ANY years ago there lived in 
a large town a shoemaker and 
his wife_, Hanna, with their 
little son. Jacob. The shoe- 
maker did not earn enough to 
support his family, so Hanna 
helped out by growing vege- 
tables and fruit, in a small garden just outside 
the city gates. These she sold in the market- 
place. 
Little Jacob, who was ten years old, helped 
his mother and attracted customers by calling 
the wares in a sweet, clear treble. Everyone 
in the market-place liked the handsome boy, 
and his mother was exceedingly proud of him. 
One fine morning Hanna and Jacob had 
gone to market as usual. It was quite early, 
and no one had yet bought anything, when 
Hanna saw the strangest old woman she had 
ever beheld come crossing the market. Her 
face was all furrowed and shrivelled with age, 
and her neck was so thin that it could scarcely 
support her head, which kept wagging from 
side to side. The old woman’s eyes were red, 
and, midway between them, was a nose so 
long that it overhung her chin. But, 
A Fairy Tale, Retold from tke 
German ky W. J. L. KIEHL. 
Illustrated by H. R. Millar. 
queerest of all, was the way she moved along ; 
it was not walking or hopping, but a sort of 
gliding, rolling movement, as if she had wheels 
under her legs instead of feet. Imagine 
Hanna’s fright when this vision of ugliness 
stopped in front of her market-stall and began 
thrusting her spidery hands into the basket 
of rare herbs that Jacob had just arranged so 
daintily. 
Lor a long time she poked about in it, taking 
our bunch after bunch of fragrant herbs, 
crushing them in her brown fingers and holding 
them to her long nose. At last the old 
woman shook her head : “ Bad stuff, bad 
stuff,” she muttered, as she threw everything 
back into the basket again. “ The herb I’m 
looking for isn’t there ; it’s bad stuff, bad 
stuff.” 
Then indignation overcame little Jacob. 
“ What ! ” he cried, “ first you crush and 
spoil our greens and hold them to your dis- 
gusting long nose until no one who has seen it 
will buy them, and then you call our wares 
bad.” 
Xhe hag leered at the bold boy in her 
unpleasant way. “ So you admire my big 
nose, sonny ? Well, well, you shall have 
one like it ! ” 
Then she hobbled over to a basket of 
cabbages, which she took up one by one, 
crushing them between her hands, then she 
threw them all back again. 
By this time Jacob’s blood was up and he 
jeered at her : “ Take care that your great 
head does not break off your spindle neck, if 
you wag your head so, for it might fall among 
our cabbages, and who would want to buy 
them then ? ” 
