Patty the Milkmaid was going to market carrying her milk in a Pail on
her head. As she went along she began calculating what she would do
with the money she would get for the milk. “I’ll buy some fowls from
Farmer Brown,” said she, “and they will lay eggs each morning, which I
will sell to the parson’s wife. With the money that I get from the sale
of these eggs I’ll buy myself a new dimity frock and a chip hat; and
when I go to market, won’t all the young men come up and speak to me!
Polly Shaw will be that jealous; but I don’t care. I shall just look at
her and toss my head like this. As she spoke she tossed her head back,
the Pail fell off it, and all the milk was spilt. So she had to go home
and tell her mother what had occurred.
“Ah, my child,” said the mother,
“Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.”