Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/186

 shelving part of the rock, and turned out its contents, but no stone was there. Then putting back half the leaves into the basket, and tying as many of the remainder in her apron as it would hold ,shehold, she [sic] proceeded on her way; but in a few minutes she found her load as heavy as ever, and was obliged still further to lighten it, to her extreme surprise, for many and many a time had she carried it, piled up with similar loads, and never felt any such fatigue as this. She got home, however, at last, and notwithstanding her weariness, did what work there was to be done, threw the leaves to the goat and kids, gave her children their supper, such as it was, got them to sleep, said her prayers, and then went to bed and fell fast asleep.

The morning sun, and still more the uproar of her nursling, who was bawling for his breakfast, roused the active housewife to her daily work. Having attended to the baby, she ran to the goat’s stable with her milk-pail. Oh! what a terrible sight presented itself; the goat, the main source of nourishment for the children, lay stiff and lifeless on the ground. The kids too, their eyes rolling horribly, their tongues hanging out, and gasping convulsively, were evidently on the eve of death. Never had such a disaster befallen the poor woman since she had been a housekeeper. Quite stunned