Simple Simon

Once there was a boy called Simple Simon, who lived with his mother in a little cottage. Simon was kind and cheerful, but he did not always think before he did things.

One morning, Simon set off to the fair. On the way, he met a pieman carrying a tray of warm pies to sell. The pies smelled so good that Simon’s tummy rumbled. “Please may I taste one of your pies?” asked Simon. “Show me your penny first,” said the pieman. Simon turned out his pockets, but they were empty. “I haven’t got any,” said Simon. So the pieman shook his head and walked on to the fair.

Next, Simon decided he would catch a whale. He took his fishing rod and sat down beside his mother’s pail of water. He waited all morning, but no whale came. “That is strange,” said Simon, “whales must be very shy.” His mother laughed and told him that whales live in the deep blue sea, not in a pail.

After lunch, Simon wanted some plums. He went out to the field and looked on every thistle he could find. He got prickles on his fingers, but he did not find a single plum. “Plums grow on plum trees, Simon,” said his mother, picking the prickles out.

Later, his mother asked him to fetch some water from the well. Simon took the first thing he saw, which was the flour sieve. He filled it up at the well, but by the time he got home, every drop had run out through the holes. “Oh, Simon,” sighed his mother, but she was smiling.

In the evening, Simon saw a little bird hopping on the garden wall. “I know how to catch a bird,” said Simon. “You just sprinkle a little salt on its tail!” He crept up with the salt shaker, but the bird hopped away and sang at him from a tree.

When Simon came in for supper, he looked very glum. “I didn’t get a pie, or a whale, or a plum, or any water, or a bird,” he said. His mother gave him a big hug, and then she opened the oven. Inside was a warm, golden pie that she had baked just for him. “This one,” she said, “you don’t need a penny for.”