Page:Mother goose's fairy tales (1).pdf/12

This page has been validated.

12 FAIRY TALES

godmother, be but a good girl, and I will contrive that you shall go. Then she took her into her chamber, and said to her, Run into the garden, and bring me a pompion. Cinderilla went immediately to gather the finest she could get, and brought it to her godmother, not being able to imagine how this pompion could make her go to the ball. Her godmother scooped out all the inside of it, having left nothing but the rind, which done, she struck it with her wand, and the pompion was instantly turned into a fine coach gilded all over with gold.

She then went and looked into the mouse-trap, where she found six mice all alive, and ordered Cinderilla to lift up a little the trap-door, when giving each mouse as it went out a little tap with her wand, the mouse was that moment turned into a fair horse, which altogether made a very fine set of six horses, of a beautiful mouse-coloured, dapple grey. Being at a loss-for a coachman, “I will go and see, says Cinderilla, if there be never a rat in the rat-trap, we may make a coachman of him.” “Thou art in the right, replied her godmother, go and look.” Cinderilla brought the trap to her, and in it there were three huge rats. The Fairy made choice of one of the three which had the largest beard, and having touched him with her wand, he was turned into a fat jolly coachman, who had the smartest whiskers and eyes ever beheld.

After that, she said to her, Go again into the garden, and you will find six lizards behind the watering pot; bring them to me. She had no sooner done so but her godmother turned them into six footmen, who skipped up immediately behind the coach, with their liveries all bedaubed with gold and silver, and clung as close behind each other, as if they had done nothing else their whole lives. The Fairy then said to Cinderilla, 'Well, you see here an equipage, fit to