No. 155 The Ogree’s Coop
Half a century since, in eastern Massachusetts, it was a pastime of boys and girls for one of the number to impersonate an Ogree144 (as the word was pronounced), who caught his playmates, put them in a coop, and fattened them for domestic consumption. From time to time the Ogree felt his captives to ascertain if they were fat enough to be cooked. Now and then a little boy would thrust from between the bars of his cage a stick instead of a finger, whereupon the ogree would be satisfied of his leanness.