basin," said she, handing it to the girl, " and
you can go at your task as soon as you choose."
She returned to the house, and Cinderella stood
looking at the ash-heap. " I could not find all
those peas in a week's time," said she ; " I must
have help." And she began to call,
" Hither, hither, through the sky,
All you little songsters fly !
One and all, come help me quick,
Make haste, make haste come pick, pick, pick ! "
At once a great number of little birds came
chirping and fluttering to the ash-heap and com-
menced to pick, pick, pick. Cinderella held the
basin and they brought the peas one by one and
dropped them into it. In a short time she had all
the peas out of the ashes and carried them in to her
mistress overjoyed at the thought she could now go
to the ball. But the lady said, " No, no, you
have n't clothes. I spoke in jest before. You shall
not go ; for you would only put us to shame."
Evening came and the two young women set off
240 CINDERELLA
for the ball, and Cinderella watched them until they
were out of sight and then stood by the fire and
wept. At this moment a good fairy appeared and
asked her what was the matter.
" I wish I wish " began the poor girl, but
her voice was choked with tears.
" You wish that you could go to the ball/'
interrupted the fairy.
" Indeed I do/' said Cinderella, with a sigh.
" Well, then, stop crying/' said the fairy, " and I
think I can contrive to have you go not only this
evening, but to-morrow evening, too. Run into
the garden and bring me a pumpkin."
Cinderella hurried out and brought back the
finest pumpkin she could find, though she could not
imagine what the fairy wanted of it. But the fairy
took a knife, scooped out the pumpkin quite hollow
an niched it with her wand. Immediately it was
changed into a splendid carriage. " Now," said the
fairy, " is n't there a mouse-trap set in the store-
room ? "
" Yes," replied Cinderella.
" Go and see if there are any mice in it," the
fairy ordered.
Cinderella soon returned, bringing the trap with
six mice inside. " Lift the trap door a little and let
CINDERELLA
241
chem out," said the fairy, and as the mice escaped
from the trap she changed each one by a stroke of
icr warH into a fine dapple-gray horse.
" But what shall we do for a coachman ? " asked
the fairy.
16
242 CINDERELLA
"There's likely to be a rat in the trap in the
cellar if you could make a coachman out of him/'
suggested Cinderella.
" That 's a good thought," the fairy responded.
" So look at the trap without delay."
Cinderella was quickly back with the trap, and
in it was a rat with a tremendous pair of whiskers.
The fairy touched the rat with her wand and it
became a fat jolly coachman with the smartest
whiskers ever seen.
" The next thing for you to do," said the fairy to
Cinderella, " is to go again to the garden. You will
find two lizards behind the watering-pot. Bring
them."
The lizards were no sooner brought than the
fairy turned them into footmen with laced liveries,
and they skipped up to a seat at the back of the
coach just as naturally as if they had been footmen
all their lives.
" Well," said the fairy, " here is your coach and
six horses, your coachman and your footmen to take
you to the ball. Are you not pleased ? "
" Oh, yes ! " replied Cinderella, " but must I go
in these shabby clothes ? "
The fairy smiled and tapped her with her wand,
when her rags were changed to a dress of cloth of
CINDERELLA 243
gold all decked with costly jewels. This done, she
gave her a pair of the prettiest slippers in the world,
made of glass.
" These slippers," said she, " I give you to keep
always, but the other things are enchanted into the
forms they have at present for only a short time."
Cinderella now got into the carriage, and as she
was about to start the fairy said, " Do not on any
account stay after midnight, for if you do the coach
will be a pumpkin again, your horses mice, your
coachman a rat, your footmen lizards, and your
beautiful clothes the rags you wear every day."
Cinderella promised the fairy she would not
fail to leave the ball before midnight, and drove
away in an ecstasy of delight. When she arrived
at the palace the guards and attendants were so
struck by her magnificent equipage that they sup-
posed her to be some rich princess. At once the
carriage was surrounded by courtiers who assisted
her to alight and conducted her to the ball-room.
The moment she appeared all voices were hushed,
the violins ceased playing, and the dancing stopped
short. Everybody was admiring the stranger's
beauty. " How handsome she is ! How sur-
passingly lovely ! " and similar expressions were
heard on all sides, and the old king whispered to
244 CINDERELLA
the queen that he had not seen so comely a young
woman in many a long day.
All the ladies busied themselves in considering
her clothes and head-dress, that they might have
garments of the same pattern, provided they could
find such rich materials and seamstresses capable of
making them up. The prince came forward to re-
ceive Cinderella, and he so admired her beauty and
manners that he promptly offered her his hand to
dance. Cinderella, pleased beyond measure at this
gracious reception and at the splendor of all she
saw, danced with the greatest animation. The proud
sisters, in whose home she lived, were vexed to have
any one attract more attention than themselves ; but
they did not recognize the ragged kitchen girl in the
superb garments she now wore.
A fine supper was presently served, and the young
prince helped Cinderella to every delicacy, but was so
taken up with gazing at the fair stranger that he did
not eat anything himself. Time passed fast, and she
never looked at the clock until it was a quarter to
twelve. Immediately she rose, made a low courtesy
to the whole assembly, and retired in haste. Her
carriage was ready at the door of the palace and she
jumped into it and drove home as fast as she could.
When she reached the house the coach, horses,
CINDERELLA 245
and servants all disappeared and Cinderella found
herself clothed in her old ragged gown. She waited
beside the fire for the return of the sisters, eager to
know what they would say ; but she determined to
tell them nothing of her own experiences. At length
they came knocking at the door, and when Cin-
derella let them in she pretended to yawn, and
rubbed her eyes, saying, " How late you are ! " just
as if she had been waked out of a nap.
" You would not have thought it late if you had
been at the ball," said one of the sisters, " and seen
the beautiful princess who was there."
"What princess was she?" asked Cinderella.
" What was her name ? "
" We do not know her name," was the reply ;
" nor does anybody, and the king's son would give
a fortune to learn who she is."
" If she is so beautiful as all that, how I would
like to see her ! " exclaimed Cinderella. " Oh, my
Lady Charlotte," said she, addressing the elder sister,
" do lend me the yellow dress you wear every day,
that I may put it on and go to the ball to-morrow
evening and have a peep at this wonderful princess."
" What ! lend my clothes to a common kitchen
girl like you ! " cried Miss Charlotte, " I would n't
think of such a thing."
246 CINDERELLA
Cinderella expected to be refused, and was not
sorry, for she would have been very much puzzled
what to do had the yellow dress really been lent to
her.
On the following evening the sisters again went to
the court ball, and shortly after their departure the
good fairy came to Cinderella and told her to pre-
pare to go also. A touch of the fairy's wand served
to clothe Cinderella even more richly than she had
been clothed on the previous occasion. The equip-
age she had used the night before conveyed her to
the palace, and she was ushered into the ball-room
with every attention. The prince was rejoiced to
see her and never once left her side the evening
through. He talked so charmingly that she forgot
all about the time, and the clock began to strike
twelve when she thought it no more than eleven.
At once she sprang up and ran as nimbly as a
deer out of the room, and was going in great haste
down the broad staircase that led to the palace
entrance when one of her slippers dropped off. She
could not wait to pick it up, for the clock had
reached its final stroke, and then in a twinkling she
was a gay lady no more, but only a shabby kitchen
girl hurrying down the steps. The splendid coach
and six horses, the driver and footmen had vanished,
CINDERELLA 247
and on the ground lay a scooped-out pumpkin, while
six mice, a rat, and two lizards were scurrying away
to find hiding-places.
Cinderella reached home quite out of breath, and
of her grand apparel nothing remained save a little
glass slipper. When the sisters returned from the
ball Cinderella asked them whether they had been
well entertained and whether the beautiful princess
was there.
248 CINDERELLA
" Yes," they replied, <c we enjoyed the ball very
much and the princess was there, but she ran away
just as the clock struck twelve, and no one knows
who she is any more than they did before."
When Cinderella fled the prince had stood in
amazement a moment and then pursued her, but
she was too swift for him. However, as he was
running down the stairway he noticed the little
glass slipper that she had lost and he picked it up.
Then he went on and questioned the guards at the
palace gates whether they had seen a princess going
out. " No," said they, " the only person who has
passed out of the gates for over an hour is a poorly
dressed girl just gone, and how such a person as
she happened to be in the palace, we cannot tell."
The prince, during the days following, caused
inquiries to be made everywhere for the princess,
and when the search failed he grew ill with disap-
pointment. Then the king, who dearly loved his
son, called a council and asked his ministers what
they thought ought to be done in order to discover
the princess.
" It is my advice," said the chief minister, " that
you should cause a proclamation to be made all
over the kingdom that the prince will marry her
whose foot the slipper he found will just fit."
CINDERELLA 249
This plan was adopted, and the slipper was tried
on by all the noble ladies of the land but in vain.
Then it was carried from one fine house to another
among the gentry, until at last it came to the home
of the proud sisters. Each of them did all she
possibly could to thrust her foot into the dainty
slipper, but the attempt failed. Cinderella, who
was present, now laughed and said, " Suppose I
were to try."
The sisters ridiculed her. " What an idea ! "
they said, " to think of its fitting your clumsy
foot."
But the gentleman who had brought the slipper
looked at Cinderella and said that it was no more
than fair she should have the chance she asked,
for he had orders to let every young maiden
in the kingdom who pleased try on the slipper.
So Cinderella sat down while the sisters looked on
contemptuously ; yet no sooner did she put her
little foot to the slipper than it went on at once
and fitted like wax. The sisters were amazed, and
their astonishment increased tenfold when Cinderella
drew the mate to the slipper from her pocket and
put it on the other foot.
Just at that moment the fairy appeared, and
touching Cinderella's clothes with her wand made
250 CINDERELLA
them once more the robes of a princess, and then
the two sisters recognized her for the beautiful
stranger they had seen at the ball.
Now the gentleman in waiting conducted Cinder-
ella away to the palace of the prince. She was
received by the prince with great joy, and in a short
time they were married, and they lived happily
ever after.
HOP-O'-MY-THUMB
THERE was once a wood-cutter and his wife
who had seven children, all boys. The
eldest was only twelve years old, and the
youngest was five, and none of them was large
enough to do much toward earning a living, so that
their parents had to work very hard to get food and
clothing for them. What made matters worse was
that the youngest child was sickly and weak, and
he was so small that his father and mother called
him Hop-o'-my-Thumb. Yet the little, weak boy
was gifted with a great deal of sense, and though
he never had much to say, he noticed all that went
on around him. The year that he was five the
harvest failed and the wood-cutter and his wife found
it more and more difficult to supply their large family
with food. Finally they had spent their last penny
and there was only a single loaf of bread left in the
house, and when that was eaten they knew they
must starve.
That evening, after the children were all in bed,
the father and mother sat by the fire thinking sadly
252 HOP-O'-MY-THUMB
of the dismal fate that awaited them. " My dear
wife," said the wood-cutter at length, " I have some-
thing to propose to you. It is plain that we must
perish, but I cannot bear to see our children die of
hunger, and I am resolved to lose them to-morrow
in the forest. They cannot be worse off than they
are at home, and perhaps the fairies will take care of
them. We will go very deep into the woods, and
while the children are busy tying up fagots we will
slip away and leave them."
" No, no," said the wife, " I could never do such
a thing."
" But if we don't do that," said the wood-cutter,
" they will die here before our eyes, crying with
hunger," and he argued until his wife consented to
his plan, and then she went weeping to bed.
The parents thought the children were all asleep
while they talked. However, Hop-o'-my-Thumb
was wide awake and he heard what was said and he
never slept any that night for thinking of what he
should do. Early in the morning he crept out of
bed and ran to a brook near the house and filled his
pockets with small white pebbles. Then he went
back indoors, and by and by the family ate half of
the one loaf of bread and started as usual for their
day's woVk in the forest.
HOP-O'-MY-THUMB 253
The father led the way and Hop-o'-my-Thumb,
who came along behind all the others, dropped
the white pebbles one by one from his pockets.
The wood-cutter kept on into the very thickest
of the woods, and then he began chopping with
his ax, and the mother and children picked up
the brush and tied it into bundles. They worked
thus until toward nightfall, when the parents stole
away, and as soon as they were out of their chil-
dren's sight they hurried back to their home.
