A NANNY-GOAT and a Tigress were near neighbours in a certain wood, and
fast friends to boot. The Tigress had two tiger-cubs; and the family of
the Nanny-goat were four frolicksome kids, named Roley, Poley, Skipster,
and Jumpster.
But the Tigress was jealous of her friend the Nanny-goat, because Nanny
had four young ones, while she had only two. One day, as she was musing
on the injustice of her fate, she thought to herself, "What if I eat up
two of Nanny's kids, and then things will be equal? They do say, friends
have all things in common." So to Nanny-goat she hied, and said she--
"Sister Nanny, my little ones have gone out, and I am very lonely at
home. Do let one of your dear kiddies come and sleep with me, for
company. Will you, please?"
"Gladly will I, sister," said honest Nanny-goat, thinking no evil of her
friend. Then she ran out to the fields, where Roley and Poley were
rolling over each other, and Jumpster was jumping over the back of
Skipster.
"Children, children!" said Nanny-goat, "a treat for you! A kind friend
has asked one of you out to spend the night."
"Baa baa baa!" cried the Kids, running up; and then three of them called
out all together, dancing about old Nanny, "Let me go! Let me go! Let me
go!" But the fourth, who was a wise little imp (and Roley it was, to be
sure), asked in a quiet tone, "Who is it, Mammy Nanny-goat?"
"Why, who should it be but your Aunt Yellowstripe?" said Nanny.
At this they all looked rather crestfallen; for although Nanny-goat
loved her friend dearly, all the youngsters were afraid of her, for what
reason they could not say. Children have a way of finding out their
friends; and these Kids had noticed at times a gleam in the eyes of
Auntie Yellowstripe, which boded ill to little Kids.
"No-o, thank you, Mammy Nanny-goat," said Skipster, skipping away.
"No-o-o, thank you, Mammy," said Jumpster, and jumped after her.
"No-o-o-o, thank you," said Poley, and rolled away by himself.
Why did Poley roll away by himself? Because Roley stayed behind. Roley
did not say No, thank you; on the contrary, he said Yes. Why Roley said
yes instead of no, was his own concern; and I think Roley knew what he
was about.
This was how Roley went with the Tigress; and that night the Tigress put
him to sleep by her side. She cuddled him up, and made a great fuss of
him, thinking to herself, "Soft words cost nothing; and when he is fast
asleep, we shall see what we shall see."
But Roley was no such fool as the Tigress thought him. So he did not go
to sleep, but only pretended; and no sooner did Dame Yellowstripe begin
to snore, than up jumps Roley, as soft as you please, and fetches out
one of Yellowstripe's own cubs, who were sleeping away at the back of
the cave. He laid the cub in his own place, and went into the corner to
sleep with the other cub.
About midnight the Tigress awoke, and as she felt the warm little thing
nestling beside her, she chuckled to herself. Then she gave him one tap
with her mighty paw; crack! went his neck, and his dancing days were
over; the Tigress gobbled him up, skin, bones, and teeth. It was pitch
dark, you know, and she could not see that she was eating her own cub.
"One less of the brood now," thought the Tigress; turned over, and went
to sleep again.
Next morning, they all woke up; and Yellowstripe, to her dismay, saw
that Roley was rolling about, right as a trivet. She looked round for
her own cubs, and lo and behold! one was missing. At first she could not
make it out in the least; but when it dawned upon her what had happened,
she nearly turned yellow all over with rage and disappointment.
"Did you have a good night, Roley dear?" said she in a wheedling tone to
the Kid.
"Oh yes, Auntie," said the little Kid, "only a gnat bit me."
This astonished the Tigress, who thought that the Kid must be stronger
than he appeared to be. "Never mind," said she to herself; "come
to-night, we shall see what we shall see."
That night all went as before; only this time Roley put a huge stone in
his place, and then he ran off as fast as his legs could carry him. When
the Tigress awoke, she gave a pat to the stone: it hurt her paw sadly.
"Good heavens," said she, "what a mighty Kid it is, to be sure! I must
make short work of him now I have the chance, or there is no knowing
what may happen. When he grows up, he may kill me." So she gave a fierce
bite at the stone, and broke all her front teeth.
Now the Tigress' fury knew no bounds. She went raging about the cave,
hunting in every corner for Roley; but Roley was not to be found,
because, as I have told you, he was not there. So the Tigress was forced
to wait until morning for her revenge.
All night long the Tigress lay awake with the pain of her teeth; and
when morning came, she sought out a familiar friend to take counsel
with. This friend was an old one-eyed Tiger. The Tigress and the
one-eyed Tiger talked for a long time together, and as they talked they
walked. When they came to the end of their talk, their walk was also at
an end, and they found themselves at the mouth of Yellowstripe's den.
There in the den, as calm as you please, playing with the one remaining
Tiger cub, was Roley.
"Ha ha," laughed One-eye, "so there you are. Let us sit down, and I will
tell you a story."
"Do, do, Nuncle One-eye," cried Roley.
So they all sat down, and One-eye began. "When I eat little Kids," said
One-eye, "four of them make me a mouthful; and I'm coming one of these
days to make one mouthful of you and your brother and sisters."
"Capital, capital, Nuncle One-eye!" said Roley, clapping his paws;
"what good stories you do tell, Nuncle One-eye! Now I'll tell you a
story. When you come to eat us up, Skipster will hold you by the
forelegs, and Jumpster will hold you by the hind legs, and Poley will
hold your head, and Roley will chop it off, if only mother will give us
a light."
This terrified One-eye extremely, for he was a great coward. He thought
it all as true as gospel, so he took to his heels, and left Yellowstripe
in the lurch.
On the way, he met six other Tigers, friends of his. "Oh my friends!"
said he, "I have such a treat for you! A fine fat Kid, crying out to be
killed! Come along, come along, I'll show you the way, and all I ask is
the pleasure of serving you." Cunning old One-eye!
The six Tigers believed all that One-eye said, and away they all trotted
together towards the place where Roley lived. They knew he would go home
sooner or later; and indeed he was there already, and saw them coming,
so he climbed up a tree. Goats are wonderfully good at climbing rocks,
but I think most of them cannot climb trees; still, whatever may be true
of other goats, Roley could. If it were not so, this story would never
have been written. So Roley climbed up a tree, and sat on a branch, with
his legs all dangling in the air.
The first Tiger gave a jump, and missed him. Number two gave a jump, and
missed him. They all jumped, one after another, and not one of them
could touch Roley; who sat and laughed at them so heartily, that he
nearly fell off his perch.
At last, when they were tired of jumping, and jumping, up gets old
One-eye, and says, "I know how to get at him. I'll stand here, and you
get on my back, and then the rest of you one a-top of another, and then
we shall catch him nicely." They all thought this an excellent idea; so
One-eye propped his old carcass against the tree, and the other Tigers
mounted one on another's shoulders, until there they were, all seven in
a pyramid. Then the topmost Tiger stretched out his paw, and all but got
hold of Roley.
Thereupon One-eye cocked up his solitary eye, to see how things were
going on up aloft; and seeing this, Roley called out--
"Mother, give me a lump of mud, and I'll hit the brute in his sound eye,
and then we will finish him off."
When One-eye heard this, he gave a great start, and
down toppled the whole seven in a heap, one a-top of
the next, spitting and roaring and scratching. They
were so much taken aback, that they imagined all sorts
of powerful beasts to be fighting with them, when it was
only their own selves, biting each other; and the
end of all was, that as soon as the seven Tigers
had each got his four legs to himself, off
they went helter-skelter into the forest,
and never more troubled Mammy
Nanny-goat and her four
frolicsome
Kids.