ering what had happened to make him
so late. He soon told her all that had passed since he left home that
afternoon. She was quite as happy as her husband when he showed her
that the ugly lump had disappeared from his face, for in her youth she
had prided herself on his good looks, and it had been a daily grief to
her to see the horrid growth.

Now next door to this good old couple there lived a wicked and
disagreeable old man. He, too, had for many years been troubled with
the growth of a wen on his left cheek, and he, too, had tried all
manner of things to get rid of it, but in vain.

He heard at once, through the servant, of his neighbor's good luck in
losing the lump on his face, so he called that very evening and asked
his friend to tell him everything that concerned the loss of it. The
good old man told his disagreeable neighbor all that had happened to
him. He described the place where he would find the hollow tree in
which to hide, and advised him to be on the spot in the late afternoon
towards the time of sunset.

The old neighbor started out the very next afternoon, and after hunting
about for some time, came to the hollow tree just as his friend had
described. Here he hid himself and waited for the twilight.

Just as he had been told, the band of demons came at that hour and held
a feast with dance and song. When this had gone on for some time the
chief of the demons looked around and said:

"It is now time for the old man to come as he promised us. Why doesn't
he come?"

When the second old man heard these words he ran out of his
hiding-place in the tree and, kneeling down before the Oni, said:

"I have been waiting for a long time for you to speak!"

"Ah, you are the old man of yesterday," said the demon chief. "Thank
you for coming, you must dance for us soon."

The old man now stood up and opened his fan and began to dance. But he
had never learned to dance, and knew nothing about the necessary
gestures and different positions. He thought that anything would please
the demons, so he just hopped about, waving his arms and stamping his
feet, imitating as well as he could any dancing he had ever seen.

The Oni were very dissatisfied at this exhibition, and said amongst
themselves:

"How badly he dances to-day!"

Then to the old man the demon chief said:

"Your performance to-day is quite different from the dance of
yesterday. We don't wish to see any more of such dancing. We will give
you ba