Tales of Laughter by Kate Douglas Wiggin

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Title: Tales of Laughter
A third fairy book

Author: Kate Douglas Wiggin
Nora Archibald Smith

Release Date: May 16, 2017 [EBook #54734]

Language: English

Character set encoding: UTF-8

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LAUGH NOR SMILE NOT, LITTLE FRIEND,
NOR THE FIRST TALE READ TO END,
TILL YOUR NAME BELOW IS SHOWN,
AND THE BOOK’S YOUR VERY OWN.

Tales of Laughter

McCLURE’S LIBRARY OF CHILDREN’S CLASSICS

⁂

EDITED BY KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN AND NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH

GOLDEN NUMBERS

A BOOK OF VERSE FOR YOUTH

⁂

THE POSY RING

A BOOK OF VERSE FOR CHILDREN

⁂

PINAFORE PALACE

A BOOK OF RHYMES FOR THE NURSERY

⁂

Library of Fairy Literature

THE FAIRY RING

⁂

MAGIC CASEMENTS

A SECOND FAIRY BOOK

⁂

OTHER VOLUMES TO FOLLOW

Send to the publishers for Complete Descriptive Catalogue

Tales of Laughter
A THIRD FAIRY BOOK

EDITED BY

KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN

AND

NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH

NEW YORK

THE McCLURE COMPANY

MCMVIII

Copyright, 1908, by The McClure Company

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE

The McClure Company wish to make acknowledgment of their indebtedness to the following publishers:
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, for permission to use “The Greedy Cat,” “Father Bruin in the Corner,” “The Pancake,”
“The Death of Chanticleer,” “Reynard Wants to Taste Horse Flesh,” “Bruin and Reynard Partners,” “Pork and
Honey,” and “Slip Root: Catch Reynard’s Foot,” from Tales from the Field; “The Most Frugal of Men,” “The
Moon Cake,” “The Ladle that Fell from the Moon,” “The Young Head of the Family,” and “The Dreadful Boar,”
from Chinese Nights Entertainment.
The American Book Company, for permission to use “Little Tuppen,” from Fairy Stories and Fables.
Little, Brown & Company, for permission to use “The Story of the Four Little Children who Went Round the
World,” from Edward Lear’s Nonsense Books.
F. A. Stokes Company, for permission to use “Little Black Mingo,” “The Lad and the Fox,” “The Old Woman
and the Tramp,” “The Cook and the Crested Hen,” and “The Old Woman and the Fish,” from Fairy Tales from
the Swedish; “One’s Own Children Always Prettiest,” and “The Princess whom Nobody Could Silence,” from
Fairy Tales from the Far North.
F. Warne & Company, for permission to use “The Money Box,” “The Happy Family,” and “It is Quite True,”
from Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales.
J. B. Lippincott, for permission to use “Manabozho and His Toe,” from North American Indian Fairy Tales; “The
Three Wishes,” “If Heaven Will It,” and “The Fox and the Goose,” from Spanish Fairy Tales; “Hans in Luck,”
“The Fox and the Cat,” “The Fisherman and His Wife,” and “The Adventures of Chanticleer and Partlet,” from
Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
Charles Scribner’s Sons, for permission to use “The Fox and the Dove,” “The Fox and the Hedgehog,” “The
Disappointed Bear,” and “Young Neverfull,” from Russian Grandmother’s Wonder Stories.
George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., for permission to use “The Flail which Came from the Clouds,” “The Wren and
the Bear,” “The Wolf and the Fox,” “The Three Luck-Children,” “The Three Sluggards,” “The Cat and the
Mouse in Partnership,” “Old Sultan,” “The Shreds,” “The Fox and the Horse,” “The Seven Swabians,” “The
Giant and the Tailor,” and “The Little Shepherd Boy,” from Grimm’s Household Stories.
Joseph McDonough, for permission to use “How the Sun, the Moon and the Wind went out to Dinner,” “Singh
Rajah and the Cunning Little Jackals,” “The Blind Man, the Deaf Man and the Donkey,” “The Alligator and the
Jackal,” and “The Selfish Sparrow and the Houseless Crows,” from Old Deccan Days.
A. L. Burt & Company, for permission to use “Gudbrand on the Hillside” and “Nanny who Wouldn’t Go to
Supper,” from Fairy Tales from the Far North.

v

vi

A LAUGHING SONG

When the greenwoods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;

When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene;
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing “Ha, ha, he!”

When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread;
Come live and be merry and join with me
To sing the sweet chorus of “Ha, ha, he!”

