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 Johnny Nut and the golden goose. / 
 
 3 1924 027 324 387 
 
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y. 
 
 K -: 
 
 ^j 
 
 l^OHNNY MUT 
 
 AND THE 
 
 ^6^ p 
 
 OLDEN Goose 
 
:OHNNY 
 
 lUT 
 
 AND 
 
 'HE 
 
 OLDEN 
 
 'OOSE 
 
 DONE INTO 
 
 ENGLISH 
 
 BY 
 
 
 -x-^'^^i 
 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE FRENCH OF 
 
 CHARLES DEULIN 
 
 ILLUSTRATED by AM. LYNEN 
 
 LONDON 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
^ ^s^^i^ 
 
^g: b h ce 
 
 This Tale is rendered, 
 a little freely, from Les 
 <^" Trente-six Ren- 
 contres de Jean dii Gogu^, in Conies 
 d iin Buveur de Biere, par Charles Deulin. 
 </' (Sixi^me Edition. Paris: Dentu. 1873.) 
 7 The late M. Deulin told with much 
 
 } humour, and probably with but little altera- 
 / tion from oral tradition, the popular tales of 
 his native province. The narrative here translated 
 has points in common with a Tongan legend, with 
 several ancient French fabliaux, with a Zulu story 
 in Bishop Callaway's collection, and with Grimm's 
 Golden Goose. 
 
MADAM, 
 
 TO 
 
 i^lr^g^ ^cotHifZci ^liorp^ 
 
 IKE the Sultan in the Arabian 
 Nights — and, sure, you are no 
 less despotic — yoii have some- 
 times commanded me to 'tell 
 you a story.' It has been my 
 privilege to obey ; but, alas ! 
 when my toil was ended, with 
 a stretch of absolute authority 
 you have bidden me 'tell you 
 another.' Truly, Madam, the Ocean of the Streatns of 
 Story, whereof the Hindoos speak, will speedily be drained 
 dry by your Slave, who now presents you with this little 
 Tale, which he has conveyed from French Flanders. If 
 it amuses your leisure as much to read, as it has diverted 
 mme to translate it, I shall have that enjoyment which 
 attends successful enterprise, and I remain. 
 
 Madam, 
 
 Yours very humbly to command 
 
 A. L. 
 
\l 
 
 
 ./ 
 
 
 
 
 V y 
 
 S 
 
 s? 
 
 t 
 
 '^o^nn^ Out 
 
 3j and tl^e 
 
 Grolden G^oo:^e 
 
 5^HAPTER I. 
 
 LONG TIME AGO 
 
 there lived in Frencii 
 
 Flanders, at a village 
 
 called Saint Saulve, 
 
 Valenciennes way, a 
 
 little cow-boy named 
 
 Johnny Nut. He had 
 
 no father and no mother, 
 
 and they called him Johnny Nut because 
 
 he was found one fine morning under a 
 
 walnut-tree. Silly Billy was another name 
 
 he had, for he was just as great an innocent 
 
 as a calf before it is weaned. 
 
 Now, never in his living days had 
 
 ^--1 
 
 'L- 
 
 \^y- 
 
Johnny Nut dined on anything better than 
 potatoes, and the one thing he wanted in the 
 
 world was to taste roast goose. 
 
 Now, about a dozen miles off, Conde way, there 
 is a village where the geese are so grand that all 
 
 r- 
 
 >#1\ 
 
 I 
 
 n 
 
 "^ < 
 
the world talks of nothing but the Hergnies 
 geese. 
 
 'When I grow up,' said Johnny, 'I'll go to 
 Hergnies and eat goose.' 
 
 So, at long and at last, one autumn evening he 
 left the cows in the lurch, and off he went, without 
 beat of drum. 
 
 Now, whether he came back as poor as he 
 started, and what a great love of roast goose 
 brought Silly Billy to, that's what" we are going 
 to tell you ! 
 
