other things too."
Six days went by. Then Jack thought, "I will go up the bean
plant again."
On the next morning he got out of bed; he went up the bean plant
again. He came again to the road; he went along it and came to the
big house. He called, and again the giant's wife opened the door.
When she saw him she said, "Come in, little boy, come into the
house."
But Jack was afraid; he thought, "No, I will not go in with
her, for she wants to catch me: she will put me in that little room,
and she will shut the door so that I cannot go out. Then, when I
am fat, she will cook me for the giant." So he ran away and hid.
Jack waited near the giant's house. Soon he saw the wife of
the giant go out into the garden, for it was morning and she had
work to do in the garden. When he saw the giant's wife go into the
garden, Jack opened the door of the house and went in. There was
a big box in the room. Jack hid in the box.
After an hour, the giant's wife came into the room and began
to cook the giant's food. Jack wanted to get out of the box, for
the morning was hot and the box was not large. But just then the
giant came into the room.
The giant looked this way and that way; then he said,
"Fee, Fi, Fo, Foy!
I smell the smell of a little boy!
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I will eat his body with my bread!"
The giant's wife said, "A little boy came to the house. I wanted
to catch him for you, but he ran away.
"I smell the smell of a little boy," said the giant, and he
looked here and there; but he could not find Jack. He looked in
the little room, but Jack was not there. Then the giant's wife put
the food on the table, and the giant began to eat.
When the giant had eaten, he said, "Bring the hen that lays
the golden eggs." The giant's wife brought the hen and put it on
the table.
The giant said, "Begin."
And the hen laid a golden egg.
The giant said, " Lay again!" and the hen laid another golden
egg.
Then the giant and his wife began to steep. Soon the giant laid
his head on the table and fell asleep, and his wife was soon asleep
too.
Jack came out of the box. The hen was on the table. As Jack
went by the table he took the hen, and ran out of the house.
But the hen began to cry out, " Giant! Giant! Run! Run! A little
boy is running away with me!"
The giant awoke and began to run after Jack. Jack ran and soon
came to the top of the bean plant. He went down it.
The giant was big and could not go down so quickly. Jack came
to his mother's garden. He called his mother and said, "Quick! Quick!
Bring an axe !" His mother ran quickly and brought an axe.
The giant was coming down the bean plant Jack's mother bravely
hit at the foot of the plant with the axe: all the plant came down.
The giant fell with it. He fell into the garden and was killed.
Jack's mother saw the giant, and she said sadly, "That is the
giant who killed your father."
Jack and his mother were rich, and lived happily ever after.
Mr. Sparrow and Mr. Fox
Mr. Sparrow was a little bird. He was not a nice little bird
— not at all nice; for he was always telling stories about one
person to another person.
One day, as Mr. Sparrow sat in a tree, he saw Mr. Rabbit coming
through the forest. Mr. Rabbit came near to the tree, and Mr.
Sparrow heard him speaking; Mr. Rabbit was saying, "I shall do
something which will make Mr. Fox so angry! Ha! Ha! Ha! He will
be so angry!"
Then Mr. Sparrow cried out to Mr. Rabbit, "No, you will not!
For I shall go and tell Mr. Fox what you have said."
Mr. Rabbit thought, "Now I do not know what to do. I do not
know what I shall do, if that ugly little Mr. Sparrow tells Mr.
Fox what I said."
But Mr. Sparrow went away quickly and told Mr. Fox what Mr.
Rabbit had said. Mr. Rabbit thought and thought; at last he said,
"I know what I shall say!"
In a little time Mr. Fox came running along the lane. Mr. Rabbit
called out to him, "Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox!"
"What?" said Mr. Fox.
"Do not come near me," said Mr. Rabbit.
"Why?" said Mr. Fox.
"Because you will kill me and set my house on fire."
"Why do you say that?" asked Mr. Fox.
"Because I was told so," said Mr. Rabbit; "I was told that you
said, "I shall kill Mr. Rabbit and set his house on fire. "
"Who told you that?" asked Mr. Fox.
"It was Mr. Sparrow."
"It was; was it!" said Mr. Fox.
On the next day Mr. Fox saw Mr. Sparrow in the forest. Mr.
