ed
him by the leg. The jackal shrieked out: 'Oh, you will break my leg!'
but the tortoise only held on the tighter. The jackal then took his bag
and tried to make the tortoise smell the honeycomb he had inside; but
the tortoise turned away his head and smelt nothing. At last the jackal
said to the tortoise, 'I should like to give you my bag and everything
in it,' but the only answer the tortoise made was to grasp the jackal's
leg tighter still.

So matters stood when the other animals came back. The moment he saw
them, the jackal gave a violent tug, and managed to free his leg, and
then took to his heels as fast as he could. And the animals all said to
the tortoise:

'Well done, tortoise, you have proved your courage; now we can drink
from our well in peace, as you have got the better of that thieving
jackal!'

[_Contes Populaires des Bassoutos_; recueilli et traduits par E.
Jacottet. Paris: Leroux, editeur.]

_THE BEAR_

Once on a time there was a king who had an only daughter. He was so
proud and so fond of her, that he was in constant terror that something
would happen to her if she went outside the palace, and thus, owing to
his great love for her, he forced her to lead the life of a prisoner,
shut up within her own rooms.

The princess did not like this at all, and one day she complained about
it very bitterly to her nurse. Now, the nurse was a witch, though the
king did not know it. For some time she listened and tried to soothe the
princess; but when she saw that she would not be comforted, she said to
her: 'Your father loves you very dearly, as you know. Whatever you were
to ask from him he would give you. The one thing he will not grant you
is permission to leave the palace. Now, do as I tell you. Go to your
father and ask him to give you a wooden wheel-barrow, and a bear's skin.
When you have got them bring them to me, and I will touch them with my
magic wand. The wheel-barrow will then move of itself, and will take you
at full speed wherever you want to go, and the bear's skin will make
such a covering for you, that no one will recognise you.'

So the princess did as the witch advised her. The king, when he heard
her strange request, was greatly astonished, and asked her what she
meant to do with a wheel-barrow and a bear's skin. And the princess
answered, 'You never let me leave the house--at least you might grant me
this request.' So the king granted it, and the princess went back to