The Book of Story Beginnings by Kladstrup Kristin

Author:Kladstrup, Kristin [Kladstrup, Kristin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780763664091
Publisher: Candlewick
Published: 2013-02-11T17:00:00+00:00

“Oh, where have you been, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?

Oh, where have you been, charming Billy?

I have been to seek a wife,

She’s the joy of my life,

Sheeee’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother.

“Did she bid you to come in, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?

Did she bid you to come in, charming Billy?

Yes, she bade me to come in,

There’s a dimple in her chin,

Sheeee’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother.”

“That’s enough there now!” said the captain after the second verse. “Why’s this Billy Boy messin’ about with girls too young to leave their mothers?”

“It’s just a song,” said Oscar.

“Everyone to bed now,” said the captain. “You too, Millie. Your bedtime’s no different than the rest.”

Though Millie looked as if she would die of shame, she joined the line of shuffling children without protest.

“Interestin’ song,” said the captain to Oscar when they were gone. “But no decent young man ought to play up to a young girl like that. Deceitful’s what it is. Same goes for your story! What’s that lad up to, goin’ behind the old woman’s back, crawlin’ up that tower like a spider to steal away the girl?”

“It’s just a story,” said Oscar.

“We’ll see land by dawn tomorrow.” The captain turned abruptly and hoisted herself up the ladder to the stern deck. “Go to bed now, Hugh!” they heard her say.

“Did you ever hear the like?” said Oscar as he and Lucy laid themselves down on some burlap bags near the bow of the ship.

“I think . . .” Lucy was thinking that Captain Mack was a bit like a mother hen protecting her young. But before she could say so, a yawn overtook her.

“What were you going to say?” asked Oscar.

“Nothing,” Lucy murmured sleepily. A mother hen, she thought, smiling to herself. And here she had been afraid Captain Mack was the sort who would make them walk the plank.

Perhaps that was why what happened the next morning came as such a shock.

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