enraged with her for breaking her promise, that he will destroy her at once, when she returns."- "That is well thought of," replied the sister, "we will keep her."

In order to succeed, they treated Beauty with the greatest affection; and the day before her intended departure they stole the rose, which she had told them was the means of conveying her in an instant wherever she might wish. Beauty was so much affected by their kindness that she was easily persuaded to remain a few days. In the meantime the envious sisters thought of enriching themselves by means of the rose; and they accordingly wished themselves in some grand place. Instead of being carried as they expected, the rose withered, and they heard a most terrible noise, which so alarmed them, that they threw down the flower and hid themselves.

Beauty was greatly troubled at the loss of her rose, and sought every where for it, but in vain. She happened, however, to enter her sisters' room, and, to her great joy, saw it lying withered on the floor; but as soon as she picked it up, it at once recovered all its freshness and beauty. She then remembered her broken promise; and, after taking leave of her father, she wished herself in the Beast's palace, and in an instant she was transported thither. Every thing was just as she had left it; but the sweet sounds of music which used to greet her were now hushed, and there was an air of apparent gloom hanging over every thing. She herself felt very melancholy, but she knew not why.

At the usual time she expected a visit from the Lion, but no one appeared. Beauty, wondering what all this could mean, now reproached herself for her ingratitude in not having returned as she promised. She feared the poor animal had died of grief, and she thought that she could have married him rather than suffer him to die. She resolved to seek him in the morning, in every part of the palace. After a miserable and sleepless night, she arose early, and ran through every apartment; but no Lion could be seen. With a sorrowful heart she went to the gardens, saying, "O that I had married the poor Lion, who has been so kind to me; for terrible though he is, I might have saved his life. I wish I could once more see him." At that moment she arrived at a plot of grass where the poor Lion lay as if dead. Beauty ran towards him, and knelt by his side, and seized his paw. He then opened his eyes and said, "Beauty, you forgot your promise; in consequence of which I must die."-"No, dear Lion," exclaimed Beauty, weeping; "No, you shall not die. What can I do to save

you?" "Will you marry me?" asked he. Beauty, "to save your life."

"Yes," replied

No sooner had these words passed her lips, than the lion form disappeared, and she saw at her feet a handsome Prince, who thanked her for having broken his enchantment. He told her that a wicked magician had condemned him to wear the form of a lion until a beautiful lady should consent to marry him; a kind fairy had however given him the magic rose to help him in his trouble, which had been the means of releasing him.

At the same instant that the Prince was changed the whole palace was full of courtiers, all of whom had been rendered invisible when the Prince was enchanted.

The Prince now led Beauty into the palace, where she found her father. The Prince related all to him, and asked him to allow Beauty to become his wife, to which he cheerfully assented; and the nuptials were solemnized with great rejoicing.

The good fairy appeared to congratulate the Prince on his deliverance, and on his marriage with Beauty. As for the two sisters, she punished them severely for their jealous and unkind behaviour. But the Prince and his wife Beauty lived happily together for many, many years.

XXVI.

THE THREE KINGS' SONS.

Two kings' sons, once upon a time, went out in search of adventures, but they led such wild and spendthrift lives, that they dare not go home again. Then their younger brother, who was called Simpleton, went out to seek for them; but, when he had found them, they only laughed at him, to think that he, who was so witless and silly, should try to push his way through the world, when they, who were so much wiser, could not get on. However, they all set out on their travels together, and, coming to an ant-hill, the two elder brothers would have turned it up, in order to see how the poor ants in their fright would run about and carry off their eggs. But

Simpleton said, "Let the poor things alone; I will not let you trouble them."

So on they went, and came to a lake where a great many ducks were swimming about. The two brothers wished to catch two, and roast them. But Simpleton said, "Let the poor things enjoy themselves; you shall not kill them." Next they came to a bees' nest, and there was so much honey that it ran down the trunk of the tree; and the two brothers wanted to light a fire under it, and smother the bees, so as to get their honey. But Simpleton held them back, and said, "Let the creatures enjoy themselves; I will not let you burn them."

The three brothers came next to a castle: and as they passed by the stables they saw horses all of marble, but no man was to be seen. Then they went through all the rooms, till they came to a door on which were three locks: but in the middle of the door there was a little window, so that they could look into the next room. There they saw a little man sitting at a table; and they called to him once or twice, but he did not hear: but the third time he rose and came out to them.

He said nothing, but took hold of them, and led them to a table plentifully covered with all sorts of good things: and when they had eaten and drank, he showed each of them to a separate bed-chamber.

