ll see!" and he
immediately changed himself into a mouse, and began running about the
floor. The cat no sooner caught sight of it, than he pounced upon it and
ate it.

In the meanwhile, the King, seeing the fine castle of the ogre as he was
driving past, thought he should like to go inside. The Cat, who heard
the noise of the coach rolling over the draw-bridge, ran to meet it, and
said to the King, "Your Majesty is welcome to the Castle of my Lord the
Marquis of Carabas!"

"How, my Lord Marquis," exclaimed the King, "this castle belongs to you?
Nothing could be finer than this courtyard, and all these buildings
which surround it. Let us see the inside of it, if you please."

The Marquis handed out the young Princess, and following the King, who
led the way upstairs, they entered a grand hall, where they found
prepared a magnificent repast, which the ogre had ordered in expectation
of some friends, who were to have visited him that very day, but who did
not venture to enter when they heard the King was there. The King, as
greatly delighted with the excellent qualities of my Lord the Marquis of
Carabas as his daughter, who was more than ever in love with him, seeing
what great wealth he possessed, said to him, after having drunk five or
six bumpers, "It depends entirely on yourself, my Lord Marquis, whether
or not you become my son-in-law." The Marquis, making several profound
bows, accepted the honour the King offered him, and that same day was
married to the Princess. The Cat became a great lord, and never again
ran after mice, except for his amusement.

Be the advantage never so great
Of owning a superb estate,
From sire to son descended,
Young men oft find, on industry,
Combined with ingenuity,
They'd better have depended.

* * * * *

If the son of a miller so quickly could gain
The heart of a Princess, it seems pretty plain,
With good looks and good manners, and some aid from dress,
The humblest need not quite despair of success.

THE FAIRIES

There was once a widow who had two daughters. The elder was so like her
mother in temper and face, that to have seen the one was to have seen
the other. They were both so disagreeable and proud, that it was
impossible to live with them. The younger, who was the exact portrait of
her father in her kindly and polite ways, was also as beautiful a girl
as one could see. As we are natural