stables to inquire of his friend the horse if there was no way for him
to escape.

'Do not be frightened,' said the horse. 'Get on my back, and I will
gallop till my whole body is wet with perspiration, then rub it all over
your skin, and no matter how hot the oil may be you will never feel it.'

Jose did not ask any more questions, but did as the horse bade him; and
men wondered at his cheerful face as they lowered him into the caldron
of boiling oil. He was left there till Bella-Flor cried that he must
be cooked enough. Then out came a youth so young and handsome, that
everyone fell in love with him, and Bella-Flor most of all.

As for the old king, he saw that he had lost the game; and in despair he
flung himself into the caldron, and was fried instead of Jose. Then Jose
was proclaimed king, on condition that he married Bella-Flor which he
promised to do the next day. But first he went to the stables and sought
out the horse, and said to him: 'It is to you that I owe my life and my
crown. Why have you done all this for me?'

And the horse answered: 'I am the soul of that unhappy man for whom you
spent all your fortune. And when I saw you in danger of death I begged
that I might help you, as you had helped me. For, as I told you, Good
deeds bear their own fruit!'

The Bird of Truth

[From Cuentos, Oraciones, y Adivinas, por Fernan Caballero.]

Once upon a time there lived a poor fisher who built a hut on the banks
of a stream which, shunning the glare of the sun and the noise of the
towns, flowed quietly past trees and under bushes, listening to the
songs of the birds overhead.

One day, when the fisherman had gone out as usual to cast his nets, he
saw borne towards him on the current a cradle of crystal. Slipping his
net quickly beneath it he drew it out and lifted the silk coverlet.
Inside, lying on a soft bed of cotton, were two babies, a boy and a
girl, who opened their eyes and smiled at him. The man was filled with
pity at the sight, and throwing down his lines he took the cradle and
the babies home to his wife.

The good woman flung up her hands in despair when she beheld the
contents of the cradle.

'Are not eight children enough,' she cried, 'without bringing us two
more? How do you think we can feed them?'

'You would not have had me leave them to die of hunger,' answered he,
'or be swallowed up by the waves of the sea? What is enough for eight is
also enough for ten.'

The wife said n