Meg used to think the house was on fire , and send me down to see , and I used to stay and enjoy myself , as you mean to , my bad son . '' `` I 've finked now , '' observed Rob , quite at his ease , and eager to win the entree into this delightful circle . Every one looked and listened with faces full of suppressed merriment as Rob , perched on his mother 's knee and wrapped in the gay coverlet , told the following brief but tragic tale with an earnestness that made it very funny : `` Once a lady had a million children , and one nice little boy . She went up-stairs and said , ` You must n't go in the yard . ' But he wented , and fell into the pump , and was drowned dead . '' `` Is that all ? '' asked Franz , as Rob paused out of breath with this startling beginning . `` No , there is another piece of it , '' and Rob knit his downy eyebrows in the effort to evolve another inspiration . `` What did the lady do when he fell into the pump ? '' asked his mother , to help him on . `` Oh , she pumped him up , and wrapped him in a newspaper , and put him on a shelf to dry for seed . '' A general explosion of laughter greeted this surprising conclusion , and Mrs. Jo patted the curly head , as she said , solemnly , `` My son , you inherit your mother 's gift of story-telling . Go where glory waits thee . '' `` Now I can stay , ca n't I ? Was n't it a good story ? '' cried Rob , in high feather at his superb success . `` You can stay till you have eaten these twelve pop-corns , '' said his mother , expecting to see them vanish at one mouthful . But Rob was a shrewd little man , and got the better of her by eating them one by one very slowly , and enjoying every minute with all his might . `` Had n't you better tell the other story , while you wait for him ? '' said Demi , anxious that no time should be lost .
`` I really have nothing but a little tale about a wood-box , '' said Mrs. Jo , seeing that XXXXX had still seven corns to eat .
Franz Jo Meg Rob drowned explosion fire minute pop-corns story-telling