 So Johnny Nut followed his nose, and asked 
 his way, and at nightfall he reached the village 
 of Escau-bridge. 
 
 ' You can't show me the way to Hergnies, 
 mother ? ' cried Johnny to the farmer's wife, who 
 was just sitting down to supper. 
 
 'That I can, my son, but you are out late. 
 Are you in such a 
 hurry ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, mother, who is 
 in a hurry if not me ? 
 These ten years I've 
 been dying to taste 
 roast goose, so don't 
 you see there's no time 
 to waste.' 
 
 The farmer's wife 
 stared at him with all 
 her eyes. 
 ' What do they call you ? ' says she. 
 
 
' Silly Billy,' says he. 
 
 ' Oh, dofCt I see. Yes, I see,' said the woman, 
 laughing to his very face. ' Listen, my lad ! You 
 are big, and strong, and you seem honest. Now 
 Jim, our man, is off on the King's wars. Will you 
 take his place ? ' 
 
 ' Will you let me taste roast goose ? ' 
 
 ' On Sunday, as sure as sure, you shall have 
 your fill of goose; I have to send some one to 
 Hergnies, to my cousin's, to-morrow. You shall 
 start, at peep of day, and bring me a good fat 
 goose. We'll dine off him when we come back 
 from the fair at the next town. Does that suit 
 you, my son ? ' 
 
 ' Mother, it's just the thing for me.' 
 
 ' Then come to supper.' 
 
 And to supper went Johnny Nut, with such an 
 appetite that he scarcely had time to say grace. 
 
 '■'■H ),. 
 
 
^ /- ^L^L 
 
 ' . A 
 
 ""~>Vv. '^ \ " 
 
 'V, 
 
 <^ 
 
 ') 
 
 
 ( 
 
 \\ 
 
 /• 
 
 /- 
 
 '/l^ 
 
 t 
 
 5^HAPTER II. 
 
 )":.■ 
 
 
 "EXT day was a >Satur- 
 day, and the farmer's 
 wife went to waken 
 Johnny in the stable- 
 loft. 
 
 ' Come, come, up 
 with you ! ' says she, 
 shaking him. ' Don't you hear the cock crowing ? ' 
 So she gave him a big bowl of coffee, and such 
 a chunk of bread ; and showed him the 
 way, and sent him off, saying, ' Mind you 
 ask for my cousin's mill, and bring me the 
 goose, and seven bushels of flour, and a 
 pint of seed corn.' 
 
 ^' (va^"\ 
 
 k 
 
 ^ 
 
 I 
 
 L 
 
 
 "■/^ 
 
 
 

 The cock was still crowing on the roof, and the 
 Lady Moon was watching with her yellow eye, 
 when Johnny Nut started. 
 
 Now, all the time he was 
 thinking of roast goose for dinner, 
 he kept repeating the errand he had to do. 
 
' Seven bushels, and one pint,' ' Seven bushels, 
 and one pint '—for, not being very clever, he was 
 afraid he might forget. 
 
 As he went on saying this, he met a farmer, 
 who was counting up how much his field should 
 bring him in. 
 
 • Seven bushels, indeed ! ' said the farmer. ' Let 
 a hundred come ! ' 
 
 Now this puzzled Johnny Silly Billy, for he 
 had never room in his head for more than one 
 idea at a time ; so he went on his way, repeating, 
 
 ' Let a hundred come ! let a hundred come ! ' 
 
■S^ 
 
 Well, as Johnny crossed a wood, there sat a 
 shepherd, as red as scarlet, and as proud as a 
 peacock that has laid an egg ; and all because his 
 dog had just killed a wolf that was after the 
 lambs. 
 
 V ' Let a hundred of them come ! let a hundred 
 
 V- of them come ! ' sang out Johnny Nut. 
 