There they sat silent in the lonely house for a
long time, and the sun went down and it was
getting dark. Then came a rap at the door, and
in walked a man who had been sent by the lord
of the manor with a present of ten crowns and a
haunch of venison.
" My lord, the baron, is sorry for the distress of
his people," said the man, " and he is going to help
them, and those who have large families like you are
to get the most."
The man then departed to convey assistance to
another suffering household. " Oh ! " cried the wife,
" if only our children were here to eat of this good
food. Let us go to the forest and find them."
" No," responded the husband sorrowfully, " it
would do no good to seek them now. If the fairies
254 HOP-O'-MY-THUMB
have not taken care of them they must have been
eaten by wolves before this time."
Then the mother wept and would not be comforted.
" I want my children," she wailed.
But the children had not been eaten by wolves.
As soon as they discovered that they were alone,
Peter, the oldest boy, began to call, "Father and
mother, where are you ? "
No voice answered him, and then he and all the
little boys except Hop-o'-my-Thumb ran hither and
thither shouting for their parents and crying.
Hop-o'-my-Thumb waited until he could make
himself heard, and then said, " Fear not, brothers,
our father and mother have left us here, but I will
lead you safely home."
" And why did they leave us ? " asked Peter.
Hop-o'-my-Thumb told them what he had over-
heard and how he had strewed the white pebbles to
guide them back. " Just follow me," said he ; " and
let us start at once, for it will soon be dark."
So keeping his eyes on the line of pebbles, he
hurried along, and the others followed him. They
reached home, but because their parents had aban-
doned them they were afraid they would not be
welcome, and instead of going in they huddled under
a window at the back of the house to listen. They
HOP-O'-MY-THUMB 255
heard the man come with the money and the venison,
and when their mother began to cry they ran around
to the front of the house and in at the door, shouting,
" Here we are, mother ! "
She hugged them every one, and now, instead of
crying for sorrow, she cried for gladness. The
wood-cutter was rejoiced, too, and he helped start
a fire, and soon some slices of venison were broiling
before the flames and the family was presently eating
the best supper they had had for a long time.
Several weeks passed, and while the venison and
the money lasted the wood-cutter got along very
well, but the famine grew worse and worse, and the
lord of the manor could not send his tenants any
more supplies. So at last the wood-cutter thought
his family must surely starve, and he and his wife
talked the matter over late one night and decided
they would take the children again into the forest
and lose them.
They talked in whispers, that Hop-o'-my-Thumb
might not know what they said even if he chanced
to be awake, but he had very keen ears and he heard
in spite of their caution. He thought he would
get some more pebbles in the morning, but when
morning came the parents kept a sharp watch of
him and would not let him go out of the house.
256 HOP-O'-MY-THUMB
He was much troubled by this at first. How-
ever, the mother gave them each a slice of dry
bread for their breakfast, and Hop-o'-my-Thumb
said to himself, " I can use bread crumbs instead of
pebbles," and he put his slice of bread into his
pocket.
They went deeper than ever into the forest this
time, and Hop-o'-my-Thumb followed behind the
others and scattered bread crumbs all the way. The
day was spent in working, as was their custom, but
toward evening the father proposed the children
should play a game of hide and seek, and while they
were playing he and the mother hurried off and left
them.
When the children found that they had been
deserted again there was much bitter crying, but
Hop-o'-my-Thumb said, " Do not weep, my dear
brothers. I will take you home."
They then started to follow the trail of bread
crumbs, but the birds had eaten them all up, and the
children were very much distressed. " Well," said
Hop-o'-my-Thumb after thinking a minute, "we
must not waste the twilight in tears. Come along,
and we will see if we can find some shelter for the
night."
So Hop-o'-my-Thumb led the way. Night came
HOP-O'-MY-THUMB 257
on, and the wind among the trees seemed to them
like the howling of wolves, so that every moment
they thought they would be eaten up. They hardly
dared speak a word. Presently Hop-o'-my-Thumb
climbed to the top of a tall tree to look about for
some path out of the forest. He saw no path, but
far away was a light shining. " There must be a
house where that light is," said he, and though he
could not see the light when he returned to the
ground, he knew which direction to take.
The little boys hurried along and by and by they
came out of the forest, and there stood a great
castle. The light Hop-o'-my-Thumb had seen
shone through an open door. They went to the
door and looked in and saw a woman busy at a
fireplace roasting a whole sheep. Hop-o'-my-
Thumb rapped to attract her attention.
" What do you want ? " said she, turning and
looking at them.
" We are poor children who have lost our way in
the forest," replied Hop-o'-my-Thumb, " and we
beg you for charity's sake to grant us a night's
lodging."
"Alas ! my little darlings," said the woman, "you
do not know where you are come. This is the
house of an ogre who would like nothing better
17
258 HOP-O'-MY-THUMB
than to eat you. I am the cook here and I know
very well what he likes to eat."
"Then what can we do?" said Hop-o'-my-
Thumb ; " for if you refuse to give us shelter the
wolves will tear us to pieces in the forest."
" Well, perhaps I can hide you," the old woman
responded; "so you may come in," and as soon
as they entered the room she shut the door.
The children went to the fire and sat down to
warm themselves. Just as they were beginning to
get warm they heard heavy footsteps outside.
" That is the ogre," said the woman in a whisper.
" Make haste and crawl under the bed."
No sooner were they out of sight than the ogre
walked in. " Is my supper ready ? " he asked, and
sat down at the table.
The old woman called in another servant and the
two of them lifted the sheep that was roasting
before the fire onto a great platter, and then took
up the platter and placed it before the ogre. The
sheep was half raw, but he liked it that way. When
he had finished he began to sniff right and left.
" I smell fresh meat ! " he said.
" It must be the calf I have skinned and hung in
the pantry for your breakfast," explained the old
woman.
HOP-O'-MY-THUMB 259
Then the ogre looked toward the fireplace and
saw a little shoe lying there that one of the boys
had taken off. The ogre stamped over to the fire-
place and picked up the shoe. " What is this? " he
asked in a terrible voice.
" Why, that must be a shoe which belongs to
your oldest daughter's doll," said the cook.
At that moment poor Peter, who happened to
have a bad cold, sneezed.
"Ah!" exclaimed the ogre shaking his fist at
the cook, " you have been deceiving me, and I
would eat you if you were not so old and tough."
Then he dragged the children from under the
bed and never paid the least heed to their appeals
for mercy. He would have eaten one or two of
them that night, but the old woman said, " See how
lean they are. They have been half starved.
They will be much fatter if we feed them for a
few days."
The ogre took up Hop-o'-my-Thumb and
pinched his arms. " You are right," said he ;
"this child is nothing but bones."
Then the woman gave the boys a good supper
and put them to bed, and they were so tired that
they fell asleep at once and did not wake till
morning. Hop-o'-my-Thumb was on the watch
260 ftOP-O'-MY-THUMB
all that day for some chance to escape, but the ogre
had seven daughters and he ordered them to keep
the boys from straying. The daughters had small
gray eyes and large mouths and long sharp teeth.
They were young and not very vicious as yet ; but
they showed what they would be, for they had
already begun to bite little boys, and their captives
did not in the least enjoy their company.
When night came and all the family had gone to
bed, Hop-o'-my-Thumb lay awake until every one
else was asleep, and then he roused his brothers and
whispered, " Come, we must be off."
They all dressed quickly and quietly and followed
him, and he led the way downstairs and out a back
door into the garden, and by climbing up some
vines that grew on the wall they got outside. They
did not dare go far for fear of wolves, and they
crept into a heap of straw that lay beside the wall
and waited for daylight. Hop-o'-my-Thumb
thought he could find the way home by keeping
along the edge of the forest, and as soon as there
was light enough for them to see they started.
The ogre was not an early riser and he did not
think of the boys until after he had eaten break-
fast. He was very angry when they were not to
be found. " Quick ! " he shouted to his cook.
The ogre in bis seven-league boots bunts for Hop- O' - My- Thumb
and bis brothers
HOP-O'-MY-THUMB 263
"get me my seven-league boots, that I may go
and catch them."
With those magic boots he could go a great
distance at a single step, and he would have caught
the little boys at once if he had known just where
to look for them. As it was, he hunted in every
direction. He strode from hill to hill and stepped
over wide rivers as easily as if they had been brooks.
Late in the afternoon the boys had arrived within
about a mile of home, and they were hurrying
along a hillside when they saw the ogre coming
in their direction. Luckily he had not seen them
and they scurried into a cave that chanced to be
close by.
The ogre had done so much racing about that
he was tired, and when he came to the hillside
where the boys were he lay down over the very
cave in which they had taken refuge, and there he
went to sleep and snored with a sound like thunder
that frightened the little boys very much. " Now,"
said Hop-o'-my-Thumb to his brothers, " the rest
of you run away home. I 'm going to see if I
can get those boots."
When they had gone he crept up to where the
ogre lay and gently pulled off his boots and got
into them himself. The boots as worn by the ogre
264 HOP-O'-MY-THUMB
were very large and heavy, but they were magic
boots that fitted themselves to whatever feet were
put into them, and so they were just right for
Hop-o'-my-Thumb.
The ogre had been partly awakened when his
boots were pulled off, and Hop-o'-my-Thumb
scarcely had time to get them on his own feet
before the giant suddenly opened his eyes and sat
up. He saw what had happened and he roared
with anger. Off went Hop-o'-my-Thumb and
the ogre jumped to his feet and gave chase. But
he was no match for the speed of the little lad
with the seven-league boots. Not far from where
the giant had lain down was a precipice, and
Hop-o'-my-Thumb stepped off th" ; cliff to a hill-
top opposite. The ogre, who was rushing after
him, forgot that he did not have the boots on and
must be cautious, and he fell from the cliff with
HOP-O'-MY-THUMB 265
a crash that made the rocks echo far and near, and
that was the end of him.
While Hop-o' my-Thumb had been at the ogre's
house he had fc and out where the ogre kept his
money, and there was a little window to the treasure-
room too small for any ordinary person to get
through, but which would admit Hop-o'-my-Thumb
easily. " Unless I can get some of that money to
buy food with," said he, " my father and mother and
all the rest of us will starve ; " and he decided he
would go and see what he could do.
His boots took him to the ogre's house in a
twinkling, and he slipped in at the little window of
the treasure-room and loaded himself down with all
the gold he could carry. Then he went home, and
his father and mother were very happy to have their
children all back, and with the money Hop-o'-my-
Thumb brought they got all the food they needed
and passed through the famine quite comfortably.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
THERE was once a wealthy merchant who
had six children, three sons and three
daughters ; and he loved his children more
than he loved his riches and was always trying to
make them happy. The three daughters were very
handsome, but the youngest was the most attractive
of all. While she was little she was called Beauty,
and when she grew up she still kept the same name
and she was as good as she was beautiful. She
spent much of her time studying, and when not en-
gaged with her books she was busy doing all she
could to make her home pleasant for her father.
The older sisters were not like Beauty. They were
proud of their riches and cared little for study, and
they were constantly driving in the parks or attending
balls, operas, and plays.
Thus things went along until misfortunes began
to overtake the merchant in his business, and one
evening he came home and told his family that
storms at sea had destroyed his ships, and fire had
burned his warehouses. " My riches are gone/'
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 267
said he, " and I have nothing I can call my own but
a little farm far off in the country. To that little
farm we must all go, now, and earn our daily living
with our hands."
The daughters wept at the idea of leading such a
different life, and the older ones said they would not
go, for they had plenty of friends who would invite
them to stay in the town. But they were mistaken.
Their friends, who were numerouj when the family
was rich, now kept away and said one to the other,
"We are sorry for the merchant and his family, of
course. However, we have cares of our own, and
we could n't be expected to help them ; and, really,
if those two older girls are having their pride
humbled it is no more than they deserve. Let them
go and give themselves quality airs milking the cows
and minding their dairy and see how they like it."
