English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (rom com books to read .txt) đ
- Author: Joseph Jacobs
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Now next day happened to be market-day, and as Dame Goody had been away from home, she wanted many things in the house, and trudged off to get them at the market. As she was buying the things she wanted, who should she see but the squinny-eyed old fellow who had taken her on the coal-black horse. And what do you think he was doing? Why he went about from stall to stall taking up things from each, here some fruit, and there some eggs, and so on; and no one seemed to take any notice.
Now Dame Goody did not think it her business to interfere, but she thought she ought not to let so good a customer pass without speaking. So she ups to him and bobs a curtsey and said: âGooden, sir, I hopes as how your good lady and the little one are as well asâ-â
But she couldnât finish what she was a-saying, for the funny old fellow started back in surprise, and he says to her, says he: âWhat! do you see me today?â
âSee you,â says she, âwhy, of course I do, as plain as the sun in the skies, and whatâs more,â says she, âI see you are busy too, into the bargain.â
âAh, you see too much,â said he; ânow, pray, with which eye do you see all this?â
âWith the right eye to be sure,â said she, as proud as can be to find him out.
âThe ointment! The ointment!â cried the old pixy thief. âTake that for meddling with what donât concern you: you shall see me no more.â And with that he struck her on her right eye, and she couldnât see him any more; and, what was worse, she was blind on the right side from that hour till the day of her death.
THE WELL OF THE WORLDâS END
Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, though it wasnât in my time, nor in your time, nor any one elseâs time, there was a girl whose mother had died, and her father had married again. And her stepmother hated her because she was more beautiful than herself, and she was very cruel to her. She used to make her do all the servantâs work, and never let her have any peace. At last, one day, the stepmother thought to get rid of her altogether; so she handed her a sieve and said to her: âGo, fill it at the Well of the Worldâs End and bring it home to me full, or woe betide you.â For she thought she would never be able to find the Well of the Worldâs End, and, if she did, how could she bring home a sieve full of water?
Well, the girl started off, and asked every one she met to tell her where was the Well of the Worldâs End. But nobody knew, and she didnât know what to do, when a queer little old woman, all bent double, told her where it was, and how she could get to it. So she did what the old woman told her, and at last arrived at the Well of the Worldâs End. But when she dipped the sieve in the cold, cold water, it all ran out again. She tried and she tried again, but every time it was the same; and at last she sate down and cried as if her heart would break.
Suddenly she heard a croaking voice, and she looked up and saw a great frog with goggle eyes looking at her and speaking to her.
âWhatâs the matter, dearie?â it said.
âOh, dear, oh dear,â she said, âmy stepmother has sent me all this long way to fill this sieve with water from the Well of the Worldâs End, and I canât fill it no how at all.â
âWell,â said the frog, âif you promise me to do whatever I bid you for a whole night long, Iâll tell you how to fill it.â
So the girl agreed, and then the frog said:
âStop it with moss and daub it with clay, And then it will carry the water away;â
and then it gave a hop, skip and jump, and went flop into the Well of the Worldâs End.
So the girl looked about for some moss, and lined the bottom of the sieve with it, and over that she put some clay, and then she dipped it once again into the Well of the Worldâs End; and this time, the water didnât run out, and she turned to go away.
Just then the frog popped up its head out of the Well of the Worldâs End, and said: âRemember your promise.â
âAll right,â said the girl; for thought she, âwhat harm can a frog do me?â
So she went back to her stepmother, and brought the sieve full of water from the Well of the Worldâs End. The stepmother was fine and angry, but she said nothing at all.
That very evening they heard something tap tapping at the door low down, and a voice cried out:
âOpen the door, my hinny, my heart, Open the door, my own darling; Mind you the words that you and I spoke, Down in the meadow, at the Worldâs End Well.â
âWhatever can that be?â cried out the stepmother, and the girl had to tell her all about it, and what she had promised the frog.
âGirls must keep their promises,â said the stepmother. âGo and open the door this instant.â For she was glad the girl would have to obey a nasty frog.
