7. The Milkmaid And Her Pail

    All along a flowery meadow tripped the prettiest milkmaid in the world, carrying her pail upon her head as cleverly as possible.  Her name was Perette, and she had pink cheeks and blue eyes and golden curls; and well she knew that the farm lads and shepherds all peeped admiringly through the hedge at her as she passed.  But she pretended not to see them, for she was filled with a wonderful dream.

    "This milk is worth a lot of money!" thought she.  "I will take it to the town and sell it, and then I can buy at least four sittings of eggs.  I will bring the eggs home, and put them under four of my best and biggest and brownest hens.  In three weeks, each hen will bring out thirteen chicks, and I shall have fifty-two of the pretty little yellow things to feed.  I can rear them on scraps until the autumn, and then I will run them on the barley-stubble, which will cost nothing at all!  By Christmas there will be fifty-two big beautiful fowls for sale!  Oh, what a lot of money I shall have!"

    She clapped her little hands softly together, and almost danced along through the buttercups; though she had to dance very carefully on account of the milk.

"With the money I will go to the best shop in the town and buy my dress for the Christmas parties.  It shall be blue satin trimmed, with lace!  I will have pink silk stockings and silver shoes, a long chain of beads, and a fan, and a wreath of red roses fastened at each side of my head with a pearl comb!  Then all the boys (who are staring at me now through the hedge) will come and say, 'Oh, Perette, you sweet pretty girl, won't you give me a dance?'  And I shall toss my head-- so-- and answer proudly--"

    But what Perette's proud answer would have been nobody will ever know; for by now she had quite forgotten the milk.  So, when she tossed her head, she tossed the pail with it, and all the fresh white milk fell down into the buttercups and lay there in a bit pool, with the empty pail alongside.  Then Perette sat down in the hedge and cried with disappointment.

    "How foolish I have been!" sobbed she.  "If I had not counted my chickens before they were hatched I should never have thought about tossing my head at the party, and so should never have thrown down my pail of milk!"