` Is not your cow the best milker in all the village ? Are not your trees as full of fruit as your hives are full of bees ? Has anyone cornfields like ours ? Really you talk nonsense when you say things like that ! ' ` Yes , all that you say is true , but we have no children . ' Then Stan understood , and when a man once understands and has his eyes opened it is no longer well with him . From that day the little house in the outskirts contained an unhappy man as well as an unhappy woman . And at the sight of her husband 's misery the woman became more wretched than ever . And so matters went on for some time . Some weeks had passed , and Stan thought he would consult a wise man who lived a day 's journey from his own house . The wise man was sitting before his door when he came up , and Stan fell on his knees before him . ` Give me children , my lord , give me children . ' ` Take care what you are asking , ' replied the wise man . ` Will not children be a burden to you ? Are you rich enough to feed and clothe them ? ' ` Only give them to me , my lord , and I will manage somehow ! ' and at a sign from the wise man Stan went his way . He reached home that evening tired and dusty , but with hope in his heart . As he drew near his house a sound of voices struck upon his ear , and he looked up to see the whole place full of children . Children in the garden , children in the yard , children looking out of every window -- it seemed to the man as if all the children in the world must be gathered there .
And none was bigger XXXXX the other , but each was smaller than the other , and every one was more noisy and more impudent and more daring than the rest , and Stan gazed and grew cold with horror as he realised that they all belonged to him .
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