t and make it straight."

When the Demon heard what was the task that the Tailor had set him to do
he laughed aloud; but that was because he did not know. He took the
hair and stroked it between his thumb and finger, and, when he done, it
curled more than ever. Then he looked serious, and slapped it between
his palms, and that did not better matters, for it curled as much as
ever. Then he frowned, and, began beating the hair with his palm upon
his knees, and that only made it worse. All that day he labored and
strove at his task trying to make that one little hair straight, and,
when the sun set, there was the hair just as crooked as ever. Then, as
the great round sun sank red behind the trees, the Demon knew that he
was beaten. "I am conquered! I am conquered!" he howled, and flew away,
bellowing so dreadfully that all the world trembled.

So ends the story, with only this to say:

Where man's strength fails, woman's wit prevails.

For, to my mind, the princess--not to speak of her husband the little
Tailor--did more with a single little hair and her mother wit than King
Solomon with all his wisdom.

"Whose turn is it next to tell us a story?" said Sindbad the Sailor.

"Twas my turn," said St. George; "but here be two ladies present, and
neither hath so much as spoken a word of a story for all this time. If
you, madam," said he to Cinderella, "will tell us a tale, I will gladly
give up my turn to you."

The Soldier who cheated the Devil took the pipe out of his mouth and
puffed away a cloud of smoke. "Aye," said he, "always remember the
ladies, say I. That is a soldier's trade."

"Very well, then; if it is your pleasure," said Cinderella. "I will tell
you a story, and it shall be of a friend of mine and of how she looked
after her husband's luck. She was," said Cinderella, "a princess, and
her father was a king."

"And what is your story about?" said Sindbad the Sailor.

"It is," said Cinderella, "about--"

A Piece of Good Luck

There were three students who were learning all that they could. The
first was named Joseph, the second was named John, and the third was
named Jacob Stuck. They studied seven long years under a wise master,
and in that time they learned all that their master had to teach them
of the wonderful things he knew. They learned all about geometry,
they learned all about algebra, they learned all about astronomy, they
learned all about the hidden arts, they learned all about ever