Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: GIRbG0-WrrH-THE, J aAT5 L9SE5 HUSE . Irl-go-with-the-goats remembered on the moment what she had to do to make the house well-ordered for her step-mother’s return. She ran to the door and pushed past her step-sisters, and, taking the besom out of the corner, she started to sweep the floor up towards the hearth. And then she heard Buttercup and Berry-bright talking to their mother as they came up the loaning.
Oh, Mother, said Buttercup, I am as glad to see you as if you had brought a Roc’s Egg to me.
Oh, what will I say to Dame Dale so that she will know I am as glad as Buttercup is to see her back? said Girl-go-with-the-Goats. A Roc’s Egg! I could never think of anything as magnificent as that!
Oh, Mother, said Berry-bright, I am as glad to see you as if you had brought a Phoenix Feather to me.
A Phoenix Feather! said Girl-go-with-the- Goats. I could never think of anything as magnificent as that. And then Dame Dale was at the door-way. Girl-go-with-the-Goats went on sweeping towards the hearth and her back was towards her. And when she entered the house Dame Dale said, I have to get the welcome from the hearth yet. And what do you say to me, fosterling? Girl-go-with-the-Goats turned round to Dame Dale, the besom in her hands and her face all red with blushes. I am more pleased to see you, said she, than if you had brought salt to the house when it was lacking it.
The idea! said Buttercup. The idea! said Berry-bright. But Girl-go-with-the-Goats knew what it was for the house to be without salt for the bread, and salt for the porridge, and salt for the egg. And if the house had been without it there would have been nothing more welcome than salt coming in. But Dame Dale was angry when instead of hearing of a Roc’s Egg …
