Give me a little posy, please!”
“There!” he thought, “the old fellow will like that, because he is a Gardener.” But not a bit of it! The Gardener saw through his trick, and was angrier than ever.
“Be off!” said he, “or I’ll be after you with a stick! Plant a nose, indeed! You had better go somewhere and learn manners before you ask for my flowers!”
So the second boy went away faster than the first.
But the third boy was an honest little boy, and knew that there is nothing like the truth; so he determined to try what truth could do. He walked modestly into the garden and said:
“Good morning, sir!”
“What, another of ’em!” growled the Gardener to himself. “Another pack of lies, I suppose!” He would hardly look at the boy. But the boy, nothing daunted, repeated his verse:
“Babbling fools! to think that they
Can get a posy in this way!
Say they yes, or say they no,