# The Three Sillies A Bedtime Story for Children Public Domain Books for Teachers and Parents

An episode of [Toddle Poddle](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1710389589), 11 Jul 2026, 9:29.

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## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Chapter ten of English Fairy Tales. This is a LibriVox recording.
[0:05] Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings were in the public domain. For more
[0:08] Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit librevox dot org. Recording
[0:14] Speaker 1: by Amy mc cracken. English Fairy Tales by Flora Annie
[0:19] Speaker 1: Steele The Three Sillies. Once upon a time, when folk
[0:24] Speaker 1: were not so wise as they are nowadays, there lived
[0:27] Speaker 1: a farmer and his wife, who had one daughter, and she,
[0:31] Speaker 1: being a pretty lass, was courted by the young squire
[0:33] Speaker 1: when he came home from his travels. Now every evening
[0:37] Speaker 1: he would stroll over from the hall to see her
[0:39] Speaker 1: and stop to supper in the farmhouse. And every evening
[0:43] Speaker 1: the daughter would go down into the cellar to draw
[0:45] Speaker 1: the cider for supper. So one evening, when she had
[0:49] Speaker 1: gone down to draw the cider and had turned the
[0:51] Speaker 1: tap as usual, she happened to look up at the ceiling,
[0:54] Speaker 1: and there she saw a big wooden mallet stuck in
[0:57] Speaker 1: one of the beams. It must have been there for
[1:00] Speaker 1: ages and ages, for it was all covered with cobwebs,
[1:03] Speaker 1: but somehow or another she had never noticed it before,
[1:07] Speaker 1: and at once she began thinking how dangerous it was.
[1:10] Speaker 1: To have the mallet just there for thought. She supposing
[1:14] Speaker 1: him and me was married, and supposing we was to
[1:17] Speaker 1: have a son, and supposing he were to grow up
[1:19] Speaker 1: to be a man, and supposing he were to come
[1:22] Speaker 1: down to draw cider like as I'm doing, and supposing
[1:25] Speaker 1: the mallet were to fall on his head and kill him,
[1:28] Speaker 1: how dreadful it would be. And with that she put
[1:31] Speaker 1: down the candle she was carrying, and, seating herself on
[1:34] Speaker 1: a cask, began to cry. And she cried and cried
[1:38] Speaker 1: and cried. Now upstairs they began to wonder why she
[1:43] Speaker 1: was so long drawing the sider. So after a time
[1:46] Speaker 1: her mother went down to the cellar to see what
[1:49] Speaker 1: had come to her, and found her seated on the cask,
[1:52] Speaker 1: crying ever so hard, and the sider running all over
[1:55] Speaker 1: the floor. Locks a mercy, me cried her mother. Whatever
[1:59] Speaker 1: is the matter, oh, mother, says she between her sobs.
[2:03] Speaker 1: It's that horrid mallet. Supposing him and me was married,
[2:07] Speaker 1: and supposing we was to have a son, and supposing
[2:10] Speaker 1: he was to grow up to be a man, and
[2:12] Speaker 1: supposing he was to come down to draw cider like
[2:14] Speaker 1: his I'm doing, and supposing the mallet were to fall
[2:17] Speaker 1: on his head and kill him. How dreadful it would be,
[2:21] Speaker 1: dear heart, said the mother, seating herself beside her daughter
[2:25] Speaker 1: and beginning to cry. How dreadful it would be. So
[2:28] Speaker 1: they both sat a crying. Now, after a time when
[2:32] Speaker 1: they did not come back, the farmer began to wonder
[2:34] Speaker 1: what had happened, and, going down to the cellar, found
[2:37] Speaker 1: them seated side by side on the cask, crying hard,
[2:41] Speaker 1: and the cider running all over the floor. Zounds, said he,
[2:46] Speaker 1: whatever is the matter? Just look at that horrid mallet
[2:49] Speaker 1: up their father, moaned the mother. Supposing our daughter was
[2:53] Speaker 1: to marry her sweetheart, and supposing they was to have
[2:56] Speaker 1: a son, and supposing he was to grow to man's estate,
[3:00] Speaker 1: and supposing he was to come down to draw sider
[3:02] Speaker 1: like as we're doing, and supposing that that there mallet
[3:06] Speaker 1: was to fall on his head and kill him, how
[3:08] Speaker 1: dreadful it would be. Dreadful indeed, said the father, and
[3:12] Speaker 1: seating himself beside his wife and daughter, started a crying too. Now, upstairs,
[3:17] Speaker 1: the young squire wanted his supper, so at last he
[3:20] Speaker 1: lost patience and went down into the cellar to see
[3:23] Speaker 1: for himself what they were all after, and there he
[3:26] Speaker 1: found them seated side by side on the cask of crying,
[3:29] Speaker 1: with their feet all awash in cider, for the floor
[3:32] Speaker 1: was fair flooded, so the first thing he did was
[3:35] Speaker 1: to run straight and turn off the tap. Then he said,
[3:38] Speaker 1: what are you three after sitting there crying like babies
[3:41] Speaker 1: and letting goodsider run over the floor. Then they all
[3:45] Speaker 1: three began with one voice, look at that horrid mallet.