So the family went to live on the little farm in the
country, and the merchant and his sons ploughed
and sowed the fields, and Beauty rose at four o'clock
every morning to get breakfast for them.* After the
breakfast things were out of the way she busied
herself about the other housework, and when there
was nothing else to do she would sit at her spinning-
wheel, singing as she spun, or perhaps would take a
little time for reading. The work was hard at first,
268 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
yet when she became used to it she enjoyed it, and
her eyes were brighter and her cheeks more rosy
than ever before.
Her two sisters did not change their habits so
easily, and they were wretched. They were always
thinking of the wealth they had lost, and they did
not get up till ten o'clock and did very little work
after they were up, but spent most of the time
sauntering about and complaining.
A year passed and then the merchant received
news that one of his ships which he had believed to
be lost had come safely into port with a rich cargo.
This news nearly turned the heads of the two
eldest daughters, who thought that now they could
soon leave the little farm and return to the gay city.
As soon as their father made ready to go to the
port to attend to the unlading and sale of the
ship's cargo they begged him to buy them new
gowns and hats and all manner of trinkets.
Then the merchant said, " And what shall I bring
you, Beauty ? "
" The only thing I wish for is to see you come
home safely," she answered.
Her father was pleased, but he thought she
ought to tell him of something he might bring her
from the town. " Well, dear father," said she,
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 269
" as you insist, I would like to have you bring
me a rose, for I have not seen one since we
came here."
The good man noWset out on his journey, but
when he reached th port he found that a former
partner had taken/charge of the ship's goods and
disposed of them. / The man would not turn over
the money he h$l received to the merchant, and
the merchant was obliged to sue for it in the
courts. But what he recovered barely paid the
costs, and at the end of six months of trouble and
expense he started for his little farm as poor as
when he came.
He travelled day after day until he was within
thirty miles of home, and he was thinking of the
pleasure he would have in seeing his children again
when he lost his way in a great forest through which
he had to pass. Night caAie on cold and rainy,
and the poor man grew $int with hunger. But
presently he saw bright ligfts some way off shining
through the trees, and heJtjurned his horse toward
them and soon came intf a long avenue of great
oaks. This led to a spfencjid palace that was lit
from top to bottom. Yet when the merchant
entered the courtyard no one met him, and when
he halooed he received no answer. His horse kept
270 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
on toward an open stable door, and he dismounted
and led the creature inside and hitched it to a
manger that was full of hay and oats.
The merchant now sought the castle and went
into a la! - hall where he found a good fire, and
a table pit fully set with food, but not a soul
did he see. While he stood by the fire drying
himself he said, " How fortunate I am to find
such shelter, for I should have perished this stormy
night out in the forest. But I can't imagine where
the people of this house can be, and I hope its
master will excuse the liberty I have taken."
He waited for some time and the clock struck
eleven. No one came, and then, weak for want of
food, he sat down at the table and ate heartily ; yet
all the while he was fearful that he was trespassing
and might be severely deah with for his presumption.
After he had finished eating ~ ielt less timid and
he concluded he would look for a chamber. So
he left the hall and passed through several splendid
rooms till he came to one in which was a comfort-
able bed, and there he spent the night.
On awaking the following morning he was sur-
prised to find a new suit of clothes laid out for him
on a chair by the bedside, marked with his name,
and with ten gold pieces in every pocket. His own
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 271
clothes, which were much the worse for wear and had
been wet through by the storm, had disappeared.
" Surely," said he, "this palace belongs to some kind
fairy who has seen and pitied my distresses/*
In the hall where he had supped the nip^t before
he found the table prepared for his bre xast, and
after he had eaten he went out into a ^eat garden
full of beautiful flowers and shrubbery. As he
walked along he passed under a bower of roses.
" Ah," said he stopping, " I had no money when I
left the town to buy the gifts my older daughters
wanted, and my mind has been so full of my troubles
that I have not thought of the rose for which
Beauty asked, until this moment. She shall have
one of these," and he reached up and plucked one.
No sooner had he done this than a great beast
came suddenly forth from a side path where he had
been hidden by a ..edge and stood before the
merchant. " This place is mine," said the beast in
his deep, gruff voice. "Why do you pick my
flowers? "
' Forgive me, my lord," begged the merchant,
throwing himself on his knees before the beast. " I
did not know I was giving offence. I only wanted
to carry a rose to one jf my daughters."
" You have daughters, have you ? " said the beast.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
" Now, listen ! This palace is lonely and I want
one of your daughters to come here and live."
"Oh, sir!" cried the merchant, "do not ask
that."
" Nothing else will appease me," the beast re-
sponded. " I promise no harm will be done her.
So take the rose you have picked and go at once and
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 273
tell your daughters what I have said ; and in case
not one of them will come you must return yourself
and be prisoned for the rest of your days in the
palace dungeon."
" My lord/' replied the merchant, " I shall not
let a child of mine suffer for me, and you may as
well lock me up in your dungeon now as later."
" No," the beast said, " you go home and consult
with your daughters first."
" I am in your power," said the merchant, " and
I can only obey you."
Then he went to the stable and mounted his
horse and by night he reached home. His children
ran out to greet him, but instead of receiving their
caresses with pleasure the tears rolled down his
cheeks, and he handed the rose to Beauty, saying,
" Little do you think how dear that will cost your
poor father ; "and he related all the sad adventures
that had befallen him. " To-morrow," said the
merchant in closing, "I shall return to the beast."
" I can't let you do that, dear father," said Beauty.
" I am going in your stead."
" Not so, sister," cried her three brothers, "we
will seek out the monster and either kill him or die
ourselves."
" You could accomplish nothing," declared the
il
274 BEAUTY AV~ ^ BEAST
merchant, " for he lives m a enchanted palace and
has invisible helpers with whan you could not hope
to contend successfully."
" How unfortunate it all is ! " said the older girls.
r< What a pity, Beauty, that you did not do as we
did and ask for something sensible."
" Well," said Beauty, " who could have guessed
that to ask for a rose wculd cause so much misery ?
However, the fault is plainly mine, and I shall have
to suffer the consequence^,"
Her father tried to dissu ^ her from her purpose,
but she insisted, and the , ->rning he mounted
his horse and, with Beauty sitting behind him, he
started for the beast's palace-. "They arrived late in
the afternoon and rode down the long avenue of
oaks and into the silent courtyard to the door of the
stable where the horse had been kept before. Then
they dismounted, and after the merchant had led the
horse into the stable and seen it comfortably housed
for the night they went into the palace.
A cheerful fire was blazing in the big hall and the
table was daintily spread with most delicious food.
They sat down to this repast, but were too sad to
eat much and were soon through. Just then the
beast came in and addressed the merchant. " Honest
man," said he, " I am glad that you could be trusted.
BEAUTY N^ THE BEAST 275
I was rude and thix* _n.~ & toward you yesterday,
but it seemed neceseiry. However, in the end, I
think you will have nothing :o regret. Spend the
night here and to-morrow go your way."
" This is my daughter, Beauty," said the merchant
The beast bowed and said, " My lady, I am ve.y
grateful to you for coming, and I beg you to re-
member that I am not wUat you think me. But I
cannot tell you what I really am, for I am under a
spell. This spell I hot e you will be able to re-
move."
So saying, th f ; withdrew and left the
n erchant and his u. ghter sitting by the fire.
" What the beast n.. .s," said the merchant, " I do
not know ; but he talks very courteously."
Then they sat long in silence, but at last arose ;
and they each hunted up a chamber and retired to
try to sleep.
On the morrow they found breakfast prepared for
them in the hall, and after they had eaten, the
merchant bade his daughter an affectionate farewell.
He went to the stable for his horse. It was all
ready for him to mount, and to his surprise the
saddlebags were full of gold. " Ah, well! " said he,
" here is wealth once more, but it cannot make up
for the loss of my dear daughter."
276 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Beauty watched him ride away. As soon as he
was gone she threw herself down on a cushioned
window-seat and cried till she fell asleep ; and while
she slept she dreamed she was walking by a brook
bordered with trees and lamenting her sad fate, when
a young prince, handsomer than any man she had
ever seen, came to her and said, " Ah, Beauty, you
are not so unfortunate as you suppose. You will
have your reward."
She awoke late in the day a good deal refreshed
and comforted, and after a little she decided she
would walk about and see something of the palace
in which she was to live. She found much to admire
and presently came to a door on which was written
BEAUTY'S ROOM.
She opened the door and entered a splendidly
furnished apartment where were a multitude of
books and pictures, a harpsichord and many com-
fortable chairs and couches. She picked up a book
that lay on a table, and on the fly-leaf she found
written in golden letters these words :
" Your wishes and commands shall be obeyed.
You are here the queen over everything."
"Alas!" she thought, "my chief wish just at
this moment is to see what my poor father is
about."
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
277
While she was thinking this she perceived some
movement in a mirror on the wall in front of her,
and when she looked into the mirror she saw her
father arriving home and her sisters and brothers
meeting him. The vision faded quickly away, but
Beauty felt very thankful she had been allowed such
a pleasure. " This beast shows a great deal of kind-
ness," said she, glancing about the attractive room.
" He must be a far better creature than we have
imagined."
She did not see the beast until evening, and then
he came and asked if he might sup with her, and
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
she replied that he could. But she would much
rather have eaten alone, for she could not help
trembling in his presence. As long as they sat at
the table soft, beautiful music was played, though
whence it came or who were the musicians she could
not discover. The beast talked to Beauty with
great politeness and intelligence, yet his gruff voice
startled her every time he spoke. When they had
nearly finished he said, " I suppose you think my
appearance extremely ugly."
"Yes," said Beauty, "for I cannot tell a lie, but
I think you are very good."
" You show a most gracious spirit," said the beast,
"in not judging me wholly by my uncouth exterior.
I will do anything I can to make you happy here."
" You are very kind, Beast," she replied. " In-
deed, when I think of your good heart, you no
longer seem to me so ugly."
As they rose from the supper table, the beast said,
" Beauty, do you think you could ever care enough
for me to kiss me ? "
She faltered out, " No, Beast," and he turned and
left the room sighing so deeply that she pitied him.
In the days and weeks which followed Beauty
saw no one save the beast, yet there were invisible
servants who did everything possible for her comfort
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 279
and pleasure. She and the beast always had supper
together, and his conversation never failed to be
entertaining and agreeable. By degrees she grew
accustomed to his shaggy ugliness and learned to
mind it less and to think more of his many amiable
qualities. The only thing that pained her was that
when he was about to leave her at the end of supper
he was sure to ask if she thought she could some-
time care enough for him to kiss him.
Three months passed, and one day Beauty looked
in her mirror and saw a double wedding at her
father's cottage. Her sisters were being married to
two gentlemen of the region. Not long afterward
her mirror showed her that her three brothers had
enlisted for soldiers and her father was left alone.
A few days more elapsed and she saw that her father
was sick. The sight made her weep, and in the
evening she told the beast what her mirror had
revealed to her and that she wished to go and nurse
her father.
" And will you return at the end of a week if you
go ? " asked the beast.
" Yes," she replied.
" I cannot refuse anything you ask," said he.
" I will have a swift horse ready for you at sun-
rise to-morrow."
280 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
The next day at sunrise Beauty found the swift
horse saddled for her in the courtyard, and away
she went like the wind through the forest toward her
father's cottage. When she arrived, the old merchant
was so overjoyed at seeing her that his sickness
quickly left him and the two spent a most happy
week together.
As soon as the seven days were past she returned
to the castle of the beast, which she reached late in
the afternoon. Supper time came and the food
was served as usual, but the beast was absent and
Beauty was a good deal alarmed. " Oh, I hope
nothing has happened to him," she said. " He
was so good and considerate."
After waiting a short time she went to look for
the, beast. She ran hastily through all the apart-
ments of the palace, but the beast was not there ;
and then in the twilight she hurried out to the
garden, and by the borders of a fountain she
found the beast lying as if dead.
" Dear, dear Beast," she cried, dropping on her
knees beside him, "what has happened? " and she
leaned over and kissed his hairy cheek.
At once a change came over the beast, and on the
grass beside the fountain lay a handsome prince.
