“The little pig’s news is good,” he cried,
“I’m off to spread it far and wide.”
And as she sailed off into the night he was sure she nodded at him.
And Piggikin got the nuts after all, though they were a day late.
—Angela M. Keyes
THE OWL’S ANSWER TO TOMMY
One evening Tommy’s grandmother had been telling him and his little brother Johnny a story about a brownie who used to do all the work in a neighbor’s house before the family got up in the morning. But the maids caught sight of him one night, and they felt so sorry to see his ragged coat that the next night they laid near his bowl of bread and milk a new suit and a new linen shirt. Brownie put the things on and danced around the room, singing,
“What have we here? Hemten hamten!
Here will I nevermore tread nor stampen.”
And away he danced through the door and never came back again. Tommy wanted to know why, but his grandmother couldn’t tell him. “The Old Owl knows,” she said, “I don’t. Ask her.”