Nanny Who Wouldn’t Go Home to Supper
There was once upon a time a woman who had a son and a goat. The son was called Espen and the goat was called Nanny. But they were not good friends, and did not get on together, for the goat was perverse and wayward, as goats will be, and she would never go home at the right time for her supper. So it happened one evening that Espen went out to fetch her home, and when he had been looking for her awhile, he saw Nanny high, high up on a crag.
“My dear Nanny, you must not stay any longer up there; you must come home now, it is just supper-time. I am so hungry and want my supper.”
“No, I sha’n’t,” said Nanny, “not before I have finished the grass on this tussock, and that tussock—and this and that tussock.”
“Then I’ll go and tell mother,” said the lad.
“That you may, and then I shall be left to eat in peace,” said Nanny.
So Espen went and told his mother.
“Go to the fox and ask him to bite Nanny,” said his mother.
The lad went to the fox. “My dear fox, bite Nanny, for Nanny won’t come home in time. I am so hungry, and I want my supper,” said Espen.
“No, I don’t want to spoil my snout on pig’s bristles and goat’s beard,” said the fox.