THE QUEEN OF THE MISSISSIPPI
Then the young man took his muffin, and, breaking off a little bit of it, handed it to the man who carried the trees.
'Keep it,' said he; 'it's a pledge of good faith.'
So they journeyed on together. They were still a long way from the Mississippi when they came across a man with a mouth large enough to swallow a river. When the boy, who had become a young man and was now full grown, set his eyes on him, his beard and moustache began to sprout.
'Will you travel with me?'
'Pardon?'
'Come, travel with me, my pippy.
(Sing merry-ton-ton-ta-lay.)
To the land of the far Mississippi
Where the crystalline fountains play;
There's a Queen who will not say me nay.'
'I am yours! But the bounty?'
'We're picking it up on the way.'
Then the young man took his muffin, and, breaking off a little bit of it, handed it to the man with the mouth as large as a river.
'Keep it,' said he; 'it's a pledge of good faith.'
So they journeyed on together. On and on they went until at last they came to a great hill-top, and there, standing on the crest of it, they looked down into an immense valley where they saw a man engaged in eating up the whole earth. As soon as he saw this gigantic meal going on, the boy, who had become a young man and was now full grown with moustache and beard, appeared like a knight errant. One could see that, from the spurs which had grown upon his heels.
'Hi! What are you doing there?'
'I am so terribly hungry that nothing less than the whole earth can appease my appetite.'
'Will you travel with me?'
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