Speaker 1: Tom Tip Todd written by Flora Annie Steale. Once upon
Speaker 1: a time there was a woman who lived along with
Speaker 1: her daughter. She baked five pies, but when they came
Speaker 1: out of the oven, they were overbaked, and the crust
Speaker 1: was far too hard to eat. So she said to
Speaker 1: her daughter daughter, please put these pies onto the shelf
Speaker 1: and leave them there. Awhile, surely they'll come again in time.
Speaker 1: By that, you know, she meant that they would become softer.
Speaker 1: But the daughter said to herself, if mother says the
Speaker 1: pies will come again, why I shouldn't eat these now?
Speaker 1: They would anyway come again. So, having good and young teeth,
Speaker 1: she said to work and aid the lot first and last. Now,
Speaker 1: when supper time came, the woman said to her daughter,
Speaker 1: go and get one of the pies. They are sure
Speaker 1: to have come again by now. Then the girl went
Speaker 1: and looked, but of course there was nothing but the
Speaker 1: empty dishes. So back she came and said, no, mother,
Speaker 1: they haven't come again. Not one of them, asked the mother,
Speaker 1: taken aback like, not even one of them, says the daughter.
Speaker 1: Quite confident, Well, says the mother, come again or not
Speaker 1: come again, I will have one of the pies for
Speaker 1: my supper. But you can't, says the daughter. How can
Speaker 1: you if they haven't come? And they haven't as sure
Speaker 1: as sure, But I can, says the mother, getting angry,
Speaker 1: Go you at once, child, and bring me the best
Speaker 1: of them. My teeth must just tackle it. Best or worst,
Speaker 1: is all one, said the daughter, quite sulky, For I
Speaker 1: have ate the lot, so you can't have one till
Speaker 1: it comes again. Well the mother, she bounced up to see,
Speaker 1: but half an eye told her there was nothing save
Speaker 1: the empty dishes. So having no supper, she sat down
Speaker 1: on the doorstep, and, bringing out her distaff, began to spin.
Speaker 1: And as she span she sang, my daughter had five
Speaker 1: pies today. My daughter ate five pies today, For she
Speaker 1: was quite irritated and astonished. Now, the king of that
Speaker 1: country happened to be coming down the street, and he
Speaker 1: heard the song going on and on, but could not
Speaker 1: quite make out the words, so he stopped his horse
Speaker 1: and asked, what is that you're singing? My good woman.
Speaker 1: The mother, though horrified at her daughter's appetite, did not
Speaker 1: want other folk, leastwise the king, to know about it,
Speaker 1: so she sang instead, my daughter has spun five muslins
Speaker 1: today five muslins, cried the king. I'd never heard of
Speaker 1: anyone who could do that. Look you here, I have
Speaker 1: been searching for a maiden to wife, and your daughter,
Speaker 1: who can spin five muslims a day is the very
Speaker 1: one for me. Only mind you, though, for eleven months
Speaker 1: of the year, she shall be queen, indeed, and have
Speaker 1: all she likes to eat, all the gowns she likes
Speaker 1: to get, all the company she likes to keep, and
Speaker 1: everything her heart desires. In the twelfth month, she must
Speaker 1: set to work and spin five muslins a day, and
Speaker 1: if she does not, she must die. Come is it
Speaker 1: a bargain? So the mother agreed. She thought what a
Speaker 1: grand marriage it was for her daughter. And as for
Speaker 1: the five muslins, time enough to bother about them. When
Speaker 1: the year came around, the king would have forgotten all
Speaker 1: about it by then. Anyhow, her daughter would be queen
Speaker 1: for eleven months. So they were married, and for eleven
Speaker 1: months the bride was as happy as she could be.
Speaker 1: She had everything she liked to eat, and all the
Speaker 1: gowns she liked to get, all the companies she cared
Speaker 1: to keep, and everything her heart desired. And her husband,
Speaker 1: the king, was as kind as he could be. But
Speaker 1: in the tenth month she began to think of those
Speaker 1: five muslins and wonder if the king remembered. And in
Speaker 1: the eleventh month she began to dream about them as well.
