Atondido Stories
laughter.
"And that isn't all!" the shoemaker said. "I've got something
else in my bag."
He pulled out the red rooster, put him on the table, and said:
"Crow, rooster, crow!"
The rooster crowed and a golden ducat dropped from his
bill.
"Oh!" the children cried, and the youngest one begged:
"Make him do it again! Make him do it again!"
So again the shoemaker said: "Crow, rooster, crow!" and
again a golden ducat dropped from the rooster's bill.
The children were so amused that the shoemaker kept the
rooster crowing all night long until the room was overflowing
with a great heap of shining ducats.
The next day the shoemaker said to his wife:
"We must measure our money and see how much we have.
Send one of the children over to Godfather to borrow a bushel
measure."
So the youngest child ran over to the rich man's house and
said:
"Godfather, my father says will you please lend us a bushel
measure to measure our money."
"Measure your money!" the rich man growled. "Pooh, pooh,
what nonsense! Wife, where's that old worn-out measure that
we're going to throw away? It's the very thing to lend these beg-
gars."
The woman who was just as disagreeable as the man handed
the child an old broken measure and said, severely:
"See you bring it back at once!"
In a short time the little girl returned the measure.
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