Page 581 - Child's own book

make goose-broth for a quarter of a year ; and then there are
the beautiful white feathers, which I shall put in my pillow,
and then sleep without rocking- Oh ! how glad my mother
will be!”
When he came to the last village, there stood a scissors-
grinder with his barrow, whirling his wheel round, and sing­
ing:
“ Razors and scissors so quickly I grind,
That my coat flies away with the puff of the wind/’
Hans stood stillf looking at him, and at last he spoke, and
asked, ‘‘Are you very prosperous, that you are so busy with
your grinding? c1 Yes/* answered the scissors-grmder, <4my
business has a golden bottom. A right happy grinder is he
who as often as he dips into his pocket finds money in it. But
where did you buy that fine goose ? ”— ltOh, I did not buy it.
I exchanged it for a pig.”—“ And the pig?”—“ That I bar­
gained away for a cow.*—u And the cow \ 1u That I changed
a horse for.* — 44 And the horse ? ”— 44 For that 1 gave a lump
of gold as big as my head.’1— And the gold ? ”■—44 Ah, that
was my wages for seven years* service.”— 44 You have known
how to help yourself every time/’ said the grinder, ‘4 but if you
could manage to hear the money rattling in your pocket, you
would make your fortune.”— C4 How shall I do that?" asked
Hans. u You must be a grinder, like me ; nothing is needed
but a whetstone, and that almost any one has. Here is one,
certainly a little worn, bat then you shall give me only your
goose for it. Will you do so ?" —14 Can you ask me ?Jt re­
plied Hans; t41 shall be the most fortunate man upon earth;
and if I have but some money rattling in my pocket, why need
I care any longer?” And, so saying, he handed him the
goose, and took the whetstone in exchange. fi There,” said
the grinder, giving him a common hard flint which lay near \