UMPTY-DUMPTY was a smooth, round littlechap, with a winning smile, and a great golden heart in his broadbreast.
Only one thing troubled Humpty, and that was, that he might fall andcrack his thin, white skin; he wished to be hard, all the way through,for he felt his heart wabble when he walked, or ran about, so off hewent to the Black Hen for advice.
This Hen was kind and wise, so she was just the one, for him to go towith his trouble.
“Your father, Old Humpty,” said the Hen, “was veryfoolish, and would take warning from no one; you know what the poet saidof him:
‘Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty-Dumpty had a great fall;
All the king’s horses, and all the king’s men
Cannot put Humpty-Dumpty together again.’
“So you see, he came to a very bad end, just because he wasreckless, and would not take a hint from any one, he was much worse thana scrambled egg; the king, his horses and his men, did all they couldfor him, but his case was hopeless,” and the Hen shook herhead sadly.
“What you must do,” continued the Hen, as she wiped atear from her bright blue eye, “is to go to the Farmer’sWife, next door, and tell her to put you into a pot of boiling hotwater; your skin is so hard and smooth, it will not hurt you, and whenyou come out, you may do as you wish, nothing can break you, you cantumble about to your heart’s content, and you will not break, noreven dent yourself.”
So Humpty rolled in next door, and told the Farmer’s Wife thathe wanted to be put into boiling hot water as he was too brittle to beof any use to himself or to any one else.
“Indeed you shall,” said th