o get it is by the help of a black woodpecker. Look, in the spring,
where she builds her nest in a hole in a tree, and when the time comes
for her brood to fly off block up the entrance to the nest with a hard
sod, and lurk in ambush behind the tree till the bird returns to feed
her nestlings. When she perceives that she cannot get into her nest she
will fly round the tree uttering cries of distress, and then dart off
towards the sun-setting. When you see her do this, take a scarlet cloak,
or if that be lacking to you, buy a few yards of scarlet cloth,
and hurry back to the tree before the woodpecker returns with the
spring-root in her beak. So soon as she touches with the root the sod
that blocks the nest, it will fly violently out of the hole. Then spread
the red cloth quickly under the tree, so that the woodpecker may think
it is a fire, and in her terror drop the root. Some people really light
a fire and strew spikenard blossoms in it; but that is a clumsy method,
for if the flames do not shoot up at the right moment away will fly the
woodpecker, carrying the root with her."

The party had listened with interest to this speech, but by the time it
was ended the hour was late, and they went their ways homeward, leaving
only one man who had sat unheeded in a corner the whole evening through.

Master Peter Bloch had once been a prosperous innkeeper, and a
master-cook; but he had gone steadily down in the world for some time,
and was now quite poor.

Formerly he had been a merry fellow, fond of a joke, and in the art of
cooking had no equal in the town. He could make fish-jelly, and quince
fritters, and even wafer-cakes; and he gilded the ears of all his
boars' heads. Peter had looked about him for a wife early in life, but
unluckily his choice fell upon a woman whose evil tongue was well known
in the town. Ilse was hated by everybody, and the young folks would go
miles out of their way rather than meet her, for she had some ill-word
for everyone. Therefore, when Master Peter came along, and let himself
be taken in by her boasted skill as a housewife, she jumped at his
offer, and they were married the next day. But they had not got home
before they began to quarrel. In the joy of his heart Peter had tasted
freely of his own good wine, and as the bride hung upon his arm he
stumbled and fell, dragging her down with him; whereupon she beat him
soundly, and the neighbours said truly that things did not promise
well for Mas