"No," answered Tommy, earnestly, "but I can eat."
"Ho, ho!" laughed the alderman, "that is a very ordinary
accomplishment. Anyone can eat."
"If it please you, sir, you are wrong," replied Tommy, "for I have
been unable to eat all day."
"And why is that?" asked the alderman.
"Because I have had nothing to put to my mouth. But now that I have
met so kind a gentleman, I am sure that I shall have a good supper."
The alderman laughed again at this shrewd answer, and said, "you shall
have supper, no doubt; but you must sing a song for the company first,
and so earn your food."
Tommy shook his head sadly.
"I do not know any song, sir," he said.
The alderman called a servant and whispered something in his ear. The
servant hastened away, and soon returned bearing upon a tray a huge
slice of white bread and butter. White bread was a rare treat in those
days, as nearly all the people ate black bread baked from rye or
barley flour.
"Now," said the alderman, placing the tray beside him, "you shall have
this slice of white bread and butter when you have sung us a song, and
complied with one condition."
"And what is that condition?" asked Tommy.
"I will tell you when we have heard the song," replied the fat
alderman, who had decided to have some amusement at the boy's expense.
Tommy hesitated, but when he glanced at the white bread and butter his
mouth watered in spite of himself, and he resolved to compose a song,
since he did not know how to sing any other.
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