him, he said: "Ah, you're the youngster what served me and my missus
that shabby trick, leaving us without any supper. Well, you shan't do
it again. I'll watch over you myself. Here, get under the sofa, and
I'll set on it and watch the pot boil for you."

So poor Tommy Grimes had to creep under the sofa, and Mr. Miacca sat
on it and waited for the pot to boil. And they waited, and they
waited, but still the pot didn't boil, till at last Mr. Miacca got
tired of waiting, and he said: "Here, you under there, I'm not going
to wait any longer; put out your leg, and I'll stop your giving us the
slip."

So Tommy put out a leg, and Mr. Miacca got a chopper, and chopped it
off, and pops it in the pot.

Suddenly he calls out: "Sally, my dear, Sally!" and nobody answered.
So he went into the next room to look out for Mrs. Miacca, and while
he was there, Tommy crept out from under the sofa and ran out of the
door. For it was a leg of the sofa that he had put out.

So Tommy Grimes ran home, and he never went round the corner again
till he was old enough to go alone.



WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT

In the reign of the famous King Edward III. there was a little boy
called Dick Whittington, whose father and mother died when he was very
young. As poor Dick was not old enough to work, he was very badly off;