re to taste it, so he cut off a small piece
and put it in his mouth.

Hardly had it touched his tongue than he heard a strange sort of
whispering of tiny voices outside his window. He stepped to the casement
to listen, and found that the sound proceeded from the sparrows, who
were talking together and telling each other all they had seen in the
fields and woods. The piece of the white snake which he had eaten had
enabled him to understand the language of animals.

Now on this particular day, it so happened that the Queen lost her
favourite ring, and suspicion fell on the confidential servant who had
access to all parts of the palace. The King sent for him, and threatened
him angrily, saying that if he had not found the thief by the next day,
he should himself be taken up and tried.

It was useless to assert his innocence; he was dismissed without
ceremony. In his agitation and distress, he went down to the yard to
think over what he could do in this trouble. Here were a number of ducks
resting near a little stream, and pluming, themselves with their bills,
whilst they kept up an animated conversation amongst themselves. The
servant stood still listening to them. They were talking of where they
had been waddling about all the morning, and of the good food they had
found, but one of them remarked rather sadly, 'There's something lying
very heavy on my stomach, for in my haste I've swallowed a ring, which
was lying just under the Queen's window.'

No sooner did the servant hear this than he seized the duck by the neck,
carried it off to the kitchen, and said to the cook, 'Suppose you kill
this duck; you see she's nice and fat.'

'Yes, indeed,' said the cook, weighing the duck in his hand, 'she
certainly has spared no pains to stuff herself well, and must have been
waiting for the spit for some time.' So he chopped off her head, and
when she was opened there was the Queen's ring in her stomach.

It was easy enough now for the servant to prove his innocence, and the
King, feeling he had done him an injustice, and anxious to make some
amends, desired him to ask any favour he chose, and promised to give him
the highest post at Court he could wish for.

The servant, however, declined everything, and only begged for a
horse and some money to enable him to travel, as he was anxious to see
something of the world.

When his request was granted, he set off on his journey, and in the
course of it he one day came to a large p