[Illustration: DROWNING THE EEL.]
This they resolved not to do, and therefore devised a plan which caused
the king to pass another way. When the king learned what had been done
he was very angry, and at once sent messengers to inquire why they had
been so rude, intending, no doubt, to punish them for what they had
done. When the Gothamites learned of the approach of the messengers they
were as anxious to escape punishment as they had been to save their
meadow. They immediately came together and agreed upon a plan by which
to save themselves. They at once set about carrying their plans into
effect, and when the king's messengers arrived they found some of the
inhabitants endeavoring to drown an eel in a pond; some dragging their
carts and wagons to the top of a barn to shade the wood from the sun's
rays; some tumbling cheeses down a hill in the expectation that they
would find their way to Nottingham Market, and some were employed in
hedging in a cuckoo which had perched upon an old bush. Seeing men
engaged in such employments as these the king's servants were convinced
that the villagers were all fools, and quite unworthy the king's notice.
The villagers, however, seeing that they had outwitted the king,
considered themselves wise. To the present day a "cuckoo bush" stands
upon the spot where it is said that the inhabitants of Gotham endeavored
to hedge in the bird.
There is another class of Fools which deserve mention.
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