Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/142

136 "Why, because they are poor, or because they eat cats and squirrels?" asked the Princess.

"On account of the latter," replied Grandmother.

"Well squirrel is not bad food, I have tasted it myself," said the Princess.

"But, your Grace, there is a great difference between eating something as a delicacy and eating it out of necessity. The organ grinder himself is provided with a good stomach, the children as a matter of course need a great deal, and all must come out of that music. It is but natural,—they have little for the outside, little for the inside, and the house is as bare as the palm of the hand."

While this conversation was going on, the Princess took her seat at the table, Hortense placed the children on each side of herself, and Grandmother was obliged to sit down, too. The Countess wanted to pour her out some coffee or chocolate, but she said she did not drink coffee nor that other beverage.

"Then what do you have for breakfast? asked the Princess.

"From my childhood, I have been accustomed to eat soup, mostly sour; in the mountains we like that the best. Sour soup and potatoes for breakfast, potatoes and sour soup for dinner, supper the same; Sundays we usually had, in addition to the soup and potatoes, a slice of oaten bread. Thıs is the regular fare of people living in the Riesengebirge, and they are thankful when they have enough of it; for in hard times they are glad to get a little bran. Further in the interior, people have peas, whiter flour, cabbage, and sometimes a little meat; they live well! But the poor must not accustom