DICK WHITTINGTON—III
Dick's cat was taken across the ocean. The ship sailed and sailed, until at last it came to a distant country.
Now the king and queen of this country were very rich. When the captain was asked to show his goods before them he was very glad indeed to do so.
The king and queen first gave the captain a great feast.
Gold and silver dishes filled with food were brought in.
When these dishes were placed upon the table an army of rats came out.
There were white rats, and black rats, and brown rats, and big rats, and little rats.
At once they fell upon the food and ate it nearly all up.
"Why do you let the rats do this?" asked the captain.
"Alas, we cannot help ourselves," said the king. "I would give half my kingdom to be rid of them."
Then the captain thought of Dick Whittington's cat.
"I have an animal which will rid you of them," said the captain.
"Pray bring it in at once," said the queen.
What fun Dick's cat had killing the rats and mice in the king's palace!
"We must buy that little animal," said the queen. "I do not care how much she may cost."
The captain could hardly carry all the jewels and gold that the king gave him for the cat.
Then the ship with Dick's money came back to London, and the captain told the story to Mr. Fitzwarren.
"We must take these jewels and all this gold at once to Mr. Whittington," said the honest man. "He is no longer a poor boy, for this has made him rich."
They found Dick in the kitchen blacking the stove.
"Come with me at once into the parlor," said Mr. Fitzwarren.
Then the bags of gold and jewels were piled at Dick's feet.
"See what your cat has brought you," said Mr. Fitzwarren. "You are now a rich man and may yet be Lord Mayor of London."
And it is true that after Dick Whittington became a man, he was made Lord Mayor of London.
English Folk Tale
THE NEW MOON
Dear mother, how pretty
The moon looks to-night!
She was never so cunning before;
Her two little horns
Are so sharp and so bright,
I hope she'll not grow any more.
If I were up there,
With you and my friends,
I'd rock in it nicely, you'd see;
I'd sit in the middle
And hold by both ends.
Oh, what a bright cradle 'twould be!
I would call to the stars
To keep out of the way,
Lest we should rock over their toes;
And then I would rock
Till the dawn of the day,
And see where the pretty moon goes.
And there we would stay
In the beautiful skies,
And through the bright clouds we would roam;
We would see the sun set,
And see the sun rise,
And on the next rainbow come home.
ELIZA LEE FOLLEN
BRIAR ROSE—I
A long time ago there lived a king and queen who were very, very sad because they had no children.
One day, when the queen was resting near a spring, a frog crept out of the water and said to her:
"You shall have your wish. Within a year you shall have a little girl."
What the frog said came true.
The queen had a little child who was so beautiful that the king gave a party in her honor.
He wished to invite all the wise women in the land, for these wise women could grant fairy gifts to his little child.
There were thirteen of them, but only twelve were invited, as the king had only twelve golden plates.
After the dinner was over, the wise women in turn arose from the table and named their fairy gifts to the little princess.
The first gave to her goodness; the second, beauty; the third, riches; and so on, up to the last.
Before the twelfth wise woman could speak, in walked the thirteenth.
This woman was in a great rage because she had not been invited.
She cried in a loud voice, "When the princess is fifteen years old she shall prick her finger with a spindle and shall fall down dead."
At these words every one turned pale with fright.
The twelfth wise woman, who had not yet spoken, now came up and said:
"I could not stop this woman's evil words, I can only make them less harsh.
The king's child shall not die, but a deep sleep shall fall upon her, in which she shall stay one hundred years."