"Take this cup to your daughter, and let her empty the sea with it, so that it shall become like a dry field."

The poor man obeyed with tears in his eyes, and took the cup to his daughter with the king's message. But the maiden told him he need only leave the matter till the morning, when she would see to it.

In the morning she called her father, and gave him a pound of tow to take to the king, and bade him say :

"Let the king stop up all the springs and rivermouths of the earth with this tow, and then will I dry up the sea for him."

And the poor man went and told this to the king.

Now the king saw that this maiden was wiser than he was himself, and he ordered her to be brought before him. And when the father and daughter stood in his presence and bowed before him, he said to the daughter,

"Tell me, girl, what is it that man hears the farthest?"

And the maiden answered,

"Great king! that which man hears the farthest is the thunder, and a lie."

Upon this the king took hold of his beard, and turning to his councillors, demanded of them:

"Tell me what my beard is worth?"

And when one valued it at so much, and another at so

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much more, the maiden told them outright that they could not guess it. "The king's beard," she said, is of as much worth as three rainy days in summer-time." The king was astonished, and exclaimed, "The maiden has made the best answer!

Then he asked her if she would be his wife, nor would he desist from pressing his suit, until she agreed to it. The maiden bent before him and said,

"Glorious king! let it be as you will; but I beg of you to write on a piece of paper with your own hand, that, should you ever be angry with me, and should drive me forth from your palace, I shall be at liberty to take whatever I love dearest away with me."

And the king agreed and wrote out the paper.

After some time had passed away, it came, in fact, to pass, that the king became one day so angry with his wife, that he said to her,

"I will have you no longer for my wife; leave my palace, and go where you will."

"Illustrious king!" answered the queen, "I will obey you. Permit me, however, to stay here over the night, then in the morning I will go forth."

The king granted her prayer; and the queen before supper mixed some brandy and some sweet herbs in the king's wine, and pressed him to partake of it, saying,—

"Drink, oh king, and be merry. To-morrow we part;

and believe me, I shall then be happier than when I married you."

The king drank too much, and when he was fast asleep, the queen had him laid in a wagon ready prepared, and drove with him into a rocky cavern. And when the king awoke in the cavern, and saw where he was, he cried out,

"Who has brought me here?"

"I have brought you here," answered the queen. The king demanded of her :

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Why have you done this? Have I not told you that you are no longer my wife?"

Then said she, as she drew forth a sheet of paper,

"It is true what you say; but see what you yourself have laid down on this sheet: that when I should leave you, I might take with me, from your palace, that which I loved best."

When the king heard this, he kissed her, and went back with her to the palace.

MADEY.

(FROM THE POLISH.)

A MERCHANT was once travelling through a dark, dense forest. At night he lost his way; he wandered about for a long time, and at last, unable to see in the darkness above and around, he fell into a bog and there helplessly remained. He began already to despair of his life, when suddenly an evil spirit, in human shape, appeared to him.

"Fear not," said the evil spirit to the merchant, “I will help you out of this bog and show you the right way, on condition that you give me something that is in your home which you know not and which you have not seen."

The merchant reflected a little; at last he accepted the proposal, not knowing that during his absence a beautiful boy had been born to him in his house. The evil spirit took the merchant out of the bog and showed him the way home. home. He made him sign a bond of the

gift, once more reminded him of the agreement, and disappeared.

The merchant, on his return home, joyfully greeted his wife, from whom he had been separated so long; but the sight of his lovely boy, whom he had already promised to the evil spirit, made his heart bleed within him. The unhappy merchant often wept in secret, hiding his bitter tears even from his wife.

Meanwhile the child grew up. He was quiet, obedient, and willing to learn; when five years old he could read and write. His poor father was almost broken-hearted at the thought of parting with such a son,. whom he, alas! had unknowingly given over to destruction.

When the boy was seven years old he observed that his father, whenever he looked upon his rosy face, would sigh and shed tears. The little boy begged his father so often to tell him the reason of this emotion, that at last the merchant related all the story of the bond.

"Fear not, dear father," said the little boy. "Heaven will help us. I will go to the evil spirit and bring back

the bond."

His father and mother wept bitterly at parting. They prayed for and blessed their little son, who, although so young and tender, was starting on such a long and dangerous journey. The boy, having made all necessary preparations, set out from home.