"A spider threw its web so high It caught on a moon in a cloudy sky. The moon whirled round, And down to the ground Fell the web, and captured a big blue fly!" "Why, that is fine!" roared the fat alderman. "You improve as you go on, so give us another verse." "I don't know any more," said Tommy, "and I am very hungry." "One more verse," persisted the man, "and then you shall have the bread and butter upon the condition." So Tommy sang the following verse: "A big frog lived in a slimy bog, And caught a cold in an awful fog. The cold got worse, The frog got hoarse, Till croaking he scared a polliwog!" "You are quite a poet," declared the alderman; "and now you shall have the white bread upon one condition." "What is it?" said Tommy, anxiously. "That you cut the slice into four parts." "But I have no knife!" remonstrated the boy. "But that is the condition," insisted the alderman. "If you want the bread you must cut it." "Surely you do not expect me to cut the bread without any knife!" said Tommy. "Why not?" asked the alderman, winking his eye at the company. "Because it cannot be done. How, let me ask you, sir, could you have married without any wife?" "Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the jolly alderman; and he was so pleased with Tommy's apt reply that he gave him the bread at once, and a knife to cut it with. "Thank you, sir," said Tommy; "now that I have the knife it is easy enough to cut the bread, and I shall now be as happy as you are with your beautiful wife."