Speaker 1: But never a word did the King her husband say
Speaker 1: about them, so she hoped he had forgotten. But on
Speaker 1: the very last day of the eleventh month, the King
Speaker 1: her husband led her into her room she had never
Speaker 1: set her eyes on before. It had one window, and
Speaker 1: there was nothing in it but a stool and a
Speaker 1: spinning wheel. Now, my dear, he said, quite kindly, you
Speaker 1: will be shut in here tomorrow morning with some fiber,
Speaker 1: and if by evening you have not spun five muslins,
Speaker 1: you will spend rest of your life in prison. Well,
Speaker 1: she was fear frightened, for she had always been such
Speaker 1: a thoughtless girl that she had never learned to spin
Speaker 1: at all. So what she was to do on the
Speaker 1: morrow she could not tell. For see you, she had
Speaker 1: no one to help her, for, of course, now she
Speaker 1: was queen, her mother didn't live near her, So she
Speaker 1: just locked the door off her room, sat down on
Speaker 1: a stool, and cried and cried and cried until her
Speaker 1: pretty eyes were all red. Now, as she sat sobbing
Speaker 1: and crying, she heard a black magician little noise at
Speaker 1: the bottom of the door. At first she thought it
Speaker 1: was a mouse. Then she thought it must be something knocking,
Speaker 1: So she opened the door, and what did she see?
Speaker 1: A small, little black magician like thing with a long
Speaker 1: tail that whisked round and round ever so fast. What
Speaker 1: are you crying for, said that thing, making a bow
Speaker 1: and twirling its tail so fast that she could scarcely
Speaker 1: see it. What's that you, said, she shrinking a bit,
Speaker 1: for that thing was very black magician like. Don't look
Speaker 1: at my tail if you are frightened, says that smirking
Speaker 1: Look at my toes, aren't they beautiful? And sure enough
Speaker 1: that had on buckled shoes with high heels and big bows,
Speaker 1: ever so smart. So she kind of forgot about the
Speaker 1: tail and wasn't so frightened. And when he asked her
Speaker 1: again why she was crying, she said, it won't do
Speaker 1: any good if I do. You don't know that, says he,
Speaker 1: twirling its tail faster and faster and sticking out its toes.
Speaker 1: Come tell me there's a good girl. Well, says she.
Speaker 1: It can't do any harm if it doesn't do well.
Speaker 1: So she dried her pretty eyes and told he all
Speaker 1: about the pies and the muslins and everything from first
Speaker 1: to last. And then that little black thing nearly burst
Speaker 1: with laughing. If that is all, it's easy, mended, it says,
Speaker 1: I'll come to your window every morning, take the fiber
Speaker 1: and bring it back spun into five muslins at night. Come.
Speaker 1: Shall it be a bargain? Now? She for all she
Speaker 1: was so thoughtless, asked, but what is your pay? I
Speaker 1: will give you three guesses every night to guess my name.