Sparrow called out to Mr. Fox.
"What do you want?" said Mr. Fox.
"I have something to tell you," said Mr. Sparrow.
"You have; have you!" said Mr. Fox.
"Yes, I have," said Mr. Sparrow.
"Stand on my head, little Mr. Sparrow, for one of my ears is
bad, and I do not hear with the other," Said Mr. Fox.
So Mr. Sparrow jumped on to Mr. Fox's head.
"Stand in my mouth," said Mr. Fox; 'then I shall hear you
nicely."
Mr. Sparrow stood in Mr. Fox's mouth. Mr. Fox shut his mouth
and ate Mr. Sparrow. "Now go and tell stories about me!" said Mr.
Fox.
Dick and His Cat
I
Once there was a boy called Dick. He was very poor: his father
and mother were dead and. he had no friends to help him.
One day he-heard some men speaking: one man said, "I shall go
to London, for London is a very big city, and its streets are covered
with gold. Everyone in London is very rich."
Then Dick said, "I shall go to London and become rich."
Some days after that, Dick saw a cart at the side of the road.
He said to the man who was on the cart, "Where are you going to?"
The man said, "I am going to London." Will you take me to London
with you?" asked Dick. The man said, "I will." So Dick got on the
cart, and went to London.
When Dick came to London he saw that the streets were not made
of gold; they were made of stones like other streets. But there
were very many houses. All along the sides of the streets there
were houses, hundreds and hundreds of houses, houses on this side,
houses on that side, hundreds of houses everywhere. Dick got down;
and the man and the cart went away.
Dick stood in the street: he had no house to go to, no food
to eat, and no friends.
Then snow began to fall. The snow fell more quickly. Soon there
was snow over everything. The streets and the houses were covered
with snow. Soon they were all white; they looked beautiful. But
it was very cold, Poor Dick was covered with snow; he was so cold
that he thought that he would die.
Night was coming on. There was a light in the window of a house.
Dick went to it and stood near the door- then he sat down on the
stone. Just then the door opened and a servant looked out; she saw
Dick sitting there. " Go away, you good-for-nothing boy!" she cried.
"What are you doing there?" Dick was so cold that he could not even
stand up. The servant became angry: "Go away!" she cried again.
Then she got a pot of cold water and threw it over Dick. Poor Dick
was too cold even to cry.
Now, that was the house of a very rich man, named Mr. Warren.
Mr. Warren had one child, named Alice. Alice was standing near the
door and she saw the servant-woman throw the water over Dick. Alice
was very angry at this. She said, "The poor boy will die of cold.
You bad woman!" Then she took Dick's hand. "Come in, poor boy,"
she said; and she brought him into the house. She gave him food
and a bed to sleep in, and Dick stayed in the house that night.
In the morning Mr. Warren saw Dick, and said, "You shall stay
in my house and help the cook, You shall begin today." So Dick stayed
and helped the cook.
Now the cook was a bad woman. She was not kind to Dick. She
always made him do all her work; she always gave him bad food to
eat; she was always calling him bad names, and when she was angry
she even hit him on the face. Dick had a little room at the top
of the house. It was a very little room; and it was a very bad room,
for it was always full of mice. There were hundreds of mice. The
mice would eat Dick's food. The mice would even run over his face
when he was in bed.
So Dick was not happy in Mr. Warren's house. But he would not
say anything to Mr. Warren or to Alice, for he loved Alice, and
he did not want her to know that he was not happy.
One day Dick saw a small boy in the street. The boy had a cat
in his arms. Dick asked, "Where are you taking that cat?" The boy
said, "I am going to throw the cat in the river and kill her." Now
Dick loved cats, so he said, " Do not kill her; give her to me."
Dick had one small bit of money; he gave that to the small boy for
his cat.
That night Dick took the cat to his room when he went to bed.
He had a small bit of bread to eat. He put it on the table; then
a mouse came and began to eat the bread. The cat jumped, caught
the mouse and killed it. She killed many mice, and all the other
mice ran away.
After that there were no more mice in Dick's room.
