The Fairy Ring
Copyright© 2024 by Kate Douglas Wiggin
The Table, the Ass, and the Stick
ONCE upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a Tailor and his three sons; but they only had one Goat, which, as it had to give milk enough for all, had to feed well every day. The sons had to lead it to pasture in turns, and one morning, when it was the turn of the eldest, he took it into the churchyard, where grew the richest grass, and let it eat its fill. In the evening, when it was time to return, he said:
“Goat, have you eaten well?”
And the Goat answered:
“‘Tis said that enough is as good as a feast,
And I’ve had enough for a wise little beast.”
“Then we will go home,” said the youth; and he led the Goat home by its halter, and tied it up in the stable for the night.
“Well,” said the Tailor, “has the Goat eaten well?”
“It has eaten as much as it can,” answered the boy.
But the father wanted to make sure; so he went into the stable and stroked the Goat, saying:
“Goat, have you eaten well?”
The wicked Goat replied:
“How can I have eaten well?
I wandered where the dead lie,
But nothing found to feed upon.”
“What do you say?” cried the Tailor, and running in to his son he cried, “Oh, you wicked boy! you told me the Goat had eaten well, and I find him shivering in the stable almost famished!” and, seizing his yard measure, he chased the boy out of the house in great wrath.
The next day it was the second son’s turn, and he chose a place under the hedge in the garden where there grew some fine rich grass, which the Goat was not long in eating up completely. When the evening came, and it was time to go home, this lad, too, asked the Goat if it had had enough, and it answered as before:
“‘Tis said that enough is as good as a feast,
And I’ve had enough for a wise little beast.”
“Then we will go home,” said the boy, and he took it to the stable and tied it up. When he went into the house, the Tailor met him, and asked him:
“Has the Goat eaten well?”
“It has eaten as much as it can,” answered his son.
But the Tailor would make sure for all that, and nothing would satisfy him but that he should go to the stable and ask the Goat for himself.
“How can I have eaten well?
I roamed all day along the hedge,
And nothing found to feed upon,”
answered the Goat.
“You bad rascal, to starve such a splendid animal!” cried the Tailor, running back to the house and catching up his yard measure. Then with cuffs and blows he chased his second son out of the house.
The next day it was the third boy’s turn, and he found a spot where there was some lovely young grass; and when it was time to go home, he asked the Goat the same question, and obtained the same answer:
“‘Tis said that enough is as good as a feast,
And I’ve had enough for a wise little beast.”
So the lad led the Goat home, and he put it in the stable; and soon the Tailor came and asked if the Goat had had enough.
“Yes,” replied the boy.
But the old man would go and make sure for all that.
“How can I have eaten well?
I sought all day among the leaves,
And nothing found to feed upon,”
was the wicked Goat’s answer.
“The scamp!” cried the Tailor in a fury; “he is as bad as the others, and out he shall go!” and he drove the poor boy out with the yard measure, dealing him fearful blows.
Now the Tailor was left alone to look after the Goat, and next day he went to it and said:
“Come, pretty creature, I will take you myself to pasture,” and he took it to the lettuce bed, and there it fed all day. When night came he asked it, as the boys had done, if it had eaten well, and it said:
“‘Tis said that enough is as good as a feast,
And I’ve had enough for a wise little beast.”
So they went home, and he put it in the stable; but as he was going, he said once more:
“Goat, have you eaten well?”
The wicked animal, not thinking for the moment to whom he was replying, answered with the usual complaint:
“How can I have eaten well?
I only frisked about the bed,
And nothing found to feed upon.”
When the old man heard this he was horrified, for he saw at once how things had stood all the time, and that he had driven his boys away for no reason whatever.
“Oh, you brute!” he said. “You, too, shall be driven out; and I will take care that you never dare to appear among honest tailors again.”
So he rushed into the house for his razor, and shaved the Goat’s head as smooth as your face; and because the yard measure was too good to use upon him, he fetched his whip and gave the Goat such a sound thrashing that it was only too glad to scamper out of the stable and make off as fast as its legs could carry it.