 ' What do you mean, you fool ? ' says the shep- 
 herd, ' with your Let a hundred of them come ! A 
 hundred, indeed ! Rather say, There's another caught 
 and done for !' 
 
 ' There's another caught and done for ! ' said 
 Johnny Nut, as he went on his way. 
 
 •^sAC^S^tt 
 
 v/'vvVV. 
 
5^HAPTER III. 
 
 OW, as Johnny strutted along, he 
 t heard jolly music and wedding 
 bells, and saw a multitude of 
 people. 
 
 / t% - 
 
 H:'.t 
 
 '1*5. % jf , i 
 
 ■^v 
 
 e 
 
It was a wedding party, outside a tavern ; and 
 the fiddlers were fiddling, and everybody dancing. 
 
 Johnny Nut went through the middle of them 
 all, shouting : — 
 
 ' There's another caught and done for ! ' 
 
 ' Caught and done for ! Meaning me ! ' says the 
 gay bridegroom ; and he tucked up his shirt- 
 sleeves to give Johnny one in the eye. But the 
 bridesmaid, who did not want a quarrel, gave 
 Johnny a push, and said to him — 
 
 m 
 
 £3. " ^■' 
 
 ' Idiot, say 
 
 rather, " Let 
 
 everybody fol- 
 
 "''' low a good 
 
 example.'" 
 
 It was all one to Johnny, and off he went, 
 shouting — yfa. 
 
 'Let every one follow this good 
 example ! ' 
 
 So he left the village, and he went, and went 
 and better went, till he came to a house on fire. 
 
 The policeman had caught a poor tramp, whom 
 he charged with burning the house. 
 
 ' Let every one follow this good example! ' shouted 
 Johnny, never thinking of anything but roast 
 goose. 
 
 ' What's that you say, you vagabond ! You 
 
 / 
 
 A^ 
 

 incite the populace to arson and fire-raising!' 
 cries the policeman, who was by way of being a 
 great lawyer. 
 
 Johnny trembled like an 
 aspen-leaf. 
 
 ' Say, " Heaven help you 
 to put the fire out,'" whis- 
 pered one of the firemen ; 
 ,/ and Johnny said so, and 
 
 
 off he went, the old way. 
 
 crymg — 
 ' Heaven help you to put the fire out ! ' 
 
 Now he passed a blacksmith's forge, and that 
 blacksmith was as cross as two sticks, for he had 
 been blowing the bellows for three hours, and 
 could not make the fire burn. 
 
 Well, just when a little tiny blue flame burst 
 forth, as little as a pussycat's tongue, what did the 
 blacksmith hear but — 
 
 ' Heaven put tPie fire out ! ' 
 
Round he turned, pitched his hammer at 
 Johnny, and knocked him down flat on the king's 
 high way. 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 -^ * 
 
 .N. 
 
 N^^"* 
 
 c> 
 
 ^ # 
 
 < r,\ 
 
/ 
 
 Z 
 
 ' y 
 
 / 
 
 ^ 
 
 i 42SCWAhK%h.^% »-' 
 
 "h^ IX 
 
 13 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 JOHNNY was not dead; Fortune 
 had other ad- 
 ventures in store 
 for Johnny. A 
 farmer came out 
 with his men, 
 and carried him 
 into the house, 
 where he soon 
 '^ came to his 
 
 f senses. It was not very much in that way 
 he had to come to ; but if Johnny had not 
 many brains, he had an extraordinarily thick skull. 
 The blow with the hammer would have killed 
 another man, but it only made a bump on the 
 head of our Johnny. 
 
 The farmer asked him where he came from and 
 what he wanted. 
 
 ' I'm going to Her- 
 gnies, to eat roast goose,' 
 said Johnny. 
 
 ' Why, you are twelve ^'^/A 
 miles from Hergnies 
 said the farmer ; and he 
 gave Johnny a sheaf of 
 corn, and sent him on 
 his road. 
 
