THE KING AND THE THREE TRAVELERS.

BY ARLO BATES.

Three travelers, who had been found asleep in the royal park, were once
brought before King Jollimon. In answer to inquiries, they said that
they were story-tellers, who earned their living by relating those tales
and legends of which the inhabitants of Jolliland are so extravagantly
fond.

"If that be so," said the king, "and if you can tell stories worth
hearing, you are indeed welcome. The court story-teller has just been
banished for presuming to tell the same story twice, and his place is
unfilled. It would be a right royal idea to have three story-tellers
instead of one."

So the three travelers, after having been refreshed with food and drink,
were bidden to seat themselves at the august feet of King Jollimon, that
they might prove their power to please the royal fancy by strange and
unheard tales.

They were all old and withered; and the first had a crooked back, the
second a crooked nose, and the third a crooked mouth. He of the crooked
back began, and told the tale of

THE RAVEN MAIDEN.

There once lived a young and accomplished prince called Orca. His father
was king over all the country and the neighboring provinces, and Orca
was his only heir.

The prince was a daring hunter, and went often to the royal forests,
sometimes in company with the lords of the court, but oftener alone. For
it so happened that the gamekeeper had a young daughter, Sipelie, who
was as fair as the morning, and as modest as she was fair; and the
prince, having seen her, of course fell over head and ears in love with
her, forgetting all differences of wealth and station. As for Sipelie,
having no mother to tell her better, although she took good care to wait
a modest while before showing it, she gave away her whole heart to him.
Nor was this so much to be wondered at, for Orca was every inch a
prince, and a fine, manly fellow beside. And so I warrant there was
billing and cooing enough at the gamekeeper's lodge, for when the prince
came the gamekeeper kept discreetly in the background, and Sipelie had
no brothers or sisters to be in the way.

[Illustration: THE CROOKED-BACKED TRAVELER TELLS A STORY TO THE KING.]

But the course of true love is never without its rapids, and it was not
long before Orca's visits to Sipelie began to be talked about among the
nobles. So at last the news came to the ears of the Lady Ildea, the
prime minister's daughter, who hoped to w