“You didn’t know it was stealing, did you, mousie dear?” she said.
“No,” squeaked Greywhiskers sadly; “indeed I didn’t.”
Cook’s back was turned for a moment, and in that moment tender-hearted little Ethel lifted the lid of the trap, and out popped mousie.
Oh! how quickly he ran home to his mother, and how she comforted and petted him until he began to forget his fright; and then she made him promise never to disobey her again, and you may be sure he never did.
“DID you ever see a fairy, grannie?” said Trots.
“No,” she said, “but my great-grandmother did.”
“Well, once upon a time, as she was carrying her butter to market, she picked up a crooked sixpence. And with it, and what she sold her butter for, she bought a little black pig. Now, coming home, she had to cross the brook; so she picked piggy up in her arms and carried her over the brook. And, lo, instead of a pig, there was a little fairy in her arms!”
“Well, it had a red cap on its head, and a green frock, and it had gauzy wings, and it wanted to fly away, but great-grandmother held it tight.
“‘What will you give me?’ said great-grandmother.
“‘I will give you one wish,’” answered the fairy.
So great-grandmother thought and thought what was the best thing to wish for, and at last she said,—
“‘Give to me and to my daughters to the eleventh generation the lucky finger and the loving heart.’
“‘You have wished a big wish,’ said the fairy, ‘but you shall have it.’” So she kissed great-grandmother’s eyes and mouth, and then she flew away.
“And did the wish come true?” asked Trots.
“Always—always,” answered grannie. “We have been since then the best spinners and knitters in all the countryside, and the best wives and daughters.”
“But,” said Trots, “what will the eleventh generation do when the wish stops and the good-luck?”
“I don’t know,” said grannie, shaking her head. “I suppose they’ll have to catch a fairy of their own.”
A Table of Contents was created for this text version.
Not Such Fun as it Seemed: ... and Dolly was generally only too eager to join in her brothers pranks. Brothers corrected to brother’s. ... and Dolly was generally only too eager to join in her brother’s pranks.
The Little Tiny Thing: ... said father. Do you think that all children are as kind as that?” Missing opening quotation mark before the word Do. Opening quotation mark inserted. ... said father. “Do you think that all children are as kind as that?”