Speaker 1: And if you haven't guessed before the month is up, why,
Speaker 1: said that black thing, you shall be mine, my beauty,
Speaker 1: three guesses every night for a whole month. She felt
Speaker 1: sure she would be able for so much, and there
Speaker 1: was no other way out, so she just said, yes,
Speaker 1: I agree. Well. The very next day her husband led
Speaker 1: her to the strange room again, and there was the
Speaker 1: day's food, and a spinning wheel and a great bundle
Speaker 1: of fiber. There you are, my dear, says he, as
Speaker 1: polite as polite, and remember, if there are not five
Speaker 1: whole muslins tonight, you will spend rest of your life
Speaker 1: in prison. At that, she began to tremble and after
Speaker 1: he had gone away and locked the door, she was
Speaker 1: just thinking of a good cry when she heard a
Speaker 1: black magician knocking at the window. She upped at once
Speaker 1: and opened it, and sure enough there was the small
Speaker 1: little black thing sitting on the window ledge, dangling its
Speaker 1: beautiful toes and twirling its tail so that you could
Speaker 1: scarcely see it. Good morning, my beauty, said he come
Speaker 1: hand over the fiber shop. There's a good girl. So
Speaker 1: she gave him the fiber and shut the window. And
Speaker 1: you may be sure ate her victuals, for as you know,
Speaker 1: she had a good appetite, and the King, her husband,
Speaker 1: had promised to give her everything she liked to eat,
Speaker 1: so she ate to her hearts content. And when evening
Speaker 1: came and she heard that black magician knocking at the
Speaker 1: window again, she ubbed and opened it. And there was
Speaker 1: the small little black thing with five spun muslins on
Speaker 1: his arm, And it twirled its tail faster than ever,
Speaker 1: and stuck out its beautiful toes and bowed and smirked
Speaker 1: and gave her the five muslins. Then he said, and now,
Speaker 1: my beauty, what is my name? And she answered quite easy,
Speaker 1: like that is Bill. No it ain't, says he and
Speaker 1: twirled it stale. Then that is ned, says she. No
Speaker 1: it ain't, says he, And twirled it stail faster, Well,
Speaker 1: says she a bit more thoughtful, that is mark. No
Speaker 1: it ain't, says he, and laughs and laughs and laughs,
Speaker 1: and twelves it staale so as you couldn't see it
Speaker 1: as away he flew. When the King, her husband, came in,
Speaker 1: he was fine and pleased to see the five muslins
Speaker 1: all ready for him, for he was fond of his
Speaker 1: pretty wife. I hope all the other days will pass
Speaker 1: as happily. Then he said good night and locked the
Speaker 1: door and left her. But next morning they brought her
Speaker 1: fresh fiber and even more delicious foods. And the small
Speaker 1: little black thing came knocking at the window and stuck
Speaker 1: out its beautiful toes and twirled its tail faster and faster,
Speaker 1: and took away the bundle of fiber and brought it back,
Speaker 1: all spun into five muslins. By evening. Then she made
Speaker 1: her guess three times what his name was, but she
Speaker 1: could not guess right. And he laughed and laughed and
Speaker 1: laughed as he flew away. Now every morning and evening
Speaker 1: the same thing happened, and every evening she had her
Speaker 1: three guesses, but she never guessed right. And every day
Speaker 1: the small little black thing laughed louder and louder, and
Speaker 1: smirked more and more and looked at her malissful out
Speaker 1: of the corners of its eyes, until she began to
Speaker 1: get frightened, and instead of eating all the fine foods
Speaker 1: left for her, spent the day in trying to think
Speaker 1: of names to say, but she never hit upon the
Speaker 1: right one. So it came to the last day of
Speaker 1: the month but one, and when the small little black
Speaker 1: thing arrived in the evening, with the five muslins of
Speaker 1: fiber already spun, it could hardly say for smirking. Ain't
Speaker 1: you got my name yet? So says she, for she
Speaker 1: had been reading her Bible. Is that nicodymus No it ain't,
Speaker 1: says he, And til it's stale faster than you could see?
Speaker 1: Is that? Samuel? Says she, all of a flutter. No
Speaker 1: it ain't my beauty, chuckles he looking malissful. Well is
Speaker 1: that Methusla, says she, inclined to cry. Then he just
Speaker 1: fixes her with eyes like a coal of fire, and says, no,
Speaker 1: it ain't that neither, So there is only tomorrow night,
Speaker 1: and then you'll be mine, my beauty. And away the
Speaker 1: small little black thing flew, it's tail, twirling and risking
Speaker 1: so fast that you couldn't see it well. She felt
Speaker 1: so bad she couldn't even cry. But she heard the King,
Speaker 1: her husband, coming to the door, so she made bold
Speaker 1: to be chief and tried to smile when he said,
Speaker 1: well done, wife, five Muslims again, I shall not send
Speaker 1: you to prison, my dear, of that, I'm quite sure,
Speaker 1: so let us enjoy ourselves. Then he bade the servants
Speaker 1: bring supper and a stool for him to sit beside
Speaker 1: his queen, and down they sat, love alike, side by side.