[3:48] Speaker 1: Supposing you and me was married, and supposing we had
[3:51] Speaker 1: a son, and supposing he was to grow to man's estate,
[3:55] Speaker 1: and supposing he was to come down here to draw
[3:57] Speaker 1: sider like as we be, and suppose that their mallet
[4:01] Speaker 1: was to fall down on his head and kill him,
[4:03] Speaker 1: how dreadful it would be. Then the squire burst out
[4:07] Speaker 1: a laughing and laughed till he was tired. But at
[4:10] Speaker 1: last he reached up to the old mallet and pulled
[4:12] Speaker 1: it out and put it safe on the floor. And
[4:15] Speaker 1: he shook his head and said, I've traveled far, and
[4:18] Speaker 1: I've traveled fast, but never have I met with three
[4:21] Speaker 1: such sillies as you three. Now I can't marry one
[4:24] Speaker 1: of the three biggest sillies in the world. So I
[4:26] Speaker 1: shall start again on my travels, and if I can
[4:29] Speaker 1: find three bigger sillies than you three, then I'll come
[4:32] Speaker 1: back and be married, not otherwise. So he wished them
[4:37] Speaker 1: good bye and started again on his travels, leaving them
[4:39] Speaker 1: all crying this time because the marriage was off well.
[4:43] Speaker 1: The young man traveled far, and he traveled fast, but
[4:46] Speaker 1: never did he find a bigger silly until one day
[4:49] Speaker 1: he came upon an old woman's cottage that had some
[4:51] Speaker 1: grass growing on the thatched roof, and the old woman
[4:55] Speaker 1: was trying her best to cudgel her cow into going
[4:57] Speaker 1: up a ladder to eat the grass. But the poor
[5:00] Speaker 1: where thing was afraid and durst not go. Then the
[5:03] Speaker 1: old woman tried coaxing, but it wouldn't go. You never
[5:06] Speaker 1: saw such a sight, the cow getting more and more
[5:09] Speaker 1: flustered and obstinate, the old woman getting hotter and hotter.
[5:14] Speaker 1: At last, the young squire said it would be easier
[5:17] Speaker 1: if you went up the ladder, cut the grass and
[5:19] Speaker 1: threw it down for the cow to eat. A likely
[5:21] Speaker 1: story that says the old woman a cow can cut
[5:24] Speaker 1: grass for herself, and the foolish thing will be quite
[5:27] Speaker 1: safe up there, For I'll tie a rope round her neck,
[5:30] Speaker 1: pass the rope down the chimney, and fastened t'other end
[5:33] Speaker 1: to my wrist, so as when I'm doing my bit
[5:35] Speaker 1: o washing, she can't fall off the roof without my
[5:38] Speaker 1: knowing it. So mind your own business, young sir. Well,
[5:41] Speaker 1: after a while the old woman coaxed and codured, and
[5:44] Speaker 1: bullied and badgered the cow up the ladder, and when
[5:47] Speaker 1: she got it on the roof, she tied a rope
[5:49] Speaker 1: round its neck, passed the rope down the chimney, and
[5:52] Speaker 1: fastened other end to her wrist. Then she went about
[5:54] Speaker 1: her bit of washing, and young squire went on his way.
[5:59] Speaker 1: But he hadn't gone when he heard the awfullest hullablue.
