would not grow to the trunk. Then they sprinkled it with the water of death, and the head grew immediately to the trunk. But the old king remained dead, for there was no water wherewith to bring him to life again!

But as the kingdom could not remain without a sovereign; and as there was no one so wise as Irik, who understood the language of the brutes and other living creatures, the people made him their king and the Princess Zlatovlaska their queen.

THE PLAGUE AND THE PEASANT.

FROM THE POLISH.)

A PEASANT sat down in the shade of a larch tree to rest. The sun was high and glowing. Suddenly he perceived something approaching him from a distance. As it came nearer he saw that it was a woman wrapped in a large cloak. Her legs were of a wonderful length.

The peasant was greatly frightened, and tried hard to run away, but the spectre seized him with her bony arms, and said,

"Do you know the Plague? It is I. Take me on your shoulders and carry me over the whole country. You must not miss a town, a village, or even a hamlet ; I must be carried everywhere. For yourself, be not afraid in the midst of death and misery you shall remain alive and well."

She put her long arms round his neck. The peasant started, but surprised at feeling no weight, he turned his

head, and then saw that the spectre was sitting on his shoulders.

He took her first to a town. There was music and dancing in the taverns, and joy in every place; mirth and pleasure held their sway. When the peasant entered into the market-place, the woman shook her pestilential garments. Soon the music and dancing ceased, joy disappeared, and terror reigned supreme. The terrified peasant saw coffins and dead bodies on every side. He heard the funeral bells everywhere. Soon the cemetery was filled and there was no more room to bury the dead. Even in the market-place many a corpse was left without a grave!

On went the miserable peasant. Whenever he passed through a village the houses were left empty. The inhabitants, pale and trembling, fled; men were dying on the roads, in the woods, and in the fields.

His native village stood on a high hill: there lived his wife, his little children, and his aged parents. At the sight of it his heart bled within him. Seizing the spectre with all his strength, lest she should escape, he hurried past his home.

Before him flowed the river Pruth, with its blue waters; on the other side arose green hills; and far beyond, dark mountains, capped with snow, lost their summits in the clouds. His resolution was quickly

taken. He rushed on and plunged headlong into the river, hoping by meeting death himself to drown the Plague also, and thus to save the country from further desolation.

The unhappy peasant perished in the waters, but the Plague, as a spirit, could not be drowned. Overcome, however, by this courageous act, she fled away in terror and hid herself among the mountains. Thus the peasant not only saved his village and all those who were dear to him, but also that part of his native land into which the Plague had not been carried.

HANDICRAFT ABOVE EVERYTHING.

(FROM THE SERVIAN.)

A KING, with his wife and daughter, once made a pleasure trip upon the sea. When they had sailed some distance from the shore, a storm arose which drove the ship upon a foreign land, where both the king and his kingdom were quite unknown, and of which land they themselves. had never before heard. Upon gaining the shore the king did not dare tell of his rank; and as he had no money, and was ignorant of any handicraft or other means by which he could support himself and his family, he was obliged to hire himself as a keeper of village cattle.

After living some years in this way, the son of the king of the country fell in love with the herdsman's daughter, who was now well grown and beautiful. The prince told his parents that he would never marry any

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