When the Tailor returned into his house he was overcome with sorrow for the three sons whom he had driven from home, and who were wandering no one knew where.
However, the eldest boy had apprenticed himself to a carpenter, and he worked with him well and merrily till his time was out. Then his master gave him a table, which, though it looked only like an ordinary common wooden one, yet if its owner stood before it and said, “Table, Table, spread yourself,” it at once became covered with all sorts of good things, meat and wine and everything necessary for a splendid meal.
“Now I shall never want again,” the young man said to himself, and he went on journeying merrily, never troubling himself whether his lodging was good or bad, or whether there was anything to eat or not.
Sometimes he did not go to an inn at all, but just stopped where he was, under a hedge or in a wood, and there he would put down his table and cry, “Table, Table, spread yourself,” and then in the twinkle of an eye he had before him as much as he liked to eat and drink.
One day he made up his mind to turn his steps homeward, as his father’s anger, he knew, was sure to have died down by then, and they could live very comfortably together with his lucky table. It happened that one evening he came to an inn that was full of people, who invited him to eat in their company.
“No, not a mouthful, unless you consent to be my guests,” answered the boy.
The people of course laughed, and thought he was joking; but their mirth soon changed to wonder when he set down his table in their midst, and saw that at his command, “Table, Table, spread yourself,” it at once covered itself with all sorts of delicious things, quite as good as the host could have given them, and smelling very tempting to the hungry guests.
“Pray be seated, friends,” said the Carpenter cheerily; and the people, seeing he really meant it, sat down at once and began to ply their knives and forks very merrily.
The thing that surprised them the most was, that whenever they emptied one dish, another full one always appeared immediately in its place; and the innkeeper, who was looking on, said to himself, “My friend, you could do very well with such a table as that in your own kitchen”; but he kept his own counsel. The guests sat up very late that night, but at last they went to bed. The Carpenter lay down, too, with his magic table beside him.
Now the landlord couldn’t get to sleep that night at all for thinking and wishing, till suddenly he remembered that in the lumber room there was a table that he didn’t use, and which was as like the one he coveted as two pins. Breathlessly and very cautiously he made his way to the garret and fetched it, and put it beside the lad’s bed in place of the lucky table, which he carried away and hid in a safe place. The next day the Carpenter paid for his lodging and went on his way, not noticing any difference in the table, which he hoisted on his back. At midday he reached his home, and his father was overjoyed to see him.
“Well, my dear boy,” said the old man, “what have you been doing all these months?”
“I have been apprenticed to a carpenter,” answered the lad.
“And a very good trade, too; and what have you brought home with you?”
“The most wonderful thing I ever set eyes on,” said his son, setting down the table.
“Uhm! I don’t think much of that; it looks a very common piece of furniture,” said the father, looking at it all around.
“But,” cried the boy, “it is a magic table, and when I say, ‘Table, Table, spread yourself,’ it is at once covered with good things, which will make your mouth water. Invite all our friends in, and you will see what a feast there will be.”
When the guests had all arrived, he fetched his table, and placing it in the middle of the room, he commanded it to spread itself. But the table remained just like any other table, which takes no notice when you speak to it; and the poor lad saw at once that somebody had robbed him. Of course the guests thought he was an impostor and laughed at him, and went home without any feast, to the poor Carpenter’s shame. So the Tailor had to take up his needle again and stitch away as fast as ever, and the boy had to leave home again and work for another carpenter.
Meantime, the second son had taken service with a miller, and when he had learned everything, his master said:
“Because you have worked for me faithfully I will give you this ass, which, though it can neither draw nor carry, is a clever beast, nevertheless.”
“What can it do, then?” said the boy.
“Why, if you only pat it and cry ‘Bricklebit,’ gold will drop out of its mouth like potatoes into a sack,” replied the Miller.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.