u would most
assuredly have been swallowed up by the underground abyss. No, say not
so, nor yet complain of your mouse-coloured mule, for to lament the
death of a father is but natural.'

"The student walked quietly away, and I then set to making the mules get
up, which, after much trouble, I succeeded in doing; but noticing that
the mouse-coloured mule kept her head on one side as if in pain, I
examined her, and on looking into her ear I discovered the end of a
cigarette which that vile student had purposely dropped into it. I now
knew that I had been deceived; but the cheat had already disappeared,
so, like a wise man, I trudged home, sold my animals to pay my debts,
and, having nothing better to do, I married Joanna and became, as you
know, the church clown and auctioneer."

THE WISE KING OF LEON.

There was a rich nobleman who had three sons; and the king, being very
fond of him, appointed the eldest son his page, the second his butler,
and the youngest his barber.

The barber fell in love with the king's only daughter, who was equally
fond of him; and when this came to the ears of the king, he decided on
putting a stop to it; so he called for the princess, and said--

"I know that you are in love with my barber, and if you insist on
marrying him I will have you killed."

The princess, on hearing her father say this, became very sorrowful, and
asked him to allow her one day for consideration, to which the king
acceded.

She then went to her room, and getting together some of her finest
dresses, she made them up into a bundle, and left the palace by a
secret door.

For seven days and nights did the princess walk through the forest,
subsisting on wild fruit and the water from the rivulets. For seven days
and nights did her father seek for her, and, not finding her, he sent
for the barber, and told him that he must immediately go in search of
the princess, and if he did not bring her back within a year he should
die.

At the end of the seventh day the princess was so tired that she could
not continue her journey; and being afraid of the wolves, she managed to
climb on to the first branch of a large oak-tree; and when there,
discovering that the trunk was hollow, she let herself slip down into
the hollow, and there rested.

She had not been long in her hiding-place when her lover, the barber,
approached, sighing, and saying to himself--

"Woe is me, for I shall never find the princess! There are s