--- title: The Brown Fairy Book, part 29 — The Brown Fairy Book · full text with trees description: The Brown Fairy Book, part 29, «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: “Dear me, how dull it is here!” said the lion one afternoon, when the rain was pouring down in such torrents that, however sharp your eyes or yo --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / The Brown Fairy Book, part 29 # The Brown Fairy Book, part 29 The Brown Fairy Book, part 29 of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang: the whole text, 103 sentences and 2571 words. Every sentence has its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself; 1 of them are in the tales treebank and were checked by a teacher model. **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/page/2/) - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/1/) — “Dear me, how dull it is here!” said the lion one afternoon, when the rain was pouring down in such torrents that, however sharp your eyes or your nose might be, you could not spy a single bird or beast among the bushes. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/2/) — “Dear me, how dull, how dreadfully dull I am. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/3/) — Couldn’t we have a game of catch with that golden ball of yours?” - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/4/) — “I don’t care about playing catch, it does not amuse me,” answered the cat, who was as cross as ever; for no cat, even to this day, ever forgets an injury done to him. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/5/) — “Well, then, lend me the ball for a little, and I will play by myself,” replied the lion, stretching out a paw as he spoke. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/6/) — “You can’t play in the rain, and if you did, you would only lose it in the bushes,” said the cat. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/7/) — “Oh, no, I won’t; I will play in here. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/8/) — Don’t be so ill-natured.” - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/9/) — And with a very bad grace the cat untied the string and threw the golden ball into the lion’s lap, and composed himself to sleep again. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/10/) — For a long while the lion tossed it up and down gaily, feeling that, however sound asleep the boy-brother might LOOK, he was sure to have one eye open; but gradually he began to edge closer to the opening, and at last gave such a toss that the ball went up high into the air, and he could not see what became of it. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/11/) — “Oh, how stupid of me!” he cried, as the cat sprang up angrily, “let us go at once and search for it. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/12/) — It can’t really have fallen very far.” - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/13/) — But though they searched that day and the next, and the next after that, they never found it, because it never came down. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/14/) — After the loss of his ball the cat refused to live with the lion any longer, but wandered away to the north, always hoping he might meet with his ball again. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/15/) — But months passed, and years passed, and though he travelled over hundreds of miles, he never saw any traces of it. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/16/) — At length, when he was getting quite old, he came to a place unlike any that he had ever seen before, where a big river rolled right to the foot of some high mountains. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/17/) — The ground all about the river bank was damp and marshy, and as no cat likes to wet its feet, this one climbed a tree that rose high above the water, and thought sadly of his lost ball, which would have helped him out of this horrible place. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/18/) — Suddenly he saw a beautiful ball, for all the world like his own, dangling from a branch of the tree he was on. - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/19/) — He longed to get at it; but was the branch strong enough to bear his weight? - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/20/) — It was no use, after all he had done, getting drowned in the water. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/21/) — However, it could do no harm, if he was to go a little way; he could always manage to get back somehow. - [22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/22/) — So he stretched himself at full length upon the branch, and wriggled his body cautiously along. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/23/) — To his delight it seemed thick and stout. - [24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/24/) — Another movement, and, by stretching out his paw, he would be able to draw the string towards him, when the branch gave a loud crack, and the cat made haste to wriggle himself back the way he had come. - [25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/25/) — But when cats make up their minds to do anything they generally DO it; and this cat began to look about to see if there was really no way of getting at his ball. - [26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/26/) — Yes! there was, and it was much surer than the other, though rather more difficult. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/27/) — Above the bough where the ball was hung was another bough much thicker, which he knew could not break with his weight; and by holding on tight to this with all his four paws, he could just manage to touch the ball with his tail. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/28/) — He would thus be able to whisk the ball to and fro till, by-and-by, the string would become quite loose, and it would fall to the ground. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/29/) — It might take some time, but the lion’s little brother was patient, like most cats. - [30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/30/) — Well, it all happened just as the cat intended it should, and when the ball dropped on the ground the cat ran down the tree like lightning, and, picking it up, tucked it away in the snake’s skin round his neck. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/31/) — Then he began jumping along the shore of the Big Water from one place to another, trying to find a boat, or even a log of wood, that would take him across. - [32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/32/) — But there was nothing; only, on the other side, he saw two girls cooking, and though he shouted to them at the top of his voice, they were too far off to hear what he said. - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/33/) — And, what was worse, the ball suddenly fell out of its snake’s skin bag right into the river. - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/34/) — Now, it is not at all an uncommon thing for balls to tumble into rivers, but in that case they generally either fall to the bottom and stay there, or else bob about on the top of the water close to where they first touched it. - [35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/35/) — But this ball, instead of doing either of these things, went straight across to the other side, and there one of the girls saw it when she stooped to dip some water into her pail. - [36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/36/) — “Oh! what a lovely ball!” cried she, and tried to catch it in her pail; but the ball always kept bobbing just out of her reach. - [37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/37/) — “Come and help me!” she called to her sister, and after a long while they had the ball safe inside the pail. — checked by a teacher - [38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/38/) — They were delighted with their new toy, and one or the other held it in her hand till bedtime came, and then it was a long time before they could make up their minds where it would be safest for the night. - [39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/39/) — At last they locked it in a cupboard in one corner of their room, and as there was no hole anywhere the ball could not possibly get out. - [40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/40/) — After that they went to sleep. - [41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/41/) — In the morning the first thing they both did was to run to the cupboard and unlock it, but when the door opened they started back, for, instead of the ball, there stood a handsome young man. - [42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/42/) — “Ladies,” he said, “how can I thank you for what you have done for me? - [43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/43/) — Long, long ago, I was enchanted by a wicked fairy, and condemned to keep the shape of a ball till I should meet with two maidens, who would take me to their own home. - [44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/44/) — But where was I to meet them? - [45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/45/) — For hundreds of years I have lived in the depths of the forest, where nothing but wild beasts ever came, and it was only when the lion threw me into the sky that I was able to fall to earth near this river. - [46](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/46/) — Where there is a river, sooner or later people will come; so, hanging myself on a tree, I watched and waited. - [47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/47/) — For a moment I lost heart when I fell once more into the hands of my old master the wild cat, but my hopes rose again as I saw he was making for the river bank opposite where you were standing. - [48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/48/) — That was my chance, and I took it. - [49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/49/) — And now, ladies, I have only to say that, if ever I can do anything to help you, go to the top of that high mountain and knock three times at the iron door at the north side, and I will come to you.” - [50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/50/) — So, with a low bow, he vanished from before them, leaving the maidens weeping at having lost in one moment both the ball and the prince. - [51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/51/) — \[Adapted from North American Indian Legends.\] - [52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/52/) — Which was the Foolishest? - [53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/53/) — In a little village that stood on a wide plain, where you could see the sun from the moment he rose to the moment he set, there lived two couples side by side. - [54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/54/) — The men, who worked under the same master, were quite good friends, but the wives were always quarrelling, and the subject they quarrelled most about was—which of the two had the stupidest husband. - [55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/55/) — Unlike most women—who think that anything that belongs to them must be better than what belongs to anyone else—each thought her husband the more foolish of the two. - [56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/56/) — “You should just see what he does!” one said to her neighbour. - [57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/57/) — “He puts on the baby’s frock upside down, and, one day, I found him trying to feed her with boiling soup, and her mouth was scalded for days after. - [58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/58/) — Then he picks up stones in the road and sows them instead of potatoes, and one day he wanted to go into the garden from the top window, because he declared it was a shorter way than through the door.” - [59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/59/) — “That is bad enough, of course,” answered the other; “but it is really NOTHING to what I have to endure every day from MY husband. - [60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/60/) — If, when I am busy, I ask him to go and feed the poultry, he is certain to give them some poisonous stuff instead of their proper food, and when I visit the yard next I find them all dead. - [61](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/61/) — Once he even took my best bonnet, when I had gone away to my sick mother, and when I came back I found he had given it to the hen to lay her eggs in. - [62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/62/) — And you know yourself that, only last week, when I sent him to buy a cask of butter, he returned driving a hundred and fifty ducks which someone had induced him to take, and not one of them would lay.” - [63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/63/) — “Yes, I am afraid he IS trying,” replied the first; “but let us put them to the proof, and see which of them is the most foolish.” - [64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/64/) — So, about the time that she expected her husband home from work, she got out her spinning-wheel, and sat busily turning it, taking care not