Speaker 1: Tatter Coats written by Flora Annie Steele. In a great
Speaker 1: palace by the sea, there lived a very rich old lord.
Speaker 1: Old Lord neither had wife nor children alive, but only
Speaker 1: one little granddaughter, whose face he had never seen in
Speaker 1: all her life. Old Lord didn't like his granddaughter much
Speaker 1: because at her birth his favorite daughter died. So he
Speaker 1: turned his back and sat by his window looking out
Speaker 1: over the sea. He kept on weeping for his lost
Speaker 1: daughter till his white hair and beard grew down over
Speaker 1: his shoulders and twined round his chair and crept into
Speaker 1: the chins of the floor. His tears dropped and ran
Speaker 1: away in a little river to the great sea. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: his granddaughter grew up with no one to care for
Speaker 1: her except an old nurse who would sometimes give her
Speaker 1: a dish of scraps from the kitchen or a torn
Speaker 1: petticoat from the rag back, while the other servants of
Speaker 1: the palace would drive her from the house with blows
Speaker 1: and mocking words, calling her tatter coats and pointing to
Speaker 1: her bare feet and shoulders, till she ran away, crying
Speaker 1: to hide among the bushes. So she grew up with
Speaker 1: little to eat or to wear, spending her days out
Speaker 1: of doors. Her only companion was a crippled goose herd.
Speaker 1: The goose herd was a mere little chap and when
Speaker 1: she was hungry or cold or tired, he would play
Speaker 1: to her so happily on his little musical pipe that
Speaker 1: she forgot all her troubles and would fall to dancing
Speaker 1: with his flock of noisy geese for partners. Now, one
Speaker 1: day people told that the king was traveling through the land.
Speaker 1: The King was to give a large formal party to
Speaker 1: all the lords and ladies of the country in the
Speaker 1: town nearby, and that the prince, his only son, was
Speaker 1: to choose a wife from amongst the young girls in
Speaker 1: the party. In due time, one of the royal invitations
Speaker 1: to the party was brought to the palace, and the
Speaker 1: servants carried it up to the old lord, who still
Speaker 1: sat by his window, wrapped in his long white hair
Speaker 1: and weeping into the little river that was fed by
Speaker 1: his tears. But when he heard the king's command, he
Speaker 1: dried his eyes and asked his servants to bring a
Speaker 1: large pair of scissors to cut him loose, for his
Speaker 1: hair had bound him a fast prisoner, and he could
Speaker 1: not move. And then he sent them for rich clothes
Speaker 1: and jewels, which he put on, and he ordered them
Speaker 1: to saddle the white horse with gold and silk, that
Speaker 1: he might write to meet the king, but he quite
Speaker 1: forgot he had a granddaughter to take to the party. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: Tattercoat sat by the kitchen door weeping because she could
Speaker 1: not go to see the grand doings. And when the
Speaker 1: old nurse heard her crying, she went to the lord
Speaker 1: of the palace and begged him to take his granddaughter
Speaker 1: with him to the king's party, but he only frowned
Speaker 1: and told her to be silent, while the servants laughed
Speaker 1: and said, Tata Coats is happy playing with the goose head.
Speaker 1: Let her be it is all she is fit. For
Speaker 1: a second, and then a third time, the old nurse
Speaker 1: begged him to let the girl go with him, but
Speaker 1: she was answered only by black looks and fierce words,
Speaker 1: till she was driven from the room by the other
Speaker 1: servants with blows and mocking words. Weeping over her ill success,
Speaker 1: the old nurse went to look for Tata Coats, but
Speaker 1: the girl had been turned from the door by the
Speaker 1: cook and had run away to tell her friend the
Speaker 1: goose herd how unhappy she was because she could not
Speaker 1: go to the king's party. Now. When the goose Herd
Speaker 1: had listened to her story, he bade her to cheer up,
Speaker 1: and proposed that they should go together into the town
Speaker 1: to see the king and all the fine things. And
Speaker 1: when she looked sorrowfully down at her bare feet, he
Speaker 1: played a note or two upon his musical pipe so
Speaker 1: meridiously that she forgot all about her tears and her troubles.
