the aid of St. Vicente Ferrer. She knelt
before the image, and asked the saint to rescue her husband from the
pit into which he had fallen. Her prayers were soon answered. The
image became animated. It touched her face several times, and in a few
seconds Maria was converted into an extraordinary beauty. Her once
rough skin was now smooth and velvety. She then went to the window
to await her husband's return. When he arrived an hour later, he was
at first unwilling to come up into the house, for he did not believe
that the beautiful woman was his wife; but at last she disclosed her
true self to him. A great change now came over Juan. The once despised
wife now began to enjoy the caresses of her husband, who pressed her
close to his heart.

Days elapsed, and Flora began to get uneasy at her home. She
wondered why Juan did not come to see her. At length she went to
his house. After asking Maria how she had acquired her beauty, Flora
decided to try her fortune also. She too knelt before the image of
St. Vicente Ferrer. But, alas! instead of becoming as white and as
beautiful as the women of a Turkish harem, she became as black and as
ugly as the mistress of a Kaffir household. Her once delicate lips
became thick and coarse, and her nose became as long as a monkey's
tail. Filled with shame at her appearance, and with a consciousness
of her own guilt, she went home, where she pined away and died.

The once homely Maria, whose home had rung with laughter by the taunt
and ridicule of those who made fun of her ugliness, [94] now graced her
house with sweet smiles and engaging features, which drew scores of
visitors to her home. Juan confessed his sins, and underwent penance
for his wickedness; and the two lived together in peace and happiness
the rest of their lives.

Notes.

A Visayan variant, "The Two Wives and the Witch," may be found in
JAFL 19 : 105. In the southern version "Juan puts away his first,
plain-looking wife, and takes another, handsomer one. The first
wife, weeping by a well, is transformed by a witch into a beautiful
woman. She wins her husband's affections back again. The second wife,
deserted in turn, weeps by the well, and is transformed by the witch
into such a hideous old hag, that, when she looks at herself in
the glass and sees her ugliness, she refuses to eat, and in a few
days dies."

In a broad way this story and ours belong to the "Toads and
Diamonds" group (see Grimm, No. 13 ["The Three Li