Speaker 1: The Three Sillies, written by Flora Annie Stale. Once upon
Speaker 1: a time there lived a farmer and his wife who
Speaker 1: had one daughter, and she, being a pretty girl, was
Speaker 1: chased by the young boy who came home from his travels.
Speaker 1: Now every evening he would walk over from the hall
Speaker 1: to see her and stop to supper in the farmhouse.
Speaker 1: And every evening the daughter would go down into the
Speaker 1: basement to draw the apple juice for supper. So one evening,
Speaker 1: when she had gone down to draw the apple juice
Speaker 1: and had turned the tap as usual, she happened to
Speaker 1: look up at the ceiling, and there she saw a
Speaker 1: big wooden hammer stuck in one of the beams. It
Speaker 1: must have been there for ages and ages, but it
Speaker 1: was all covered with spiderwebs. But somehow or another she
Speaker 1: had never noticed it before, And at once she began
Speaker 1: thinking how dangerous it was to have the hammer just there.
Speaker 1: For thought she supposing him and me were married, and
Speaker 1: supposing we were to have a son, and supposing he
Speaker 1: were to grow up to be a man, and supposing
Speaker 1: he were to come down to draw apple juice like
Speaker 1: as I am doing, and supposing the hammer were to
Speaker 1: fall on his head and kill him, How dreadful it
Speaker 1: would be. With that, she put down the candle she
Speaker 1: was carrying, seated herself on a large wooden container and
Speaker 1: began to cry. And she cried and cried and cried.
Speaker 1: Now upstairs they began to wonder why she was so
Speaker 1: long drawing the apple juice. So after a while her
Speaker 1: mother went down to the basement to see what had
Speaker 1: come to her, and found her seated on the wooden container,
Speaker 1: crying ever so hard, and the apple juice running all
Speaker 1: over the floor. What is the matter, cried her mother,
Speaker 1: Oh mother, say she between her sobs. It's that hammer.
Speaker 1: Supposing him and me were married, and supposing we were
Speaker 1: to have a son, and supposing he was to grow
Speaker 1: up to be a man, and supposing he was to
Speaker 1: come down to draw apple juice like as I am doing,
Speaker 1: and supposing the hammer were to fall on his head
Speaker 1: and kill him. How dreadful it would be, dear heart,
Speaker 1: said the mother, seating herself beside her daughter and beginning
Speaker 1: to cry. How dreadful it would be. So they both
Speaker 1: sat and started crying. Now, after some time, when they
Speaker 1: did not come back, the farmer began to wonder what
Speaker 1: had happened, and going down to the basement, found them
Speaker 1: seated side by side on the wooden container, crying hard,
Speaker 1: and the apple juice running all over the floor. What
Speaker 1: is the matter, says he just look at that hammer
Speaker 1: up there, father, moaned the mother. Supposing our daughter was
Speaker 1: to marry her sweet, and supposing they were to have
Speaker 1: a son, and supposing he was to grow to man's estate,
Speaker 1: and supposing he was to come down to draw apple
Speaker 1: juice like as we are doing, and supposing that the
Speaker 1: hammer was to fall on his head and kill him.
Speaker 1: How dreadful it would be. Dreadful, indeed, said the father,
Speaker 1: and seating himself beside his wife and daughter started crying too.
Speaker 1: Now upstairs, the young boy wanted his supper, so at
Speaker 1: last he lost patience and went down into the basement
Speaker 1: to see for himself what they were all after. And
Speaker 1: there he found them seated side by side on the
Speaker 1: wooden container, crying, with their feet all abosh and apple juice,
Speaker 1: for the floor was fair flooded. So the first thing
Speaker 1: he did was to run straight and turn off the tap.
Speaker 1: Then he said, what are you three? After sitting there
Speaker 1: crying like babies and letting good apple juice run over
Speaker 1: the floor. Then they all three began with one voice,
Speaker 1: look at the hammer. Supposing you and her get married,
Speaker 1: and suppose you had a son, and suppose he was
Speaker 1: to grow to man's estate, and suppose he was to
Speaker 1: come down here to draw apple juice like as we be,
Speaker 1: and suppose that their hammer was to fall down on
Speaker 1: his head and kill him. How dreadful it would be.
Speaker 1: Then the young boy burst out laughing, and laughed till
Speaker 1: he was tired. But at last he reached up to
Speaker 1: the old hammer and pulled it out and put it
Speaker 1: safe on the floor. And he shook his head and said,
Speaker 1: I've traveled far, and have traveled fast, but never have
Speaker 1: I met with three such sillies as you three. Now
Speaker 1: I can't marry one of the biggest sillies in the world.
Speaker 1: So I shall start again on my travels. And if
Speaker 1: I can find three bigger sillies than you three, then
Speaker 1: I'll come back and be married, not otherwise. So he
Speaker 1: wished them goodbye and started again on his travels, leaving
Speaker 1: them all crying this time because the marriage was off well.
