Gypsy Folk Tales,
by Francis Hindes Groome, [1899],
at sacred-texts.com
Twopence-Halfpenny
There were three brothers. The three were going on the road to seek
for work. Night came upon them. They knew not where to go to get
lodgings: it was night. They were travelling through a wood on an old
road. They saw a small light, and they came to a cottage. They were
hungry and tired. The door was open. They saw a table with food upon it.
Said the eldest brother, 'Go you in.'
'I am not going in; go in yourself.'
'Not I, indeed.'
'You are two fools,' said Jack. And in he went, and sat down at the
table, and ate his bellyful. The other two watched him. They were
afraid to enter the house. At last the other two went in, and sat down
and ate.
Now a little old woman comes. Said the old woman, 'I have seen no man here for many years. Whence came ye hither?'
'We are seeking for work.'
'I will find work for you to-morrow.'
They went to bed. Up they rose in the morning. And there was a great
pot on the fire, and porridge and milk. That was the food they ate. Now
the old woman tells the eldest brother to go into the barn to get the
tools, and to go into the wood to fell the trees. He took off his coat.
There he is doing the work. There came an old dwarf, and asked him who
told him to fell the wood. He could not see this little man, so small
was he. He looked under his feet; he saw him in the stubble. The old
dwarf hit him and beat him, until he bled, and there he left him. Now
the maid comes with his dinner. The girl went home and told the two
other brothers to come and carry him home and put him to bed.
In the morning the second brother goes to the wood.
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