ONCE on a time there were five goodies, who were all reaping in a field; they were all childless, and all wished to have a bairn. All at once they set eyes on a strangely big goose-egg, almost as big as a man's head.

"I saw it first," said one.

"I saw it just as soon as you," screamed another.

"Heaven help me, but I will have it," swore the third; "I was the first to see it."

So they flocked round it and squabbled so much about the egg that they were tearing one another's hair. But at last they agreed that they would own it in common, all five of them, and each was to sit on