FAIRY TALES FOR LITTLE FOLKS. 191 



against my premises. I can not give the old crone s 

 language, nor could she probably give the real lan 

 guage of the parties in action, for it was undoubted 

 ly Dutch ; nor can I convey an idea of her halting, 

 though impressive manner; but the story, having 

 come direct through the broomstick fraternity, is 

 doubtless true in every particular, and. may be en 

 titled 



LIVE-GEESE FEATHERS. 



On the sloping bank near that little pond there 

 dwelt, ages ago, an old man and his wife. The situ 

 ation was pleasant, and would have been handsome 

 for the trees were more numerous then than now 

 if the edge of the bank had been covered with its 

 natural sod ; but the trampling of geese and ducks 

 had long ago worn away the vegetation to the bare 

 earth. The water was not over clear, and the scum 

 that here and there floated about, innoxious as it 

 might be to the feathered tribes, was not agreeable 

 to the human eye. In fact, the pond would have 

 been unceremoniously termed a duck-pond, although 

 it was mainly appropriated to geese. Yes, the old 

 man and his wife made their daily bread by raising 

 geese. Not only did the old fellow count upon the 

 sale of the goose for food, but several times a year 

 did he pluck the feathers ; and on a large sign, in 



