So, when the boy became a man he did everything in the same careless manner, forgetting that other people would not excuse him as his mother had done.
Now the good fairy of carefulness was very much offended at the way in which the mother spoiled her little son. So she said to herself, “I must, I must teach that boy a lesson!”
II.
When he was little, this boy was very fond of playing at building bridges. After he was grown up, he became a builder of real bridges.
At first, he built only small bridges over the brooks and little streams, but one day an order was given him to build an important bridge over a large river.
Just as you might guess, this pleased the man very much, and he was glad to begin the work at once.
Soon his men were busy, putting in the piers for the new bridge, and he was hurrying them as fast as he could, in order to get the bridge built on time.
Every day he sat in a rowboat calling to his men. They were about to begin work on the middle pier when the foreman of the workers came to him.