 \ 
 
 #' '^ 
 
14 
 
 Well, Johnny lost 
 himself again, and sat 
 down against a wall and 
 lunched off part of his 
 hunch of bread. 
 
 M^y' 
 
 Then 
 
 was 
 
 tired, he fell asleep, and 
 a chicken came and ate 
 all the grains of corn 
 out of his sheaf. Then 
 Johnny woke, and when 
 he found he had nothing 
 
 left of his sheaf but straw he fell 
 a-crying. 
 
 Now, the farmer there was a 
 good-natured man, and, to console 
 Johnny, he made him a present of 
 the fowl, and off he went. 
 
 About four in the afternoon 
 
 Johnny was hungry again, 
 and sat down to finish his 
 hunch of bread with his 
 chicken beside him. 
 
 _ t^) Up came a clumsy 
 
 great cow, and trod on the 
 chicken and crushed it 
 flat. 
 
15 
 
 Johnny set off sobbing again. 'Never no 
 
 luck,' says he. ' They gave me a sheaf, and a 
 
 chicken ate it. They gave me 
 
 a chicken, and a cow crushed 
 
 it. Boo-hoo ! ' 
 
 ' Don't boo-hoo,' says the 
 Lord of the Manor, who came 
 by with his gun on his shoul- 
 der and his game-bag on his 
 back. ' Don't boo-hoo ! take the 
 cow.' 
 
 • Thank you kindly, your noble worship,' says 
 Johnny, as merry as may be, and he and the cow 
 jogged along till it grew dark. 
 
 At last Johnny came to another farm, and there 
 the farmer took in him and his cow. 
 
 Now, this farmer had a big pretty maid, as 
 strong as ^ 
 
 a man, 
 and he 
 bade her 
 
 milk 
 Johnny's 
 cow. But, 
 U&&« as she 
 
 (^ 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 /// 
 
 > /I /<•>-- \ 
 
 4h 
 
 ^v 
 
 ~N 
 
 
 A 
 
 "^-^Jv. 
 
---1*^ 
 
 ii 
 
 i6 
 
 milked, the cow switched its tail in her eyes and 
 made her see quite an 
 illumination. 
 
 The maid was an angry 
 maid. She picked up a 
 pitchfork and threw it at 
 the cow, and the poor beast 
 fell down dead 1 
 
 Then Johnny began to 
 cry again, and I don't wonder at it. 
 
 ' Never no luck,' says he. ' They gave me 
 a sheaf, and a chicken ate it ; they gave me a 
 chicken, and a cow crushed it ; they gave me a 
 cow, and the maid killed it. Boo-hoo 1 ' 
 
 'Oh bother! take 
 the maid and don't 
 blubber,' said the 
 farmer. He didn't 
 like to keep a girl 
 in the house who 
 threw pitchforks about 
 when she lost her 
 temper. 
 
 Johnny did not wait to be asked twice. He 
 took the maid, tied her hands and feet, put her 
 
17 
 
 in a sack, heaved her on to his back, and away 
 went Johnny. 
 
 'When I do get to Hergnies,' said he to him- 
 self, ' I'll marry the maid, and we'll have roast 
 goose at the wedding supper,' for his intentions 
 were strictly honourable. 
 
 But the further he went the more Johnny didn't 
 find the way ; and at last, as the maid was pretty 
 heavy, he set her down by a tavern door and went 
 in and asked for a pot of beer. 
 
 D 
 
w, 
 
 jHAPTER V. 
 
 OW, in the tavern were Tune, the tailor, 
 with a coat he had made for a cus- 
 tomer, and Nanasse, and Polydore, and 
 '^ Rumble his dog, four of the wildest 
 wags in that country-side. 
 
19 
 
 Tune went out of the tavern to see what kind 
 of night it was, and there was the sack and some- 
 thing in it that moved. So he opened the sack, 
 and what should he find but a pretty tall maid, 
 trussed like a fowl. 
 