Speaker 1: The young and traveled far, and he traveled fast, but
Speaker 1: never did he find a bigger silly until one day
Speaker 1: he came upon an old woman's cottage that had some
Speaker 1: grass growing on the roof. The old woman was trying
Speaker 1: her best to push her cow into going up a
Speaker 1: ladder to eat the grass, but the poor thing was
Speaker 1: afraid and dare not go. The old woman tried a lot,
Speaker 1: but it wouldn't go. There would never have been such
Speaker 1: a sight, the cow getting more and more obstinate, the
Speaker 1: old woman getting hotter and hotter. At last, the young
Speaker 1: boy said, it would be easier if you went up
Speaker 1: the ladder, cut the grass and threw it down for
Speaker 1: the cow to eat. A likely story that says the
Speaker 1: old woman a cow can cut for herself, and the
Speaker 1: foolish thing will be quite safe up there for all
Speaker 1: tire rope around her neck, passed the rope down the chimney,
Speaker 1: and fastened the other end to my wrist, so as
Speaker 1: when I am doing my bitter washing, she can't fall
Speaker 1: off the roof without my knowing it. So mind your
Speaker 1: own business, young sir. Well, after a while the old
Speaker 1: woman managed to push the cow up the ladder, and
Speaker 1: when she got it on the roof, she tied a
Speaker 1: rope round its neck, passed the rope down the chimney
Speaker 1: and fastened the other end to her wrist. Then she
Speaker 1: went about her bit of washing, and young boy went
Speaker 1: on his way. But he hadn't gone but a bit
Speaker 1: when he heard the awful noise. He galloped back and
Speaker 1: found that the cow had fallen off the roof and
Speaker 1: got strangled by the rope round its neck, while the
Speaker 1: weight of the cow had pulled the old woman by
Speaker 1: her wrist up the chimney, where she had got stuck
Speaker 1: halfway and been smothered by the suit. That is one
Speaker 1: bigger silly, said the young boy, as he journeyed on.
Speaker 1: So two more now he did not find any, however,
Speaker 1: till late one night he arrived at a little lodge,
Speaker 1: and the lodge was so full that he had to
Speaker 1: share a room with another travel Now his room fellow
Speaker 1: proved quite a pleasant fellow, and they slept well in
Speaker 1: their bed. But next morning, when they were dressing, the
Speaker 1: stranger carefully hangs his pants on the knobs of the
Speaker 1: tall door. What are you doing, asks young boy. I'm
Speaker 1: putting on my pants, says the stranger, and with that
Speaker 1: he goes to the other end of the room, takes
Speaker 1: a little run, and tried to jump into the pants,
Speaker 1: but he didn't succeed, so he took another run, and
Speaker 1: another try, and another and another and another, until he
Speaker 1: got quite irritated. And all the time young man was
Speaker 1: laughing fit to split, for never in his life did
Speaker 1: he see anything so comical. Then the stranger stopped a
Speaker 1: while and mobbed his face with his handkerchief, for he
Speaker 1: was all in a sweat. It's very well, laughing, says he.
Speaker 1: But pants are the most awkward things to get into.
Speaker 1: It takes me the best part of an hour every
Speaker 1: morning before I get them on. How do you manage yours?
Speaker 1: Then young boy showed him as well as he could,
Speaker 1: for laughing, how to put on his pants, And the
Speaker 1: stranger was ever so grateful, and said he never should
Speaker 1: have thought of that way. So that, said young boy
Speaker 1: to himself, is a second, bigger silly. But he traveled far,
Speaker 1: and he traveled fast without finding the third, until one
Speaker 1: bright night, when the moon was shining right overhead, he
Speaker 1: came upon a village, and outside the village was a pond,
Speaker 1: and round about the pond was a great crowd of villagers.
Speaker 1: Some of them had got brooms. They were busy shouting
Speaker 1: out and sweeping away the pond. What is the matter,
Speaker 1: cried young man, jumping off his horse to help. Has
Speaker 1: anyone fallen in? Yes? Matter, enough says they can't. You
Speaker 1: see moon's fallen into the pond, and we can't get
Speaker 1: her out. And with that they said to again, sweeping away.
Speaker 1: Then the young man burst out laughing. He told them
Speaker 1: they were fools for their pains, and asked them to
Speaker 1: look up over their heads, where the moon was riding
Speaker 1: broad and full. But they wouldn't, and they wouldn't believe
Speaker 1: that what they saw in the water was only a reflection.
Speaker 1: And when he insisted, they began to abuse him and
Speaker 1: threatened to duck him in the pond. So he got
Speaker 1: on his horse again as quickly as he could, leaving
Speaker 1: them sweeping away. And for all we know, they may
Speaker 1: be at it yet. But the young boy said to himself,
Speaker 1: there are many more sillies in this world than I
Speaker 1: thought for, so I'll just go back and marry the
Speaker 1: farmer's daughter. She's no sillier than the rest