that she went
mad, and hanged herself in wrath. Whereupon the King, really pleased at
getting rid of her so soon, gave the cobbler a hundred pounds and bade
him go about his business with his ugly bride.

Which he did quite contentedly, for a hundred pounds means much to a
poor cobbler. So they went to a remote part of the kingdom and lived
unhappily for many years, he cobbling shoes, and she spinning the thread
for him.

MR. FOX

Lady Mary was young and Lady Mary was fair, and she had more lovers than
she could count on the fingers of both hands.

She lived with her two brothers, who were very proud and very fond of
their beautiful sister, and very anxious that she should choose well
amongst her many suitors.

Now amongst them there was a certain Mr. Fox, handsome and young and
rich; and though nobody quite knew who he was, he was so gallant and so
gay that every one liked him. And he wooed Lady Mary so well that at
last she promised to marry him. But though he talked much of the
beautiful home to which he would take her, and described the castle and
all the wonderful things that furnished it, he never offered to show it
to her, neither did he invite Lady Mary's brothers to see it.

Now this seemed to her very strange indeed; and, being a lass of spirit,
she made up her mind to see the castle if she could.

So one day, just before the wedding, when she knew Mr. Fox would be
away seeing the lawyers with her brothers, she just kilted up her skirts
and set out unbeknownst--for, see you, the whole household was busy
preparing for the marriage feastings--to see for herself what Mr. Fox's
beautiful castle was like.

After many searchings, and much travelling, she found it at last; and a
fine strong building it was, with high walls and a deep moat to it. A
bit frowning and gloomy, but when she came up to the wide gateway she
saw these words carven over the arch:

_BE BOLD--BE BOLD._

So she plucked up courage, and the gate being open, went through it and
found herself in a wide, empty, open courtyard. At the end of this was a
smaller door, and over this was carven:

_BE BOLD, BE BOLD; BUT NOT TOO BOLD._

So she went through it to a wide, empty hall, and up the wide, empty
staircase. Now at the top of the staircase there was a wide, empty
gallery at one end of which were wide windows with the sunlight
streaming through them from a beautiful garden, and at the other end a
narrow