question," said old Peter; "but I'll tell you, and
then perhaps you won't ask any more, and will give my old head a
rest."

And then he told them the story of the hunter and his wife.

Once upon a time there was a hunter who went out into the forest to
shoot game. He had a wife and two dogs. His wife was for ever asking
questions, so that he was glad to get away from her into the forest.
And she did not like dogs, and said they were always bringing dirt
into the house with their muddy paws. So that the dogs were glad to
get away into the forest with the hunter.

One day the hunter and the two dogs wandered all day through the deep
woods, and never got a sight of a bird; no, they never even saw a
hare. All day long they wandered on and saw nothing. The hunter had
not fired a cartridge. He did not want to go home and have to answer
his wife's questions about why he had an empty bag, so he went deeper
and deeper into the thick forest. And suddenly, as it grew towards
evening, the sharp smell of burning wood floated through the trees,
and the hunter, looking about him, saw the flickering of a fire. He
made his way towards it, and found a clearing in the forest, and a
wood pile in the middle of it, and it was burning so fiercely that he
could scarcely come near it.

And this was the marvel, that in the middle of the blazing timbers was
sitting a great snake, curled round and round upon itself and waving
its head above the flames.

As soon as it saw the hunter it called out, in a loud hissing voice,
to come near.

He went as near as he could, shading his face from the heat.

"My good man," says the snake, "pull me out of the fire, and you shall
understand the talk of the beasts and the songs of the birds."

"I'll be happy to help you," says the hunter, "but how? for the flames
are so hot that I cannot reach you."

"Put the barrel of your gun into the fire, and I'll crawl out along
it."

The hunter put the barrel of his long gun into the flames, and
instantly the snake wound itself about it, and so escaped out of the
fire.

"Thank you, my good man," says the snake; "you shall know henceforward
the language of all living things. But one thing you must remember.
You must not tell any one of this, for if you tell you will die the
death; and man only dies once, and that will be an end of your life
and your knowledge."

Then the snake slipped off along the ground, and almost before the
hunter knew it was going, it