At once they fell upon the food and ate it nearly all up.

“Why do you let the rats do this?” asked the captain.

“Alas, we cannot help ourselves,” said the king.  “I would give half my kingdom to be rid of them.”

Then the captain thought of Dick Whittington’s cat.

“I have an animal which will rid you of them,” said the captain.

“Pray bring it in at once,” said the queen.

What fun Dick’s cat had killing the rats and mice in the king’s palace!

“We must buy that little animal,” said the queen.  “I do not care how much she may cost.”

The captain could hardly carry all the jewels and gold that the king gave him for the cat.

Then the ship with Dick’s money came back to London, and the captain told the story to Mr. Fitzwarren.

“We must take these jewels and all this gold at once to Mr. Whittington,” said the honest man.  “He is no longer a poor boy, for this has made him rich.”

[Illustration]

They found Dick in the kitchen blacking the stove.

“Come with me at once into the parlor,” said Mr. Fitzwarren.

Then the bags of gold and jewels were piled at Dick’s feet.

“See what your cat has brought you,” said Mr. Fitzwarren.  “You are now a rich man and may yet be Lord Mayor of London.”

And it is true that after Dick Whittington became a man, he was made
Lord Mayor of London.

English Folk Tale

[Illustration]

    THE NEW MOON

      Dear mother, how pretty
      The moon looks to-night! 
    She was never so cunning before;
      Her two little horns
      Are so sharp and so bright,
    I hope she’ll not grow any more.

      If I were up there,
      With you and my friends,
    I’d rock in it nicely, you’d see;
      I’d sit in the middle
      And hold by both ends. 
      Oh, what a bright cradle ’twould be!

      I would call to the stars
      To keep out of the way,
    Lest we should rock over their toes;
      And then I would rock
      Till the dawn of the day,
    And see where the pretty moon goes.

      And there we would stay
      In the beautiful skies,
    And through the bright clouds we would roam;
      We would see the sun set,
      And see the sun rise,
    And on the next rainbow come home.

    ELIZA LEE FOLLEN

[Illustration]

BRIAR ROSE—­I

A long time ago there lived a king and queen who were very, very sad because they had no children.

One day, when the queen was resting near a spring, a frog crept out of the water and said to her: 

“You shall have your wish.  Within a year you shall have a little girl.”

What the frog said came true.

The queen had a little child who was so beautiful that the king gave a party in her honor.