quench fire; fire won't burn stick; stick won't
beat dog; dog won't bite pig; pig won't get over the stile; and I shan't
get home till midnight." But the rat wouldn't.

She went a little further, and she met a cat. So she said, "Cat! cat!
kill rat; rat won't gnaw rope; rope won't hang butcher; butcher won't
kill ox; ox won't drink water; water won't quench fire; fire won't burn
stick; stick won't beat dog; dog won't bite pig; pig won't get over the
stile; and I shan't get home till midnight." But the cat said to her,
"If you will go to yonder cow, and fetch me a saucer of milk, I will
kill the rat." So away went the old woman to the cow.

But the cow said to her, "If you will go to yonder haystack, and fetch
me a handful of hay, I'll give you the milk." So away went the old woman
to the haystack; and she brought the hay to the cow.

As soon as the cow had eaten the hay, she gave the old woman the milk;
and away she went with it in a saucer to the cat.

As soon as the cat had lapped up the milk, the cat began to kill the
rat; the rat began to gnaw the rope; the rope began to hang the butcher;
the butcher began to kill the ox; the ox began to drink the water; the
water began to quench the fire; the fire began to burn the stick; the
stick began to beat the dog; the dog began to bite the pig; the little
pig squealed and jumped over the stile; and so the old woman got home
before midnight.

THE WEE BANNOCK

Once upon a time there was an old man and his old wife who lived in a
wee cottage beside a wee burnie. They had two cows, five hens, and a
cock, a cat and two kittens. Now the old man looked after the cows, the
cock looked after the hens, the cat looked after a mouse in the
cupboard, and the two kittens looked after the old wife's spindle as it
twirled and tussled about on the hearthstone. But though the old wife
should have looked after the kittens, the more she said, "Sho! Sho! Go
away, kitty!" the more they looked after the spindle!

So, one day, when she was quite tired out with saying, "Sho! Sho!" the
old wife felt hungry and thought she could take a wee bite of something.
So she up and baked two wee oatmeal bannocks and set them to toast
before the fire. Now just as they were toasting away, smelling so fresh
and tasty, in came the old man, and seeing them look so crisp and nice,
takes up one of them and snaps a piece out of it. On this the other
bannock thought it high time to be off, so up it jumps a