Do you understand ? ' Father Grumbler was always accustomed to think of himself as so unlucky that he did not know whether the Holy Man was not playing a trick upon him ; but he took the basket without being polite enough to say either ` Thank you , ' or ` Good-morning , ' and went away . However , he only waited till he was out of sight of the cave before he stooped down and whispered : ` Little basket , little basket , do your duty . ' Now the basket had a lid , so that he could not see what was inside , but he heard quite clearly strange noises , as if a sort of scuffling was going on . Then the lid burst open , and a quantity of delicious little white rolls came tumbling out one after the other , followed by a stream of small fishes all ready cooked . What a quantity there were to be sure ! The whole road was covered with them , and the banks on each side were beginning to disappear . Father Grumbler felt quite frightened at the torrent , but at last he remembered what the Holy Man had told him , and cried at the top of his voice : ` Enough ! enough ! That will do for to-day ! ' And the lid of the basket closed with a snap . Father Grumbler sighed with relief and happiness as he looked around him , and sitting down on a heap of stones , he ate till he could eat no more . Trout , salmon , turbot , soles , and a hundred other fishes whose names he did not know , lay boiled , fried , and grilled within reach of his hands . As the Holy Man had said , he had never eaten such a dinner ; still , when he had done , he shook his head , and grumbled ; ` Yes , there is plenty to eat , of course , but it only makes me thirsty , and there is not a drop to drink anywhere . ' Yet , somehow , he could never tell why , he looked up and saw the tavern in front of him , which he thought was miles , and miles , and miles away . ` Bring the best wine you have got , and two glasses , good mother , ' he said as he entered , ` and if you are fond of fish there is enough here to feed the house . Only there is no need to chatter about it all over the place . You understand ? Eh ? ' And without waiting for an answer he whispered to the basket : ` Little basket , little basket , do your duty . '
The innkeeper and his wife XXXXX that their customer had gone suddenly mad , and watched him closely , ready to spring on him if he became violent ; but both instinctively jumped backwards , nearly into the fire , as rolls and fishes of every kind came tumbling out of the basket , covering the tables and chairs and the floor , and even overflowing into the street .
Bring cried eat feed felt going got see sitting thought