trong iron doors
of the church.

'I believe that big boar would be of more use here than I am,' he
thought, and lo! at the wish the wild boar came and began to push hard
against the wall. He managed to loosen one stone with his tusks, and,
having made a beginning, stone after stone was poked out till he had
made quite a large hole, big enough to let a man go through.

The young man quickly entered the church, and saw a bird flying about,
but he could not catch it.

'Oh!' he exclaimed, 'if only the griffin were here, he would soon catch
it.'

At these words the griffin appeared, and, seizing the bird, gave it to
the youth, who carried it off carefully, while the griffin flew away.

The young man hurried home as fast as possible, and reached the cottage
before evening. He told his story to the little bride, who, after giving
him some food and drink, hid him with his bird beneath the bed.

Presently the old man came home, and complained of feeling ill. Nothing,
he said, would go well with him any more: his 'heart bird' was caught.

The youth under the bed heard this, and thought, 'This old fellow has
done me no particular harm, but then he has bewitched my brothers and
their brides, and has kept my bride for himself, and that is certainly
bad enough.'

So he pinched the bird, and the old man cried, 'Ah! I feel death
gripping me! Child, I am dying!'

With these words he fell fainting from his chair, and as the youth,
before he knew what he was doing, had squeezed the bird to death, the
old man died also.

Out crept the young man from under the bed, and the girl took the magic
wand (which she found where the old man had told her), and, touching the
twelve grey stones, transformed them at once into the six brothers and
their brides.

Then there was great joy, and kissing and embracing. And there lay the
old man, quite dead, and no magic wand could restore him to life, even
had they wished it.

After that they all went away and were married, and lived many years
happily together.

The Two Brothers

Sicilianische Malirchen. L. Gonzenbach.

Long ago there lived two brothers, both of them very handsome, and both
so very poor that they seldom had anything to eat but the fish which
they caught. One day they had been out in their boat since sunrise
without a single bite, and were just thinking of putting up their lines
and going home to bed when they felt a little feeble tug, and, drawing
in hastily, the