So the girl went and opened the door, and there was the frog from the Well of the Worldâs End. And it hopped, and it skipped, and it jumped, till it reached the girl, and then it said:
âLift me to your knee, my hinny, my heart; Lift me to your knee, my own darling; Remember the words you and I spoke, Down in the meadow by the Worldâs End Well.â
But the girl didnât like to, till her stepmother said âLift it up this instant, you hussy! Girls must keep their promises!â
So at last she lifted the frog up on to her lap, and it lay there for a time, till at last it said:
âGive me some supper, my hinny, my heart, Give me some supper, my darling; Remember the words you and I spake, In the meadow, by the Well of the Worldâs End.â
Well, she didnât mind doing that, so she got it a bowl of milk and bread, and fed it well. And when the frog, had finished, it said:
âGo with me to bed, my hinny, my heart, Go with me to bed, my own darling; Mind you the words you spake to me, Down by the cold well, so weary.â
But that the girl wouldnât do, till her stepmother said: âDo what you promised, girl; girls must keep their promises. Do what youâre bid, or out you go, you and your froggie.â
So the girl took the frog with her to bed, and kept it as far away from her as she could. Well, just as the day was beginning to break what should the frog say but:
âChop off my head, my hinny, my heart, Chop off my head, my own darling; Remember the promise you made to me, Down by the cold well so weary.â
At first the girl wouldnât, for she thought of what the frog had done for her at the Well of the Worldâs End. But when the frog said the words over again, she went and took an axe and chopped off its head, and lo! and behold, there stood before her a handsome young prince, who told her that he had been enchanted by a wicked magician, and he could never be unspelled till some girl would do his bidding for a whole night, and chop off his head at the end of it.
The stepmother was that surprised when she found the young prince instead of the nasty frog, and she wasnât best pleased, you may be sure, when the prince told her that he was going to marry her stepdaughter because she had unspelled him. So they were married and went away to live in the castle of the king, his father, and all the stepmother had to console her was, that it was all through her that her stepdaughter was married to a prince.
MASTER OF ALL MASTERSA girl once went to the fair to hire herself for servant. At last a funny-looking old gentleman engaged her, and took her home to his house. When she got there, he told her that he had something to teach her, for that in his house he had his own names for things.
He said to her: âWhat will you call me?â
âMaster or mister, or whatever you please sir,â says she.
He said: âYou must call me âmaster of all masters.â And what would you call this?â pointing to his bed.
âBed or couch, or whatever you please, sir.â
âNo, thatâs my âbarnacle.â And what do you call these?â said he pointing to his pantaloons.
âBreeches or trousers, or whatever you please, sir.â
âYou must call them âsquibs and crackers.â And what would you call her?â pointing to the cat.
âCat or kit, or whatever you please, sir.â
âYou must call her âwhite-faced simminy.â And this now,â showing the fire, âwhat would you call this?â
âFire or flame, or whatever you please, sir.â
âYou must call it âhot cockalorum,â and what this?â he went on, pointing to the water.
âWater or wet, or whatever you please, sir.â
âNo, âpondalorumâ is its name. And what do you call all this?â asked he, as he pointed to the house.
âHouse or cottage, or whatever you please, sir.â
âYou must call it âhigh topper mountain.ââ
That very night the servant woke her master up in a fright and said: âMaster of all masters, get out of your barnacle and put on your squibs and crackers. For white-faced simminy has got a spark of hot cockalorum on its tail, and unless you get some pondalorum high topper mountain will be all on hot cockalorum.â âŠ. Thatâs all.
THE THREE HEADS OF THE WELL
Long before Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, there reigned in the eastern part of England a king who kept his Court at Colchester. In the midst of all his glory, his queen died, leaving behind her an only daughter, about fifteen years of age, who for her beauty and kindness was the wonder of all that knew her. But the king hearing of a lady who had likewise an only daughter, had a mind to marry her for the sake of her riches, though she was old, ugly, hook-nosed, and hump-backed. Her daughter was a yellow dowdy, full of envy and ill-nature; and, in short, was much of the same mould as her mother. But in a few weeks the king, attended by the nobility and gentry, brought his deformed bride to the palace, where the marriage rites were performed. They had not been long in the Court before they set the king against his own beautiful daughter by false reports. The young princess having lost her fatherâs love, grew weary of the Court, and one day, meeting with her father in the garden, she begged him, with tears in her eyes, to let her go and seek her fortune; to which the king consented, and ordered her mother-in-law to give her what she pleased. She went to the queen, who gave her a canvas bag of brown bread and hard cheese, with a bottle of beer; though this was but a pitiful dowry for a kingâs daughter. She took it, with thanks, and
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