He opened his eyes and said feebly, " My lady, I
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 281
thank you. A wicked magician had condemned
me to assume the form of an ugly beast until some
beautiful maiden consented to kiss me. But I think
you are the only maiden in the world kind-hearted
enough to have had affection for me in the ugly
form the magician had given me. When you
went away to your father I was so lonely I could
no longer eat or amuse myself, and I became so
weak that to-day, when I was walking here in the
garden, I fell and could not rise."
Then Beauty filled a cup with water from the
fountain and lifted him up so that he could drink.
That revived him somewhat and with her help he
rose to his feet. The enchantment had been re-
moved from the palace as well as from the prince,
and the servants were no longer invisible.
" Call for help," said the prince ; and when she
called, several men instantly came to their aid and
carried the prince to the palace. Once there,
warmth, food, and happiness went far toward restor-
ing him. The next morning he sent for Beauty's
father to come and make his home with them, and
not long afterward Beauty and the prince were
married and they lived with great joy and con-
tentment in their palace ever after.
THE FATE OF A LITTLE OLD
WOMAN
LAST Monday morning at six o'clock in the
evening, as I was sailing over the tops of the
mountains in my little boat, I met two men
on horseback riding on a donkey ; and I asked
them could they tell me whether the little old
woman was dead yet who was hanged a week ago
Friday for drowning herself in a shower of
feathers.
"No," said they, "we cannot inform you; but
if you will go to the next town beyond the
mountains and call on Sir Gammer Vans he can
tell you all about it."
" But how am I to know fais house ? " I asked.
"Ho ! 'tis easy enough," they replied, "for 'tis
a wooden house built of brick, standing alone by
itself in the midst of sixty or seventy other houses
just like it."
" Then nothing in the world can be easier," said
I, and I went on my way.
THE FATE OF A LITTLE OLD WOMAN 283
This Sir Gammer Vans was a giant, and when I
got to his house he popped out of a little thumb-
bottle from behind the door.
" How d' ye do ? " says he.
"Very well, I thank you," says I.
" Have some supper with me this morning,"
says he.
" Certainly," says I.
284 THE FATE OF A LITTLE OLD WOMAN
So he gave me a slice of coffee and a cup of cold
beef; and there was a big dog under the table who
picked up all the crumbs.
When we had finished drinking the beef and
eating the coffee, I said, " Sir Gammer, do you
happen to know whether the little old woman
is "
But I said no more, for at that moment we heard
a distant shouting and Sir Gammer Vans interrupted
me by saying, " I wonder if that can be my bird-
hunter who catches fish for me?"
" Why not go to the door and look out of the
window and see?" I asked.
" So I would," said he, " but I have the gout in
my left foot a trifle above my right knee which
makes it painful for me to move about. Pray, go
in my stead and tell me if you can see any one just
out of sight beyond the woods that grow in the bare
field where my wheat is ripening for the harvest."
I looked as he requested. " Yes," I replied, " I
see a man running in this direction as fast as he can
walk."
" Ah," said Sir Gammer Vans, " he is no doubt
bringing me a fish."
Soon the man arrived and was admitted to the
house. At once he took a fine salmon from an
THE FATE OF A LITTLE OLD WOMAN 285
empty basket he carried, and said, " I shot that
salmon with my club as it was flying over a barn in
the valley on the next hilltop."
"Very good ! " says Sir Gammer, "and now you
may get it ready for us to eat for breakfast this
evening."
So the man put the fish in a pot of water turned
bottom upwards on the fire, and when it had
boiled for three hours he took the salmon out hard
frozen and made it into the best apple-pie I ever
tasted.
We ate the pie all up that evening for breakfast.
Then I rode away in my little boat over the mountain
tops, and Sir Gammer Vans had not told me
whether or not the little old woman was dead who
had been hanged for drowning herself in a shower
of feathers ; for I had forgotten to ask him.
THE DONKEY, THE TABLE,
AND THE STICK
THERE was once a poor tailor who had a
son named Jack ; and they two were all
there was to the family, unless we count the
goat that gave them the milk they had to drink.
They took very good care of the goat and Jack led
her every day down to the riverside where the grass
grew greenest, that she might have plenty to eat.
In the evening Jack would go down by the river to
fetch the goat home. "Well, goat," he
would say, " have you had enough ? "
And the goat would reply,
"I am so full
I cannot pull
Another blade of grass ba! baa!"
THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK 287
" Then come along," Jack would say, and he
would tie a cord to the goat's neck and lead her
home to her stall and fasten her up.
Afterward he would tell his father that he had
brought the goat home, and his father would ask,
" Has the goat had plenty to eat to-day ? "
" Oh, yes ! " Jack would answer, " she is so full
she no more can pull."
But one evening the tailor was looking at the
goat and he thought she seemed rather thin, and he
said, " My dear goat, are you full ?"
And the goat replied,
" How can I be full ?
There was nothing to pull,
Though I looked all about me ba! baa! "
" What is this I hear ? " cried the tailor, angrily,
for he had a hasty temper. "My son has been
deceiving me then."
He went to the house and found Jack. "You
said the goat was full ! " he shouted, " and she has
been hungry all the time."
The tailor was so enraged that Jack was afraid he
was going to beat him, and the lad hurried out of
the house and down the road as fast as he could
go. "The farther I get the better," said he, "for
288 THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK
it will be a good while before I shall dare show my
face at home again."
So the next day there was no Jack to take the
goat to the feeding-place by the waterside, and the
tailor had to lead her there himself. The food was
plentiful and he said to her, " Now for once you can
eat to your heart's content."
Then he went back to his work, and in the
evening he came to get the goat, and he said to
her, " Well, goat, are you full ? "
And the goat answered,
"I am so full
I could not pull
Another blade of grass ba ! baa ! ' '
" Come home then," said the tailor, and he led
her to her stall and fastened her up. " You are
full this time," he said as he was leaving her;
but the goat said,
" How can I be full ?
There was nothing to pull,
Though 1 looked all about me ba ! baa ! "
When the tailor heard that he knew the goat was
not speaking the truth. " If she lies to-day," said
he, " no doubt she lied yesterday, and I have made
a mistake in not believing my son."
THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK 289
Then he laid hold of the goat and exclaimed,
" Wait a minute, you ungrateful beast ! I will give
you a beating that you will long remember ! "
He picked up a stout stick, dragged the goat
from her stall and belabored her very heartily until
she broke away from him and ran off. Week after
week passed, and the tailor felt very sad. He was
all alone and there was not a day that he did not
wish his son would return home, but no one
knew where Jack had gone.
Now what had happened to Jack was this he
ran and he ran until he ran right up against a
little old woman who was walking along the road.
" Whither so fast, my lad ? " she asked.
" I beg your pardon," replied Jack. " I have
left home to go out in the wide world and seek
my fortune, and I was in a hurry."
" Why not apprentice yourself to my husband
then ? " said the old woman. " He is a miller and
he needs a helper, and I can promise you that he
will pay good wages."
/ Jack promptly agreed to accept the work offered,
for he was very hungry and tired. So the old
woman took Jack to the mill, and he served the
miller for a year and a day. Then the miller
told Jack he would pay him his wages. " You
'9
290 THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK
have behaved very well," said he, cc and I am going
to give you a donkey, but this donkey will draw no
cart and carry no sack."
" What is the good of him then ? " asked Jack.
"He spits out gold and silver," replied the miller.
" You have but to pull one of his ears and he will
begin at once to c He-haw ! he-haw ! ' and when he
brays there will drop from his mouth silver six-
pences and half-crowns and golden guineas."
" Very good," said the lad, and he thanked the
miller and set forth, leading the donkey behind him.
" I shall have no cares, now," said Jack. " My
purse will be always full, and wherever I go I
shall live on the best."
By and by he stopped at an inn, and the landlord
was for taking the donkey from him to tie him up,
but Jack said, " Oh, no, you need not trouble to do
that. I will go to the stable with him myself, and
then I shall know where to find him."
So the young apprentice took his donkey to
the stable and afterward went into the inn and
ordered as good a supper as the landlord could pro-
vide. The innkeeper stared, for he did not think
that a man who took care of his own donkey could
have much to spend, and he refused to serve him
without being paid beforehand. " You need not
THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK 291
worry," said Jack, " I can get plenty of money,"
and he went off to the stable, pulled one of the
donkey's ears and got a pocket full of gold and
silver.
The landlord wondered what Jack meant by
saying he could get plenty of money. " I will
follow the lad and see where he keeps his wealth,"
he said.
So the landlord slipped after Jack and saw
everything he did through a crack in the stable
door. " Dear me ! " said he, " that is an easy way
of getting ducats. A purse of money such as
that donkey seems to be is no bad thing."
After Jack had eaten supper and gone to bed the
landlord visited the stable again, and this time he
292 THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK
led the gold donkey away and tied another in his
place.
The next morning, early, the apprentice went to
the stable and got the donkey, never doubting that
he had the right one. " I will go back to my father,
now," said he. " His anger must have cooled long
ago, and when he knows I have this gold donkey he
will receive me kindly."
By noon he came to his father's house, and his
father was rejoiced to see him. " What trade have
you taken up, my son?" said he, after the first
greetings were over with.
" I am a miller, dear father," answered Jack.
" And what have you brought home with you to
show for your year's work?" asked the father.
" I have brought home a donkey," said Jack,
" that furnishes me with more money than I know
what to do with. Why, with that donkey I can
make you rich with no trouble at all ! "
" That is very fine," said the tailor. " I am
getting old, and it is irksome work snipping and
sewing so unceasingly. I have Jong wanted to quit
it. -I suppose now I need not labor with my needle
any more."
"No," replied Jack, " throw your needle away and
call in the neighbors. I will make them rich, too."
THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK 293
So the tailor rushed out and went from house to
house telling all the people of the village the good
news. Soon they came flocking back with him and
then Jack made them a speech as they stood round-
about the house, and after that he led his donkey
into the midst of the crowd and began pulling the
beast's ears. But, though Jack pulled and pulled
and the donkey he-hawed and he-hawed, no silver
or gold was forthcoming. The crowd laughed, and
the tailor was so angry at Jack that the young man
thought his father was going to thrash him and he
took to his heels. He ran and ran till he came
bang against a door and burst it open, and there he
was in a carpenter's shop.
"You seem to be in great haste," said the carpenter.
" Yes," replied Jack, " but I will go no farther if
you will give me work."
" All right," the carpenter responded, " be my
apprentice and I will pay you well."
Jack agreed, and. he served the carpenter for
a year and a day. Then the master said, " I will
now give you your wages. I will let you have
ten shillings in money, which will very likely
come handy, and you may take this little table.
When you are hungry you have only to say,
' Table, be covered,' and at once it will have a
294 THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK
clean cloth on it and dishes and lots to eat and
drink/'
The young apprentice thought he was set up for
life, and he put the ten shillings in his pocket and
took the table on his back and went merrily on his
way. At length he came to the inn where he had
stopped the year before. It was full of guests, but
they bade Jack welcome, and asked him to sit down
with them to eat, as otherwise he might not be able
to get anything.
" You are very kind," said Jack, " yet I am not
so badly off as you think, and instead of accepting
your invitation I will ask you all to share with me a
feast of my own providing."
Then they laughed, for they thought he was
joking; but he brought in his little wooden table
and said, " Table, be covered ! "
Without delay the table was set with much better
food than the landlord had been able to give his
guests, and the odor of it greeted their noses very
agreeably. " Fall to, my good friends," said Jack,
and the guests, when they understood how things
were, needed no second asking.
They went at the food most valiantly, and as often
as a dish was emptied a full one took its place. All
the while the landlord stood in a corner watching
THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK 295
proceedings with keen interest. " Such cooking as
that would make my inn prosper," said he to himself.
When at last the party broke up, Jack left his
wishing-table standing against the wall and went to
bed. The landlord locked up and went to bed also,
but he could not sleep for thinking of Jack's table.
He remembered that he had in his attic an old table
very like it, and finally he got up and fetched that
table down and exchanged it for Jack's. Jack, none
the wiser, rose the next day early, paid his reckoning,
took the worthless table on his back and set off to
see his father. He never once stopped by the way,
not even for breakfast, and by nine o'clock he
reached his father's house. The tailor was rejoiced
to see his son, and asked him what he had been doing
all the long year that he had been gone.
"Oh," said Jack, "I have learned to be a
carpenter."
