gather fallen wood in the forest, if they did not interfere with
the standing timber.

Another adventure was with a poor woodman and his wife. The man, as he
stood in the marketplace with his little store, complained bitterly of his
lot, as compared with that of those who lived idly amid luxuries in the
palace. The wife bade him be careful, as he might be overheard in his
complaints. The king, looking down on the market from a latticed window,
and amusing himself with the chatter of the market people, heard the words
of the couple, and ordered them to be brought into his presence.

He asked the frightened pair what they had said, and was pleased to find
that they answered him truly. Then he bade them reflect that if he had
great wealth, he had great demands upon it; that he who had a nation to
govern could not lead an idle life; and told them "to be more cautious in
future, as walls had ears." He then dismissed them, after giving them a
quantity of cloth and a good supply of cacao,--the coin of the country.
"Go," he said; "with the little you now have, you will be rich; while,
with all my riches, I shall still be poor."

Of all the stories told of this famous monarch, there is only one not to
his credit, and of this we may speak in passing, as it bears a remarkable
resemblance to that told in the Bible of David and Uriah. He fell in love
with a beautiful maiden, who was betrothed to an old lord of his kingdom,
and to obtain her hand he bade the old man take command of a warlike
expedition against the Tlascalans. Two chiefs were bidden to keep near him
and bring him into the thick of the fight, that he might lose his life,
which the king said he had forfeited by a great crime. The old man
suspected what was meant, and said so in a farewell entertainment to his
friends. He was correct in his prophecy; like Uriah, he soon fell in
battle, and the royal lover's path was clear.

The king now secretly offered his hand and heart to the maiden, who was by
no means inconsolable for the loss of her old lover, and willingly
accepted. To prevent any suspicion of what he had done, he had the maiden
brought to his villa to witness some ceremony there. Standing on a balcony
of the palace, the king pretended to be struck with her beauty, and asked,
"Who is the lovely young woman, yonder in the garden?" Some of those
present soon learned her name and rank, which was that of a princess of
the royal house of Mexico. She was asked to ente