turkeys do not get
among the brambles, and, above all, see that no one enters the little
storeroom. They are going to tax every one who is worth five hundred
guilders and over; and as I don't choose to give my hard earnings for
the support of a parcel of lazy nobles and a useless court, I have
hidden all the money bags there; therefore, be careful that nobody knows
of it but yourself." So saying, Peter mounted his wagon and drove off.
Silly Catharine looked after him as long as he could be seen, and then
went back to the kitchen, determined to show her husband how clever she
had become.
"Shall I go and tell the goose girl to hunt the turkeys into the coop
first?" thought she; "or shall I put on the cabbage to boil? I think I
will set my cabbage on first; it will take but a moment, the turkeys are
safe till then."
So she went to the larder, got out a fine large cabbage, and hung the
pot over the fire, that it might boil quickly. The steam of the cabbage
cooking ascended to her nose with a delicious perfume, and at last, what
with hanging over the pot enveloped in steam, and the heat of the fire,
she felt very drowsy, and falling into her chair, was soon soundly
asleep. She had not slept long before in came the goose girl, whose
business it was to take charge of the fowls of all sorts, crying out,
"Oh, mistress! mistress: the turkeys have got among the brambles, and
cannot get out!"
"Mercy upon us!" exclaimed Catharine, springing up and wringing her
hands; "what will Peter say to me! He will, doubtless, break his stick
over my shoulders. If it were not for the cabbage on the fire, I should
certainly throw myself from the window!" So saying, she ran out into the
field, but too late; the little turkeys were all in the very middle of a
bramble bush, which had tangled in their feathers, until it was
impossible to get them out; beside which, a fox had entered the barn
yard in the goose girl's absence, by the gate, which she had carelessly
left swinging open, and carried off the biggest and handsomest Poland
rooster, that Wise Peter valued even more than the turkeys. About this
last loss, however, she said nothing, hoping that her mistress wouldn't
remark it. This, indeed, proved to be the case; for, without noticing
the absence of poor Chanticleer, Catharine burst into tears, exclaiming,
"What is to be done? The only way is to cut the bush down."
[Illustration: THE FATE OF POOR CHANTICLEER.]
As she spoke, she seize
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