Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 1, 1890.djvu/316

310 So up he got and went along to her house, and found her sitting at the door.

“So thou’st come back,” said she, with a nod. “What dost want wi’ me now?”

So he sat down and told her how he’d tried to get a coat o’ clay, but he wasn’t any wiser for all of it.

“No,” said the wise woman, “thou’rt a bigger fool than ever, my lad.”

“So they all say,” sighed the fool; “but where can I get the right sort of coat o’ clay, then, missis?”

“When thou’st done wi’ this world, an’ thy fo’ak put thee in the ground,” said the wise woman. ”That’s the only coat o’ clay as’ll make such as thee wise, lad. Born a fool, die a fool, an’ be a fool thy life long, an’ that’s the truth!”

And she went into the house and shut the door.

“Dang it!” said the fool. “I must tell my mother she was right after all, an’ that she’ll niver ha’ a wise man for a son!”

And he went off home.

VII.—.

Once upon a time there was a man, and he had three sons. The eldest said to his father, “Father, if you’ll gie me a hund, a hawk, and a horse to ride on, I’ll go an’ seek my fortune.”

So his father gave him a hund, a hawk, and a horse to ride on, and he gaed out to seek his fortune.

He rade an’ he rade far an’ far’er than I can tell, till he came to a thick wood and lost his way, and night came on. Then he saw a light, and coming nearer found a splendid castle. He blew the horn, the door opened, but nobody