THE SWEET SOUP
Once on a time there was a poor but very good little girl, who lived alone with her mother, and when my story begins, they had nothing in the house to eat. So the child went out into the forest, and there she met an old woman, who already knew her distress, and who presented her with a pot which had the following power. If one said to it, "Boil, little pot!" it would cook sweet soup; and when one said: "Stop, little pot!" it would immediately cease to boil. The little girl took the pot home to her mother, and now their poverty and distresses were at an end, for they could have sweet broth as often as they pleased.
One day, however, the little girl went out, and in her absence the mother said: "Boil, little pot!" So it began to cook, and she soon ate all she wished; but when the poor woman wanted to have the pot stop, she found she did not know the word. Away, therefore, the pot boiled, and very quickly was over the edge; and as it boiled and boiled the kitchen presently became full, then the house, and the next house, and soon the whole street. It seemed likely to satisfy all the world, for, though there was the greatest necessity to do so, n.o.body knew how to stop it. At last, when only a very small cottage of all the village was left unfilled with soup, the child returned and said at once: "Stop, little pot!"
Immediately it ceased to boil; but whoever wishes to enter the village now must eat his way through the soup!!!
THE STRAW THE COAL AND THE BEAN
All alone, in a quiet little village, lived a poor old woman. One day she had a dish of beans which she wanted to cook for dinner, so she made a fire on the hearth, and in order that it should burn up quickly she lighted it with a handful of straw.
She hung the pot over the fire, and poured in the beans; but one fell on to the floor without her noticing it, and rolled away beside a piece of straw. Soon afterwards a live coal flew out of the fire and joined their company. Then the straw began to speak.
"Dear friends," said he, "whence come you?"
"I was fortunate enough to spring out of the fire," answered the coal. "Had I not exerted myself to get out when I did, I should most certainly have been burnt to ashes."
"I have also just managed to save my skin," said the bean. "Had the old woman succeeded in putting me into the pot, I should have been stewed without mercy, just as my comrades are being served now."
"My fate might have been no better," the straw told them. "The old woman burnt sixty of my brothers at once, but fortunately I was able to slip through her fingers."
"What shall we do now?" said the coal.
"Well," answered the bean, "my opinion is that, as we have all been so fortunate as to escape death, we should leave this place before any new misfortune overtakes us. Let us all three become traveling companions and set out upon a journey to some unknown country."
This suggestion pleased both the straw and the coal, so away they all went at once. Before long they came to a brook, and as there was no bridge across it they did not know how to get to the other side; but the straw had a good idea: "I will lay myself over the water, and you can walk across me as though I were a bridge," he said. So he stretched himself from one bank to the other, and the coal, who was of a hasty disposition, at once tripped gaily on to the newly-built bridge. Half way across she hesitated, and began to feel afraid of the rushing water beneath her. She dared go no farther, but neither would she return; but she stood there so long that the straw caught fire, broke in two, and fell into the stream. Of course, the coal was bound to follow. No sooner did she touch the water than--hiss, zish! out she went, and never glowed again.
The bean, who was a careful fellow, had stayed on the bank, to watch how the coal got across, before trusting himself to such a slender bridge. But when he saw what very queer figures his friends cut, he could not help laughing. He laughed and laughed till he could not stop, and at length he split his side.
It would have gone badly with him then, had not a tailor happened to pa.s.s by. He was a kind-hearted fellow, and at once took out his needle and thread and began to repair the mischief.
The bean thanked him politely, for he knew that the tailor had saved his life, but unfortunately he had used black thread, and from that time till to-day every bean has a little black st.i.tch in its side.
WHY THE BEAR HAS A STUMPY TAIL
One winter"s day the bear met the fox, who came slinking along with a string of fish he had stolen.
"Hi! stop a minute! Where did you get those from?" demanded the bear.
"Oh, my Lord Bruin, I"ve been out fishing and caught them," said the fox.
So the bear had a mind to learn to fish, too, and bade the fox tell him how he was to set about it.
"Oh, it is quite easy," answered the fox, "and soon learned. You"ve only got to go upon the ice, and cut a hole and stick your tail down through it, and hold it there as long as you can. You"re not to mind if it smarts a little; that"s when the fish bite. The longer you hold it there, the more fish you"ll get; and then all at once out with it, with a cross pull side ways and a strong pull, too."
Well, the bear did as the fox said, and though he felt very cold, and his tail smarted very much, he kept it a long, long time down in the hole, till at last it was frozen in, though of course he did not know that. Then he pulled it out with a strong pull, and it snapped short off, and that"s why Bruin goes about with a stumpy tail to this day!
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
Once upon a time, when pigs could talk and no one had ever heard of bacon, there lived an old piggy mother with her three little sons.
They had a very pleasant home in the middle of an oak forest, and were all just as happy as the day was long, until one sad year the acorn crop failed; then, indeed, poor Mrs. Piggy-wiggy often had hard work to make both ends meet.
One day she called her sons to her, and, with tears in her eyes, told them that she must send them out into the wide world to seek their fortune.
She kissed them all round, and the three little pigs set out upon their travels, each taking a different road, and carrying a bundle slung on a stick across his shoulder.
The first little pig had not gone far before he met a man carrying a bundle of straw; so he said to him: "Please, man, give me that straw to build me a house?" The man was very good-natured, so he gave him the bundle of straw, and the little pig built a pretty little house with it.
No sooner was it finished, and the little pig thinking of going to bed, than a wolf came along, knocked at the door, and said: "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."
But the little pig laughed softly, and answered: "No, no, by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin."
Then said the wolf sternly: "I will _make_ you let me in; for I"ll huff, and I"ll puff, and I"ll blow your house in!"
So he huffed and he puffed, and he blew his house in, because, you see, it was only of straw and too light; and when he had blown the house in, he ate up the little pig, and did not leave so much as the tip of his tail.
The second little pig also met a man, and _he_ was carrying a bundle of furze; so piggy said politely: "Please, kind man, will you give me that furze to build me a house?"
The man agreed, and piggy set to work to build himself a snug little house before the night came on. It was scarcely finished when the wolf came along, and said: "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."
"No, no, by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin," answered the second little pig.
"Then I"ll huff, and I"ll puff, and I"ll blow your house in!" said the wolf. So he huffed and he puffed, and he puffed, and he huffed, and at last he blew the house in, and gobbled the little pig up in a trice.
Now, the third little pig met a man with a load of bricks and mortar, and he said: "Please, man, will you give me those bricks to build a house with?"