“So the people threw up their caps and cried, ‘Long live Hokey Pokey!’ and they always did exactly as he told them, and had no further trouble.
“And Hokey Pokey sent for his three brothers, and made them Chief Butcher, Chief Baker, and Chief Candlestick-maker of his kingdom. But to his father he sent a large cudgel made of pure gold, with these words engraved on it: ‘Now you cannot complain that I have given you nothing!’”
[THE TANGLED SKEIN]
“My dear child,” said the Angel-who-attends-to things, “why are you crying so very hard?”
“Oh dear! oh dear!” said the child. “No one ever had such a dreadful time before, I do believe, and it all comes of trying to be good. Oh dear! Oh dear! I wish I was bad; then I should not have all this trouble.”
“Yes, you would,” said the Angel; “a great deal worse. Now tell me what is the matter!”
“Look!” said the child. “Mother gave me this skein to wind, and I promised to do it. But then father sent me on an errand, and it was almost school-time, and I was studying my lesson and going on the errand and winding the skein, all at the same time, and now I have got all tangled up in the wool, and I cannot walk either forward or back, and oh! dear me, what ever shall I do?”