Atondido Stories
The Boy Who Wanted More Cheese
Klaas Van Bommel was a Dutch boy, twelve years old, who lived
where cows were plentiful. He was over five feet high, weighed
a hundred pounds, and had rosy cheeks. His appetite was al-
ways good and his mother declared his stomach had no bottom.
His hair was of a color half-way between a carrot and a sweet
potato. It was as thick as reeds in a swamp and was cut level,
from under one ear to another.
Klaas stood in a pair of timber shoes, that made an awful
rattle when he ran fast to catch a rabbit, or scuffed slowly along
to school over the brick road of his village. In summer Klaas was
dressed in a rough, blue linen blouse. In winter he wore woollen
breeches as wide as coffee bags. They were called bell trousers,
and in shape were like a couple of cow-bells turned upwards.
These were buttoned on to a thick warm jacket. Until he was
five years old, Klaas was dressed like his sisters. Then, on his
birthday, he had boy's clothes, with two pockets in them, of
which he was proud enough.
Klaas was a farmer's boy. He had rye bread and fresh milk
for breakfast. At dinner time, beside cheese and bread, he was
given a plate heaped with boiled potatoes. Into these he first
plunged a fork and then dipped each round, white ball into a
bowl of hot melted butter. Very quickly then did potato and
butter disappear "down the red lane." At supper, he had bread
and skim milk, left after the cream had been taken off, with a
saucer, to make butter. Twice a week the children enjoyed a bowl
of bonnyclabber or curds, with a little brown sugar sprinkled on
the top. But at every meal there was cheese, usually in thin slices,
which the boy thought not thick enough. When Klaas went to
bed he usually fell asleep as soon as his shock of yellow hair
touched the pillow. In summer time he slept till the birds began
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