 Well, he let her out and she told him all about 
 it, and, as she was not dying to marry our Johnny, 
 off she ran to her own village as hard as she 
 could go. 
 
 ' What am I to fill the sack with ? ' thought 
 Tune. ' By George, I'll put in Polydore's yellow 
 dog, Rumble.' 
 
 i ^ ^ 
 
 r 
 
 
 l^ 
 
 
So he whistled to Rumble and put him in the 
 sack. 
 
 By this time Johnny had finished his ale, and 
 he came out, hoisted the sack on his shoulder, and 
 marched away without asking questions. Tune 
 followed at a little distance, and, as Rumble knew 
 a friend was there, why, he entered into the fun 
 and said never a bark. 
 
 At last Johnny reached Hergnies, and where 
 should he go to but to the parson's, of course, to 
 get married ! Then it occurred to him that he had 
 never asked the maid if she would have him I He 
 put down the sack and opened it. 
 
 'I say, maid,' quoth he, 'shall us get married, 
 us two ? ' 
 
 ' G-r-r-r-r-r-r 1 ' says the maid. 
 
 Johnny, in a fright, let go his hold of the cord, 
 the sack fell open, out jumped Rumble, and flew at 
 his throat. 
 
 Johnny sprang into a willow-tree and climbed 
 up it, but, lo and behold ! the tree was rotten, and 
 down came tree and Johnny and all on the back 
 of Rumble ! Now, Rumble was expecting nothing 
 
of that sort, and, with one wild yowl, he flew away 
 like the wind, and never stopped till the town gates 
 of Condd were closed behind him ! 
 
 x-\/ ^^ 
 
 
 i 
 
 4^ 
 
 \7i4 
 
 
 ^•■'Y^ 
 
 r^^ 
 
 4/ / 
 
5^HAPTER VI. 
 
 HEN once the voice of Rumble was 
 lost in the distance, Johnny climbed 
 out of the tree and found that none 
 of his bones were broken. 
 
 All of a sudden in the hollow of 
 
23 
 
 the tree trunk he saw something shining lil<e a 
 will o' the wisp. 
 
 He put in his hands and pulled out 
 A Goose with Golden Feathers ! 
 
 ' Here's luck at last,' says Johnny, ' I've lost a 
 maid and found a golden goose ! I'll have it 
 roasted this very night,' and off he went to the 
 best inn in the village. 
 
 Now the inn was full of people going to the 
 fair on St. Calixtus's day, which was a great 
 festival. 
 
 However, Johnny, being but a village idiot, 
 had never heard anything about all that. 
 
 Up he comes and goes to the landlord, who 
 didn't know where to turn, he had so many 
 customers, all going to the fair. 
 
 ' Cook my goose ! ' says Johnny, as bold as 
 brass. 
 
 ' Oh, you go to — Jerusalem,' says the landlord, 
 ' we don't cook gold geese here, not to-day, we 
 don't.' 
 
 ' Well, if you won't be obliging and cook my 
 
24 
 
goose,' says Johnny Nut, ' why, I'll give it to Saint 
 Calixtus. A pretty poor saint he'll be if he docs 
 not give me a goose fit to put on the spit in ex- 
 change for my goose of gold ! ' 
 
 So he got supper somehow, and went with his 
 goose to sleep in the stable. 
 
 \/ 
 p3 
 
 f< i. 
 
 1 ,., 
 
 /*' \ 
 
 
 ' wi 
 
 (i 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 / W~' ^ 
 
 
 ---. f 
 
 
,/ 
 
 
 26 
 
 5HAPTER VII. 
 
 r HE landlord of the inn had three 
 
 fair daughters, all as curious as 
 
 / their mother Eve. All night long 
 
 ^/^ they turned and tossed in their 
 
 beds, thinking about the golden 
 goose and longing to see it. 
 