" That is a good trade," said the tailor, " and
what have you brought back with you ? "
" I have brought this little table," Jack responded.
The tailor looked at it on all sides. " Rather a
rubbishing old table, I call it," said he.
" But it is a very wonderful one," explained Jack.
" I can ask that table for anything I please in the
line of food and drink and it furnishes what I call
296 THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK
for in no time. Let us invite the neighbors to
come and we will all feast and enjoy ourselves/'
So the tailor hastened to get the neighbors
together, and then Jack put his table in their midst
and said, " Table, be covered ! "
But nothing came of his command, and the table
remained just as empty as any other table that does
not understand talking. Jack felt very foolish then,
and the company joked him freely and his father
began to upbraid him and grew more and more
wrathful, and the young man was frightened and had
no doubt his father was about to chastise him with
his cane. So he got away as fast as his legs would
carry him, and he ran and ran until he tumbled
into a river. A man who happened to be near
by pulled him out and said, " I suppose you are
not looking for work or you would not be going
so fast."
" No," said Jack, "I was not looking for anything,
but I want work, nevertheless."
" Well," said the man, " I have a turning shop
here on the river bank, and I will take you for an
apprentice and pay you well."
So Jack worked for the turner a year and a day,
and then his master, to reward him for his labor and
his good conduct, handed him a few shillings in
THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK 297
money, and after that gave him a sack and told
him there was a stick inside of it.
" The sack may be of use to me," said Jack,
" but what is the good of the stick ? "
" I will tell you," said the master. " If any man
does you harm, and you say, ' Out stick, and bang
him ! ' the stick will jump out and will drub him
soundly and will not stop until you say, c Stick,
into the sack ! '
The apprentice thanked his master and started on
his travels and he was not long in seeking the inn
where he had formerly fared so badly. He ate
supper, and as he was sitting by the inn-room fire
afterward the landlord asked, " What is it you have
in that sack which you take such care of? "
" Well," replied Jack, " I don't propose to tell
you, but I '11 say this I would n't exchange what
I have in that bag for a thousand guineas."
That roused the landlord's curiosity more than
ever. " What in the world can it be ? " thought he.
" Perhaps he has a lot of precious stones in his
sack."
By and by Jack nodded off into a nap, and as no
one else was present the landlord laid hold of the
sack and was taking it away when Jack awoke.
" Out stick, and bang him ! " he cried.
298 THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK
At once the stick flew from the bag and battered
the innkeeper on the back, rapped his head and
bruised his arms and legs until he fell groaning to
the floor.
" Have mercy ! have mercy!'' begged the landlord.
" I will have mercy when you give me my table
and donkey," said Jack.
" You can have anything you want," said the
wretched man, " if only you will make this terrible
goblin stick stop beating me."
"Very well," was Jack's response; and then he
said, " Stick, into the sack ! "
At once the stick left the man in peace and
disappeared into the bag, and the landlord told
Jack where he kept the table and the donkey, and
promised he should have them whenever he chose
to take them. Then he crept off to bed very lame
and sore.
The next morning the landlord turned over to
Jack the gold donkey and the wishing table, and the
young man set out for his father's house. He
arrived an hour before noon and the tailor was very
glad to see him again and asked what he had learned
while he had been away.
" My dear father," answered Jack, " I have been
apprenticed to a turner."
THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK 299
"A very ingenious handicraft," said the father,
" and what have you brought back with you ? "
" A stick in a sack," Jack replied.
" What ! " cried the old tailor, "a stick in a sack !
Have you gone crazy ? "
" But it is not a common stick," Jack explained.
" When any man means harm to me I simply say,
( Out stick, and bang him! 1 and the stick jumps
from the sack and gives the fellow such a pound-
ing that he is soon glad to beg my pardon. You
remember last year I told you about a wishing table
300 THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK
that supplied me with food, and the year before I
told you about a donkey that furnished me with
money. Well, the table and donkey were stolen
from me by a wicked innkeeper, but with this stick
I have recovered them both. Now let the neigh-
bors all be sent for and they shall have the finest
feast they have ever had in their lives and I will fill
their pockets with gold."
So the old tailor called the neighbors together
and the son took his little table and said, " Table,
be covered ! " and at once it was set with a
feast that kept the company jolly for a long time.
After that Jack brought the donkey and pulled
his ears and the money jingled out of his mouth
until they all had as much as they could carry
away; and I cannot help thinking it is a great pity
that you and I were not there.
The next day the tailor took his needles and
thread, his yard measure and his goose and locked
them up in a cupboard, and he lived ever after with
his son in great ease and luxury.
But what became of the goat, the unlucky cause
of Jack's being driven from home? I will tell you.
She ran to the woods and into a fox's hole and
hid herself. When the fox came home he caught
sight of two great eyes staring at him out of the
THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK 301
darkness, and the fox was so frightened that he
scampered away as fast as he could go until he met
a bear.
" Hold on, Brother Fox ! " called the bear, <c what
is the trouble that you should be racing off like
that?"
" Oh, dear ! " answered the fox, " a grisly beast is
sitting in my hole, and he stared at me with fiery
eyes."
" I will soon drive him out," said the bear.
So he went to the fox's hole and looked in ; but
when he caught sight of the goat's gleaming eyes
he too was terrified and fled in great haste until he
met a bee.
" Stop, Brother Bear, stop ! " called the bee.
"What has happened? I never knew you to get
over the ground so fast before, and you have a
very depressed countenance. What has become
of your high spirit?"
" You may well ask," the bear replied. " In the
fox's hole there sits a grisly beast with fiery eyes and
neither the fox nor I can drive him out."
" I am a poor feeble little creature," said the bee,
" and I know you despise me, Bear, but I think I
can help you."
So the bee flew into the fox's hole and stung the
J02 THE DONKEY, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK
goat on the head. Then the goat jumped and cried
" Baa ! Baa ! " and ran out like mad into the
world ; and whither she went no one knows to
this hour.
MR. VINEGAR
MR. and Mrs. Vinegar were very poor, and
they lived in a shabby little house that
they had built with their own hands. It
was made of old boards and other rubbish which they
had picked up, and it rattled and shook in every
high wind. One morning, Mrs. Vinegar, who was
a very good housewife, was busily sweeping her
kitchen floor when an unlucky thump of the broom
against the walls brought down the whole house,
clitter-clatter about her ears. Mr. Vinegar had gone
to a neighboring thicket to gather some fagots, and
she hurried off with much weeping and wailing to
tell him of the disaster. When she found him she
exclaimed, " Oh, Mr. Vinegar ! Mr. Vinegar ! we are
ruined, we are ruined ! I have knocked the house
down and it is all to pieces ! "
" My dear," said Mr. Vinegar, " pray do not weep
any more. I will go back with you and see what can
be done."
304
MR. VINEGAR
So they returned, and Mr. Vinegar said, " Yes,
wife, the house is all in bits and we can never live in
it again ; but here is the door. I will take that on
my back and we will go forth to seek our fortune."
With his wife's help he got the door on his back,
and off they started. They walked all that day, and
by nightfall they were both very tired. They had
now come to a thick forest and Mr. Vinegar said,
" My love, I will climb up into a tree with this door
and you shall follow after."
So he climbed up among the branches of a great
tree, and when he had adjusted the door at a level
Mrs. Vinegar climbed up also, and they stretched
MR. VINEGAR 305
their weary limbs on it and were soon fast asleep.
But in the middle of the night Mr. Vinegar was
awakened by the sound of voices directly below him.
He looked down and, to his dismay, saw that a
party of robbers were met under the tree to divide
some money they had stolen. "Jack," said one,
" here 's five pounds for you ; and Bill, here 's ten
pounds for you ; and Bob, here 's three pounds for
you."
Mr. Vinegar was so frightened he could listen no
longer, and he trembled so violently that he shook
the door off the branches on which it lay, and he and
Mrs. Vinegar had to cling to the tree to save them-
selves from a bad tumble. When the door began to
drop the noise it made startled the robbers and they
looked up to learn the cause, but no sooner did they
do this than the door came down on their heads and
they all ran away greatly terrified.
Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar, however, dared not quit
their tree till broad daylight. Then Mr. Vinegar
scrambled down. " I hope the door was not broken
by its fall," said he as he lifted it.
Just then he espied a number of golden guineas
that had been beneath the door where they had
been dropped on the ground by the robbers in their
haste to get away. " Come down, Mrs. Vinegar J "
zo
306 MR. VINEGAR
he cried, " come down, I say ! Our fortune is
made ! Come down, I say ! "
Mrs. Vinegar came down as quickly as she could
and saw the money with great delight, and when
they counted it they found they were the possessors
of forty guineas. " Now, my dear," said she, " I '11
tell you what you shall do. You must take these
forty guineas and go to the nearest town and buy a
cow. I can make butter and cheese which you shall
sell at market, and we shall then be able to live very
comfortably."
" I will do as you say," replied Mr. Vinegar,
" and you can stay here till I return."
So he took the money and went off to the nearest
town ; and there was a fair in the town, and crowds
of people. When he arrived, he walked about until
he saw a beautiful red cow that he thought would
just suit him. " Oh, if I only had that cow," said
Mr. Vinegar, " I should be the happiest man alive."
Then he offered the forty guineas for the cow and
the owner was quite ready to part with it at that
price, and the bargain was made. Mr. Vinegar was
proud of his purchase, and he led the cow backwards
and forwards to show it. But by and by he saw a
man playing some bag-pipes tweedledum, tweedle-
dee. The children followed after the bagpipe man,
MR. VINEGAR 307
and he appeared to be pocketing a great deal of
money.
" What a pleasant and profitable life that musician
must lead," said Mr. Vinegar. " If I had that
instrument I should be the happiest man alive, and
I could earn far more than with this cow."
So he went up to the man and said, " Friend,
what a charming instrument that is, and what a deal
of money you must make ! "
" Why, yes," said the man ; " I make a great
deal of money, to be sure, and it is a wonderful
instrument."
" Oh ! " cried Mr. Vinegar, " how I should like
to possess it ! "
" Well," said the man, " I will exchange it for
your red cow."
" Done ! " said the delighted Mr. Vinegar.
So the beautiful red cow was given for the bag-
pipes. Mr. Vinegar walked up and down with his
purchase, but in vain he attempted to play a tune,
and the children, instead of giving him pennies,
hooted and laughed at him. The day was chilly
and poor Mr. Vinegar's fingers grew very cold. At
last, heartily ashamed and mortified, he was leaving
the town when he met a man wearing a fine, thick
pair of gloves.
308 MR. VINEGAR
" Oh, my fingers are so very cold ! " said Mr.
Vinegar to himself. " If I had those warm gloves
I should be the happiest man alive."
Then he went up to the man and said to him,
" Friend, you seem to have a capital pair of gloves
there."
"Yes, truly," replied the man, "these are ex-
cellent gloves."
"Well," said Mr. Vinegar, "I should like to
have them. I will give you these bagpipes for
them."
" All right," said the man, and he took the bag-
pipes and Mr. Vinegar put on the gloves and felt
entirely contented as he trudged along toward the
forest.
But the farther he walked the more tired he
became, until presently he saw a man coming
toward him with a good stout cane in his hand.
"Oh!" said Mr. Vinegar, "if I had that cane I
should be the happiest man alive."
Then he said to the man, " Friend, what a rare
good cane you have."
" Yes," the man responded, " I have used it for
many a mile and it has been a great help."
" How would it suit you to give it to me in
exchange for these gloves ? " asked Mr. Vinegar.
MR. VINEGAR
309
" I will do so willingly," replied the man.
" My hands had become perfectly warm," said
Mr. Vinegar as he went on with his cane, " and my
legs were very
weary. I could
not have done
better."
As he drew
near to the forest
where he had left
his wife he heard
an owl on a tree
laughing, "Hoo,
hoo,hoo!" Then
it called out his
name and he
stopped to ask
what it wanted.
" Mr. Vinegar," said the
owl, "you foolish man,
you blockhead, you simpleton ! you went to the
fair and laid out all your money in buying a cow.
Not content with that, you changed the cow for
some bagpipes on which you could not play and
which were not worth one tenth as much as the cow.
