a
tree----'

'What, a PIKE?' shouted the secretary. 'Do you think you may joke with
me, pray?'

'Indeed, I'm not joking, Mr. Secretary! I'm speaking the bare truth.'

'Now you see, gentlemen,' said her husband, 'how far you can trust her,
when she chatters like this.'

'Chatter, indeed? I!! Perhaps you have forgotten, too, how we found a
live hare in the river?'

Everyone roared with laughter; even the secretary smiled and stroked his
beard, and the man said:

'Come, come, wife, everyone is laughing at you. You see for yourself,
gentlemen, how far you can believe her.'

'Yes, indeed,' said the village elders, 'it is certainly the first time
we have heard that hares thrive in the water or fish among the tree
tops.'

The secretary could make nothing of it all, and drove back to the town.
The old woman was so laughed at that she had to hold her tongue and
obey her husband ever after, and the man bought wares with part of the
treasure and moved into the town, where he opened a shop, and prospered,
and spent the rest of his days in peace.

TWO IN A SACK

What a life that poor man led with his wife, to be sure! Not a day
passed without her scolding him and calling him names, and indeed
sometimes she would take the broom from behind the stove and beat him
with it. He had no peace or comfort at all, and really hardly knew how
to bear it.

One day, when his wife had been particularly unkind and had beaten him
black and blue, he strolled slowly into the fields, and as he could not
endure to be idle he spread out his nets.

What kind of bird do you think he caught in his net? He caught a crane,
and the crane said, 'Let me go free, and I'll show myself grateful.'

The man answered, 'No, my dear fellow. I shall take you home, and then
perhaps my wife won't scold me so much.'

Said the crane: 'You had better come with me to my house,' and so they
went to the crane's house.

When they got there, what do you think the crane took from the wall? He
took down a sack, and he said:

'Two out of a sack!'

Instantly two pretty lads sprang out of the sack. They brought in oak
tables, which they spread with silken covers, and placed all sorts of
delicious dishes and refreshing drinks on them. The man had never seen
anything so beautiful in his life, and he was delighted.

Then the crane said to him, 'Now take this sack to your wife.'

The man thanked him warmly, took the sack, and set out.

His home was a good