sailed homeward in a very downcast mood; but when he arrived at
his town, he went straight to the market. As he was walking around the
fish-stalls, he saw a very fine fat fish. So he said to the tendera,
[53] "How much must I pay for that fat fish?"

"Well, five centavos is all I'll ask you for it," said she.

"Oh, I have only five centavos; and if I give them all to you, I
shall have no money to buy rice with. So please let me have the fish
for three!" said the wood-cutter. But the tendera refused to sell the
fish for three centavos; and the wood-cutter was obliged to give all
his money for it, for the fish was so fine and fat that he could not
leave it.

When he went home and opened the fish to clean it, what do you suppose
he found inside? Why, no other thing than the precious ring he had
lost in the lake! He was so rejoiced at getting back his treasure,
that he walked up and down the streets, talking out loud to his ring:--

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!
I have found you now;
You are here, and nowhere else."

When his neighbors who had stolen his bags of money from him heard
these words, they thought that the wood-cutter had found out that they
were the thieves, and was addressing these words to them. They ran up
to him with all the bags of money, and said, "O wood-cutter! pardon
us for our misdoings! Here are all the bags of money that we stole
from you."

With his money and the ring, the wood-cutter soon became the richest
man in his town. He lived happily with his wife the rest of his days,
and left a large heritage to his children.

So Mahirap, with five centavos only, succeeded in making the
wood-cutter rich.

Lucas the Rope-maker.

Narrated by Elisa Cordero, a Tagalog from Pagsanjan, Laguna. Miss
Cordero says that the story is well known and is old.

Luis and Isco were intimate friends. They lived in a country called
Bagdad. Though these two friends had been brought up together in the
same school, their ideas were different. Luis believed that gentleness
and kindness were the second heaven, while Isco's belief was that
wealth was the source of happiness and peace in life.

One day, while they were eating, Isco said, "Don't you believe, my
friend, that a rich man, however cruel he may be, is known everywhere
and has great power over all his people? A poor man may be gentle
and kind, but then he is disdainfully looked upon by his neighbors."

"Oh," answered Luis, "I know it, but