Ah, foolish, foolish man ! Then you no sooner
3 10 MR. VINEGAR
had the bagpipes than you changed them for the
gloves that were worth not one quarter as much as
the bagpipes ; and when you got the gloves you
exchanged them for a cane, and now for your forty
guineas you have nothing to show but that poor
miserable stick which you might have cut in any
hedge. Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo ! "
The bird laughed loud and long, and Mr.
Vinegar became very angry and threw his cane
at its head. The cane lodged in the tree, and
Mr. Vinegar returned to his wife without money,
cow, bagpipes, gloves, or stick, and she said things
to him that he liked even less than what the bird
had said.
THE GIANT OF THE BLACK
MOUNTAINS
ONCE upon a time there was a hunter and
he had one son. While this son was still a
little boy the hunter said to his wife, " My
dear, our child will no doubt grow up to be a hunter
just as I am, and if I should not be alive when that
time comes I wish you would take care to tell him
that he must not go to the Black Mountains to hunt ;
for evil befalls whoever goes thither."
Soon afterward the hunter died, and in time his
son grew up and became a hunter as his father had
been before him. Then his mother said, " Son,
your father commanded me that I should warn you
not to go to the Black Mountains to hunt."
But the son saw no good reason why he should
not hunt there as well as elsewhere, and one day he
took his bow and arrows, mounted his horse and
rode to the Black Mountains. At length he was
among the lofty, forest- clad ranges, and he could
not perceive but that they were perfectly peaceful
312 THE GIANT OF THE BLACK MOUNTAINS
and free from danger. " What could my father
have meant by his warning ? " he said to himself,
and he kept riding on until suddenly a huge giant
appeared before him.
" How now ! " shouted the giant, " have you
never heard of me that you dare to come and hunt
THE GIANT OF THE BLACK MOUNTAINS 313
on my ground ? " and he picked up three great rocks
and hurled them in quick succession at the intruder ;
but the young man contrived to dodge them, and
fitting an arrow to his bow he shot the giant and
killed him.
" I understand my father's warning now," said
the young man ; " but as this monster is no longer
to be feared I will seek out his dwelling and see
what treasure it contains."
So he went farther into the mountains and pres-
ently came to a magnificent castle. When he drew
near to the entrance a beautiful maiden appeared at
a window and he addressed her and asked to whom
the castle belonged.
" Its owner is a great giant who will soon come
and tear you in pieces," she replied. " How dare
you venture among these terrible mountains?"
" The giant is dead," said the young man. " I
have killed him."
"Ah then!" cried she, "I am free. I have
been his prisoner for many years, and you are
my deliverer. Wait where you are and I will
come down and unlock the castle gates and let
you in."
She soon had the gates open and bade the young
man welcome, and after he had led his horse to the
3 14 THE GIANT OF THE BLACK MOUNTAINS
stables the beautiful maiden conducted the young
man into the palace. Then she told him she was
the daughter of a prince, and that the giant had
stolen her and that she had almost despaired of help
ever reaching her. They talked together for a long
time, and they liked each other so well that before
they got through talking the young man asked the
princess to be his wife.
" I am willing," said she, " and we can live here
in the giant's castle."
" Yes," said he, " and I can go out hunting every
day among the mountains."
But there was an old witch woman who had a hut
in a wild glen not far from the castle, and when she
knew that the giant was dead she went secretly to
the body and administered some magic medicine that
brought the giant to life. " Giant," said she, when
she had restored him, " the young man who slew
you is now in your castle. Go home and punish
him as he deserves."
"No," said the giant, " I want nothing more to
do with him. He is too clever with his bow and
arrows to suit me, and I shall keep as far away from
him as I can."
" Well, then," said the witch, " the task of dispos-
ing of him falls to me ; for I do not intend to have
THE GIANT OF THE BLACK MOUNTAINS 315
him staying here in the mountains, if there is any
way to prevent it."
" The quicker you get rid of him the better," said
the giant. " Send him away on some errand from
which he can never come back."
"That is just what I will do," responded the
witch, " and I promise you in three days' time he will
be gone to return no more."
Then the witch went to the palace and asked to
be hired as a servant, and work was given her in
the kitchen. It did not take her long to discover
how fond the young man was of the princess, and
on her third day at the palace she managed to put
something into the food the princess ate that made
her sick. No sooner was this accomplished than
the witch said to the young man, " I fear your
princess will die."
"Oh, no," cried he, "she must not die. We
must make her well again."
" But there is only one thing can cure her," said
the witch, "and that is the Melon of Life."
"Then I will get the Melon of Life," said he,
"and I will start for it at once."
So he travelled all day long and in the evening
he came to the house of an old man, who gave him
lodging for the night. He told the old man the
316 THE GIANT OF THE BLACK MOUNTAINS
errand he was on, and the old man said, " Son, you
are deceived. The expedition is a fatal one. Do
not go."
But the young man would not be persuaded to
turn back. "Well," said the old man, "if you
must have your way I will give you three things to
take with you. Here is a little jug of water, and
here is a comb, and here is a knife. The Melon of
Life is guarded by fifty giants, and if they pursue
you throw these things behind you one at a time as
there is need."
The young man took the jug and the comb and
the knife and went his way, and at last he came to
the garden of the fifty giants. He succeeded in
getting into it without being seen, and there he found
the Melon of Life. This he picked, and he wasted
not a moment in starting on his return journey, but
in getting through the garden hedge he cracked
some dry twigs, and that alarmed the giants.
They looked around the garden to learn what
had caused the noise, and soon perceived that the
Melon of Life was gone. Then they set off in
pursuit of the young man. When he saw that they
were getting near him he threw the jug behind him.
The water in it flowed out and covered the land
he had just passed over with a great lake.
THE GIANT OF THE BLACK MOUNTAINS 317
While the giants were going around this lake he
gained quite a distance on them. But presently he
saw them coming again. Then he threw the comb
behind him and there sprang up a thick jungle
through which the giants had great difficulty in
forcing therr way.
Thus he gained again on his pursuers. But they
at length came out of the jungle and were on his trail
once more. As soon as he saw them he threw the
knife behind him, and the land in his rear was cov-
ered with thorn bushes, and the thorns were like
sharp knives.
This time the young man got entirely away from
the fifty giants and returned to the Black Mountains.
However, during his absence, the giant whom the
witch had restored to life had taken possession of
the castle, and the princess had recovered from her
sickness and was locked up in a dungeon.
When the young man approached the castle
the giant chanced to be standing at the gates and
saw him while he was still at a distance. The giant
was very much startled, for he never expected that
the young man would come back, and as he did not
care to meet him he ran off at once to the forest.
The young man at sight of the giant knew that
things had gone wrong while he was away, and he
318 THE GIANT OF THE BLACK MOUNTAINS
made all haste into the castle, and the first thing he
did was to release the princess. She was now quite
well' and did not need the Melon of Life and he
locked it up in a closet.
They did not suspect the treachery of the witch
, woman and she continued to work in the kitchen.
Every night she went to see the giant in the forest,
and they plotted how to get rid of the young man
once more. "I can never go back to my castle
while he is alive," said the giant, " but I know an
easy way to dispose of him."
" What is it ? " asked the witch.
"If you can pull three hairs from his head he
will die," replied the giant.
" Very well," said the witch, " I will pluck the
three hairs, though it may be some time before I
find a good opportunity."
So she watched and watched until one day the
young man fell asleep on a couch in the great hall
of the castle. Then the witch stole softly up to
the couch, and selecting three hairs suddenly pulled
them out. Immediately the young man's sleep
became death, and the witch hurried off to tell the
giant of what she had accomplished.
While she was gone the princess came in and
found the young man dead, and she cried and was
The witch burned off to tell tbe giant of what she bad accomplished
THE GIANT OF THE BLACK MOUNTAINS 321
very sad. But at last she thought of the Melon of
Life locked in the closet and ran and brought it and
held it before the young man's nostrils. No sooner
did she do that than the young man sneezed seven
times and sat up saying, " Oh, what a sound sleep I
have had!"
" Sleep ! " exclaimed the princess, " it was a sleep
out of which you would never have awakened had it
not been for the Melon of Life."
Then she told him of how she had found him
perfectly lifeless. " There is some villainy in this,"
said he, " and we had better be on the watch."
So he got his bow and arrows, and he and the
princess went up on a tower to look around and see
if any danger threatened. They had not been long
there when they perceived the giant and the witch
coming from the forest. Then the young man let
fly an arrow and it hit the witch and that was the end
of her. The giant did not wait for him to shoot
another arrow. He hastened away as fast as he
could go and was never seen in the Black Mountains
again, and the young man and the princess lived
very happily in the castle ever after.
LAZY JACK
ONCE upon a time there was a boy whose
name was Jack, and he lived with his mother
in a little house on the borders of a village.
They were very poor and the woman kept busy day
in and day out at her spinning-wheel ; but Jack did
no work at all. He would lie in the sunshine when
the weather was warm, and when the weather was
cold he would sit beside the fire.
Time passed along and Jack grew to be a young
man, but still his mother could not get him to do
anything for her, and finally, just after breakfast one
Monday morning, when she was beginning her
spinning and Jack had settled himself comfortably
in the chimney-corner, she said to him, "Jack,
unless you begin to work I shall turn you out of
the house for good and all, and you will have to get
your living as best you may/*
Lazy Jack did not care to run the risk of losing
his home. " The only safe thing for me to do/'
thought he, " is to find a job at once a " and he got up
LAZY JACK 323
and went to a neighboring woodcutter and hired
himself for the day. When evening came the wood-
cutter gave the lad a penny for his services, and Jack
set off for home well satisfied ; but he had never had
money before and he handled it so carelessly that in
crossing a narrow foot-bridge over a brook he
dropped the penny into the water. The brook was
deep, yet he could see the penny lying on the
bottom and he poked about with a stick hoping to
get it out. That only stirred up the mud, and soon
the penny was hopelessly lost. Then Jack went on
home and told his mother what had happened.
" You stupid boy ! " said she, " you should have
put it in your pocket."
" I '11 do so next time," said Jack.
On Tuesday morning Jack went and hired him-
self to a dairyman. When evening came the dairy-
man gave him a quart pail full of milk for his
services. " Now," said Jack, " I must not lose this
milk as I did my penny. Mother told me I should
have put what I got in my pocket, and I will this
time. My jacket pockets are large and deep, and I
think the pail will go in very well."
So he put the pail of milk into one of his jacket
pockets and walked off home; and by the time he
got there the milk was all spilled.
324 LAZY JACK
"Dear me ! " said his mother, "you should have
carried it on your head."
" I '11 do so next time," said Jack.
On Wednesday morning Jack went and hired
himself to a farmer. When evening came the farmer
gave him a cream cheese for his services. u Now,"
said Jack, " I must not lose this cheese as I did the
milk yesterday. Mother told me I should have
carried what I got on my head, and I will this
time."
So he took the cheese and put it on his head ;
but the day was warm, and the cheese melted, and
some of it dropped off along the way and the rest
was matted in his hair.
" You foolish fellow," said his mother, " you
should have carried it in your hands."
" I '11 do so next time," said Jack.
On Thursday morning Jack went and hired him-
self to a baker. When evening came the baker
gave him a large tom-cat for his services. " Now,"
said Jack, " I must not lose this tom-cat as I did
the cream cheese yesterday. Mother told me I
should have carried what I got in my hands, and I
will this time."
So he took up the cat and carried it along in his
hands ; but pussy began to scratch, and the tighter
LAZY JACK 325
he gripped it the worse it clawed, until he had to let
it go. As soon as he reached home Jack told his
mother how the cat got away, and she
said, " You silly lad, you should have
tied it with a string and dragged it
along after you."
" I '11 do so next time," said Jack.
On Friday morning Jack went and
hired himself to a butcher. When
evening came the butcher gave
him a nice leg of mutton for
his services. " Now," said
Jack, " I must not lose
this mutton as I did
the tom-cat yesterday.
Mother told me I should
have tied a string to what
I got and dragged it along
after me, and I will this
time."
So he tied a string to the leg of mutton
and dragged it along after him in the dirt, and when
he got home he found the mutton was spoiled. His
mother was more out of patience with him than ever.
