sister May
Margret. So he stayed his hand. Then once again the Laidly Worm said:

"Oh quit thy sword, unbend thy bow,
My laidly form forget.
Forgive the wrong and kiss me thrice
For love of May Margret."

Then Childe Wynde, remembering how he had loved his sister, put his arms
round the Laidly Worm and kissed it once. And he kissed the loathly
thing twice. And he kissed it yet a third time as he stood with the wet
sand at his feet.

Then with a hiss and a roar the Laidly Worm sank to the sand, and in his
arms was May Margret!

He wrapped her in his mantle, for she trembled in the cold sea air, and
carried her to Bamborough Castle, where the wicked Queen, knowing her
hour was come, stood, all deserted by her imps and witch-wives, on the
stairs, twisting her hands.

Then Childe Wynde looking at her cried:

"Woe! Woe to thee, thou wicked Witch!
An ill fate shalt thine be!
The doom thou dreed on May Margret
The same doom shalt thou dree.

Henceforth thou'lt be a Laidly Toad
That in the clay doth wend,
And unspelled thou wilt never be
Till this world hath an end."

And as he spoke the wicked Queen began to shrivel, and she shrivelled
and shrivelled to a horrid wrinkled toad that hopped down the castle
steps and disappeared in a crevice.

But to this day a loathsome toad is sometimes seen haunting Bamborough
Keep; and that Laidly Toad is the wicked Witch Queen!

But Childe Wynde and Princess May Margret loved each other as much as
ever, and lived happily ever after.

[Illustration: Tatty sat down and wept]

TITTY MOUSE AND TATTY MOUSE

Titty Mouse and Tatty Mouse both lived in a house.

Titty Mouse went a-gleaning, and Tatty Mouse went a-gleaning.

So they both went a-gleaning.

Titty Mouse gleaned an ear of corn, and Tatty Mouse gleaned an ear of
corn.

So they both gleaned 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 scalded
her to death, and Tatty sat down and wept.

Then the three-legged stool said, "Tatty, why do you weep?"

"Titty's dead," said Tatty, "and so I weep."

"Then," said the stool, "I'll hop," so the stool hopped.

Then a broom in the corner of the room said, "Stool, why do you hop?"

"Oh!" said the stool, "Titty's dead, and Tatty weeps, and