“I can tell you where you can get some fine things to eat—fresh meat, ham and some chickens,” said he to the wolf. The wolf was eager to hear about the place, and Tom described the place and how to get into the kitchen where all those things were. The wolf did not know that Tom was describing his own home and planning to get the wolf into trouble.
“That suits me exactly,” said the wolf, and that very night he ran to the farmer’s house and squeezed into the kitchen through a drain pipe. He could do this easily for he was very thin from eating so little for a long time. Once in, he ate and ate until his sides stuck out like a balloon that had been blown up.
When the wolf had eaten all there was, Tom set up a great shout and woke up the cook. The cook came in, and seeing the wolf ran to wake up the farmer and his wife.
The farmer ran with his ax, his wife brought the scythe, and the cook seized the big meat knife. The wolf ran to the drain pipe and started to get through, but he had eaten so much he stuck half way. Then they fell upon him and began to hack him to pieces.
“Look out! I am inside here!” shouted Tom.
“Heaven be praised!” said his father. “That’s Tom’s voice!” and he soon had the wolf cut half in two and Tom jumped out, and into his mother’s arms. They were glad to see their little son home again. Tom told them all his adventures, after which he had plenty to eat and a clean suit of clothes, for those he had on were hardly fit to be worn any more.
THE FISHERMAN AND THE GENIE
In which a fisherman seeing his mistake corrects it as quickly as possible.
A poor fisherman was toiling on the shore of a great lake to catch fish. He had had poor luck all day. Towards night he threw his net into the sea. It was so heavy when he drew it out that he thought he had caught a great many fish. To his disappointment he found the net filled with stones and mud. He threw it again but each time it came up filled as before.