even to look up from her work when the man came in. - [65](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/65/) — For some minutes he stood with his mouth open watching her, and as she still remained silent, he said at last: - [66](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/66/) — “Have you gone mad, wife, that you sit spinning without anything on the wheel?” - [67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/67/) — “YOU may think that there is nothing on it,” answered she, “but I can assure you that there is a large skein of wool, so fine that nobody can see it, which will be woven into a coat for you.” - [68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/68/) — “Dear me!” he replied, “what a clever wife I have got! - [69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/69/) — If you had not told me I should never have known that there was any wool on the wheel at all. - [70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/70/) — But now I really do seem to see something.” - [71](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/71/) — The woman smiled and was silent, and after spinning busily for an hour more, she got up from her stoop, and began to weave as fast as she could. - [72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/72/) — At last she got up, and said to her husband: “I am too tired to finish it to-night, so I shall go to bed, and to-morrow I shall only have the cutting and stitching to do.” - [73](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/73/) — So the next morning she got up early, and after she had cleaned her house, and fed her chickens, and put everything in its place again, she bent over the kitchen table, and the sound of her big scissors might be heard snip! snap! as far as the garden. - [74](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/74/) — Her husband could not see anything to snip at; but then he was so stupid that was not surprising! - [75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/75/) — After the cutting came the sewing. - [76](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/76/) — The woman patted and pinned and fixed and joined, and then, turning to the man, she said: - [77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/77/) — “Now it is ready for you to try on.” - [78](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/78/) — And she made him take off his coat, and stand up in front of her, and once more she patted an pinned and fixed and joined, and was very careful in smoothing out every wrinkle. - [79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/79/) — “It does not feel very warm,” observed the man at last, when he had borne all this patiently for a long time. - [80](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/80/) — “That is because it is so fine,” answered she; “you do not want it to be as thick as the rough clothes you wear every day.” - [81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/81/) — He DID, but was ashamed to say so, and only answered: “Well, I am sure it must be beautiful since you say so, and I shall be smarter than anyone in the whole village. - [82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/82/) — ‘What a splendid coat!’ they will exclaim when they see me. - [83](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/83/) — But it is not everybody who has a wife as clever as mine.” - [84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/84/) — Meanwhile the other wife was not idle. - [85](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/85/) — As soon as her husband entered she looked at him with such a look of terror that the poor man was quite frightened. - [86](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/86/) — “Why do you stare at me so? - [87](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/87/) — Is there anything the matter?” asked he. - [88](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/88/) — “Oh! go to bed at once,” she cried; “you must be very ill indeed to look like that!” - [89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/89/) — The man was rather surprised at first, as he felt particularly well that evening; but the moment his wife spoke he became quite certain that he had something dreadful the matter with him, and grew quite pale. - [90](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/90/) — “I dare say it would be the best place for me,” he answered, trembling; and he suffered his wife to take him upstairs, and to help him off with his clothes. - [91](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/91/) — “If you sleep well during the might there MAY be a chance for you,” said she, shaking her head, as she tucked him up warmly; “but if not—” And of course the poor man never closed an eye till the sun rose. - [92](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/92/) — “How do you feel this morning?” asked the woman, coming in on tip-toe when her house-work was finished. - [93](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/93/) — “Oh, bad; very bad indeed,” answered he; “I have not slept for a moment. - [94](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/94/) — Can you think of nothing to make me better?” - [95](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/95/) — “I will try everything that is possible,” said the wife, who did not in the least wish her husband to die, but was determined to show that he was more foolish that the other man. - [96](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/96/) — “I will get some dried herbs and make you a drink, but I am very much afraid that it is too late. - [97](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/97/) — Why did you not tell me before?” - [98](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/98/) — “I thought perhaps the pain would go off in a day or two; and, besides, I did not want to make you unhappy,” answered the man, who was by this time quite sure he had been suffering tortures, and had borne them like a hero. - [99](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/99/) — “Of course, if I had had any idea how ill I really was, I should have spoken at once.” - [100](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/100/) — “Well, well, I will see what can be done,” said the wife, “but talking is not good for you. **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/29/page/2/) - ← previous: [The Brown Fairy Book, part 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/28/) - next →: [The Brown Fairy Book, part 30](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/30/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/)