"It seems to be true," said the astronomer, "that the Man has got out
of the Moon somehow or other. Let me look at your mouth, sir, and see
if it is really burned."
Then the Man opened his mouth, and everyone saw plainly it was burned
to a blister! Thereupon the magistrate begged his pardon for doubting
his word, and asked him what he would like to do next.
"I'd like to get back to the Moon," said the Man, "for I don't like
this earth of yours at all. The nights are too hot."
"Why, it's quite cool this evening!" said the magistrate.
"I'll tell you what we can do," remarked the astronomer; "there's a big
balloon in town which belongs to the circus that came here last summer,
and was pawned for a board bill. We can inflate this balloon and send
the Man out of the Moon home in it."
"That's a good idea," replied the judge. So the balloon was brought
and inflated, and the Man got into the basket and gave the word to let
go, and then the balloon mounted up into the sky in the direction of
the moon.
The good people of Norwich stood on the earth and tipped back their
heads, and watched the balloon go higher and higher, until finally the
Man reached out and caught hold of the edge of the moon, and behold!
the next minute he was the Man in the Moon again!
After this adventure he was well contented to stay at home; and I've no
doubt if you look through a telescope you will see him there to this
day.
[Illustration: The Jolly Miller]
The Jolly Miller
There was a jolly miller
Lived on the river Dee;
He sang and worked from morn till night,
No lark so blithe as he.
And this the burden of his song
Forever seemed to be:
I care for nobody, no! not I,
Since nobody cares for me.
"CREE-E-EEKETY-CRUCK-CRICK! cree-e-eekety-cruck-crick!" sang out the
big wheel of the mill upon the river Dee, for it was old and ricketty
and had worked many years grinding corn for the miller; so from morning
till night it creaked and growled and complained as if rebelling
against the work it must do. And the country people, at work in the
fields far away, would raise their heads when the soft summer breezes
wafted the sound of the wheel to their ears and say,
"The jolly miller is grinding his corn." And again, at the times when
the mill was shut down and no sound of the wheel reached them, they
said to one another,
"The jolly miller has no corn to grind to-day," or, "The miller is
oiling the great wheel." But they would miss the creaking, monotonous
noise, and feel more content when the mill started again and made music
for them as they worked.
But no one came to the mill unless they brought corn to grind, for the
miller was a queer man, and liked to be alone. When people passed by
the mill and saw the miller at his work, they only nodded their heads,
for they knew he would not reply if they spoke to him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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