"It's a wonder," returned the Donkey. "Well, I have a very nice setting of that." And he sang:
"Some said, 'Stir it fast,'
Some said, 'Slow';
Some said, 'Skim it off,'
Some said, 'No';
Some said, 'Pepper,'
Some said, 'Salt';—
All gave good advice,
All found fault.
Poor little Tommy Trottett!
Couldn't eat it when he got it."
"I like that," said Buddie. "Oh, and I've just thought of another old ax—I mean saw, if it is one—Don't count your chickens before they are hatched. Do you sing that?"
"One of my best," replied the Donkey. And again he sang:
"'Thirteen eggs,' said Sammy Patch,
'Are thirteen chickens when they hatch.'
The hen gave a cluck, but said no more;
For the hen had heard such things before.
The eggs fall out from tilted pail
And leave behind a yellow trail;
But Sammy,—counting, as he goes,
Upon his fingers,—never knows.
Oh, Sammy Patch, your 'rithmetic
Won't hatch a solitary chick."
"I like that the best," said Buddie, who knew what it was to tip over a pail of eggs, and felt as sorry for Sammy Patch as if he really existed.
"It's one of my best," said the Donkey. "I don't call it my very best. Personally I prefer, Look before you leap. You've heard that old saw, I dare say."