14 lines
852 B
Text
14 lines
852 B
Text
The Old Beggar-Woman
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There was once an old woman, but thou hast surely seen an old woman go
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a-begging before now? This woman begged likewise, and when she got
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anything she said, “May God reward you.” The beggar-woman came to a
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door, and there by the fire a friendly rogue of a boy was standing
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warming himself. The boy said kindly to the poor old woman as she was
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standing shivering thus by the door, “Come, old mother, and warm
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yourself.” She came in, but stood too near the fire, so that her old
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rags began to burn, and she was not aware of it. The boy stood and saw
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that, but he ought to have put the flames out. Is it not true that he
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ought to have put them out? And if he had not any water, then should he
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have wept all the water in his body out of his eyes, and that would
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have supplied two pretty streams with which to extinguish them.
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