William Blake.

vii

CONTENTS

PAGE

The Rats and their Son-in-Law (French)
3

The Mouse and the Sausage (French)
6

The Three Wishes (Spanish)
7

The Fox and the Goose (Spanish)
10

If Heaven Will It (Spanish)
12

The Booby (Italian)
14

The Months (Italian)
20

The Stone in the Cock’s Head (Italian)
25

The Fox and the Cat (Cossack)
30

The Straw Ox (Cossack)
32

The Cat, the Cock, and the Fox (Cossack)
36

The Fox and the Dove (Russian)
39

The Fox and the Hedgehog (Russian)
41

The Disappointed Bear (Russian)
43

Young Neverfull (Russian)
45

Hudden and Dudden and Donald O’Neary (Celtic)
47

The Tail (Celtic)
54

Jack and the King who was a Gentleman (Celtic)
55

Hans in Luck (German)
62

The Family Servants (German)
68

The Flail which came from the Clouds (German)
69

The Sole’s Mouth (German)
71

The Three Brothers (German)
72

The Wren and the Bear (German)
74

The Musicians of Bremen (German)
77

ix

The Fox and the Cat (German)
81

The Golden Key (German)
82

Doctor Know-All (German)
83

The Fair Catherine and Pif-Paf Poltrie (German)
86

The Wolf and the Fox (German)
88

Discreet Hans (German)
90

King Thrush-beard (German)
93

The Three Luck Children (German)
98

The Three Sluggards (German)
101

The Fisherman and his Wife (German)
102

The Nose-tree (German)
111

The Adventures of Chanticleer and Partlet (German)
118

The Golden Goose (German)
124

The Young Giant (German)
129

The Sweet Soup (German)
137

Seven at one Blow (German)
138

The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership (German)
146

Old Sultan (German)
149

The Nail (German)
152

The Fox and the Horse (German)
153

The Giant and the Tailor (German)
155

The Spider and the Flea (German)
157

The Little Shepherd Boy (German)
160

The Seven Swabians (German)
162

The Shreds (German)
165

The Wolf and the Seven Kids (German)
166

The Elves and the Shoemaker (German)
170

x

King Wren (German)
172

Why the Bear has a Stumpy Tail (German)
176

Three Ways to Build a House (German)
177

How to Tell a True Princess (German)
182

The Five Servants (German)
184

The Hare and the Fox (German)
191

The Story of Zirac (Oriental)
193

Johnny-Cake (English)
197

The Wee, Wee Mannie (Scottish)
200

Sir Gammer Vans (English)
203

Tom Tit Tot (English)
205

The Old Woman and her Pig (English)
211

The Story of the Three Little Pigs (English)
215

The Three Sillies (English)
218

The Cat and the Mouse (English)
222

Hereafterthis (English)
224

Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse (English)
228

The Magpie’s Nest (English)
231

Scrapefoot (English)
233

The Wise Men of Gotham (English)
236

Henny-Penny (English)
241

A Son of Adam (English)
244

The Happy Family (H. C. Andersen)
246

The Blind Man, the Deaf Man, and the Donkey (Southern India)
250

The Alligator and the Jackal (Southern India)
258

Why the Fish Laughed (Indian)
263

xi

The Selfish Sparrow and the Houseless Crows (Southern India)
269

The Lambikin (Indian)
271

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (Scandinavian)
274

The Greedy Cat (Scandinavian)
278

Well Done: Ill Paid (Scandinavian)
284

Reynard and Chanticleer (Scandinavian)
287

Father Bruin in the Corner (Scandinavian)
289

Why the Sea is Salt (Scandinavian)
291

Gudbrand on the Hillside (Scandinavian)
296

The Pancake (Scandinavian)
301

The Death of Chanticleer (Scandinavian)
305

Reynard Wants to Taste Horse-flesh (Scandinavian)
309

Bruin and Reynard Partners (Scandinavian)
311

Pork and Honey (Scandinavian)
312

How Reynard Outwitted Bruin (Scandinavian)
314

Nanny Who Wouldn’t Go Home to Supper (Scandinavian)
315

The Box With Something Pretty In It (Scandinavian)
321

The Farmer and the Troll (Scandinavian)
322

One’s Own Children Always Prettiest (Scandinavian)
323

The Princess Whom Nobody Could Silence (Scandinavian)
324

The Money-Box (H. C. Andersen)
328

The Darning-Needle (H. C. Andersen)
331

Master of All Masters (English)
335

Belling the Cat (English)
336

The Magpie and her Children (English)
338

The Cock, the Cuckoo, and the Black-cock (English)
339

The Race Between Hare and Hedgehog (English)
340

Bruno’s Story (Lewis Carroll)
344

The Bluebottle Who Went Courting (English)
346

How Two Beetles Took Lodgings (English)
351

Little Tuppen (Scandinavian)
358

The Story of the Four Little Children Who Went Round the World (Edward Lear)
361

The History of the Seven Families of the Lake Pipple-Popple (Edward Lear)
370

Wee Robin’s Yule-Song (Scottish)
380

The Giant’s Shoes (W. K. Clifford)
382

The Farmer and the Money-Lender (Indian)
385

How the Sun, the Moon, and the Wind Went Out to Dinner (Southern India)
388

Singh Rajah and the Cunning Little Jackals (Southern India)
390

Harisarman (Indian)
393

It Is Quite True (H. C. Andersen)
397

Manabozho and his Toe (North American Indian)
