THREE MEN OF GOTHAM


There is a town in England called Go-tham, and many merry stories are

told of the queer people who used to live there.



One day two men of Go-tham met on a bridge. Hodge was coming from the

market, and Peter was going to the market.



"Where are you going?" said Hodge.



"I am going to the market to buy sheep," said Peter.



"Buy sheep?" said Hodge. "And which way will y
u bring them home?"



"I shall bring them over this bridge," said Peter.



"No, you shall not," said Hodge.



"Yes, but I will," said Peter.



"You shall not," said Hodge.



"I will," said Peter.



Then they beat with their sticks on the ground as though there had

been a hundred sheep between them.



"Take care!" cried Peter. "Look out that my sheep don't jump on the

bridge."



"I care not where they jump," said Hodge; "but they shall not go over

it."



"But they shall," said Peter.



"Have a care," said Hodge; "for if you say too much, I will put my

fingers in your mouth."



"Will you?" said Peter.



Just then another man of Gotham came from the market with a sack of

meal on his horse. He heard his neigh-bors quar-rel-ing about sheep;

but he could see no sheep between them, and so he stopped and spoke to

them.



"Ah, you foolish fellows!" he cried. "It is strange that you will

never learn wisdom.--Come here, Peter, and help me lay my sack on my

shoul-der."



Peter did so, and the man carried his meal to the side of the bridge.



"Now look at me," he said, "and learn a lesson." And he opened the

mouth of the sack, and poured all the meal into the river.



"Now, neighbors," he said, "can you tell how much meal is in my

sack?"





"There is none at all!" cried Hodge and Peter together.



"You are right," said the man; "and you that stand here and quarrel

about nothing, have no more sense in your heads than I have meal in my

sack!"



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