Children's stories, German -- Translations into English; Fairy tales; Fairy tales -- Germany
“_I have eaten so much,
Not a leaf more I’ll touch,
Ma! Ma!_”
“Come home, then,” said the youth, and led her home and tied her up in
the stable.
“Well,” said the old tailor, “has the goat had as much food as she
ought?”
“Oh,” answered the son, “she has eaten so much, not a leaf more she’ll
touch.”
The tailor would not rely on this, but went down to the stable and
said, “Goat, have you had enough?”
The goat answered:
“_With what should I be satisfied?
Among the graves I leapt about,
And found no food, so went without,
Ma! Ma!_”
“The godless wretch!” cried the tailor, “to let such a good animal
go hungry,” and he ran up and drove the youth out of doors with the
yard-measure.
Now came the turn of the third son, who wanted to do the thing well,
and sought out some bushes with the finest leaves, and let the goat
devour them.
In the evening when he wanted to go home, he asked, “Goat, have you had
enough?”
The goat answered:
“_I have eaten so much,
Not a leaf more I’ll touch,
Ma! Ma!_”
“Come home, then,” said the youth, and led her into the stable, and
tied her up.
“Well,” said the old tailor, “has the goat had a proper amount of food?”
“She has eaten so much, not a leaf more she’ll touch.”
The tailor did not trust to that, but went down and asked, “Goat, have
you had enough?”
The wicked beast answered:
“_With what should I be satisfied?
Among the graves I leapt about,
And found no leaves, so went without,
Ma! Ma!_”
“Oh, the brood of liars!” cried the tailor, “each as wicked and
forgetful of his duty as the other! Ye shall no longer make a fool
of me,” and, quite beside himself with anger, he ran up-stairs and
belabored the poor young fellow so vigorously with the yard-measure
that he sprang out of the house.
The old tailor was now alone with his goat. Next morning he went down
into the stable, caressed the goat and said, “Come, my dear little
animal, I myself will take you to feed.”
He took her by the rope and conducted her to green hedges, and amongst
milfoil, and whatever else goats like to eat. “There you may for once
eat to your heart’s content,” said he to her, and let her browse till
evening.
Then he asked, “Goat, are you satisfied?” She replied:
“_I have eaten so much,
Not a leaf more I’ll touch,
Ma! Ma!_”
“Come home, then,” said the tailor, and led her into the stable, and
tied her fast.
When he was going away, he turned round again and said, “Well, are you
satisfied for once?”
But the goat did not behave better to him, and cried:
“_With what should I be satisfied?
Among the graves I leapt about,
And found no leaves, so went without,
Ma! Ma!_”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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