use where lived an old witch, who had
just gone out. So each animal chose a place to suit him. The weasel sat
himself in the cupboard, the cat on the hearth in the warm ashes, and
the cock and the hen flew up on the beam over the door.

When the old witch came home she wanted to get a light out of the
cupboard, and the weasel struck her in the face with his tail. Then she
wanted to light the candle, and went to the hearth. She took the bright
eyes of the cat for live coals and tried to light the match by them, and
hit the cat in the eyes. The cat jumped in her face and scratched her
frightfully. When the cock heard all the noise he began to crow loudly.
Then the witch saw that they were no ghosts, but harmless domestic
animals, and took a stick and drove all four out of the house.

The cat and the weasel had no longer any desire to prolong their
journey; but the cock and hen continued their way.

When they reached Rome they entered an open church, and the cock said
to the sexton: "Have all the bells rung, for now I will be Pope."
"Good!" answered the sexton; "that may be, but just come in here." Then
he led the cock and the hen into the sacristry, shut the door, and
caught them both. After he had caught them he twisted their necks and
put them in the pot. Then he invited his friends, and they ate with
great glee Mr. Cock and Mrs. Hen.

CHAPTER VI.

STORIES AND JESTS.

Until the Reformation, Europe was, by its religion and the culture
growing out of it, a homogeneous state. Not only, however, did the
legends of the Church find access to the people everywhere, but the
stories imported from the Orient were equally popular and wide-spread.
The absence of other works of entertainment and the monotonous character
of the legends increased the popularity of tales which were amusing and
interesting. We have considered in other places the fairy tales and
those stories which are of more direct Oriental origin. In the present
chapter we shall examine those stories which are of the character of
jests or amusing stories, some of which are also Oriental, but may more
appropriately be classed in this chapter. The first story we shall
mention is familiar to the reader from the ballad of "King John and the
Abbot of Canterbury," in Percy and Buerger's poem of _Der Kaiser und der
Abt_. There are two popular versions in Italian, as well as several
literary ones. The shortest is from Milan (Imbriani, _Nov. fior._ p.
621), and