| 1 2 3 4 5 6 |  |
|
``Kind distaff, open the door for us,'' said they. ``That would I gladly do,'' said the distaff, ``but I cannot walk, for my head is turned the wrong way.'' ``Weaving-loom, have pity, and open the door.'' ``I am all topsy-turvy, and cannot move,'' sighed the loom. ``Fulling-water, open the door,'' they implored. ``I am off the fire,'' growled the fulling-water, ``and all my strength is gone.'' ``Oh! Is there nothing that will come to our aid, and open the door?'' they cried. ``I will,'' said a little barley-bannock, that had lain hidden, toasting on the hearth; and it rose and trundled like a wheel quickly across the floor. But luckily the housewife saw it, and she nipped it between her finger and thumb, and, because it was only half-baked, it fell with a ``splatch'' on the cold floor. Then the Fairies gave up trying to get into the kitchen, and instead they climbed up by the windows into the room where the good housewife's husband was sleeping, and they swarmed upon his bed and tickled him until he tossed about and muttered as if he had a fever. Then all of a sudden the good housewife remembered what the Wise Man had said about the fulling-water. She ran to the kitchen and lifted a cupful out of the pot, and carried it in, and threw it over the bed where her husband was. In an instant he woke up in his right senses. Then he jumped out of bed, ran across the room and opened the door, and the Fairies vanished. And they have never been seen from that day to this. V. The King Of The Cats (An English Folk-Tale) By Ernest Rhys Once upon a time there were two brothers who lived in a lonely house in a very lonely part of Scotland. An old woman used to do the cooking, and there was no one else, unless we count her cat and their own dogs, within miles of them. One autumn afternoon the elder of the two, whom we will call Elshender, said he would not go out; so the younger one, Fergus, went alone to follow the path where they had been shooting the day before, far across the mountains. He meant to return home before the early sunset; however, he did not do so, and Elshender became very uneasy as he watched and waited in vain till long after their usual supper-time. At last Fergus returned, wet and exhausted, nor did he explain why he was so late. But after supper when the two brothers were seated before the fire, on which the peat crackled cheerfully, the dogs lying at their feet, and the old woman's black cat sitting gravely with half-shut eyes on the hearth between them, Fergus recovered himself and began to tell his adventures. ``You must be wondering,'' said he, ``what made me so late. I have had a very, very strange adventure to-day. I hardly know what to say about it. I went, as I told you I should, along our yesterday's track. A mountain fog came on just as I was about to turn homewards, and I completely lost my way. I wandered about for a long time not knowing where I was, till at last I saw a light, and made for it, hoping to get help. ``As I came near it, it disappeared, and I found myself close to an old oak tree. I climbed into the branches the better to look for the light, and, behold! there it was right beneath me, inside the hollow trunk of the tree. I seemed to be looking down into a church, where a funeral was taking place. I heard singing, and saw a coffin surrounded by torches, all carried by--But I know you won't believe me, Elshender, if I tell you!'' His brother eagerly begged him to go on, and threw a dry peat on the fire to encourage him. The dogs were sleeping quietly, but the cat was sitting up, and seemed to be listening just as carefully and cannily as Elshender himself. Both brothers, indeed, turned their eyes on the cat as Fergus took up his story. ``Yes,'' he continued, ``it is as true as I sit here. The coffin and the torches were both carried by CATS, and upon the coffin were marked a crown and a scepter!'' He got no farther, for the black cat started up, shrieking:-- ``My stars! old Peter's dead, and I'm the King o' the Cats!''--Then rushed up the chimney, and was seen no more. VI. The Strange Visitor (An English Folk-Tale) By Joseph Jacobs A woman was sitting at her reel one night; and still she sat, and still she reeled, and still she wished for company.
In came a pair of broad, broad soles, and sat down
And still she sat, and still she reeled, and still she
In came a pair of small, small legs, and sat down
And still she sat, and still she reeled, and still she
In came a pair of thick, thick knees, and sat down
And still she sat, and still she reeled, and still she
In came a pair of thin, thin thighs, and sat down
And still she sat, and still she reeled, and still she
In came a pair of huge, huge hips, and sat down
And still she sat, and still she reeled, and still she
In came a wee, wee waist, and sat down on the
And still she sat, and still she reeled, and still she
In came a pair of broad, broad shoulders, and sat
And still she sat, and still she reeled, and still she
In came a pair of small, small arms, and sat down
And still she sat, and still she reeled, and still she
In came a pair of huge, huge hands, and sat down
And still she sat, and still she reeled, and still she
In came a small, small neck, and sat down on the
And still she sat, and still she reeled, and still she
In came a huge, huge head, and sat down on the . . . . . . . . .
``How did you get such broad, broad feet?''
|
||
|
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 | |