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A Child's Book of Stories |
by Penrhyn W. Coussens |
A choice collection of favorite fairy tales, to delight children of all ages. The 86 stories selected for this collection include folk tales from England, Norway, and India, as well as the best fairy tales from Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault. The volume also contains a handful of fables from Aesop and several tales from the Arabian Nights. Ages 5-9 | 589 pages |
$19.95 |
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TOM TIT TOT
[432]
NCE upon a time there was a woman, and she baked five
pies. And when they came out of the oven, they were so
overbaked the crust was too hard to eat. So she said
to her daughter:
"Daughter, put those pies on the shelf, and leave them
there a little, and they'll come again. She meant, you
know, that the crust would get soft.
But the girl said to herself, "Well, if they'll come
again, I'll eat them now." And she set to work and ate
them all.
When supper time came the woman said, "Go and get one
of those pies, I dare say the crust is soft now."
The girl went and found nothing but the dishes. So she
came back and said: "No, they are not soft yet."
"Not any of them?" said the mother.
"Not any of them," said the daughter.
"Well, whether they are soft or not," said the mother,
"I'll have one for supper."
"But you can't, if they are not soft," said the girl.
"But I can," said she. "Go and bring the best of
them."
"Best or worst," said the girl, "I've eaten them all
up, so you can't have any."
Well, t he woman was wholly beaten, and she took her
spinning to the door to spin, and as she spun she sang,
"My daughter has eaten five, five pies to-day,
My daughter has eaten five, five pies to-day."
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[433] The king was coming down the street, and he heard her
sing, but what she sang he could n't hear, so he
stopped and said:
"What are you singing, my good woman?"
The woman was ashamed to let him hear what her daughter
had been doing, so she sang instead:
"My daughter has spun five, five skeins to-day,
My daughter has spun five, five skeins to-day."
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"My stars!" said the king, "I've never heard of any one
who could do that."
Then he said, "Look here, I want a wife, and I'll marry
your daughter. But," said he, "eleven months out of
the year, she shall have all she wants to eat, and all
the gowns she likes to get, and all the company she
likes to have; but the last month of the year she must
spin five skeins every day, and if she does n't, I
shall kill her."
"All right!" said the woman; for she thought what a
grand marriage that way. And as for the five skeins,
when the time came, there would be plenty of ways of
getting out of it, and very likely he would forget
about it.
So they were married. And for eleven months the girl
had all she liked to eat, and all the gowns she liked
to wear, and all the company she wished to have.
But when the twelfth month drew near, she began to
think about the skeins, and to wonder if he remembered
them. But not a word did he say about them, and she
thought he had forgotten.
However, the last day of the last month, he took her to
a room she had never seen before. There was nothing in
it but a spinning-wheel and a stool.
And he said: "Now, my dear, you'll be shut in here
to- [434] morrow with some food and some flax, and if you haven't
spun five skeins by night, off will go your head."
With that he left her.
She was very much frightened,—she had always been such
a lazy girl that she had n't even learned how to spin,
and what was she to do to-morrow with no one to help
her? She sat down on a stool in the kitchen and cried.
Suddenly she heard a knocking on the door, and on
opening it saw a small black thing with a long tail.
It looked up at her curiously, and said:
"What are you crying for?"
"What's it to you?" she said.
"Never mind," it said; but tell me why you are crying."
"It won't do me any good if I do," said she.
"How do you know?" it said, and twirled its tail
around.
"Well," she said, "it won't do any harm if it does no
good"; so she told it about the pies, the skeins, and
everything.
"This is what I'll do," said the little black thing,
"I'll come to your window every morning, and take the
flax, and bring it back spun every night."
"What 's your pay?" said she.
It looked out of the corner of its eyes, and said:
"I'll 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."
Well, she thought she would be sure to guess its name
before the month was up, and so she said:
"All right! I'll agree."
"All right!" it said; and how it twirled its tail.
The next day her husband took her into the room, and
there was the flax and the day's food.
"Now there's the flax," he said, "and if it isn't spun
by tonight, off goes your head." And then he went out
and locked the door.
[435] He had hardly gone when there was a knocking against
the window, and on opening it, there was the little old
thing sitting on the ledge.
"Where's the flax?" it said.
"Here it is," said she, and gave it to him.
When evening came there was a knocking against the
window. She opened it, and there was the little old
thing with five skeins of flax on its arm.
"Here you are," it said, and gave it to her.
"Now, what's my name?" said it.
"Is it Bill?" said she.
"No, it isn't," said it, twirling its tail.
"Is it Ned?" said she.
"No, it isn't," said it, and it twirled its tail.
"Is it Mark?" said she.
"No, it isn't," said it, and it twirled its tail
harder, and flew away.
When her husband came in, there were five skeins ready
for him. "I see I sha' n't have to kill you to-night,
my dear," said he; "you'll have your food and your flax
in the morning." And away he went.
Well, every day the flax and the food were brought, and
every day the little black impet came morning and
evening. And all day the girl sat trying to think of
names to say to it, when it came at night.
But she didn't hit on the right one, and towards the
end of the month the impet began to look very
malicious, and twirled its tail faster and faster each
time she gave a guess.
At least came the last day but one. The impet came at
night with the five skeins, and said:
"Well, have you guessed my name yet?"
"Is it Nicodemus?" said she.
"No, it isn't," said it.
[436] "Is it Sammie?" said she.
"No, it isn't," said it.
"Well, is it Methuselah?" said she.
"No, it isn't that either!" said it.
Then it looked at her with eyes like coals of fire, and
said: "Girl, there's only to-morrow night, and then
you'll be mine." And away it flew.
She felt very sorrowful, and when the king came in and
saw the five skeins, he said, "Well, my dear, I do n't
see but what you'll have your skeins ready to-morrow
night, and as I sha' n't have to kill you, I'll have
supper in her to-night." So they brought supper and
another stool for him, and the two sat down.
He had eaten but a mouthful w hen he began to laugh.
"What is it?" said she.
"Why," said he, "I was out hunting to-day, and I got to
a place in the wood I had never seen before. I heard a
sort of humming in an old chalk-pit, so I got off my
horse and went and looked down into it. Well, what
should there be but the funniest little black thing you
ever saw. It had a little spinning-wheel, and was
spinning very fast, and twirling its tail. And as it
spun it sang,
" 'Nimmy, nimmy, not,
My name's Tom Tit Tot.' "
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When the girl heard this, she felt as if she could have
jumped for joy, but she didn't say a word.
Next day the little black thing looked very full of
malice when it came for the flax. And when it brought
the five skeins back at night it came right in and sat
on the ledge, and grinned from ear to ear, and twirled
its tail very fast.
"What's my name?" it said.
"Is it Solomon?" she said, pretending to be afraid.
[437] "No, it isn't," it said, coming farther into the room.
"Is it Zebedee?" said she again.
"No, it isn't," said the impet, laughing and twirling
its tail so fast you could scarcely see it.
"Don't hurry, girl," it said, "next guess, and you're
mine." And it stretched out its hands at her.
She looked at it and laughed, and pointing her finger
at it, said:
"Nimmy, nimmy, not,
Your name 's Tom TIT TOT."
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When the impet heard her, it shrieked frightfully, and
flew away into the dark, and she never saw it again.
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