Mr. Miacca

Tommy Grimes was sometimes a good boy, and sometimes a bad boy; and when
he was a bad boy, he was a very bad boy. Now his mother used to say to
him: “Tommy, Tommy, be a good boy, and don’t go out of the street, or else
Mr. Miacca will take you.” But still when he was a bad boy he would go out
of the street; and one day, sure enough, he had scarcely got round the
corner, when Mr. Miacca did catch him and popped him into a bag upside
down, and took him off to his house.

When Mr. Miacca got Tommy inside, he pulled him out of the bag and set him
down, and felt his arms and legs. “You’re rather tough,” says he; “but
you’re all I’ve got for supper, and you’ll not taste bad boiled. But body
o’ me, I’ve forgot the herbs, and it’s bitter you’ll taste without herbs.
Sally! Here, I say, Sally!” and he called Mrs. Miacca.

So Mrs. Miacca came out of another room and said: “What d’ye want, my
dear?”

“Oh, here’s a little boy for supper,” said Mr. Miacca, “and I’ve forgot
the herbs. Mind him, will ye, while I go for them.”

“All right, my love,” says Mrs. Miacca, and off he goes.

Then Tommy Grimes said to Mrs. Miacca: “Does Mr. Miacca always have little
boys for supper?”

“Mostly, my dear,” said Mrs. Miacca, “if little boys are bad enough, and
get in his way.”

“And don’t you have anything else but boy-meat? No pudding?” asked Tommy.

“Ah, I loves pudding,” says Mrs. Miacca. “But it’s not often the likes of
me gets pudding.”

“Why, my mother is making a pudding this very day,” said Tommy Grimes,
“and I am sure she’d give you some, if I ask her. Shall I run and get
some?”

“Now, that’s a thoughtful boy,” said Mrs. Miacca, “only don’t be long and
be sure to be back for supper.”

So off Tommy pelters, and right glad he was to get off so cheap; and for
many a long day he was as good as good could be, and never went round the
corner of the street. But he couldn’t always be good; and one day he went
round the corner, and as luck would have it, he hadn’t scarcely got round
it when Mr. Miacca grabbed him up, popped him in his bag, and took him
home.

When he got him there, Mr. Miacca dropped him out; and when he saw him, he
said: “Ah, you’re the youngster what served me and my missus that shabby
trick, leaving us without any supper. Well, you shan’t do it again. I’ll
watch over you myself. Here, get under the sofa, and I’ll set on it and
watch the pot boil for you.”

So poor Tommy Grimes had to creep under the sofa, and Mr. Miacca sat on it
and waited for the pot to boil. And they waited, and they waited, but
still the pot didn’t boil, till at last Mr. Miacca got tired of waiting,
and he said: “Here, you under there, I’m not going to wait any longer; put
out your leg, and I’ll stop your giving us the slip.”

So Tommy put out a leg, and Mr. Miacca got a chopper, and chopped it off,
and pops it in the pot.

Suddenly he calls out: “Sally, my dear, Sally!” and nobody answered. So he
went into the next room to look out for Mrs. Miacca, and while he was
there, Tommy crept out from under the sofa and ran out of the door. For it
was a leg of the sofa that he had put out.

So Tommy Grimes ran home, and he never went round the corner again till he
was old enough to go alone.