Speaker 1: And before she well knew, the goose Herd had taken
Speaker 1: her by the hand, and both of them started dancing.
Speaker 1: Even cripples can dance when they choose, said the goose herd.
Speaker 1: Before they had gone very far, a handsome young man,
Speaker 1: splendidly dressed, riding up topped to ask the way to
Speaker 1: the castle where the king was staying. And when he
Speaker 1: found that they two were going there, he got off
Speaker 1: his horse and walked beside them along the road. You
Speaker 1: see merry folk, he said, and will be good company.
Speaker 1: Good company, indeed, said the goose Herd, and played a
Speaker 1: new tune that was not a dance. It was a
Speaker 1: curious tune, and it made the strange young man stare
Speaker 1: at tattercoats till he couldn't see her shabby clothes till
Speaker 1: he couldn't see anything but her beautiful face. Then he said,
Speaker 1: you're the most beautiful girl in the world. Will you
Speaker 1: marry me? Then the Gooseherd smiled to himself and played
Speaker 1: sweeter than ever. But Tatacoats laughed not, I said she
Speaker 1: You would be finally put to shame, and so would
Speaker 1: I be if you took a goose girl for your wife.
Speaker 1: Go and ask one of the great ladies you will
Speaker 1: see tonight at the King's party, and do not flout
Speaker 1: poor Tatacoats. But the more she refused him, the sweeter
Speaker 1: the pipe played, and the deeper the young man fell
Speaker 1: in love, till at last he begged her to come
Speaker 1: out that night at twelve to the King's party, just
Speaker 1: as she was with the goose herd and his geze
Speaker 1: in her torn clothes and bare feet, and see if
Speaker 1: he wouldn't dance with her before the king and the
Speaker 1: lords and ladies, and present her to them all as
Speaker 1: his dear and honored bride. Now at first Tatacoat said
Speaker 1: she would not, but the Gooseherd said, take fortune when
Speaker 1: it comes, little one. So when night came and the
Speaker 1: hall in the castle was full of light and music,
Speaker 1: and the lords and ladies were dancing before the king.
Speaker 1: Just as the clock struck twelve, Tatacoats and the goose
Speaker 1: Herd entered at the great doors and walked straight up
Speaker 1: the ballroom, while on either side the ladies whispered, the
Speaker 1: lords laughed, and the King, seated at the far end,
Speaker 1: stayed in amazement. But as they came in front of
Speaker 1: the throne, Tatecoat's lover rose from beside the king and
Speaker 1: came to meet her. Taking her by the hand, he
Speaker 1: kissed her thrice before them all, and turned to the king. Father.
Speaker 1: He said, for it was the prince himself, I have
Speaker 1: made my choice, and here is my bride, the loveliest
Speaker 1: girl in all the land, and the sweetest as well.
Speaker 1: Before he had finished speaking, the goose Herd had put
Speaker 1: up his musical pipe to his lips and played a
Speaker 1: few notes that sounded like a bird singing far off
Speaker 1: in the forest. And as he played, Tattercoat's shabby clothes
Speaker 1: were changed to shining robes, soon with glittering jewels. A
Speaker 1: golden crown lay upon her golden hair, and as the
Speaker 1: king rose to greet her as his daughter, the trumpet
Speaker 1: sounded loudly in honor of the new princess, and the
Speaker 1: people outside in the street said to each other, Ah,
Speaker 1: now the princess chosen for his wife, the loveliest girl
Speaker 1: in all the land. But the goose herd was never
Speaker 1: seen again, and no one knew what became of him,
Speaker 1: While the old lord went home once more to his
Speaker 1: palace by the sea, for he could not stay at
Speaker 1: court when he had sworn never to look on his
Speaker 1: granddaughter's face. So there he still sits by his window,
Speaker 1: weeping more bitterly than ever, and the river of his
Speaker 1: tears runs away to the great sea.