Scrapefoot
Once
upon a time, there were three Bears who lived in a castle in a great
wood. One of them was a great big Bear, and one was a middling Bear,
and one was a little Bear. And in the same wood there was a Fox who
lived all alone, his name was Scrapefoot. Scrapefoot was very much
afraid of the Bears, but for all that he wanted very much to know all
about them. And one day as he went through the wood he found himself
near the Bears' Castle, and he wondered whether he could get into the
castle. He looked all about him everywhere, and he could not see any
one. So he came up very quietly, till at last he came up to the door of
the castle, and he tried whether he could open it. Yes! the door was
not locked, and he opened it just a little way, and put his nose in and
looked, and he could not see any one. So then he opened it a little way
farther, and put one paw in, and then another paw, and another and
another, and then he was all in the Bears' Castle. He found he was in a
great hall with three chairs in it—one big, one middling, and one
little chair; and he thought he would like to sit down and rest and
look about him; so he sat down on the big chair. But he found it so
hard and uncomfortable that it made his bones ache, and he jumped down
at once and got into the middling chair, and he turned round and round
in it, but he couldn't make himself comfortable. So then he went to the
little chair and sat down in it, and it was so soft and warm and
comfortable that Scrapefoot was quite happy; but all at once it broke
to pieces under him and he couldn't put it together again! So he got up
and began to look about him again, and on one table he saw three
saucers, of which one was very big, one was middling, one was quite a
little saucer. Scrapefoot was very thirsty, and he began to drink out
of the big saucer. But he only just tasted the milk in the big saucer,
which was so sour and so nasty that he would not taste another drop of
it. Then he tried the middling saucer, and he drank a little of that.
He tried two or three mouthfuls, but it was not nice, and then he left
it and went to the little saucer, and the milk in the little saucer was
so sweet and so nice that he went on drinking it till it was all gone.
Then
Scrapefoot thought he would like to go upstairs; and he listened and he
could not hear any one. So upstairs he went, and he found a great room
with three beds in it; one was a big bed, and one was a middling bed,
and one was a little white bed; and he climbed up into the big bed, but
it was so hard and lumpy and uncomfortable that he jumped down again at
once, and tried the middling bed. That was rather better, but he could
not get comfortably in it, so after turning about a little while he got
up and went to the little bed; and that was so soft and so warm and so
nice that he fell fast asleep at once.
And after a time the
Bears came home, and when they got into the hall the big Bear went to
his chair and said, "WHO'S BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR?" and the middling
Bear said, "WHO'S BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR?" and the little Bear said,
"Who's been sitting in my chair and has broken it all to pieces?" And
then they went to have their milk, and the big Bear said, "WHO'S BEEN
DRINKING MY MILK?" and the middling Bear said, "WHO'S BEEN DRINKING MY
MILK?" and the little Bear said, "Who's been drinking my milk and has
drunk it all up?" Then they went upstairs and into the bedroom, and the
big Bear said, "WHO'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED?" and the middling Bear
said, "WHO'S BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED?" and the little Bear said, "Who's
been sleeping in my bed?—and see here he is!" So then the Bears came
and wondered what they should do with him; and the big Bear said,
"Let's hang him!" and then the middling Bear said, "Let's drown him!"
and then the little Bear said, "Let's throw him out of the window." And
then the Bears took him to the window, and the big Bear took two legs
on one side and the middling Bear took two legs on the other side, and
they swung him backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, and out
of the window. Poor Scrapefoot was so frightened, and he thought every
bone in his body must be broken. But he got up and first shook one
leg—no, that was not broken; and then another, and that was not broken;
and another and another, and then he wagged his tail and found there
were no bones broken. So then he galloped off home as fast as he could
go, and never went near the Bears' Castle again.
| All English Fairy Tales
THE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK
JACK THE GIANT-KILLER
THE PIED PIPER OF FRANCHVILLE
THE STORY OF THE THREE BEARS
TOM TIT TOT
THE THREE SILLIES
THE ROSE-TREE
THE OLD WOMAN AND HER PIG
HOW JACK WENT TO SEEK HIS FORTUNE
MR. VINEGAR
NIX NOUGHT NOTHING
JACK HANNAFORD
BINNORIE
MOUSE AND MOUSER
CAP O' RUSHES
TEENY-TINY
THE MASTER AND HIS PUPIL
TITTY MOUSE ND TATTY MOUSE
JACK AND HIS GOLDEN SNUFF-BOX
HENNY-PENNY
CHILDE ROWLAND
MOLLY WHUPPIE
THE RED ETTIN
MASTER OF ALL MASTERS.
THE GOLDEN ARM
THE HISTORY OF TOM THUMB
MR. FOX
LAZY JACK
JOHNNY-CAKE
EARL MAR'S DAUGHTER
MR. MIACCA
WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT
THE STRANGE VISITOR
THE LAIDLY WORM OF SPINDLESTON HEUGH
THE CAT AND THE MOUSE.
THE FISH AND THE RING.
THE MAGPIE'S NEST
KATE CRACKERNUTS
THE CAULD LAD OF HILTON
THE ASS, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK
FAIRY OINTMENT
THE WELL OF THE WORLD'S END.
THE THREE HEADS OF THE WELL |
