Little Mook gathered the two kinds of figs, and returned to the palace and sold that of the first tree to the butler.
Oh, then there was woe in the palace! The king’s family were seen wandering around with donkeys’ heads on their shoulders. Their noses and ears were as long as their arms. The physicians were sent for and they held a consultation. They decided on amputation; but as fast as they cut off the noses and ears of the afflicted household, these troublesome members grew out again, longer than before.
Then Little Mook appeared with the principles and remedies of homœopathy. He gave one by one of the sufferers the figs of the second tree, and they were cured. He collected his fees, and having relieved all but the king he fled, taking his homœopathic arts with him. The king wore the head of a donkey to his latest day.
THE QUEER OLD LADY WHO WENT TO COLLEGE.
There was a queer old lady, and she had lost her youth;
She bought her a new mirror,
And it told to her the truth.
Did she break the truthful mirror?
Oh, no, no; no, no, no, no.
But she bought some stays quite rare,
Some false teeth and wavy hair,
Some convex-concave glasses such as men of culture wear,
And then she looked again,
And she said, “I am not plain,—
I am not plain, ’tis plain,
Not very, very plain,
I did not think that primps and crimps
Would change a body so.
I’ll take a book on Art,
And press it to my heart,
And I’ll straightway go to college,
Where I think I’ll catch a beau.”