only once have I heard aught of him. But what has brought him to your
mind just now?'

'Because last night I dreamed that he was here,' said the youth, 'and
then I remembered what I have so long forgotten, that I _had_ a
father, though even his very history was strange to me. And now, tell
me, I pray you, all you can concerning him.'

And standing under the jessamine, the son learnt his father's history,
and the man in the tree listened also.

'Oh,' exclaimed the youth, when it was ended, while he twisted his
hands in pain, 'I am general-in-chief, you are the king's daughter,
and we have the most splendid palace in the whole world, yet my father
lives we know not where, and for all we can guess, may be poor and
miserable. To-morrow I will ask the king to give me soldiers, and I
will seek him over the whole earth till I find him.'

Then the man came down from the tree, and clasped his wife and son in
his arms. All that night they talked, and when the sun rose it still
found them talking. But as soon as it was proper, he went up to the
palace to pay his homage to the king, and to inform him of all that
had happened and who they all really were. The king was overjoyed to
think that his daughter, whom he had long since forgiven and sorely
missed, was living at his gates, and was, besides, the mother of the
youth who was so dear to him. 'It was written beforehand,' cried the
monarch. 'You are my son-in-law before the world, and shall be king
after me.'

And the man bowed his head.

He had waited; and he had won.

(From _Contes Armeniens_. Par Frederic Macler.)

_THE STEEL CANE_

Once upon a time there lived an old woman who had a small cottage on
the edge of the forest. Behind the cottage was a garden in which all
sorts of vegetables grew, and, beyond that, a field with two or three
cows in it, so her neighbours considered her quite rich, and envied
her greatly.

As long as she was strong enough to work all day in her garden the old
woman never felt lonely, but after a while she had a bad illness,
which left her much weaker than before, and she began to think that
now and then it would be nice to have some one to speak to. Just at
this moment she heard of the death of a shepherd and his wife, who
dwelt on the other side of the plain, leaving a little boy quite alone
in the world.

'That will just suit me,' she said; and sent a man over to bring the
child, whom she intended to adopt for her own.

Now