Speaker 1: But the poor queen could eat nothing. She could not
Speaker 1: forget the small little black thing, and the king hadn't
Speaker 1: eaten but a mouthful or two when he began to laugh.
Speaker 1: And he laughed so long and so loud that at
Speaker 1: last the poor queen, all careless as she was, said,
Speaker 1: why do you laugh so at something I saw? Today?
Speaker 1: My love? Says the king. I was out a hunting,
Speaker 1: and by chance I came to a place I had
Speaker 1: never been in before. It was in forests, and there
Speaker 1: was an old chalkpit there, and out of the chalkpit
Speaker 1: there came a black magician kind of a sort of
Speaker 1: a humming, bumming noise. So I got off my hobby
Speaker 1: to see what made it, and went quite to the
Speaker 1: edge of the pit and looked down. And what do
Speaker 1: you think? I saw the funniest, smallest little black magician
Speaker 1: like thing you ever set eyes upon. And it had
Speaker 1: a little spinning wheel, and it was spinning away for
Speaker 1: dear life. But the wheel didn't go so fast as
Speaker 1: it stailed, and that span round and round you never
Speaker 1: saw the like. And its little feet had buckled shoes
Speaker 1: and bows on them, and they went up and down
Speaker 1: in a desperate hurry. And all the time that small
Speaker 1: little black thing kept bumming and booming away at these words,
Speaker 1: name me, name me not, who'll guess it's tom tit
Speaker 1: tot will. When she heard these words, the queen nearly
Speaker 1: jummed out of joy, but she managed to say nothing
Speaker 1: but ate her supper quite comfortably, and she said no
Speaker 1: word when next morning the small little black thing came
Speaker 1: for the fiber, though it looked so gleeful that she
Speaker 1: could hardly help laughing, knowing she had got the better
Speaker 1: of it. And when night came, and she heard that
Speaker 1: knocking against the window panes. She put on her worded
Speaker 1: face and opened the window slowly, as if she was afraid.
Speaker 1: But that thing was as bold as brass and came
Speaker 1: right inside, grinning from ear to ear. And oh, my goodness,
Speaker 1: how his tail was s twirling and whisking. Well, my beauty,
Speaker 1: says he giving her the five muslins already spun. What's
Speaker 1: my name? Then she put down her lip and says, tearful, like,
Speaker 1: is that Solomon? No it ain't, laughs, He and the
Speaker 1: small little black thing came further into the room. So
Speaker 1: she tried again, and this time she seemed hardly able
Speaker 1: to speak for fright. Well, is that zebedee? She says, No,
Speaker 1: it ain't, cried he full of glay, And it came
Speaker 1: quite close and stretched out its little black hands to her.
Speaker 1: And oh it's tail. Take time, my beauty, says, he,
Speaker 1: sort of jeering like, and its small little black eyes
Speaker 1: seemed to eat her up. Take time, remember next, guess
Speaker 1: and your mind. Well, she bagged just a wee bit
Speaker 1: from it, and for it was just horrible to look at.
Speaker 1: But then she laughed out and pointed her finger at
Speaker 1: it and said name me, Name me not. Your name
Speaker 1: is Tom Tit Tot. And you never heard such a
Speaker 1: shriek as that small little black thing gave out. Its
Speaker 1: tail dropped down straight, its feet all crumpled up. And
Speaker 1: away he flew into the dark, and she never saw
Speaker 1: it no more, and she lived happily ever after with
Speaker 1: her husband, the King,