The next morning he came to the eldest, and beckoning to him, took him to a stone table, on which was written the three ways by which the castle might be disenchanted.

The first was-" In the wood, under the moss, are lying the thousand pearls that belong to the king's daughter; they must all be found: and if one be wanting by set of sun, he who looks for them will be turned into stone."

The eldest brother set out, and sought for the pearls the whole day; but when the evening came, he had only found a hundred: so he was turned into stone, as was written on the table.

The next day the second brother undertook the task; but he had no better luck than the first; for as he could only find two hundred of the pearls, he too was turned into stone.

At last came Simpleton's turn to look in the moss; but it was so hard to find the pearls, and so tedious, that he sat down upon a stone and cried. And as he sat there, the king of the ants (whose life he had saved) came to help him, with five thousand ants; and in a short time they had found all the pearls and brought them to him in a heap.

The second inscription said-"The key of the princess's bedchamber must be fished up out of the lake." And as Simpleton came to the brink of it, he saw the two ducks whose lives he had saved, swimming about; and they dived down and brought up the key from the bottom.

The third task was the most difficult. It was to choose out the youngest and the most delightful of the king's three daughters, when they were asleep. Now they were all beautiful, and all quite alike, and were only to be distinguished by their breath, for the eldest had eaten a piece of sugar, the next some sweet syrup, and the youngest a spoonful of honey; and he was to find out by their breath which it was that had eaten the honey.

:

Then came the queen of the bees, who had been saved by Simpleton from the fire, and she tried the lips of all three; but at last she sat upon the lips of the one that had eaten the honey and so the king's son knew which was the youngest. Then all the enchantments were at an end, and all who had been turned into stone awoke, and took their proper shapes. And Simpleton married the youngest and the best of the princesses, and at last became king, while his two brothers married the other sisters.

XXVII.

THE CROWS AND THE SOLDIER.

THERE was once a worthy soldier, who had saved some money out of his pay; for he was industrious, and did not spend all his earnings in alehouses, as many others do. Now, two of his comrades were great cheats, and wanted to rob him of his money, but kept up, outwardly, a great show of friendliness towards him. "Comrade," said they to him one day, why should we stay here shut up in this town like prisoners, for we are not like you, who have earned enough to live upon in peace and plenty at home?" They attacked him so often with such discourses, that he at last consented to travel with them; but all they wanted was only an opportunity to steal his money from him.

When they had gone a little way, his two companions said, "We must go by the right-hand road, for that will take us quickest over the frontiers." The soldier said, "No, that will

lead us straight back into the town we have just left; we must keep on the left hand." And then they picked a quarrel with him, and said, "What business have you to speak so impertinently? you know nothing about it:" and then they fell upon him and knocked him down, and put out his eyes. Next they took all the money out of his pockets, and dragged him to a gallows that stood hard by, bound him fast to it, and went back into the town with the money; but the poor blind man did not know that he was tied to such a bad place; and felt all around him, and finding that he was bound to a beam of wood, he thought it was a cross, and said, "It is well, at any rate, that they have fastened me to a cross; Heaven will protect me now;" so he straight began to pray.

When night came on, he heard something fluttering over his head. It was three crows, who flew round and round, and at last settled upon the tree. By and by he heard one of them say, "Sister, what good news have you to-day?"—"Oh, if men knew what we know!" said the other; "the king's daughter is ill, and the king has vowed to bestow her in marriage on any one who will cure her; but this none can do, for she will not be well until the toad in yonder pond is burnt to ashes and swallowed by her."—"Oh, indeed," said the other crow, "if men did but know what we know! to-night a dew of such wondrous healing power will fall from heaven, that even the blind man who washes his eyes with it will receive his sight again ;" and the third spoke, and said, “Oh, if men knew what we know! the toad is wanted but for one, and the dew but for few, but there is a great scarcity of water in the town; all the wells are dried up; and no one knows that the large square stone must be removed out of the market-place, and that if they dig underneath it, the finest water will then spring up.'

When the three crows had done talking, he heard the fluttering of their wings again, and away they flew. He then tried with all his strength to break loose from his bonds; and succeeded, and stooped down and plucked some of the grass that grew beneath him, and washed his eyes with the dew that had fallen upon it. At once his eye-sight_came to him again, and he saw, by the light of the moon and the stars, that he was beneath the gallows-tree. Then he gathered together, in a bottle, as much of the precious dew as he could, to take away with him, and next went to the pond for the toad; and when he had burned it, he gathered up the ashes, and set out on his way towards the king's court.