Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman

Author:Karen Cushman [Cushman, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: cookie429
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

When he returned, Master Peevish spurned her help, so Meggy went to see how the cooper fared. His shop smoked but still stood. Inside, the cooper was sifting through the soggy ashes of his planks and barrels.

"Right sorry I am for your trouble, Master Cooper," Meggy said from the doorway.

He smiled a weak smile and said, "I thank you for your kind thoughts, Mistress Meggy, but the fire has burned out, my stock can be replaced, and, God grant us mercy, my son is safe. Our troubles be trifling indeed."

The cooper's son came to her side, wiping tears from his soot-streaked face. "My horse is gone," he said to her, "and I like not all these reeky ashes."

The cooper pulled at his hair until it stood up on his head like tufts of red grass. "I told you, boy, you must—"

In the smoky air Meggy saw her granny's face. What Gran would do is what I shall do, she thought, and she took the boy's hand. "He must come and listen to a ballad, that is what he must. It be a right good story, and I am eager to share it."

The girl sat on the doorstep in the only spot of sunshine that found its way into Crooked Lane. Nicholas sat beside her and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"So, listen with patient ears, young Master Nicholas," Meggy said, "and I will begin the tale of the strange wedding of a frog and a mouse."

"What kind of mouse?" he asked, wiping his nose on his other sleeve.

"An ordinary mouse. Gray and small. With a tail. Runs about in the meadow."

"What kind of meadow?"

"A meadow, a green meadow, a brown meadow, any meadow. Now hearken." And she began to sing, as her gran had, not so many years ago:

A frog he would a-wooing go,

A-too-re-lal, a-too-re-lal,

He went into Miss Mousie's hall,

A-too-re-lal, a-too-re-lal

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