 As soon as the first cock crew, up 
 gets the oldest daughter. 
 ' It is so hot I really can't sleep,' said she, and 
 went on tip-toe to the stable, as quiet as pussy, for 
 fear of waking Johnny. 
 
 In the moonlight the golden goose was shining 
 like a star. 
 
 ' I'll take one of the pretty feathers,' said the 
 girl, and put out her hand to touch it. But she 
 could not pluck the feather and she could not pull 
 her hand away I 
 
 •C 
 
 u"',. 
 

 27 
 
 
 When the second 
 
 cock crew, up got the second | 
 
 daughter. 
 
 
 
 ' It is far too hot 
 
 to sleep,' said she 
 
 , and she 
 
 ran downstairs to her 
 
 sister. But as soon as she | 
 
 had touched her she 
 
 could not move a 
 
 step from 
 
 the place ! 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 V 
 
 I 
 
 jffl 
 
 |m 
 
 J 
 
 ^^^^H 
 
 fc^^l 
 
 ^K 
 
 m 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 Then the third cock crew, and up 
 
 got the 
 
 youngest daughter, and ran to the stable after her 1 
 
 sisters. 
 
 
 
 ' Take care ! don't 
 
 come here ! ' they 
 
 cried, but 
 
 she did not understand, and she thought- 
 
 
 
28 
 
 ' Why, if they are there, I can go too ! ' 
 
 But as soon as she touched her sisters, there 
 she was, as fast as could be to the golden goose ! 
 
 A quarter of an hour later Johnny wakened, 
 and stretched himself, and shook some of the straw 
 out of his hair, and then took his goose under his 
 arm, and off he went, never noticing the girls, 
 whom he had not left behind him. 
 
 They tried to stop him, but Johnny thought 
 they wanted to rob him of his goose, and he ran, 
 and they ran, and they all ran as fast as their legs 
 would carry them. 
 
1 1 
 
 29 
 
 When they were out of the village, the girls 
 were also out of breath, and they entreated Johnny 
 to stop. So he said he would stop if they would 
 show him the right road, and the sun was up by 
 the time they reached the next village. 
 
 ^■^^^fcy^^S 
 
 Ǥ>^ 
 
 
 y y 
 
 ^. I,. *ii'ii-.«4i4u.i^ 
 
 
 
 
 
3° 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 .dT^UST at that very moment, 
 who should come by 
 but the Vicar of Conde, 
 with his two Curates, the 
 Churchwardens, the Beadle 
 himself, the man that 
 played the fiddle, the man 
 that played the cornet, and 
 all the wicked little choir- 
 boys. 
 
 They were all march- 
 ing off to sing the Mass 
 on St. Calixtus's day. 
 
 The Vicar at that time was a stout clergyman, 
 as big as a barrel, but he was a very holy man, and 
 very severe about good and modest behaviour. 
 
 Naturally, when he saw the landlord's daughters 
 all strutting away behind our Johnny, he was 
 Shocked ! 
 
 ' Are you not ashamed of yourselves,' he cried 
 out, 'great lasses like you, to run about the country 
 after a lad .' ' 
 
 /-v 
 
 -•> 
 
 
 . > i^ .J 
 
31 
 
 So he plucked the youngest girl by the sleeve 
 to stop her, but, behold ! no sooner had he touched 
 her than he could not leave hold, and he had to 
 march after the golden goose ! 
 
 ' Oh, sir, oh, sir ! ' cried the Beadle (who was a 
 long, thin-legged man, like a heron), and he ran 
 up, caught hold of the Vicar by his gown, and 
 there he stuck. 
 
 The Vicar cried for help to the rest of his com- 
 pany, so first the Curates, then the Organist, then 
 the man with the violin, then the cornet-player, and, 
 lastly, all the wicked little choir-boys, rushed to 
 hold the Vicar back, but they were all caught, and 
 had all to run after Johnny, while Johnny just 
 followed his goose ! 
 

