More English Fairy Tales Part 23

"Sheep's head and pluck!

Sheep's head and pluck!"

Trudging along, he came to a stile; but in getting over he fell and hurt himself, and beginning to blubber, forgot what he was sent for. So he stood a little while to consider: at last he thought he recollected it, and began to repeat:

"Liver and lights and gall and all!

Liver and lights and gall and all!"

Away he went again, and came to where a man had a pain in his liver, bawling out:

"Liver and lights and gall and all!

Liver and lights and gall and all!"

Whereon the man laid hold of him and beat him, bidding him say:

"Pray G.o.d send no more!

Pray G.o.d send no more!"

The youngster strode along, uttering these words, till he reached a field where a hind was sowing wheat:

"Pray G.o.d send no more!

Pray G.o.d send no more!"

This was all his cry. So the sower began to thrash him, and charged him to repeat:

"Pray G.o.d send plenty more!

Pray G.o.d send plenty more!"

Off the child scampered with these words in his mouth till he reached a churchyard and met a funeral, but he went on with his:

"Pray G.o.d send plenty more!

Pray G.o.d send plenty more!"

The chief mourner seized and punished him, and bade him repeat:

"Pray G.o.d send the soul to heaven!

Pray G.o.d send the soul to heaven!"

Away went the boy, and met a dog and a cat going to be hung, but his cry rang out:

"Pray G.o.d send the soul to heaven!

Pray G.o.d send the soul to heaven!"

The good folk nearly were furious, seized and struck him, charging him to say:

"A dog and a cat agoing to be hung!

A dog and a cat agoing to be hung!"

This the poor fellow did, till he overtook a man and a woman going to be married. "Oh! oh!" he shouted:

"A dog and a cat agoing to be hung!

A dog and a cat agoing to be hung!"

The man was enraged, as we may well think, gave him many a thump, and ordered him to repeat:

"I wish you much joy!

I wish you much joy!"

This he did, jogging along, till he came to two labourers who had fallen into a ditch. The lad kept bawling out:

"I wish you much joy!

I wish you much joy!"

This vexed one of the folk so sorely that he used all his strength, scrambled out, beat the crier, and told him to say.

"The one is out, I wish the other was!

The one is out, I wish the other was!"

On went young 'un till he found a fellow with only one eye; but he kept up his song:

"The one is out, I wish the other was!

The one is out, I wish the other was!"

This was too much for Master One-eye, who grabbed him and chastised him, bidding him call:

"The one side gives good light, I wish the other did!

The one side gives good light, I wish the other did!"

So he did, to be sure, till he came to a house, one side of which was on fire. The people here thought it was he who had set the place a-blazing, and straightway put him in prison. The end was, the judge put on his black cap, and condemned him to die.

The Lambton Worm

A wild young fellow was the heir of Lambton, the fine estate and hall by the side of the swift-flowing Wear. Not a Ma.s.s would he hear in Brugeford Chapel of a Sunday, but a-fishing he would go. And if he did not haul in anything, his curses could be heard by the folk as they went by to Brugeford.

Well, one Sunday morning he was fishing as usual, and not a salmon had risen to him, his basket was bare of roach or dace. And the worse his luck, the worse grew his language, till the pa.s.sers-by were horrified at his words as they went to listen to the Ma.s.s-priest.

At last young Lambton felt a mighty tug at his line. "At last," quoth he, "a bite worth having!" and he pulled and he pulled, till what should appear above the water but a head like an elf's, with nine holes on each side of its mouth. But still he pulled till he had got the thing to land, when it turned out to be a Worm of hideous shape. If he had cursed before, his curses were enough to raise the hair on your head.

"What ails thee, my son?" said a voice by his side, "and what hast thou caught, that thou shouldst stain the Lord's Day with such foul language?"

Looking round, young Lambton saw a strange old man standing by him.

"Why, truly," he said, "I think I have caught the devil himself. Look you and see if you know him."

But the stranger shook his head, and said, "It bodes no good to thee or thine to bring such a monster to sh.o.r.e. Yet cast him not back into the Wear; thou has caught him, and thou must keep him," and with that away he turned, and was seen no more.