Deulin Charles
Johnny Nut and the Golden Goose
CHAPTER IV
JOHNNY was not dead; Fortune had other adventures in store for Johnny. A farmer came out with his men, and carried him into the house, where he soon came to his senses. It was not very much in that way he had to come to; but if Johnny had not many brains, he had an extraordinarily thick skull. The blow with the hammer would have killed another man, but it only made a bump on the head of our Johnny.
The farmer asked him where he came from and what he wanted.
'I'm going to Hergnies, to eat roast goose,' said Johnny.
'Why, you are twelve miles from Hergnies,' said the farmer; and he gave Johnny a sheaf of corn, and sent him on his road.
Well, Johnny lost himself again, and sat down against a wall and lunched off part of his hunch of bread.
Then, as he was tired, he fell asleep, and a chicken came and ate all the grains of corn out of his sheaf. Then Johnny woke, and when he found he had nothing left of his sheaf but straw he fell a-crying.
Now, the farmer there was a good-natured man, and, to console Johnny, he made him a present of the fowl, and off he went.
About four in the afternoon Johnny was hungry again, and sat down to finish his hunch of bread with his chicken beside him.
Up came a clumsy great cow, and trod on the chicken and crushed it flat.
Johnny set off sobbing again. 'Never no luck,' says he. 'They gave me a sheaf, and a chicken ate it. They gave me a chicken, and a cow crushed it Boo-hoo!'
'Don't boo-hoo,' says the Lord of the Manor, who came by with his gun on his shoulder and his game-bag on his back. 'Don't boo-hoo! take the cow.'
'Thank you kindly, your noble worship,' says Johnny, as merry as may be, and he and the cow jogged along till it grew dark.
At last Johnny came to another farm, and there the farmer took in him and his cow.
Now, this farmer had a big pretty maid, as strong as a man, and he bade her milk Johnny's cow. But, as she milked, the cow switched its tail in her eyes and made her see quite an illumination.
The maid was an angry maid. She picked up a pitchfork and threw it at the cow, and the poor beast fell down dead!
Then Johnny began to cry again, and I don't wonder at it.
'Never no luck,' says he. 'They gave me a sheaf, and a chicken ate it; they gave me a chicken, and a cow crushed it; they gave me a cow, and the maid killed it. Boo-hoo!'
'Oh bother! take the maid and don't blubber,' said the farmer. He didn't like to keep a girl in the house who threw pitchforks about when she lost her temper.
Johnny did not wait to be asked twice. He took the maid, tied her hands and feet, put her in a sack, heaved her on to his back, and away went Johnny.
'When I do get to Hergnies,' said he to himself, 'I'll marry the maid, and we'll have roast goose at the wedding supper,' for his intentions were strictly honourable.
But the further he went the more Johnny didn't find the way; and at last, as the maid was pretty heavy, he set her down by a tavern door and went in and asked for a pot of beer.