tag entirely disappeared, and when golden
lad came to look about him he found himself just opposite a hut in which
lived a witch. He knocked at the door, which was opened by a little old
woman who asked, 'What do you want at this late hour in the midst of
this great forest?'

He said, 'Haven't you seen a stag about here?'

'Yes,' said she, 'I know the stag well,' and as she spoke a little dog
ran out of the house and began barking and snapping at the stranger.

'Be quiet, you little toad,' he cried, 'or I'll shoot you dead.'

Then the witch flew into a great rage, and screamed out, 'What! you'll
kill my dog, will you?' and the next moment he was turned to stone and
lay there immovable, whilst his bride waited for him in vain and thought
to herself, 'Alas! no doubt the evil I feared, and which has made my
heart so heavy, has befallen him.'

Meantime, the other brother was standing near the golden lilies at home,
when suddenly one of them bent over and fell to the ground. 'Good
heavens!' cried he, 'some great misfortune has befallen my brother. I
must set off at once; perhaps I may still be in time to save him.'

His father entreated him, 'Stay at home. If I should lose you too, what
would become of me?'

But his son replied, 'I must and will go.'

Then he mounted his golden horse, and rode off till he reached the
forest where his brother lay transformed to stone. The old witch came
out of her house and called to him, for she would gladly have cast her
spells on him too, but he took care not to go near her, and called out:
'Restore my brother to life at once, or I'll shoot you down on the
spot.'

Reluctantly she touched the stone with her finger, and in a moment it
resumed its human shape. The two golden lads fell into each other's arms
and kissed each other with joy, and then rode off together to the edge
of the forest, where they parted, one to return to his old father, and
the other to his bride.

When the former got home his father said, 'I knew you had delivered your
brother, for all of a sudden the golden lily reared itself up and burst
into blossom.'

Then they all lived happily to their lives' ends, and all things went
well with them.

Grimm.

_THE WHITE SNAKE_

Not very long ago there lived a King, the fame of whose wisdom was
spread far and wide. Nothing appeared to be unknown to him, and it
really seemed as if tidings of the most secret matters must be borne to
him by the winds. He