? was it you, Pope?"

"No, not I, on my word!" replied the Pope.

"Well, so be it," said the old man.

They gave themselves a shake, and set out again on their
journey. They walked and walked; suddenly the road branched
off in two different directions. Well, they both went the same
way, and soon reached a certain country. In that country the
King's daughter lay at the point of death, and the King had given
notice that to him who should cure his daughter he would give
half of his kingdom, and half of his goods and possessions; but
if any one undertook to cure her and failed, he should have his
head chopped off and hung up on a stake. Well, they arrived,
elbowed their way among the people in front of the King's palace,
and gave out that they were doctors. The servant came out
from the King's palace, and began questioning them:

"Who are you? from what cities, of what families? what
do you want?"

"We are doctors," they replied; "we can cure the Princess!"

"Oh! if you are doctors, come into the palace."

So they went into the palace, saw the Princess, and asked
the King to supply them with a private apartment, a tub of
water, a sharp sword, and a big table. The King supplied
them with all these things. Then they shut themselves up in
the private apartment, laid the Princess on the big table, cut
her into small pieces with the sharp sword, flung them into the
tub of water, washed them, and rinsed them. Afterwards they
began putting the pieces together; when the old man breathed
on them the different pieces stuck together. When he had put
all the pieces together properly, he gave them a final puff of
breath: the Princess began to quiver, and then arose alive and
well! The King came in person to the door of their room, and
cried:

"In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Ghost!"

"Amen!" they replied.

"Have you cured the Princess?" asked the King.

"We've cured her," say the doctors. "Here she is!"

Out went the Princess to the King, alive and well.

Says the King to the doctors: "What sort of valuables will
you have? would you like gold or silver? Take whatever you
please."

Well, they began taking gold and silver. The old man used
only a thumb and two fingers, but the Pope seized whole handfuls,
and kept on stowing them away in his wallet--shovelling
them into it, and then lifting it a bit to see if he