One summer evening as
she was trotting away homewards, she came upon a big black pot lying at the
side of the road. “Now that,” said she, stopping to look at it, “would be just
the very thing for me if I had anything to put into it! But who can have left
it here?” She looked round about, as if the person it belonged to must not be
far off, but she could see no one.
“Maybe it’ll have a
hole in it,” she said thoughtfully. “Ay, that’ll be how they’ve left it lying,
hinny. But then it’ll do fine to put a flower in for the window. I’m thinking
I’ll just take it home.” She bent her stiff old back and lifted the lid to look
inside.
“Mercy me!” she cried,
and jumped back to the other side of the road, “if it isn’t brim full o’ gold
pieces!” For a while, she could do nothing but walk round and round her
treasure, admiring the yellow gold and wondering at her good luck, and saying
to herself every two minutes, “Well, I do be feeling rich and grand!” But
presently, she began to think how she could best take it home with her, and she
couldn’t see any other way than by fastening one end of her shawl to it and
dragging it after her along the road.
“It’ll certainly be
soon dark,” she said to herself, “and folk’ll not see what I’m bringing home
with me and so I’ll have all night to myself to think what I’ll do with it. I
could buy a grand house and all and live like the Queen priest to keep for me,
and get a piece as I’m wanting; or maybe I’ll just bury it in a hole at the
garden-foot, and put a bit on the chimney, between the chiney teapot and the
spoons – for ornament like. Ah! I feel so grand. I don’t know myself rightly!”
By this time, being
already rather tired with dragging such a heavy weight after her, she stopped
to rest for a minute, turning to make sure her treasure was safe. But when she
looked at it, it wasn’t a pot of gold at all, but rather a great lump of
shining silver! She stared at it and rubbed her eyes and stared at it again.
She couldn’t make it look like anything but a great lump of silver. “I’d have
sworn it was a pot of gold,” she said at last, “but I reckon I must have been
dreaming. Ay, now, that’s a change for the better! It’ll be far less trouble to
look after and none so easy stolen. Yon gold pieces would have been a sight of
bother to keep ‘em safe. Ay, I’m well quit of them and with my bonny lump, I’m
as rich as rich!”
She set off homewards
again, cheerfully planning all the grand things she was going to do with her
money. It wasn’t long, however, before she got tired again and stopped once
more to rest for a minute or two. Again, she turned to look at her treasure and
as soon as she set eyes on it, she cried out in astonishment, “Oh, my!” said
she. “Now it’s a lump of iron! Well, that beats all, and it’s just real
convenient! I can sell it easy as easy and get a lot o’ penny pieces for it.
Ay, hinny, an’ it’s much handier than a lot o’yer gold and silver, as’d have
kept me from sleeping o’ nights thinking the neighbors were robbing me – an’
it’s a real good thing to have by you in a house, ye never can tell what ye
mightn’t use it for; an’ it’ll sell – ay, for a real lot. Rich? I’ll be just
rolling!”
And on she trotted,
chuckling to herself on her good luck, till presently she glanced over her
shoulder, “just to make sure it was there still,” as she said to herself. “Eh,
my!” she cried as soon as she saw it. “If it hasn’t gone and turned itself into
a great stone this time! Now, how could it have known that I was just terrible
wanting something to hold my door open with? Ay, if that isn’t a good change!
Hinny, it’s a fine thing to have such good luck.”
All in a hurry to see
how the stone would look in its corner by her door, she trotted off down the
hill and stopped at the foot, beside her own little gate. When she had
unlatched it, she turned to unfasten her shawl from the stone, which this time
seemed to lie unchanged and peaceably on the path beside her. There was still
plenty of light, and she could see the stone quite plainly as she bent her
stiff back over it to untie the shawl end, when, all of a sudden, it seemed to
give a jump and a squeal, and grew in a moment as big as a great horse! Then it
threw down four lanky legs and shook out two long ears, flourished a tail and
went off kicking its feet into the air and laughing like a naughty, mocking
boy.
The old woman stared after it till it was fairly
out of sight. “Well!” she said at last. “I do be the luckiest body hereabouts!
Fancy me seeing the Hedley Kow all to myself, and making so free of it, too! I
can tell you, I do feel that GRAND---“
And she went into the
cottage and sat down by the fire to think over her good luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment