Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1882-11-29
A FAIRY TALE.
Little BiIIee and the Ugly Old Woman of The
Forest.
From the Detroit Free Press.l

Little BiIIee and the Ugly Old Woman of The
Forest.
(From the Detroit Free Press.l
Once upon time fierce and ugly
old woman, who lived at the edge of
dark forest in which wolves were thicker
than candidates for the legislature, stole
a boy who had wandered from home
and took him to her hut to become her
slave. The parents of the stolen boy
had thirteen others, and as they were
not IN the habit of counting the drove
at night, this one, whe was named Billy,
was not even missed.
When the old woman reached home
with the boy she tossed him into cor
ner and proceeded to lay down the law
and to beat it in with a strap. She put
Billy through such a lesson III the art OF
skipping and dodging as no other boy
ever took, and when she had tired her
self out she warned him that if he did
not humbly obey all her orders his hide
would be taken off and hung on the fence
and sold to tin peddler for Is cents.
Next day the old woman locked Billy
In the hut and went away for an hour,
and when she returned she had the body
of a peasant whom she had killed. The
down in a pork barrel and to save the
ears for bangles to be worn on the old
ogre's bracelets when she went calling.
Every day for the next week the old
woman went out and killed O man and
had him sailed down; bat at the end of
that time, men having become rather
scarce and the supply of meat abundant,
she rested from her labors to have some
fun with Billy. She obliged the boy to
dance q Jig on hot stove, and when he
called for his pa and ma she laughed in
derision. Then she stuck him full of
pins and nee dies and calledhim her dear
little pin cushion, and this was followed
by forcing him to hold a red-hot silver
half dollar with hole in it in his mouth
and sing the Star Spangled Banner
twice over.
The Chinese language utterly fails to
depict a hundredth part of the cruelties
pracdced by that old ogre on that inno-
cent boy, and In the course of six or
eight weeks he had a sorrow stricken
appearance, ana his clothes were too big
for him When she was home she was
constantly pinching hunks of flesh from
his legs and arms and throwing them
ont doors for the wolves to eat up, and
when she was absent on her raids, the
boy could do nothing but howl and
weep and call for oysters fried in crumbs
and currant jelly spread on bread and
butter.
One day, soon after the old wretch
had gone out to hunt mp a fat girl and
have her cooked for dinner, little old
man came rafting down the chimney
and wanted to know if all the back
counties had been heard from. Billy
thereupon related his mournful tale,
and the old man, who was a frst-class
fairy IN alligator boots, laughed sort of
q buzz saw gurgle and said he had been
aching for a fuss for the last two weeks.
The stolen boy was hidden under the
bed where the splinters wouldn't hurt
him, and the minute the old ogre entered
the door the fairy killed her by a stroke
IN the eye with his umbrella. The
great blue chest in which she kept all
the money received for laundry work
was then broken open, and Billy was
sent home loaded down with $50 green
backs and $40 gold pieces. He reached
the door Just as his fathers farm was
about to be sold on mortgage, and of
course bid the place IN and saved it. He
then put a barbed- wire fence all around
the farm, bought a windmill, put up
three lightning rods, and was elected to
congress by suck-a majority that the in
fernal opposition hasn't been heard of
since.
Thus you see, my dear children, that
although you may be called upon to
suffer for a time, and you may pass
through affections thick enough to cut
up cold aud warm over for supper, you
VIII eventually triumph over all and
come out at the big end of the horn.