 
 ^^■V 
 
 \ (A ^*- 
 
 
_ ,,.,„# ^ //;^ ,..^/ 
 
 \ Ml i 
 
 
 33 
 
 5^HAPTER IX. 
 
 AINT CALIXTUS, you must 
 now be told, was a Saint in 
 very high reputation at that 
 time in Flanders. 
 
 '/^/'-^'Mi 
 
 //#- 
 
 ...-''^ 
 
 
 
 '^ Sstte 
 
 \ 
 
 x 
 
 
 ;-* .^^ 
 
 ^ 
 
34 
 
 Pilgrims came to do him honour from all the 
 country round, and, as Saint Calixtus was famous 
 for curing lame people, they made a very singular 
 procession. 
 
 The maimed and the halt 
 and the blind were there, 
 humpbacks by the dozen, 
 cripples by the score, men 
 with wooden legs, men with 
 iron hooks instead of hands. 
 
 iji 
 
 ■^ 1, 
 
 K. 
 
35 
 
 men with wry necks — in short, they were a funny 
 
 spectacle. 
 
 They would not have been funny, but very 
 
 pitiful, if they had really been lame and blind, but 
 
 the truth is that they 
 
 were all persons 
 
 whom the good Saint 
 
 had cured, and now 
 
 they were only mak- 
 ing believe, for one 
 
 day in the year, to 
 
 suffer from their old 
 
 complaints. But, to 
 
 tell the truth, they 
 
 looked so odd that the images of the other Saints 
 
 in the chapel were set, on that day, with their 
 
 faces to the wall, for 
 fear they should break 
 out laughing. 
 
 When the High 
 Mass had been sung, 
 all the worthy cripples 
 threw away their sham 
 humps, and bandages, 
 and wooden legs, and 
 they laughed, and 
 danced, and skipped, 
 and revelled, so that it 
 was a pleasure to see so 
 many people enjoying 
 themselves. 
 
 7 
 
36 
 
 Chapter X. 
 
 
 [OW you must be told that the King of that 
 country had a daughter as lovely as the 
 day, who had never laughed in all her life ! 
 
 r '_ 
 
 i^ll 
 
 J 
 
her very cradle. 
 
 37 
 
 She was as sad and sorry as the mournful Bell 
 that rings for a death, and so they called her the 
 Passing Belle ; 
 it was a sort 
 of joke.' 
 
 Now, as 
 she was an 
 only child, the 
 Passing Belle 
 
 had been 
 spoiled from 
 Cakes, toys, diversions, such as 
 playing at funerals, 
 had been lavished 
 on her, but she 
 never, never smiled. 
 They tried her 
 with Punch and 
 Judy, they tried 
 her with panto- 
 mimes, they took 
 her to the play. 
 
 ' The French country 
 people call the Passing 
 Bell La Dolente, and this 
 unhappy Princess they 
 named La Belle Dolente. 
 If any child cannot un- 
 derstand this, she may 
 consult her nice French 
 grammar, and her French 
 and English dictionary, 
 and turn it over in her 
 mind till next Christmas. 
 
 ^'"{'■"'l'^ ., 
 
 A \\K 
 
 /V tj 
 
38 
 
 but there never came a smile on the pale lips of 
 the Passing Belle. 
 
 She would not have laughed for a King's 
 ransom ; nay, if you had ordered her off to instant 
 execution, and laid her head on the block, you 
 could not have w^rung a smile from her ! 
 
 The King, who had a strong sense of humour, 
 was in despair. Finally he had a proclamation 
 printed : — 
 
 WHOEVER CAN MAKE 
 
 THE 
 
 iRINCESS 
 
 GIGGLE 
 
 SHALL WIN HER FOR 
 
 HIS BRIDE. 
 
 Cambrinus R. 
 
 But nobody came ! Every one thought it was 
 hopeless to get a laugh from the Passing Belle. 
 Then the King, who was a very religious man. 
 
