“I have eaten so much,
Not a leaf more I’ll touch, meh! meh!”
“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, hast thou had enough?” The goat
answered,
“Wherewithal should I be satisfied?
Among the graves I leapt about,
And found no food, so went without, meh! meh!”
“The godless wretch!” cried the tailor, “to let such a good animal
hunger,” 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,
hast thou had enough?” The goat answered,
“I have eaten so much,
Not a leaf more I’ll touch, meh! meh!”
“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, hast
thou had enough?” The wicked beast answered,
“Wherewithal should I be satisfied?
Among the graves I leapt about,
And found no leaves, so went without, meh! meh!”
“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 upstairs 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 will take thee to feed myself.” He took her by the rope and
conducted her to green hedges, and amongst milfoil, and whatever else
goats like to eat. “There thou mayest for once eat to thy heart’s
content,” said he to her, and let her browse till evening. Then he
asked, “Goat, art thou satisfied?” She replied,
“I have eaten so much,
Not a leaf more I’ll touch, meh! meh!”
“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, art thou satisfied for once?” But the goat did not behave the
better to him, and cried,
“Wherewithal should I be satisfied?
Among the graves I leapt about,
And found no leaves, so went without, meh! meh!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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