" You ninny-hammer," said she, " you should have
carried it on your shoulder."
j 26 LAZY JACK
" I '11 do so next time/' said Jack.
On Saturday morning Jack went and hired him-
self to a cattle-keeper. When evening came the
cattle-keeper rewarded him for his services with
a little donkey that was too old to be of any
more use on the farm. " Now," said Jack, " I must
not lose this donkey as I did that leg of mutton
yesterday. Mother told me I should have carried
what I got on my shoulder, and I will this time."
Jack was a stout fellow, and after considerable
trouble he succeeded in hoisting the donkey to his
shoulders and started for home. As it happened,
he had to pass the mansion of a rich man whose
only daughter was deaf and dumb. She had never
laughed in her life, and the doctors said unless she
was made to laugh she could not hope to have either
speech or hearing to the end of her days. So every-
thing was done that could be thought of to make
her laugh, but nothing was accomplished. At last
the father proclaimed that the first man who suc-
ceeded in making his daughter laugh should have
her for his wife.
When Jack came along with the donkey on his
shoulders the young lady was looking out of the
window, and the sight was so strange and comical
that she began to laugh very heartily, and im-
LAZY JACK
mediately she could speak and hear. Her father was
overjoyed, and he sent for Jack and told him how
things were, and Jack married the daughter and was
thus made a rich gentleman. He and his wife had
a beautiful home, and Jack's mother lived with them
in great happiness for the rest of her days.
THE ELVES AND THE SHOE-
MAKER
THERE was once a shoemaker who, though
he worked very hard and was very honest,
yet could not earn enough to live on. At
last all his money was gone and he had the leather
for only one more pair of shoes. That evening he
cut the leather to have it ready to make into shoes
the next day. "Alas!" said he, "things are in a
bad way ; but I 've done the best I could, and now
I may as well go to bed."
So he went to bed and fell asleep. Early in the
morning he sat down to his work, when, to his great
astonishment, there stood the shoes all made on the
table. The good man knew not what to say or think
of this strange event. He looked at the workman-
ship. " Not a false stitch in the whole job," said
he. " How neat and true. It is better work than
I could do myself."
Presently a customer came in, and the shoemaker
showed him the new pair of shoes. The customer
THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER 329
examined them and was so much pleased with them
that he willingly paid a higher price than usual.
With this money the shoemaker bought leather
enough to make two pairs more. In the evening he
cut out the work and went early to bed, that he
might be up and start making the shoes at daybreak
on the morrow. But when he rose with the first
light in the morning, there on the table were the two
pairs of shoes all finished. Buyers came in who
paid him handsomely for the shoes, and he had the
money to buy leather for four pairs more. He cut
out the work again in the evening, and found it
finished the next morning. Thus matters went on
for some time whatever leather was got ready
in the evening was always made into shoes by
daylight, and the good man soon became quite
prosperous.
One evening, shortly before Christmas, as the
shoemaker and his wife were sitting by the fire
chatting together, he said to her, " I would like to
stay up and watch to-night and see who it is that
comes and does my work for me."
" I think that is a very good plan," said his wife,
" and I will stay up with you."
So they left a light burning and hid themselves in
a corner of the room behind a curtain and watched
3JO THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER
what should happen. They saw nothing unusual
until the clock struck twelve. Then two little elves
slipped in at the door and sat down on the shoe-
maker's bench. They took up the work that was
cut out, and how their fingers flew ! - They rapped
and tapped and stitched away at such a rate that the
shoemaker was all amazement and could not take his
eyes off them for a moment. Not once did they
stop till the job was finished and the shoes stood
THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER 33 1
ready for use on the table. The elve s were through
Jong before daybreak. However, they did not
loiter, but at once bustled out o the house.
The next day the wife sairU to the shoemaker,
"Those little men have marLie us rich and we ought
to be thankful to them an;d do them a good office in
return. I tell you w'nat I will do I will make
them each a suit of clothes, and you can make each
of them a little rvair of shoes."
"Yes," said the shoemaker, "and we will have
the things ready to give them for Christmas."
So the sh oemaker made the little shoes, and his
wife made t'he clothes, and the night before Christmas
they laid these things on the table, instead of the
leather ^vhich was usually put there. Then they hid
behind/ the curtain to watch what the little elves
would 1 do. The clock struck twelve, and in they
camre and were going to sit down to their work ; but
wK'ien they saw the clothes lying on the table for
them, they picked them up and laughed and danced
and were greatly delighted. For a little while they
capered and jumped about as merry as could be,
shaking the clothes and looking them over, and
singing,
" Now we 've clothes so fine and neat,
Why cobble more for others' feet ?"
332 THE. ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER
Then, with the clothes in their hands, they danced
out of the door, ajid they never came to the house
again. But everything went well with the shoe-
maker from that tinu as long as he lived.
<
THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM
JOHN BLACK and Thomas Brown were two
men of Gotham. They we^e neighbors, but they
were not good friends. One day when Thomas
was returning home from Nottingham market he
met John on Nottingham bridge and called out
roughly, "Where are you going, man?"
" That 's none of your business," replied John,
" but I don't mind telling you that I am going to
Nottingham to buy sheep."
" Buy sheep ! " said Thomas, " and which way
will you bring them home ? "
" Oh," responded John, " I will bring them over
this bridge."
" No you won't," said Thomas. " I 'm going to
stay right here and stop them."
" You 'd better not try any tricks of that sort ! "
exclaimed John, " or it will be the worse for you."
" I 'm not afraid of your threats ! " shouted
Thomas, " and I say again, I '11 never let you drive
your sheep across this bridge."
334
THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM
You will ! " yelled John.
" I won't ! " declared the other.
Each man carried a stout cane, and as they talked
they swung their canes in the air and thumped with
them on the ground.
" If you act like that," said John, " you will
make my sheep jump over the side of the bridge
into the water and they will drown."
THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM 335
" Let them drown," said Thomas. " I don't
care. You can take them home some other
way."
" No, I shall not ! " said John, " I shall bring
them across this bridge."
" You will get a rap on your head with my cane
if you do," said Thomas.
While they were quarrelling another man of
Gotham came from the market leading a horse
with a bag of meal on its back. He stopped on
the bridge and listened to learn what the trouble
was between his two neighbors. " How is this ? "
said he " you are ready to come to blows over
some sheep ; but I see not a single sheep for you
to fight about."
" No," explained the other two, " they are not
bought yet."
" Ah, foolish men ! " said the newcomer. " Where
is your common-sense? Here, lift this bag of
meal from the horse to my shoulders and I will
show you what I think of you."
They did as he suggested, and then he went to
the side of the bridge, untied the mouth of the
bag and shook all his meal out into the river.
" Now, neighbors," said he, " how much meal is
there in my bag ? "
33 6 THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM
" Why, surely," replied they, " there is none
at all."
" Quite right ! " said he, " and just as much wit
is there in your two heads to stir up a strife about
a thing you have not."
So the three men went their ways, and which was
the wisest of these three persons, do you think ?
THE SALT FISH AND THE EEL
THE men of Gotham were very fond of salt
fish, and they bought a great many of
them. There was, indeed, no meat food
they had on their tables oftener. Of course the cost
was considerable, and one time, about the beginning
of winter, the men of Gotham got together to con-
sider how to save this expense.
" We have a nice large pond right in the middle
of our town," said one man ; " why not raise our
own fish ? "
" Yes, it is a good pond," said another, " but
where would we get the fish to stock it with?"
" That is easily done," responded the first man.
" You well know how fish multiply. Have we not
in our homes many fish not yet eaten ? Put those
in the pond and let them breed, and next year we
shall have a plenty. We will not need to go to
market for our salt fish, but will catch them as we
want them from our pond."
338 THE SALT FISH AND THE EEL
" Good ! good ! " cried the men of Gotham
clapping their hands and stamping their feet. " Let
every man who has salt fish left cast them into the
pond ! "
" I have many white herrings/* said one.
" I have many sprats," said another.
" I have many red herrings," said another.
So they all told what salt fish they had and said,
" Yes, yes, throw them into the pond and we shall
fare like lords next year ! "
Without farther delay the salt fish were put into
the pond, and when spring came the men of Gotham
thought the fish must have multiplied and that it
was time to take some of them out. So they
dragged the pond with a net and drew it to the
shore expecting to find it full of fish, but it was
empty. Again and again they dragged it through
the pond, yet do what they would they could not
catch any fish. However, at last a large fat eel was
found in the net.
" Ah ! " said they all, " a mischief on this eel, for
he has eaten all our fish."
" And now what shall we do with him ? " said
they.
" Kill him ! " said one.
" Chop him into pieces ! " said another.
THE SALT FISH AND THE EEL 339
" Not so," said another ; " let us drown him ! "
" Be it so ! " said all, and the men of Gotham
rowed their boat out to the middle of the pond and
threw the eel overboard into the deep water.
When they saw the eel wriggling down toward the
bottom one man said, " Do you notice how fright-
ened he is ? See how he squirms and twists with
terror."
340 THE SALT FISH AND THE EEL
" He may squirm and twist as much as he pleases,"
said another man. " He must shift for himself
now."
"Yes," said they all, "he shall have no help
from us ; " and they left the eel to drown.
A MISSING MAN FOUND
ONCE upon a time twelve men of Gotham
went fishing in the stream that supplied the
town pond, and sometimes they fished from
the shore, and sometimes they waded out into the
stream to get better positions from which to cast
their lines. As they were coming back one of them
said, " We have ventured much this day wading. I
pray God that none of us that did come from home
be drowned."
" Let us see about that," said a second man.
" Twelve of us came out this morning. I jvill count
and see if there be twelve going back."
So he counted, " One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven"
But he forgot to count himself. "I can make no
more than eleven," said he. " Surely, one of us
is drowned."
Then the other men counted, but each forgot to
count himself and could find only eleven. "Alas!"
342 A MISSING MAN FOUND
said one to another, " there is no doubt about it.
One of us is drowned."
They went back to the stream where they had
been fishing and looked up and down for him that
was drowned and made great lamentation. By and
by a man of Nottingham came riding past. " What
are you looking for there ? " he asked, " and why
are you so sorrowful ? "
" Oh," said they, " this day we came to fish in
this stream, and there were twelve of us, and one is
drowned, for now there are but eleven of us."
" Count me how many of you there be," said the
stranger.
One of the men of Gotham counted, and as he
did not count himself he made eleven.
" Well," said the stranger, " what will you give
me if I will find the twelfth man ? "
" Sir," said they, " we will give you all the money
we have."
" Give me the money," said the Nottingham
man.
When the money was safe in his pocket he said,
" Now pass in front of me ; and he began with the
first man and hit him a crack on the shoulders with
his whip.
" There is one," said he.
A MISSING MAN FOUND
343
The next one he cracked with his whip likewise.
" There are two," said he ; and so he served them
all down to the last, whom he gave an extra hard
blow and said, " Here is your twelfth man."
" God bless your heart ! " said all the company ;
" you have found our neighbor."
THE KETTLE THAT WOULD
NOT WALK
ONE day a Gotham man was getting ready
to go to market, and his wife said to him,
"Husband, we need a new iron kettle for
the fireplace. Don't fail to buy one."
So the man bought a kettle at Nottingham,
and toward evening he took it on his arm and
started for home. But the kettle was heavy, and
at length his arm grew tired with carrying it
and he set it down. While he was resting he
noticed that the kettle had three legs. " What a
pity I did not see those legs before ! " cried the
man. " Here you have three legs and I have but
two, and yet I have been carrying you. 'Twere
fairer that you had carried me. Well, you shall
take me the rest of the way, at least.'*
Then he seated himself in the kettle and said,
" Now, go on ; I am all ready ; " but the kettle stood
stock still on its three legs and would not move.
THE KETTLE THAT WOULD NOT WALK 345
" Ah ! " said the man, " you are stubborn, are
you ? You want me to keep on carrying you, I
suppose ; but I shall not. I will tell you the way
and you can stay where you are until you get ready
to follow me."
So he told the kettle
where he lived and how
to get there, and then
off the man went.
When he reached home
his wife asked him
where the kettle was.