400

The Most Frugal of Men (Chinese)
401

The Moon-Cake (Chinese)
403

The Ladle that Fell from the Moon (Chinese)
404

The Young Head of the Family (Chinese)
407

A Dreadful Boar (Chinese)
412

The Old Man and the Devils (Japanese)
415

The Wonderful Tea-Kettle (Japanese)
417

The Wonderful Mallet (Japanese)
421

The Tongue-Cut Sparrow (Japanese)
425

Battle of the Monkey and the Crab (Japanese)
427

The Cub’s Triumph (Japanese)
429

The Silly Jelly-Fish (Japanese)
432

Chin-Chin Kobakama (Japanese)
435

xii

The Old Woman who Lost her Dumplings (Japanese)
438

The Three Goats (German)
442

The Fox Turned Shepherd (German)
444

The Seven Boys and the Monster (German)
446

The Story of Little Black Mingo (H. Bannerman)
452

The Cock and the Crested Hen (Swedish)
457

The Old Woman and the Fish (Swedish)
459

The Lad and the Fox (Swedish)
462

The Old Woman and the Tramp (Swedish)
463

Tales of Laughter

T

The Rats and their Son-in-Law

here once lived in Japan a rat and his wife, folk of noble race, who had one beautiful daughter. They were exceedingly
proud of her charms, and dreamed, as parents will, of the grand marriage she was sure to make in time. Proud of his

pure rodent blood, the father saw no son-in-law more to be desired than a young rat of ancient lineage, whose attentions
to his daughter were very marked. This match, however, brilliant as it was, seemed not to the mother’s taste. Like many
people who think themselves made out of special clay, she had a very poor opinion of her own kind, and was ambitious
for an alliance with the highest circles. Ad astra! (To the stars!) was her motto, she always said, and really, when one has a
daughter of incomparable beauty, one may well hope for an equally incomparable son-in-law.
“Address yourself to the sun at once, then,” cried the impatient father one day; “there is nothing above him, surely.”
“Quite so; I had already thought of it,” she answered, “and since you, too, are in sympathy with the idea, we will make our
call to-morrow.”
So, on the following morning the proud father and the haughty mother-rat went together to present their lovely daughter to
the orb of day.
“Lord Sun,” said the mother, “let me present our only daughter, who is so beautiful that there is nothing like her in the
whole world. Naturally we desire a son-in-law as wonderful as she, and, as you see, we have come to you first of all.”
“Really,” said the sun, “I am extremely flattered by your proposal, but you do me too much honor; there is some one
greater than I; it is the cloud. Look, if you do not believe.” ... And at that moment the cloud arrived, and with one waft of
his folds extinguished the sun with all his golden rays.
“Very well; let us speak to the cloud, then,” said the mother-rat, not in the least disconcerted.
“Immensely honored, I am sure,” replied the cloud in his turn, “but you are again mistaken; there is some one greater than
I; it is the wind. You shall see.”
At the same moment along came the wind, and with one blow swept the cloud out of sight, after which, overturning father,
mother, and daughter, he tumbled with them, pell-mell, at the foot of an old wall.
“Quick, quick,” cried the mother-rat, struggling to her feet, “and let us repeat our compliments to the wind.”
“You’d better address yourself to the wall,” growled the wind roughly. “You see very well he is greater than I, for he stops
me and makes me draw back.”
No sooner had she heard these words than mother-rat faced about and presented her daughter to the wall. Ah, but now
the fair rat-maiden imitated the wind; she drew back also. He whom she really adored in her heart of hearts was the
fascinating young rat who had paid his court to her so well. However, to please her mother, she had consented to wed the
sun, in spite of his blinding rays, or the cloud, in spite of his sulky look, even the wind, in spite of his brusque manner; but
an old, broken wall!... No! death would be better a thousand times.
Fortunately the wall excused himself, like all the rest. “Certainly,” he said, “I can stop the wind, who can sweep away the
cloud, who can cover up the sun, but there is some one greater than I: it is the rat, who can pass through my body, and can
even, if he chooses, reduce me to powder with his teeth. Believe me, you need seek no better son-in-law; greater than the
rat, there is nothing in the world.”
“Do you hear that, wife, do you hear it?” cried father-rat in triumph. “Didn’t I always say so?”
“Quite true! you always did,” returned the mother-rat in wonder, and suddenly glowed with pride in her ancient name and
lineage.
So they all three went home, very happy and contented, and on the morrow the lovely rat-maiden married her faithful rat-
lover.

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