,
looking at one man after another, and then held out the apple to the
Shifty Lad, who was twisting a shaving of wood round his finger, and had
the mouthpiece of a bagpipe hanging from his neck.

'You ought not to have anything which the others have not got,' said
the chamberlain, who had accompanied the princess; and he bade the
child stand outside for a minute, while he took away the shaving and the
mouthpiece, and made the Shifty Lad change his place. Then he called the
child in, but the little girl knew him again, and went straight up to
him with the apple.

'This is the man whom the child has twice chosen,' said the chamberlain,
signing to the Shifty Lad to kneel before the king. 'It was all quite
fair; we tried it twice over.' In this way the Shifty Lad won the king's
daughter, and they were married the next day.

A few days later the bride and bridegroom were taking a walk together,
and the path led down to the river, and over the river was a bridge.

'And what bridge may this be?' asked the Shifty Lad; and the princess
told him that this was the bridge of Dublin.

'Is it indeed?' cried he. 'Well, now, many is the time that my mother
has said, when I played her a trick, that my end would be that I should
hang on the bridge of Dublin.'

'Oh, if you want to fulfil her prophecies,' laughed the princess, 'you
have only to let me tie my handkerchief round your ankle, and I will
hold you as you hang over the wall of the bridge.'

'That would be fine fun,' said he; 'but you are not strong enough to
hold me up.'

'Oh, yes, I am,' said the princess; 'just try.' So at last he let her
bind the handkerchief round his ankle and hang him over the wall, and
they both laughed and jested at the strength of the princess.

'Now pull me up again,' called he; but as he spoke a great cry arose
that the palace was burning. The princess turned round with a start, and
let go her handkerchief, and the Shifty Lad fell, and struck his head on
a stone, and died in an instant.

So his mother's prophecy had come true, after all.

West Highland Tales.

The False Prince and the True

The king had just awakened from his midday sleep, for it was summer, and
everyone rose early and rested from twelve to three, as they do in hot
countries. He had dressed himself in cool white clothes, and was passing
through the hall on his way to the council chamber, when a number of
young nobles suddenly appeared before him, and one amongst