Three Men in a Boat Boat" is how undated it appears to modern readers – the jokes have been praised as fresh and witty. The three men are based on Jerome himself (the narrator Jerome K. Jerome) and two real-life friends, George Wingrave (who would become a senior manager at Barclays Bank) and Carl Hentschel (the founder of a London printing business, called Harris in the book), with whom Jerome often took boating trips. The dog, Montmorency, is entirely fictional but, "as Jerome admits, developed out of that area of inner consciousness which, in all Englishmen, contains an element of the dog". The trip is
The Three Little Men in the Wood cleans house for them also. The men, feeling sorry for her circumstances, decide to give her three gifts: she will grow prettier every day, gold will fall from her mouth at every word, and she will one day marry a king. The girl eventually finds strawberries near the back of their house and makes her way home happily. The girl returns home, but faces the envy of her step-sister, who wants the same rewards. Her mother initially doesn't let her search for strawberries, but the step-sister begs until she is allowed. She is given a warm coat and good food,