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îñ"ò îøëæ ñéôåøé òí åôåì÷ìåø |
C. F. F |
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THE LAMBIKIN
NCE upon a time there was
a wee wee Lambikin,[1] who frolicked about on his tottery legs, and enjoyed himself amazingly.
Now one day he set off to
visit his Granny, and was jumping with joy to think of all the good things he
should get from her, when whom should he meet but a Jackal, who looked at the
tender young morsel and said–'Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!'
But Lambikin only gave a little frisk, and said –
'To Granny's house
I go,
Where I shall fatter grow,
Then you can eat me so.'[2]
The Jackal thought this reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
By and by he met a
Vulture, and the Vulture, looking hungrily at the tender morsel before him,
said–'Lambikin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!'
But Lambikin only gave a
little frisk, and said–
'To Granny's house I go,
Where I shall fatter grow,
Then you can eat me so.'
The Vulture thought this
reasonable, and let Lambikin pass.
And by and by he met a
Tiger, and then a Wolf, and a Dog, and an Eagle, and all these when they saw
the tender little morsel, said–'Lambkin! Lambikin! I'll EAT YOU!'
But to all of them
Lambikin replied, with a little frisk–
'To Granny's house I go,
Where I shall fatter grow,
Then you can eat me so.'
At last he reached his
Granny's house, and said, all in a great hurry, 'Granny, dear, I've promised to
get very fat; so, as people ought to keep their promises, please put me into
the corn-bin at once.'
So his Granny said he was
a good boy, and put him into the corn-bin, and there the greedy little Lambikin
stayed for seven days, and ate, and ate, and ate, until he could scarcely
waddle, and his Granny said he was fat enough for anything, and must go home.
But cunning little Lambikin said that would never do, for some animal would be
sure to eat him on the way back, he was so plump and tender.
'I'll tell you what you
must do,' said Master Lambikin, 'you must make a little drumikin[3] out of the skin of my
little brother who died, and then I can sit inside and trundle along nicely,
for I'm as tight as a drum myself.'
So his Granny made a nice
little drumikin out of his brother's skin, with the wool inside, and Lambikin
curled himself up snug and warm in the middle, and trundled away gaily. Soon he
met with the Eagle, who called out–
'Drumikin! Drumikin!
Have you seen Lambikin?'
And Mr. Lambikin, curled
up in his soft warm nest, replied–
'Lost in the forest, and
so are you,
On, little Drumikin!
Tum-pa, tum-too!'
'How very annoying!'
sighed the Eagle, thinking regretfully of the tender morsel he had let slip.
Meanwhile Lambikin
trundled along, laughing to himself, and singing–
'Tum-pa, tum-too;
Tum-pa, tum-too!'
Every animal and bird he
met asked him the same question–
'Drumikin! Drumikin!
Have you seen Lambikin?'
And to each of them the little sly-boots replied–
'Lost in the forest, and so are you,
On, little Drumikin! Tum-pa, tum-too;
Tum-pa, tum-too; Tum-pa, tum-too!'[4]
Then they all sighed to think of the tender little morsel they
had let slip.
At last the Jackal came
limping along, for all his sorry looks as sharp as a needle, and he too called
out–
'Drumikin! Drumikin!
Have you seen Lambikin?'
And Lambikin, curled up
in his snug little nest, replied gaily–
'Lost in the forest, and so are you,
On, little Drumikin! Tum-pa—'
But he never got any
further, for the Jackal recognised his voice at once, and cried, 'Hullo! You've
turned yourself inside out, have you? Just you come out of that!'
Whereupon he tore open
Drumikin and gobbled up Lambikin.