 . ./mf^t "^.^ffi k 
 
 .& ^^,n 
 
 %. 
 
 J.J1 
 
 SI 
 
 F 1 
 
39 
 
 determined to take her to the shrine of Saint 
 Calixtus. Of course, if the Saint could make her 
 
 smile, she would become a nun, and perhaps, in 
 the long run, would have been as solemn and 
 ItigubriotLs as ever. 
 
 - ^ ^jj 
 
 ^1 
 
 f --? ^i/ 
 
4° 
 
 f^HAPTER XI. 
 
 LL the Court came, and all the Court 
 nearly died with laughing at the pro- 
 cession of the halt, and lame, and blind. 
 'Go it, ye cripples,' cried his Majesty, 
 in convulsions of merriment ! Some of 
 the people were like X's, and some like Y's, and 
 some like Z's, and plenty of K's and S's, all the 
 cross letters were there, all the letters but straight 
 upright I. Meanwhile the courtiers held their 
 sides and screamed, and the tears came into their 
 eyes ; but the Princess yawned like a pretty little 
 trout out of water ! She did not see what there 
 was to laugh at ! 
 
 Besides, if she had laughed, perhaps they would 
 have made her marry a man with a hump upon his 
 back, or two wooden legs and a glass eye. 
 
41 
 
 The fun was over, the King got up, the courtiers 
 all rose, when past came Johnny and the golden 
 goose and all his company. 
 
 Now when the Princess beheld our Johnny, 
 and the landlord's three daughters, and the fat 
 Vicar, and the thin Beadle, and the two Curates, 
 and the Organist, the violin-player, the man with 
 the cornet, and all the wicked little choir-boys, all 
 stuck fast together, and all treading on each other's 
 heels, she fell into such convulsions of laughter 
 that she dropped into the Queen's arms, and 
 chuckled till she was nearly dead. 
 
 The King, wild with delight, threw his royal 
 
 arms around the neck of our Johnny, shouting, 
 
 'Take her, you dog ; she is yours, my bonny boy !' 
 
 and all the courtiers, falling on each other's breasts, 
 
 cried 
 
 Hooray, hooray. 
 She's laughed to-day ! 
 
 
42 
 
 But our Johnny moved on, quite grave, to the 
 altar of Saint Calixtus, and there he laid the 
 golden goose, after which all the people who 
 followed him were able to get free. The charnj 
 was broken. 
 
 Next day was the marriage. They ate a whole 
 
 
 fili 
 
43 
 
 flock of roast geese from Hergnies, and they drank 
 two vats of the local beer. In short, merrier times 
 never were, in all the merry country of Flanders, 
 where the beer is so excellent. 
 
 .>^^\ 
 
 M: 
 
 
 
^5 
 
 FTER the King died, Johnny 
 succeeded to the vacant 
 throne, and the Chronicles 
 report that he did not 
 govern less wisely than 
 other monarchs, prime 
 ministers, and politicians 
 generally, before or since. 
 The people of his own good town of Valen- 
 
 ciennes had a statue made of Johnny Nut, in 
 walnut-wood, and a statue of his wife, and there 
 
 I * 
 
 
 / 
 
 I ' 
 
 % 
 
45 
 
 they stand on a tower, and strike time on the big 
 clock ; so you see this story is quite true. Do not 
 you beHeve any learned man who tells you that 
 Johnny is the Sun, and that the Goose is the Sun, 
 and that the Passing Belle is the Moon, or nonsense 
 of that kind, which, my dear children, is far too 
 common ! 
 
 Moral. 
 
 I think the Moral is that we should always be 
 kind to animals, respectful to Old Age, and, above 
 all, that we should be Easily Amused. 
 
 c\y 
 
 y0/"\ 
 
 '<!'. 
 
 Spoitiswoodc &^ Co., Printers, New-street Square, London.