wish I could help you. I'd take that horse of
yours and go after him myself if I could. But I can't. I'm carrying a
bird of great value to a gentleman who lives in the next town. I have
the bird here under my hat and I daren't leave it."

The nobleman thought that as the laborer had seen the swindler he might
be able to catch him. So he said:

"My good man, if I sat here and guarded your hat, would you be willing
to mount my horse and follow that rascal?"

"Indeed I would, my lord, in a minute, for I can't bear to think of that
rogue swindling such a fine lady as your wife. But I must beg you to be
very careful of this bird. Don't put your hand under my hat or it might
escape and then I should have to bear the loss of it."

The nobleman promised to be most careful of the bird and, dismounting,
he handed his bridle to the laborer. That one mounted the nobleman's
horse and galloped off.

It is needless to say the nobleman never saw either man or horse again.
He waited and waited. At last when he could wait no longer he decided
that he would have to take the bird home with him and let the laborer
follow. So he lifted the edge of the hat very carefully, slipped in his
hand, and clutched--the dry clod of earth!

Deeply chagrined he went home and had to bear the smiles of his people
as they whispered among themselves that my lord as well as my lady had
been swindled.

The laborer as he neared his cottage called out to his wife:

"It's all right, wife! You won't get that beating! I find that the world
is full of people even more gullible than you!"

THE CANDLES OF LIFE

THE STORY OF A CHILD FOR WHOM DEATH STOOD GODMOTHER

[Illustration]

THE CANDLES OF LIFE

There was once a poor man named Martin. He was so very poor that when
his wife gave birth to a little boy, he could find no one who would
stand godmother to the child.

"No," he told his wife, "there's no one that I've asked who is willing
to hold this infant at the christening."

The poor mother wept and moaned and he tried to comfort her as best he
could.

"Don't be discouraged, my dear wife. I promise you your son will be
christened. I'll carry him to church myself and if I can find a
godmother no other way I'll ask some woman I meet on the road."

So Martin bundled up the baby and carried him to church. On the way he
met a woman whom he asked to be godmother. She took the baby in her arms
at once and held it during the christening.