My brother was rather taken aback, but he could
always rise to the occasion when necessary, so he began in his usual
manner. "Once upon a time" there were two men living in a village in
Yorkshire, who went out one day to work in the fields amongst the hay,
taking their rakes with them. They were good workers, but as the day
turned out to be rather hot they paid too much attention to the large
bottle of beer in the harvest field, with the consequence that before
night came on the bottle was empty; so they went to the inn, and stayed
there drinking until it was nearly "closing time." By that time they
were quite merry, and decided to go home by the nearest way, leading
along the towing-path of one of the canals, which in the north are wider
and deeper than those farther south. As it was almost as light as day,
the moon being at its full, they got along all right until one of them
suddenly startled his mate by telling him that the moon had fallen into
the canal! They both stood still for a moment, thinking what an awful
thing had happened, but there seemed to be no doubt about it, whatever,
for there was the moon lying in the middle of the canal. It would never
do to leave it there, but what could they do to get it out? Their first
thought was the rakes they were carrying home on their shoulders, and
they decided to rake the moon to the side of the canal, where they would
reach it with their hands.
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