The little boy wiped his feet very clean, and tiptoed across to the stove. It was really quite amusing to watch his grandmother scrub, especially when the water made little pools in the hollows, worn by many years of walking over the clay floor, and she had to flirt it out with little whisks of the broom. He watched her very quietly until she had shaken out her broom and emptied the jar into a great tub in the court. Then she came back and sank heavily into her chair, saying:
“Ouf! little grandmother is tired!”
“Too tired to spin, little grandma!” exclaimed the little boy eagerly.
The grandmother smiled. “But not too tired for a story—is that what the little boy means?”
“Oh, you’re not, you’re not!” cried the little boy gleefully.
“Listen then, and I will tell you about
“THE FOX AND THE HEDGEHOG”
A Hedgehog met Master Reinecke in a field, and said to him, “Hello, Master! Whither away?”