THE QUEEN OF THE MISSISSIPPI
When they had gone some distance further, they saw a man who had tied his legs together.
'Hello! What are you doing there, my friend?'
'I want to catch that hare over yonder; but unless I tied my legs together there would be no sport in it.'
'Will you travel with me?'
'Pardon?'
'Will you travel with me, my pippy?'
'Oh! Whither away? To Botany Bay?'
'But no; to the far Mississippi,
Where a Queen—tooral-ooral-i-ay—
Is waiting for what I'm to say.'
'I am yours! And the bounty?'
'Either here or in Botany Bay!'
Then the boy took his muffin, and, breaking off a little piece, handed it to him.
'Keep it,' said he; 'it's a pledge of good faith.'
So they journeyed on together. But they had travelled scarce a league when they met a man who was carrying ten great trees in his arms. And when the boy, who had grown into a young man, saw this, he was immediately full grown.
'Hi! my friend! What are you doing there?'
'My mother wants some wood,' replied the man, picking a few branches off the trees and flinging them idly on the roadside, 'so I am just taking her some.'
'Will you travel with me?'
'Pardon?'
'Will you travel with me, my pippy?'
'Oh! Whither away? To Rome or Pompeii?'
'But no; to the far Mississippi,
There's a Queen of great beauty that way
Is waiting for what I'm to say.'
'I am yours! And the bounty?'
'Name your price: it shall be as you say'
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