Nursery Tales 201
But the rat wouldn’t.
And the little old woman said to the rat, “I'll cut off your tail, then.”
So the rat began to gnaw the rope, and the rope began to hang the butcher, and the butcher began to kill the ox, and the ox began to drink the water, and the water began to quench the fire, and the fire began to burn the stick, and the stick began to beat the dog, and the dog began to bite the pig, and the pig began to jump over the stile, and the little old woman got home that night.
This story has a number of variations, and in the following paragraphs is given a fragment of one of them:—
“As I was passing over London bridge I found a kid. And I said, ‘Kid, kid, jump over the moon.’
“Kid wouldn‘t jump over the moon. ’Tis past midnight; time kid and I were home an hour and a half ago.
“Then I went along a little farther, and l came to a dog. And I said, ‘Dog dog, bite kid; kid won't jump over the moon. ‘Tis past midnight, time kid and I were home an hour and a half ago.’”
It was an old farmer over ninety years old who was husking corn in a hillside field that tried to repeat this to me. I
