"Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, You do their work, and they shall have good luck." In the same scene Puck himself tells of the practical jokes he plays upon "the wisest aunt telling the saddest tale" to a fireside group, and of many another sportive trick with which he "frights the maidens" and vexes the housewives. The children had their stories to tell, like their elders; and Shakespeare has pictured a home scene in _The Winter's Tale_ (ii. 1. 21) which may have been suggested by his own experience as a boy. As Mr. Charles Knight asks, "may we not read for Hermione, Mary Shakespeare, and for Mamillius, William?" "_Hermione._ What wisdom stirs amongst you? Come, sir, now I am for you again; pray you, sit by us, And tell 's a tale. _Mamillius._ Merry, or sad shall 't be? _Hermione._ As merry as you will. _Mamillius._ A sad tale 's best for winter. I have one Of sprites and goblins. _Hermione._ Let's have that, good sir. Come on, sit down; come on, and do your best To fright me with your sprites; you're powerful at it. _Mamillius._ There was a man-- _Hermione._ Nay, come, sit down; then on. _Mamillius._ Dwelt by a churchyard:--I will tell it softly; Yond crickets shall not hear it. _Hermione._ Come on, then, And give 't me in mine ear." Just then his father, Leontes, comes in, and the tale is interrupted, never to be resumed. Mr. Knight assumes, with a good degree of probability, that William had access to some of the books from which he drew material for the story of his plays later in life, and that he may have told these tales, whether "merry or sad," to his brothers and sisters at home.