"
"Nay, that cannot be," quoth the shepherd; "I know not to write nor to
read."
"Well, then, four nobles a week thou shalt have for the ready wit. And
tell the Abbot from me that he has my pardon." And with that King John
sent away the shepherd with a right royal present, besides his pension.
Rushen Coatie
There was once a king and a queen, as many a one has been; few have we
seen, and as few may we see. But the queen died, leaving only one bonny
girl, and she told her on her death-bed: "My dear, after I am gone,
there will come to you a little red calf, and whenever you want
anything, speak to it, and it will give it you."
Now, after a while, the king married again an ill-natured wife, with
three ugly daughters of her own. And they hated the king's daughter
because she was so bonny. So they took all her fine clothes away from
her, and gave her only a coat made of rushes. So they called her Rushen
Coatie, and made her sit in the kitchen nook, amid the ashes.
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