tech a single apple.'
And the Devil temp' him and say he going to put his cap on a pole and
everybody got to bow down to it for a idol and if William Tell don't bow
down to it he got to shoot a apple for good or evil off 'm his little
boy's head. That's all the little boy William Tell and Adam and Eve
got, but he ain't going to fall down and worship no gravy image on top a
pole, so he put a tomahawk in his bosom and he tooken his bow and arrur
and shot the apple plumb th'oo the middle and never swinge a hair of his
head. And Eve nibble off the apple and give Adam the core, and Lina all
time 'sputing 'bout Adam and Eve and William Tell ain't in the Bible.
They 're our first parents."

"Now, Billy, you tell a tale and then it will be my time," said Lina
with a savingthe-best-for-the-last air.

"Once they was a of witch," said Billy, "what got outer her skin ev'y
night an' lef' it on the he'rth an' turnt herself to a great, big, black
cat an' go up the chim'ly an' go roun' an' ride folks fer horses, an'
set on ev'ybody's chis' an' suck they breath an' kill 'em an' then come
back to bed. An' can't nobody ketch her tell one night her husban' watch
her an' he see her jump outer her skin an' drop it on the he'rth an'
turn to a 'normous black cat an' go up the chim'ly. An' he got outer the
bed an' put some salt an' pepper an' vinegar on the skin an' she come
back an' turnt to a 'oman an' try to git back in her skin an' she can't
'cause the salt an' pepper an' vinegar mos' burn her up, an' she keep on
a-tryin' an' she can't never snuggle inter her skin 'cause it keep on a
burnin' worser 'n ever, an' there she is a 'oman 'thout no skin on.
So she try to turn back to a cat an' she can't 'cause it's pas' twelve
erclock, an' she jest swivvle an' swivvle tell fine'ly she jest swivvle
all up. An' that was the las' of the ole witch an' her husban' live
happy ever after. Amen."

"Once upon a time," said Lina, "there was a beautiful maiden and she
was in love, but her wicked old parent wants her to marry a rich old
man threescore and ten years old, which is 'most all the old you can get
unless you are going to die; and the lovely princess said, 'No, father,
you may cut me in the twain but I will never marry any but my true
love.' So the wicked parent shut up the lovely maiden in a high tower
many miles from the ground, and made her live on turnips and she had
nothing else to eat; so one day when she was crying a little fairy flew
in a