[6:02] Speaker 1: He galloped back and found that the cow had fallen
[6:05] Speaker 1: off the roof and got strangled by the rope round
[6:07] Speaker 1: its neck, while the weight of the cow had pulled
[6:10] Speaker 1: the old woman by her wrist up the chimney, where
[6:12] Speaker 1: she had got stuck half way and been smothered by
[6:15] Speaker 1: the soot. That is one big or silly, quoth the
[6:18] Speaker 1: young squire as he journeyed on. So now for two
[6:21] Speaker 1: more he did not find any however, till late one
[6:24] Speaker 1: night he arrived at a little inn, and the inn
[6:27] Speaker 1: was so full that he had to share a room
[6:29] Speaker 1: with another traveler. Now his room fellow proved quite a
[6:32] Speaker 1: pleasant fellow, and they foregathered and each slept well in
[6:35] Speaker 1: his bed. But next morning, when they were dressing, what
[6:39] Speaker 1: does the stranger do but carefully hang his breeches on
[6:41] Speaker 1: the knobs of the tall boy. What are you doing,
[6:44] Speaker 1: asks young squire. I'm putting on my breeches, says the stranger,
[6:49] Speaker 1: and with that he goes to the other end of
[6:51] Speaker 1: the room, takes a little run and tried to jump
[6:54] Speaker 1: into the breeches, but he didn't succeed, so he took
[6:58] Speaker 1: another run, and another try, and another, and another and another,
[7:03] Speaker 1: until he got quite hot and flustered, as the old
[7:06] Speaker 1: woman had got over her cow that wouldn't go up
[7:08] Speaker 1: the ladder. And all the time young Squire was laughing
[7:11] Speaker 1: fit to split, for never in his life did he
[7:14] Speaker 1: see anything so comical. Then the stranger stopped awhile and
[7:18] Speaker 1: mopped his face with his handkerchief, for he was all
[7:20] Speaker 1: in a sweat. It's very well, laughing, says he. But
[7:24] Speaker 1: breeches are the most awkwardest things to get into that
[7:26] Speaker 1: ever were, it takes me the best part of an
[7:29] Speaker 1: hour every morning before I get them on. How do
[7:32] Speaker 1: you manage yours? Then the young squire showed him as
[7:35] Speaker 1: well as he could, for laughing, how to put on
[7:38] Speaker 1: his breeches. And the stranger was ever so grateful, and
[7:41] Speaker 1: said he never should have thought of that way. So that,
[7:44] Speaker 1: quoth young squire to himself, is a second, bigger silly.
[7:48] Speaker 1: But he traveled far, and he traveled fast without finding
[7:51] Speaker 1: the third, until one bright night, when the moon was
[7:53] Speaker 1: shining right overhead, he came upon a village, And outside
[7:57] Speaker 1: the village was a pond, and round about the pond
[8:00] Speaker 1: was a great crowd of villagers. And some had got rakes,
[8:04] Speaker 1: and some had got pitchforks, and some had got brooms,
[8:07] Speaker 1: and they were as busy as busy, shouting out and
[8:10] Speaker 1: raking and forking and sweeping away at the pond. What
[8:14] Speaker 1: is the matter, cried young squire, jumping off his horse
[8:16] Speaker 1: to help. Has anyone fallen in ay? Madder enough says
[8:20] Speaker 1: they can't. He see moon's fallen into the pond, and
[8:23] Speaker 1: we can't get her out no how. And with that
[8:26] Speaker 1: they set to again, raking and forking and sweeping away
[8:30] Speaker 1: then the young squire burst out laughing, told them they
[8:33] Speaker 1: were the fools for their pains, and bade them look
[8:35] Speaker 1: up over their heads, where the moon was riding broad
[8:38] Speaker 1: and full. But they wouldn't, and they wouldn't believe that
[8:41] Speaker 1: what they saw in the water was only a reflection.
[8:44] Speaker 1: And when he insisted, they began to abuse him roundly
[8:47] Speaker 1: and threaten to duck him in the pond. So he
[8:50] Speaker 1: got on his horse again as quickly as he could,
[8:52] Speaker 1: leaving them raking and forking and sweeping away. And for
[8:55] Speaker 1: all we know, they may be at it yet. But
[8:58] Speaker 1: the young squire said to him, there are many more
[9:01] Speaker 1: sillies in this world than I thought for, so I'll
[9:04] Speaker 1: just go back and marry the farmer's daughter. She is
[9:07] Speaker 1: no sillier than the rest. So they were married. And
[9:10] Speaker 1: if they didn't live happy ever after, that has nothing
[9:13] Speaker 1: to do with the story of the Three Sillies. End
[9:18] Speaker 1: of the Three Sillies recording by Amy mc cracken.

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