day the wolf came again
and said to the little pig:

"Little pig, there is a fair at Shanklin this afternoon. Will you go?"

"Oh, yes," said the pig, "I will go. What time shall you be ready?"

"At three," said the wolf. So the little pig went off before the time as
usual, and got to the fair and bought a butter-churn, which he was going
home with, when he saw the wolf coming. Then he could not tell what to
do. So he got into the churn to hide, and by so doing turned it round,
and it rolled down the hill with the pig in it, which frightened the
wolf so much that he ran home without going to the fair. He went to the
little pig's house and told him how frightened he had been by a great
round thing which came down the hill past him. Then the little pig said:

"Hah, I frightened you, then. I had been to the fair and bought a
butter-churn, and when I saw you, I got into it and rolled down the
hill."

Then the wolf was very angry indeed, and declared he _would_ eat up the
little pig and that he would get down the chimney after him. When the
little pig saw what he was about, he hung on the pot full of water and
made up a blazing fire, and, just as the wolf was coming down, took off
the cover, and in fell the wolf; so the little pig put on the cover
again in an instant, boiled him up, and ate him for supper, and lived
happy ever afterwards.

152

How great calamities sometimes grow out of
small causes is illustrated in an old
proverbial saying of Poor Richard (see No.
137). The favorite English folk-tale version of
this theme, taken from Halliwell, is given
below. It takes the form of an accumulative
droll, or comic story. The overwhelming
catastrophe at the end is so complete and so
unexpected that it has a decidedly humorous
effect.

TITTY MOUSE AND TATTY MOUSE

Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse both lived in a house,
Titty Mouse went a leasing and Tatty Mouse went a leasing,
So they both went a leasing.

Titty Mouse leased an ear of corn, and
Tatty Mouse leased an ear of corn,
So they both leased an ear of corn.

Titty Mouse made a pudding, and
Tatty Mouse made a pudding,
So they both made a pudding.

And Tatty Mouse put her pudding into the pot to boil,
But when Titty went to put hers in, the pot tumbled over, and