Then she called to a rat that lived in a hole under the stile, “Rat, rat, gnaw rope; rope won’t hang butcher, butcher won’t kill ox, ox won’t drink water, water won’t quench fire, fire won’t burn stick, stick won’t beat dog, dog won’t bite pig, pig won’t go over the stile, and I shan’t get home till midnight with my pail of fine ripe blackberries.”
But the rat wouldn’t.
A cat was sitting on a gate-post. “Puss, puss, catch rat,” called the old woman. “Rat won’t gnaw rope, rope won’t hang butcher, butcher won’t kill ox, ox won’t drink water, water won’t quench fire, fire won’t burn stick, stick won’t beat dog, dog won’t bite pig, and I shan’t get home till midnight with my pail of fine ripe blackberries.”
“No,” answered puss, “I am very comfortable sitting here. Why should I disturb myself just to please you. But if you will get the red cow to give you a saucerful of milk for me then I will catch the rat.”
So the little old woman tied the pig to the stile, and then she climbed over the fence into the field where the red cow was standing.
“Please, good cow, give me a saucerful of milk for puss,” she said, “so that puss will catch the rat that won’t gnaw the rope that won’t hang the butcher who won’t kill the ox that won’t drink the water that won’t quench the fire that won’t burn the stick that won’t beat the dog that won’t bite the pig that won’t go over the stile so that I can get home before midnight with my pail of fine ripe blackberries.”
Said the cow, “If you will go over yonder to where the haymakers are working and fetch me a wisp of hay to eat, then I will give you the milk.”
So the little old woman went over to the haymakers and said, “Please, good kind haymakers, give me a wisp of hay to give to the cow so that she may give me some milk to give to the cat.”
The haymakers were very hot and thirsty and they said, “Very well; if you will go down to the stream and fetch us a pailful of water we will give you the hay.”
So the little old woman emptied out her blackberries on the ground very carefully and then she hurried down to the stream and brought back to the haymakers a pailful of fresh cool water.