Then they began snipping and snipping with their sharp little claws. Soon there was a hole large enough, and they crept out.
Then out came the king and his soldiers and all his elephants. Out came the old woman scolding her cat. Out came the man and his donkey. Last of all, out came the little mouse with one little cake under her arm, for one cake was all that she had wanted.
But the greedy cat had to spend all the rest of the day sewing up the hole in his coat.
THE THREE BILLY
GOATS GRUFF.
Once upon a time there were three Billy Goats, and one was a very large Goat, and one was a middle-sized Goat, and one was a tiny Goat, but the three had the very same name, which was Gruff.
One morning the three Billy Goats started away from home, for they had decided to go far, far to a hillside where there was a quantity of green grass, and they might eat of it and make themselves fat.
Now, on the way to the hillside there ran a brook, and over the brook was a bridge, and under the bridge lived a Troll with eyes as large as saucers, and a nose as long as a poker. And this Troll was fond of eating Billy Goats.
First of all came the youngest Billy Goat Gruff to cross over the bridge. Trip trap, trip trap, his little feet pattered upon the boards.