FullReads

Once upon a time there was a boy who was ambitious. One day he said to his mother: ‘Give me a muffin and patch my trousers, for I am going to set out to win the Queen of the Mississippi.’

So the mother gave him a muffin and patched his trousers, and the boy went off.

He had not gone very far when he came to a mountain path, on which was a great cross, beneath which stood a man holding a bow with an arrow fixed on the string.

This man looked down at the boy as if to say, ‘What are you doing here?’

The boy immediately answered his unspoken question by demanding, ‘Hello, friend! What are you doing there?’

‘You see that fly on that cross?’ said the man, pointing to a minute speck on one of its arms. ‘Wait then, and watch me! I will put out one of its eyes.’

With this, while the boy watched, he drew his bow to the full, and let the arrow fly.

It was a wonderful shot, for one of the eyes of the fly fell on the ground at the foot of the cross.

The boy was so taken with this, that he seemed to grow two whole years in half a minute. To look at him, you would have thought he was no longer a boy. He drew himself up proudly to his full height, and said in the voice of a young man:

‘Will you travel with me, my pippy?’

‘Pardon?’

Then it was question and answer between them:

‘Come, travel with me, my pippy.’
‘Oh! Whither away? To old Mandalay?’
‘But no; to the far Mississippi,
Where a beautiful Queen holds sway:
And I’ll marry that Queen some day.’
‘I am yours! And the bounty?’
‘Give it a name: I will pay.’

Then the young man took his muffin, and, breaking off a little bit of it, handed it to the man with the bow and arrow.

‘Keep it,’ said he; ‘it’s a pledge of good faith.’

So they journeyed on together. When they had gone some distance, they came to a high field, and in the middle of this stood a man stock still, gazing at the sun. As soon as the young man saw him, he shouted out at the top of his voice: ‘Hi! What are you doing there, my good fellow?’

‘I am just waiting for it to get a little more dazzling,’ replied the man, still keeping his eyes fixed on the midday sun.

As soon as the young man heard this he seemed to grow still more in stature. Indeed, he seemed to be almost a man.

‘Will you travel with me?’ he said.

‘Pardon?’

Then it was question and answer between them:

‘Come, travel with me, my pippy.’
‘Oh! Whither away? To the land of Cathay?’
‘But no; to the far Mississippi,
Where a beautiful Queen hath sway,
Who has stolen my heart away.’
‘I am yours! And the bounty?’
‘What you will: it’s a pleasure to pay.’

Then the young man took his muffin, and, breaking off a little bit of it, handed it to the man who gazed at the sun.

‘Keep it,’ said he; ‘it’s a pledge of good faith.’

So they journeyed on together. When they had gone some distance further, they saw a man who had tied his legs together.

‘Hello! What are you doing there, my friend?’

‘I want to catch that hare over yonder; but unless I tied my legs together there would be no sport in it.’

‘Will you travel with me?’

‘Pardon?’

‘Will you travel with me, my pippy?’
‘Oh! Whither away? To Botany Bay?’
‘But no; to the far Mississippi,
Where a Queen–tooral-ooral-i-ay–
Is waiting for what I’m to say.
‘I am yours! And the bounty?’
‘Either here or in Botany Bay!’