answered, 'Let it be the tortoise.'

The following morning the animals all went their various ways, leaving
the tortoise to guard the spring. When they were out of sight the jackal
came back. 'Good morning, tortoise; good morning.'

But the tortoise took no notice.

'Good morning, tortoise; good morning.' But still the tortoise pretended
not to hear.

Then the jackal said to himself, 'Well, to-day I have only got to manage
a bigger idiot than before. I shall just kick him on one side, and then
go and have a drink.' So he went up to the tortoise and said to him in a
soft voice, 'Tortoise! tortoise!' but the tortoise took no notice. Then
the jackal kicked him out of the way, and went to the well and began to
drink, but scarcely had he touched the water, than the tortoise seized
him by the leg. The jackal shrieked out: 'Oh, you will break my leg!'
but the tortoise only held on the tighter. The jackal then took his bag
and tried to make the tortoise smell the honeycomb he had inside; but
the tortoise turned away his head and smelt nothing. At last the jackal
said to the tortoise, 'I should like to give you my bag and everything
in it,' but the only answer the tortoise made was to grasp the jackal's
leg tighter still.

So matters stood when the other animals came back. The moment he saw
them, the jackal gave a violent tug, and managed to free his leg, and
then took to his heels as fast as he could. And the animals all said to
the tortoise:

'Well done, tortoise, you have proved your courage; now we can drink
from our well in peace, as you have got the better of that thieving
jackal!'

[Contes Populaires des Bassoutos, recueillis et traduits par E.
Jacottet. Paris: Leroux, editeur.]

The Bear

Once on a time there was a king who had an only daughter. He was so
proud and so fond of her, that he was in constant terror that something
would happen to her if she went outside the palace, and thus, owing to
his great love for her, he forced her to lead the life of a prisoner,
shut up within her own rooms.

The princess did not like this at all, and one day she complained about
it very bitterly to her nurse. Now, the nurse was a witch, though the
king did not know it. For some time she listened and tried to soothe the
princess; but when she saw that she would not be comforted, she said to
her: 'Your father loves you very dearly, as you know. Whatever you were
to ask from him he would give you. The one thing he wi