The Story of Little Black Sambo / The Story of Little Black Mingo | Page 5

all have pancakes for supper!"
So she got flour and eggs and milk and sugar and butter, and she made
a huge big plate of most lovely pancakes. And she fried them in the
melted butter which the Tigers had made, and they were just as yellow
and brown as little Tigers.
And then they all sat down to supper. And Black Mumbo ate
Twenty-seven pancakes, and Black Jumbo ate Fifty-five but Little
Black Sambo ate a Hundred and Sixty-nine, because he was so hungry.

The Story of Little Black Mingo By Helen Bannerman

Once upon a time there was a little black girl, and her name was Little
Black Mingo.
She had no father and mother, so she had to live with a horrid cross old
woman called Black Noggy, who used to scold her every day, and
sometimes beat her with a stick, even though she had done nothing
naughty.
One day Black Noggy called her, and said, "Take this chatty {ed. A
chatty is a large ceramic vase used to carry water.} down to the river
and fill it with water, and come back as fast as you can, QUICK
NOW!"
So Little Black Mingo took the chatty and ran down to the river as fast
as she could, and began to fill it with water, when Cr-r-rrrack!!! Bang!!!
A horrible big Mugger {ed. A Mugger is an alligator like creature.}
poked its nose up through the bottom of the chatty and said "Ha, ha!!
Little Mingo, I'm going to eat you up!"
Little Black Mingo did not say anything. She turned and ran away as
fast as ever she could, and the Mugger ran after her. But the broken
chatty round his neck caught his paws, so he could not overtake her.
But when she got back to Black Noggy, and told her how the Mugger
had broken the chatty, Black Noggy was fearfully angry. "You naughty
girl," she said, "you have broken the chatty yourself, I have a good
mind to beat you." And if she had not been in such a hurry for the water
she WOULD have beaten her.
Then she went and fetched the great big chatty that the dhobi used to
boil the clothes in. "Take this," said she, "and mind you don't break it,
or I WILL beat you."
"But I can't carry that when it is full of water," said Little Black Mingo.
"You must go twice, and bring it half full each time," said Black
Noggy.
So Little Black Mingo took the dhobi's great big chatty, and started
again to go to the river. But first she went to a little bank above the
river, and peeped up and down, to see if she could see the old Mugger
anywhere. But she could not see him, for he was hiding under the very
bank she was standing on, and though his tail stuck out a little she
never saw him at all.

She would have liked to run home, but she was too much afraid that
Black Noggy would beat her.
So Little Black Mingo crept down to the river, and began to fill the big
chatty with water. And while she was filling it the Mugger came
creeping softly down behind her and caught her by the tail, saying,
"Aha, Little Black Mingo, now I've got you."
And Little Black Mingo said, "Oh! Please don't eat me up, great big
Mugger."
"What will you give me, if I don't eat you up?" said the Mugger. But
Little Black Mingo was so poor she had nothing to give. So the Mugger
caught her in his great cruel mouth and swam away with her to an
island in the middle of the river and set her down beside a huge pile of
eggs.
"Those are my eggs," said he; "to-morrow a little mugger will come out
of each, and then we will have a great feast, and we will eat you up."
Then he waddled off to catch fish for himself, and left Little Black
Mingo alone beside the big pile of eggs.
And Little Black Mingo sat down on a big stone and hid her face in her
hands, and cried bitterly, because she couldn't swim and she didn't
know how to get away.
Presently she heard a queer little squeaky noise that sounded like
"Squeak, Squeak, Squeak!!! Oh Little Black Mingo, help me or I shall
be drowned." She got up and looked to see what was calling, and she
saw a bush coming floating down the river with something wriggling
and scrambling about in it, and as it came near she saw that it was a
Mongoose that was in the bush. So she waded out as far as she could,
and caught hold of the bush