The Pancake
ONCE on a time there was a goody who had seven hungry bairns, and she was frying a pancake for them. It was a sweet-milk pancake, and there it lay in the pan bubbling and frizzling so thick and good, it was a sight for sore eyes to look at. And the bairns stood round about, and the goodman sat by and looked on.
"Oh, give me a bit of pancake, mother, dear; I am so hungry," said one bairn.
"Oh, darling mother," said the second.
"Oh, darling, good mother," said the third.
"Oh, darling, good, nice mother," said the fourth.
"Oh, darling, pretty, good, nice mother," said the fifth.
"Oh, darling, pretty, good, nice, clever mother," said the sixth.
"Oh, darling, pretty, good, nice, clever, sweet mother," said the seventh.
So they begged for the pancake all round, the one more prettily than the other; for they were so hungry and so good.
"Yes, yes, bairns, only bide a bit till it turns itself,"—she ought to have said, "till I can get it turned,"—
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