The King thought this a wise speech, and commanded that no one should find fault with the leathern doublet. So things went, and Spare prospered at court until the day when he lost his doublet, of which we read in the next story.
“good gentlemen, can you tell me
what season this is?”
THE MERRY COBBLER AND HIS COAT
Spare, the merry cobbler, of whom we read in the last story, was treated like a prince at the King’s court; and the news of his good fortune reached his brother Scrub in the moorland cottage one first of April, when the cuckoo came again with two golden leaves.
“Think of that!” said Fairfeather. “Here we are spending our lives in this humdrum place, and Spare making his fortune at court with two or three paltry green leaves! What would they say to our golden ones? Let us make our way to the King’s palace.”
Scrub thought this excellent reasoning. So, putting on their holiday clothes, Fairfeather took her looking-glass and Scrub his drinking-horn, which happened to have a very thin rim of silver, and, each carrying a golden leaf carefully wrapped up that none might see it till they reached the palace, the pair set out in great expectation.
How far Scrub and Fairfeather journeyed we cannot say, but when the sun was high and warm at noon they came into a wood feeling both tired and hungry.
“Let us rest ourselves under this tree,” said Fairfeather, “and look at our golden leaves to see if they are quite safe.”