eagull was
seated at the window, mending her net, and from time to time her eyes
wandered to the sea as if she was expecting someone. At the noise made
by the little soldier, she looked up and blushed.

'So it is you!' she said. 'How did you get here?' And then she added in
a low voice, 'And have you married your Princess?'

Then John told her all his adventures, and when he had finished, he
restored to her the purse and the mantle.

'What can I do with them?' said she. 'You have proved to me that
happiness does not lie in the possession of treasures.'

'It lies in work and in the love of an honest women,' replied the little
soldier, who noticed for the first time what pretty eyes she had. 'Dear
Seagull, will you have me for a husband?' and he held out his hand.

'Yes, I will,' answered the fisher maiden, blushing very red, 'but only
on condition that we seal up the purse and the mantle in the copper
vessel and throw them into the sea.'

And this they did.

Charles Deulin.

_THE MAGIC SWAN_

There were once upon a time three brothers, of whom the eldest was
called Jacob, the second Frederick, and the youngest Peter. This
youngest brother was made a regular butt of by the other two, and they
treated him shamefully. If anything went wrong with their affairs, Peter
had to bear the blame and put things right for them, and he had to
endure all this ill-treatment because he was weak and delicate and
couldn't defend himself against his stronger brothers. The poor creature
had a most trying life of it in every way, and day and night he pondered
how he could make it better. One day, when he was in the wood gathering
sticks and crying bitterly, a little old woman came up to him and asked
him what was the matter; and he told her all his troubles.

'Come, my good youth,' said the old dame, when he had finished his tale
of woe, 'isn't the world wide enough? Why don't you set out and try your
fortune somewhere else?'

Peter took her words to heart, and left his father's house early one
morning to try his fortune in the wide world, as the old woman had
advised him. But he felt very bitterly parting from the home where he
had been born, and where he had at least passed a short but happy
childhood, and sitting down on a hill he gazed once more fondly on his
native place.

Suddenly the little old woman stood before him, and, tapping him on the
shoulder, said, 'So far good, my boy; but what do you mean to do now