Alice saw that Dick was unhappy, and she knew that the cook
was unkind to him. So she told her father, Mr. Warren, that the
cook was unkind to Dick. Mr. Warren said, " The cook is not a nice
woman; she is fat and ugly, and she looks unkind. Dick is a nice
boy. He does his work nicely, and his face and hands are always
nice and clean. Dick shall work for me."
Ⅱ
Mr. Warren sent for Dick and said 'You shall come and work for
me."
Mr. Warren worked in a big ugly house by the side of the river.
He had many ships. He sent the ships far away to other countries.
The ships took things from England to other countries, and brought
things from other countries to England. There were many men working
for Mr. Warren: there were men writing for him in the big house;
there were men taking things out of the ships, and men putting
things on to other ships. There were men who worked on the ships,
cleaning them and making them ready to go to sea again.
Dick still lived in the little room, and his cat was still with
him, but in the day he worked in the big house by the side of the
river.
One day Mr. Warren was sending a ship away to another country.
He asked all his servants, " Have you anything which you want to
send on my ship? It will be sold in some far country, and I will
give you the money." Then Mr. Warren asked Dick; but poor Dick had
nothing to send.
Alice said, "I will give Dick something to send on our ship."
But Mr. Warren said, "No, he must send something of his own."
Dick said, "I have nothing but my cat."
"Why do you not send your cat?" asked Alice.
"I love my cat," said Dick; "but I must send her, for I have
no other thing to send."
So Dick brought his cat, and put her on the ship.
Dick went back to his room. He was very sad, for he was alone
now. He slept alone in his little room; he had not even his cat
to speak to. The cat had gone; the mice were beginning to come back
to the room; and Dick could not sleep because of the mice. The cook
was still unkind to him, and she did not give him nice food.
One night Dick said, "I cannot stay here. I shall go away to
some other country." He put on his clothes, and went down. He opened
the door of the house, and went out alone into the street. He walked
along the street. He walked all night. The street led out into the
country. It became a small road. There were no houses in the country,
but trees and fields. When morning was near he sat down on a stone
at the side of the road. He could not go on.
As he sat there the sun came up into the sky. As the sun came
up, the bells of London began to ring. They rang out from far away
through the sky, calling the new day. As they rang, Dick thought
that they said, "Come again! Come again!"
"They are ringing to me," he thought, "they are calling me back
to London. They are saying 'Come back. You will not always be poor
and unhappy and alone. Wait, and your day will come. "
Dick stood up: "I will go back," he said, " —and wait." He went
back again to the city.
The ship went far over the sea and came to an unknown country
where they had never been before.
The King of that country asked the men from the ship to come
to his house. "Come," he said, "and show me all the things which
you have brought." So they went to the King's house taking beautiful
cloth, jewels, rings, hats, shoes, axes, bells, boxes, lamps, and
many other things. The King looked at all the things and said, "I
do not want any of those things. Bring me what I want, and I will
fill your ship with gold."
Then the King told his servants to bring food. They brought
food and set it on the table before the men. As soon as they set
the food on the table, hundreds of mice came out of holes in the
wall. The men had never seen so many mice before. The mice jumped
on the table and ate up all the food before they could take it.
The mice ate up the food before their eyes.
The King said, " That is what I want: I want something to kill
these mice. They eat the food before our eyes. They run over the
food before we can eat it. They make holes in our clothes. They
run over our faces as soon as we get into bed. They bite the children.
We cannot kill them: they are so small and they run away before
we can catch them. Give me something that will kill the mice and
I will fill your ship with gold."
"Have you no cats in this country?" asked one of the men from
the ship.
"What is a 'cat'?" said the King.
Then the man ran quickly and brought Dick's cat from the ship.
As soon as the man came into the King's hall the cat jumped from
his arms; she killed a mouse with one foot, and caught another in
ther mouth. She killed so many mice that the other mice quickly
ran away.
The King jumped up and cried, "Good! Good! I never saw a cat
before. Give me the cat and I will fill you ship with gold. I never
saw so beautiful a thing before."
So the King took Dick's cat, and he gave the men much gold for
the cat: he filled their ship with gold.
The ship came back to London. Mr. Warren went on to the ship,
and saw all the gold which they had got. He said, " What did you
sell for so much gold?" The men said, "It was the cat."
Then Mr. Warren sent for Dick. He said, "You have become very