ll have to look for quarters elsewhere," she said.

But the tramp was like the rest of his kind; he did not consider
himself beaten at the first rebuff. Although the old woman grumbled and
complained as much as she could, he was just as persistent as ever, and
went on begging and praying like a starved dog, until at last she gave
in, and he got permission to lie on the floor for the night.

That was very kind, he thought, and he thanked her for it.

"Better on the floor without sleep, than suffer cold in the forest
deep," he said; for he was a merry fellow, this tramp, and was always
ready with a rhyme.

When he came into the room he could see that the woman was not so badly
off as she had pretended; but she was a greedy and stingy woman of the
worst sort, and was always complaining and grumbling.

He now made himself very agreeable, of course, and asked her in his most
insinuating manner for something to eat.

"Where am I to get it from?" said the woman. "I haven't tasted a morsel
myself the whole day."

But the tramp was a cunning fellow, he was.

"Poor old granny, you must be starving," he said. "Well, well, I suppose
I shall have to ask you to have something with me, then?"

"Have something with you!" said the woman. "You don't look as if you
could ask any one to have anything! What have you got to offer one, I
should like to know?"

"He who far and wide does roam sees many things not known at home; and
he who many things has seen has wits about him and senses keen," said
the tramp. "Better dead than lose one's head! Lend me a pot, granny!"

The old woman now became very inquisitive, as you may guess, and so she
let him have a pot.

He filled it with water and put it on the fire, and then he blew with
all his might till the fire was burning fiercely all round it. Then he
took a four-inch nail from his pocket, turned it three times in his
hand, and put it into the pot.

The woman stared with all her might.

"What's this going to be?" she asked.

"Nail broth," said the tramp, and began to stir the water with the
porridge-stick.

"Nail broth?" asked the woman.

"Yes, nail broth," said the tramp.

The old woman had seen and heard a good deal in her time, but that
anybody could have made broth with a nail, well, she had never heard the
like before.

"That's something for poor people to know," she said, "and I should like
to learn how to make it."

"That which is not worth having will always go a