50 Bedtime Stories by Belinda Gallagher

Author:Belinda Gallagher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Stories
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781848107137
Publisher: Miles Kelly Publishing
Published: 2009-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Nail Soup

By Gabriel Djurklou

READING TIME: 10 MINUTES

This story beautifully illustrates how a selfish person may be tricked into being generous as long as they think they’re getting something for free.

There was once a tramp who went plodding his way through a forest. The distance between the houses was so great that he had little hope of finding a shelter before the night set in. But all of a sudden he saw some lights between the trees. He then discovered a cottage, where there was a fire burning on the hearth. ‘How nice it would be to roast one’s self before that fire, and to get a bite of something,’ he thought, and so he dragged himself towards the cottage.

Just then an old woman came towards him.

“Good evening!” said the tramp.

“Good evening,” said the woman. “Where do you come from?”

“South of the sun, and east of the moon,” said the tramp, “and now I am on the way home again, for I have been all over the world with the exception of this parish,” he said.

“You must be a great traveller, then,” said the woman. “What is your business here?”

“Oh, I want a shelter for the night,” he said.

“I thought as much,” said the woman, “but you may as well get away from here at once, for my husband is not at home, and my place is not an inn,” she said.

“My good woman,” said the tramp, “you must not be so cross and hardhearted, for we are both human beings, and should help one another.”

“Help one another?” said the woman. “Help? Did you ever hear such a thing? Who’ll help me, do you think? I haven’t got a morsel in the house! No, you’ll have to look for quarters elsewhere,” she said.

But the tramp was like the rest of his kind. He did not consider himself beaten at the first rebuff. Although the old woman grumbled and complained as much as she could, he was just as persistent as ever, and went on begging and praying like a starved dog, until at last she gave in, and he got permission to lie on the floor for the night.

That was very kind, he thought, and he thanked her for it.

“Better on the floor without sleep, than suffer cold in the forest deep,” he said, for he was a merry fellow, this tramp, and was always ready with a rhyme.

When he came into the room he could see that the woman was not so badly off as she had pretended. But she was a greedy and stingy woman of the worst sort, and was always complaining and grumbling.

He now made himself very agreeable, and asked her in his most insinuating manner for something to eat.

“Where am I to get it from?” said the woman. “I haven’t tasted a morsel myself the whole day.”

But the tramp was a cunning fellow. “Poor old granny, you must be starving,” he said. “Well, I suppose I shall have to ask you to have something with me, then.

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