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THE TALE OF BUBBLE AND SQUEAK
My, they must lay him enough eggs to give him fried, boiled, and scrambled eggs three times a day! "
" No, he has them once a day, made into a big egg-pudding," said Bubble. " A goose egg is very big, Squeak—big enough to make a whole meal for both of us. If only we had a goose! It would be fun to have goose-egg each day."
" Sh! " said Squeak. " I can hear Once-a-Day talking. Let's peep through the hedge and see who he's talking to."
So they peeped through a hole in the hedge—but they could not see who the wizard was talking to—because he wasn't talking to anyone. He was talking to himself.
" I haven't enough geese," he was saying. " I need three more, because I sold two to Witch Google the other day, and one to Mister Yum. I must make some more."
" Did you hear that? " whispered Bubble to Squeak, in excitement. " He said ' make some more! ' We shall see how he makes them if we keep quiet! "
So they kept as quiet as could be and watched—and they saw a most extraordinary sight.
In Wizard Once-a-Day's garden grew some very fine gooseberry bushes. Once-a-Day went to a bush and looked at it. He picked a fat green gooseberry from it, and then another. He picked a third gooseberry from another bush. Now he had three. He put them down on the ground and drew a chalk circle round them.
" Now, where's my pot of moonlight dew ? " he said. He went indoors and brought out a yellow pot of shining dew that he had collected in the moonlight. He splashed a few drops over the three green gooseberries.
Then he danced round solemnly, holding up his long cloak as he went, his tall hat nodding on his big head. He sang a song that the watching brownies knew was magic:
" Gooseberries green, gooseberries round, Gooseberries lying upon the ground, I don't want your berries, so go away, please, But leave me, yes, leave me, your cackling geese! "
As he finished singing this queer song, the gooseberries began to swell. They turned a grey-white colour. They grew feathers. They grew
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