" Oh, it will
be along in
good time," he
replied.
"And what
do you mean by that ? " said she.
"Why," said he, "the kettle I bought has three
legs, and was better able to walk here from Notting-
ham market than I who have but two legs. Yet
I never noticed it had legs until Iwas nearly here.
Then I told it to walk the rest of the way itself,
for I would carry it no farther."
"Where did you leave it? " asked the wife.
" You need not be anxious," responded the man.
346 THE KETTLE THAT WOULD NOT WALK
" I told it the way, and it will be along in good
time, as I said before."
"And where did you leave it?" again asked
the wife.
:c At Gotham bridge," he replied.
She was not so sure about its coming as he was
and she hurried off to get it, and when she brought
it home the man said, " I am glad you have it safe,
wife, for I have been thinking while you were gone
that it might have taken a notion to walk back to
Nottingham if we had left it alone there in the
road much longer."
THE LITTLE HORSE AND ITS
KIND MASTER
THERE was once a man of Gotham who
started for market with two bushels of
wheat, and the wheat was in a bag laid
across his horse's back, and the man sat just behind
the bag. But he had not gone far when another
man of Gotham called to him from a wayside field
and said, "Your horse is small, neighbor, for so
much of a load. Why do you not walk and
lead it?"
" That is what I would do," replied the first
man ; " but my foot is lame and I cannot walk
very well."
" Then if you must ride," said the other, " I
think you might take the bag of wheat on your
shoulder so the horse would not have to carry that,
too."
"Why, so I could," said the first man; and he
hoisted the bag of wheat to his shoulder and there
he carried it all the way to market.
348 THE LITTLE HORSE AND ITS KIND MASTER
" Ah," said he, when he reached his destination,
" how my little horse does pant and sweat ! I did
well to share the work with it, for I see clearly that
the horse has had burden enough carrying me with-
out having also to carry this heavy bag of wheat."
THE GOTHAM MEN AND THE
CUCKOO
THE men of Gotham thought that the
cuckoos were the finest songsters of all the
birds. " The only thing I do not like
about the cuckoos/' said one man, " is that they do
not sing all the year through. They stay with us
only a few months in the spring and summer, and
then they fly away."
" Well," said another man, " why not catch one
of the birds and keep it with us always ? "
This plan was pleasing to the men of Gotham and
they said, " Yes, we will catch a cuckoo and we will
fix a place for it near the middle of the village, so
that we can all hear it sing every day."
They went to work at once and in a corner of a
field built a stout paling fence more than six fee
high and filled in all the crevices with brush and
willow twigs. " No bird can get through that
fence," said they when it was finished.
350 THE GOTHAM MEN AND THE CUCKOO
Then they caught a cuckoo and put it inside of
the fence, and they said to the cuckoo, " You must
sing there all through the year, or you shall have
neither meat to eat nor water to drink/'
But the cuckoo as soon as it was set free inside of
the fence flew away.
u A vengeance on the bird ! " exclaimed the men
of Gotham. "We did not make our fence high
enough."
THE HARE THAT WAS SENT
TO YORK
ONCE upon a time the men of Gotham
wanted to send a message to their landlord
who lived in York. This was before there
were any railroads or mails, and if a message was to
be sent, some one must go with it. But none of the
citizens of Gotham wished to go as far as York.
" How, then, shall we send our message ? " said they.
" I caught a hare to-day," said one man, " and
hares are very swift of foot, you know. Why not
let him carry it ? "
" Very good," said all ; cc we will get the letter
ready and we will tell the hare the right way to go
and he shall carry it."
So the letter was written and sealed and tied to the
hare's neck. " First you go to Nottingham," said
they to the hare, " and then you go straight on by
the main highway to York, and the letter is marked
for our landlord who lives near York Cathedral.
352 THE HARE THAT WAS SENT TO YORK
You can ask when you get there which house is hijs.
Commend us to him and give him the letter."
The hare, as soon as he was out of their hands, left
the road and ran off across a field, and some of the
men of Gotham cried out after it, " Stop ! stop !
You must go to Nottingham first."
cc Let the hare alone," said one of those who was
in the company. " He can tell a nearer way than the
best of us all. Let him go."
" Yes," said another, " that is a clever creature.
Let him alone. He will not keep the highway for
fear of dogs."
THE CRANE IN THE WHEAT-
FIELDS
ONCE, in the summer, when the wheat had
grown high, a crane was often seen in the
fields belonging to the Gotham townsmen,
walking up and down in the grain patches to catch
frogs. This troubled the men of Gotham greatly.
" See how big he is," said one, "and look at the
legs of him. He is treading down a vast deal of
grain, to be sure."
" We must drive the animal away, or we shall
have no harvest," said another.
" Very true," said still another, " and the quicker
the better. Let us appoint Tom Thacker, the
shepherd, for the job. He is used to much walking
and the work would suit him well."
So Tom Thacker, the shepherd, was appointed to
go into the fields and chase the bird out. But as he
went in after the crane his neighbors noticed that his
feet were very broad and large, and though he scared
23
354 THE CRANE IN THE WHEAT-FIELDS
off the bird, he at the same time trampled down a
great deal of wheat.
" That will never do/' said one of the townsmen,
and the men of Gotham puzzled their brains for
some better method.
At last one of them said, " The thing to do is
this some of us must carry the shepherd when he
goes into the grain again, so that he shall not tread
it down."
" Yes, yes," cried the others, " that is the proper
thing to do, and why did we not think of that before,
I wonder ? "
THE CRANE IN THE WHEAT-FIELDS 355
Then they took a stout fence gate off its hinges,
had the shepherd sit down on it, and eight men
lifted the gate on their shoulders and carried it
through the fields of wheat, where the crane was in
the habit of resorting, that the shepherd might scare
the bird away.
" The shepherd will not trample down any more
of our grain with his big feet now," said the men of
Gotham.
THE MEN OF GOTHAM AND
THE WATCH
ONE day a number of Gotham men were
walking along the road when they found a
watch lost by some traveller. None of
them had ever seen such a queer thing before, and
they looked at it with great surprise and curiosity.
Suddenly, one of the party who had taken the watch
in his hand noticed that a ticking sound came from
the inside of it.
" Do you hear that ? " said he. " The thing
must be possessed by an evil spirit."
He was very much frightened and threw the watch
away. Not one of the party dared touch it now.
But the oldest among them, more courageous than
the rest, picked up a large stone and hammered the
watch until it was entirely smashed. Of course
that stopped its ticking. The brave man then
kneeled down and laid his ear to the watch and
listened.
THE MEN OF GOTHAM AND THE WATCH 357
" Ah/' said he proudly to his companions when
he heard no sound, " I have taught him to keep
quiet. That stone did the business/'
So they all rejoiced that they had destroyed an
evil spirit and went away leaving the watch on the
ground.
THE CHEESES THAT RAN
AWAY
THERE was a man of Gotham who filled a
sack with cheeses and started off for Not-
tingham market to sell them. He carried
the sack on his back, and when he became tired he
sat down by the wayside to rest. Thus he went on
until he reached the summit of the last hill he had
to climb before he came to Nottingham bridge.
There he rested, and when he rose to continue his
journey a cheese slipped out of the sack and rolled
down the hill toward the bridge.
" Ah ! Mr. Cheese/' said the man, " so you can
run to market alone, can you ? I wish I had known
that before. It would have saved me the trouble
of carrying you. Well, then, if you can go to
market alone, so can the other cheeses, and I will
send them along after you."
So he laid down his sack, took out the cheeses,,
and one by one rolled them down the hill. As the
THE CHEESES THAT RAN AWAY 359
last one spun down the road he shouted, " I charge
you all to meet me at the market-place."
Some of the cheeses went into one bush, and some
went into another bush, but the man did not notice
that, and he trudged on cheerfully to the market
expecting the cheeses would meet him there. All
day long he loitered about the market, and as even-
360 THE CHEESES THAT RAN AWAY
ing approached be began to inquire among his
friends and neighbors and other men if they had
seen his cheeses come to the market.
" Who should bring them ? " asked one of the
marketmen.
" Nobody," replied the man of Gotham. " They
would bring themselves. They know the way well
enough."
" Why, then, are they not here ? " said the market-
man.
" A plague on them all ! " cried the owner of the
cheeses. " It has just occurred to me what the
trouble is. I did fear, when I saw them start off so
fast, that they would run beyond the market, and I
am sure they must be now miles away on the road
to York."
Forthwith he hired a horse and rode in all haste
to York in pursuit of his cheeses. But he did not
find them at York, nor has he been able to discover
whither they ran even to this day.
THE LOST LEGS
SEVERAL men of Gotham once sat down on
the ground in a circle, and when they wanted
to get up their legs were so intermingled that
no one could make out which were his.
" Alas ! " said they, " what a pity that we sat down
thus. We shall never again be able to rise and walk
that is quite plain."
So they remained sitting there very sorrowful and
quiet until they saw a traveller passing. They called
to him and asked if he could tell them how they
might find their legs. The traveller took his cane
and pointed out to each man his feet. " Now,"
said he, " you know where your feet are, all you
need do is to stand on them."
But his explanations only confused the men of
Gotham the more. " It is of no use," said they.
" However, we thank you, sir, for your good inten-
tions."
" Oh, well," said the traveller, " I have n't given
up yet. I '11 try one more plan."
362
THE LOST LEGS
Then he struck one of the men smartly on the
legs with his cane, and that man discovered which
legs were his in no time and scrambled away. The
traveller served another man in like manner, and a
third, and so on till every man tumbled out of the
heap and got on his feet.
" How remarkable ! " said one of them, " that
with the rap of a stick we should discover our legs
so quickly when with all our thinking we could not
have determined which were which had we sat there
a hundred years."
THE HIDING OF THE
CHURCH BELL
THE men of Gotham were once greatly
scared by a report that enemies were about
to invade their country. They were anxious
to save as much as they could from falling into the
hands of the invaders; and first of all they decided
to save their church bell, which they prized more
than anything else. After a great deal of trouble
they succeeded in getting it down out of the church
steeple ; but what to do with it then was far from
easy to determine.
" Where shall we hide it so the enemy cannot find
it ? " asked one of another.
At last some one said, " Let us sink it in the
deepest part of our pond."
" Agreed ! " said his fellows, and they dragged the
bell down to the shore of the pond and got it aboard
a boat.
Then they rowed out to the middle of the pond
and hoisted the bell overboard. After it had dis-
364 THE HIDING OF THE CHURCH BELL
appeared the worthy citizens of Gotham began to
think they had been hasty. ." The bell is now truly
safe from the enemy/' said they ; cc but how are we
to find it when the enemy has left us ? "
One of them, who was wiser than the rest, sprang
up and cried, "That is easy enough. All we have
to do is to cut a mark where we dropped it in ! "
He snatched a knife from his pocket and cut a
deep notch in the side of the boat where the bell
THE HIDING OF THE CHURCH BELL 365
had been thrown overboard. " It was right here
that we heaved the bell out," said he.
Then the men of Gotham rowed back to the shore,
fully assured that they would be able to find their
bell by the mark on the side of the boat.
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8. JACK AND JILL
With 8 full-page pictures from drawings by Harriet Roosevelt Richards.
$2.00.
The artists selected to illustrate have caught the spirit of the originals and contributed a
series of strikingly beautiful and faithful pictures of the author's characters and scenes.
Boston Herald.
Alice Barber Stephens, who is very near the head of American illustrators, has shown
wonderful ability in delineating the characters and costumes for "Little Women." They are
almost startlingly realistic. Worcester Spy.
Miss Alcott's books have never before had such an attractive typographical dress as the
present. They are printed in large type on heavy paper, artistically bound, and illustrated
with many full-page drawings. Philadelphia Press.
LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY
Publishers, 154 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS.
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RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
TO ^ 202 Main Library
LOAN PERIOD 1
HOME USE
2
3
4
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ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS
Renewals and Recharges may be made 4 days prior to the due date.
Books may be Renewed by calling 642-3405
DUE AS STAMPED BELOW
OCT 30 1993
AUTQDIsrrrpr
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FORM NO. DD6
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
BERKELEY, CA 94720
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U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES
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913664
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY