TOM-TIT-TOT


Once upon a time there was a woman and she baked five pies. But when
they came out of the oven they were over-baked, and the crust was far
too hard to eat. So she said to her daughter:

"Daughter," says she, "put them pies on to the shelf and leave 'em there
awhile. Surely they'll come again in time."

By that, you know, she meant that they would become softer; but her
daughter said to herself, "If Mother says the pies will come again, why
shouldn't I eat these now?" So, having good, young teeth, she set to
work and ate the lot, first and last.

Now when supper-time came the woman said to her daughter, "Go you and
get one of the pies. They are sure to have come again by now."

Then the girl went and looked, but of course there was nothing but the
empty dishes.

So back she came and said, "No, Mother, they ain't come again."

"Not one o' them?" asked the mother, taken aback like.

"Not one o' them," says the daughter, quite confident.

"Well," says the mother, "come again, or not come again, I will have one
of them pies for my supper."