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Once upon a time there was a little black girl, and her name was Little
Black Mingo.

She had no father and mother, so she had to live with a horrid cross old
woman called Black Noggy, who used to scold her every day, and sometimes
beat her with a stick, even though she had done nothing naughty.

One day Black Noggy called her, and said, "Take this chatty {ed. A
chatty is a large ceramic vase used to carry water.} down to the river
and fill it with water, and come back as fast as you can, QUICK NOW!"

So Little Black Mingo took the chatty and ran down to the river as
fast as she could, and began to fill it with water, when Cr-r-rrrack!!!
Bang!!! A horrible big Mugger {ed. A Mugger is an alligator like
creature.} poked its nose up through the bottom of the chatty and said
"Ha, ha!! Little Mingo, I'm going to eat you up!"

Little Black Mingo did not say anything. She turned and ran away as fast
as ever she could, and the Mugger ran after her. But the broken chatty
round his neck caught his paws, so he could not overtake her.

But when she got back to Black Noggy, and told her how the Mugger had
broken the chatty, Black Noggy was fearfully angry. "You naughty girl,"
she said, "you have broken the chatty yourself, I have a good mind to
beat you." And if she had not been in such a hurry for the water she
WOULD have beaten her.

Then she went and fetched the great big chatty that the dhobi used to
boil the clothes in. "Take this," said she, "and mind you don't break
it, or I WILL beat you."

"But I can't carry that when it is full of water," said Little Black
Mingo.

"You must go twice, and bring it half full each time," said Black Noggy.

So Little Black Mingo took the dhobi's great big chatty, and started
again to go to the river. But first she went to a little bank above the
river, and peeped up and down, to see if she could see the old Mugger
anywhere. But she could not see him, for he was hiding under the very
bank she was standing on, and though his tail stuck out a little she
never saw him at all.

She would have liked to run home, but she was too much afraid that Black
Noggy would beat her.

So Little Black Mingo crept down to the river, and began to fill the big
chatty with water. And while she was filling it the Mugger came creeping
softly down behind her and caught her by the tail, saying, "Aha, Little
Black Mingo, now I've got you."

And Little Black Mingo said, "Oh! Please don't eat me u