But the wife was not satisfied with this answer, and she pressed him again and again to tell her why he had laughed.

But he excused himself, and said,

"Let me alone, wife! What is the matter with you? I do not know myself why I laughed."

But the more he denied her the more she insisted upon his telling her what he had been laughing at. At last the husband said to her,

"Know then, that if I tell you the reason, I shall instantly die."

The woman, however, did not care for that, but urged him to tell her notwithstanding.

Meanwhile they had reached home. The husband ordered a coffin to be made immediately, and when it was ready he had it placed before the house, and said to his wife,

"See now, I now lay me down in this coffin, and then tell you why I laughed; but as soon as I have told you I shall die."

The husband lay down in the coffin, and looked around him for the last time. And there came the old dog from the farmyard, and sat down at his head and whined. The husband seeing this, said to his wife,

"Bring a piece of bread and give it to this dog."

The wife brought out a piece of bread, and threw it

down to the dog; but the dog would not even look at it. Then the house-cock ran up, and began to pick at the bread; and the dog said to it,

"You miserable greedy thing, you! You can eat, and yet you see that the master is going to die!"

The cock answered the dog, "And let him die since he is such a fool! I have a hundred wives, and I call them all together whenever I find a grain of corn, and as soon as they have come round me, I swallow it myself. And if any one of them got angry, I should be at her directly with my beak. The master has only one wife, and he cannot even manage her."

When the husband heard this he quickly sprang out of the coffin, took up a stick, and called his wife into the

room.

"Come, wife," he said, "I will tell you what you so much want to hear."

Then as he beat her with the stick he cried, "This is it, wife! This is it!"

In this way he quieted his wife, and she never asked him again what he had been laughing at.

THE EVIL EYE.

(FROM THE POLISH.)

I.

THERE once lived a rich gentleman in a mansion on the banks of the river Vistula. All the windows of this house were in the front overlooking the beautiful river. The long avenue, formed of poplar trees, leading to the porch, was overgrown with grass and weeds-a sign that few of his neighbours visited the resident, and that the old Polish hospitality was little practised there. The owner of this house had lived in it for seven years. He had come from a distant part of the country, and was little known to his peasants, who avoided him with fear and trembling because of the terrible stories told of his evil eye.

He was born of rich parents on the banks of the river San. At the moment of his birth an unlucky star shone upon him, and he became possessed of an evil eye, a glance from which would cause disease and death to man and

beast. If, in an unguarded moment, he looked upon the cattle, they died; whatever he regarded and praised, perished. To complete his misfortunes, his father and mother died broken-hearted. The "Evil Eye," as he came to be called in his native place, where his pernicious glances had caused such destruction, sold all his property and removed to the banks of the Vistula. He there took up his abode in a solitary house, dismissed all the domestics, save only one-an old man-servant, who had nursed him in his infancy, and whom alone the evil eye had no power to harm.

The Evil Eye seldom left home, seeing that desolation and even death followed his looks. Whenever he drove out, his old servant sat by his side, to warn him that they were approaching a village, a town, or human being, The unhappy man would then either close his eyes, or cast them down and look on a bundle of pea-straw, which was always lying at his feet.*

Knowing the baneful power of his eyes, which in spite of himself brought misery and desolation around him, the unfortunte man had his house so arranged that all the

* It is the common belief that one possessed of an evil eye, by looking on a bundle of pea-straw hurts nobody,-the pea-straw is only more thoroughly dried up. The eyes of the basilisk are said to have the same influence on rue: when this reptile looks on rue it loses its freshness and colour.

windows looked over the river Vistula.

He trusted that

by this arrangement he should neither hurt his neighbours nor injure his own property. Twice, in an evil hour, he had looked upon his farm houses, and twice they were burnt. But no precaution would fully suffice to this end. Many vessels were wrecked opposite the White House, as it was commonly called; and the boatmen on the river loaded him with imprecations as they pointed with terror to the large windows from which the Evil Eye brought upon them pain and disaster.

One 'boatman, more courageous than the rest, rowed to the house and demanded to see its master. The old servant, although fearful of the consequences, took him to the room where his master was dining. Annoyed at being disturbed by a stranger, he looked at the intruder with a scowl, who fell immediately into such a state of alarm that he could not speak a word, but fainted at the door.

The old servant, at the desire of his master, carried the man to his boat, gave him some money, and rowed him to the other side of the river. The poor fellow was ill for a long time, and when he recovered a little he gave a terrible account of the White House and of its master the Evil Eye. This greatly increased the terror of his companions; and whenever any of them passed in their boats or barges near the fatal spot, they would turn their