us a
story while we are waiting."

So they all sat down in a circle around Dona Teresa with Jose opposite
her, and the fire flickered in the brasero, and lighted up all the eager
brown faces and all the bright black eyes, as they watched Dona Teresa's
cooking-pan.

II

Then Jose told the story of Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby; and after
that he told how Br'er Rabbit made a riding-horse out of Br'er Fox; and
when he had finished, the sweet potatoes were ready.

"Who shall have the first piece?" asked Dona Teresa, holding up a nice
brown slice.

"Jose, Jose," cried all the children.

Jose took out his penny and gave it to Dona Teresa, and held out his
dish. She took up a big piece of sweet potato on the end of a pointed
stick. It was almost safely landed in Jose's dish, when suddenly there
was a great flapping of wings and a loud "Cock-a-doodle-doo," right
behind Jose!

The red rooster had opened his eyes, and when he saw the glow of the
fire, he thought it must be morning. So he crowed at once, and then flew
right down off his perch, and before any one knew what he was after or
could stop him, he had snatched Jose's candied sweet potato off the end
of Dona Teresa's stick, and was running away with it as fast as he could
go!

"Thanks be to God," said Jose, "that piece was still very hot!"

The red rooster soon found that out for himself. He was so afraid that
somebody would get his morsel away from him that he swallowed it whole,
boiling hot syrup and all! He thought it was worse than the red pepper
and the gold paint he had taken that morning.

He opened his bill wide and squawked with pain, and his eyes looked
wild. The children rolled on the ground with laughter. The last they
saw of the red rooster he was running to the back of the house, where a
dish of water was kept for the chickens; and it is perfectly true that
for three days after that he could hardly crow at all!

[Illustration]

Dona Teresa was dreadfully ashamed of the red rooster. She apologized
and gave Jose another piece of sweet potato at once, and then she passed
out more pieces to the children, and said:--

"Now mind you don't behave like the rooster! You see what he got for
being greedy."

The children sucked their pieces slowly, so as to make them last a long
time, and while they got themselves all sticky with syrup, Jose told
them the story of Cinderella and her glass slippers and her pumpkin
coach, and two ghost stories.

I