Mother Goose in Prose | Page 4

to while away the time, watching the
sparrows skim over the fields, and enjoying to the full the unusual
sights that met his eyes. At noon he overtook a carter, who divided with
the boy his luncheon of bread and cheese, and for supper a farmer's
wife gave him a bowl of milk. When it grew dark he crawled under a

hedge and slept soundly until dawn.
The next day he kept steadily upon his way, and toward evening met a
farmer with a wagon loaded with sacks of grain.
"Where are you going, my lad?" asked the man.
"To London," replied Gilligren, "to see the King crowned."
"Have you any money?" enquired the farmer.
"Oh yes," answered Gilligren, "I have a sixpence."
"If you will give me the sixpence," said the man, "I will give you a sack
of rye for it."
"What could I do with a sack of rye?" asked Gilligren, wonderingly.
"Take it to the mill, and get it ground into flour. With the flour you
could have bread baked, and that you can sell."
"That is a good idea," replied Gilligren, "so here is my sixpence, and
now give me the sack of rye."
The farmer put the sixpence carefully into his pocket, and then reached
under the seat of the wagon and drew out a sack, which he cast on the
ground at the boy's feet.
"There is your sack of rye," he said, with a laugh.
"But the sack is empty!" remonstrated Gilligren.
"Oh, no; there is some rye in it."
"But only a handful!" said Gilligren, when he had opened the mouth of
the sack and gazed within it.
"It is a sack of rye, nevertheless," replied the wicked farmer, "and I did
not say how much rye there would be in the sack I would give you. Let

this be a lesson to you never again to buy grain without looking into the
sack!" and with that he whipped up his horses and left Gilligren
standing in the road with the sack at his feet and nearly ready to cry at
his loss.
"My sixpence is gone," he said to himself, "and I have received nothing
in exchange but a handful of rye! How can I make my fortune with
that?"
He did not despair, however, but picked up the sack and continued his
way along the dusty road. Soon it became too dark to travel farther, and
Gilligren stepped aside into a meadow, where, lying down upon the
sweet grass, he rolled the sack into a pillow for his head and prepared
to sleep.
The rye that was within the sack, however, hurt his head, and he sat up
and opened the sack.
"Why should I keep a handful of rye?" he thought, "It will be of no
value to me at all."
So he threw out the rye upon the ground, and rolling up the sack again
for a pillow, was soon sound asleep. When he awoke the sun was
shining brightly over his head and the twitter and chirping of many
birds fell upon his ears. Gilligren opened his eyes and saw a large flock
of blackbirds feeding upon the rye he had scattered upon the ground. So
intent were they upon their feast they never noticed Gilligren at all.
He carefully unfolded the sack, and spreading wide its opening threw it
quickly over the flock of black birds. Some escaped and flew away, but
a great many were caught, and Gilligren put his eye to the sack and
found he had captured four and twenty. He tied the mouth of the sack
with a piece of twine that was in his pocket, and then threw the sack
over his shoulder and began again his journey to London.
"I have made a good exchange, after all," he thought, "for surely four
and twenty blackbirds are worth more than a handful of rye, and
perhaps even more than a sixpence, if I can find anyone who wishes to

buy them."
He now walked rapidly forward, and about noon entered the great city
of London.
Gilligren wandered about the streets until he came to the King's palace,
where there was a great concourse of people and many guards to keep
intruders from the gates.
Seeing he could not enter from the front, the boy walked around to the
rear of the palace and found himself near the royal kitchen, where the
cooks and other servants were rushing around to hasten the preparation
of the King's dinner.
Gilligren sat down upon a stone where he could watch them, and laying
the sack at his feet was soon deeply interested in the strange sight.
Presently a servant in the King's livery saw him and came to his side.
"What are you doing here?" he asked,