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there was a sight to see! Rats and mice ran about in all directions, and the servants stood armed with sticks to prevent their jumping on to the table. Then said the merchant to the master of the house,

"For heaven's sake, brother, what does this mean?" And the other answered him,

"It is always this way with us, brother; we can neither eat our meals, at mid-day nor in the evening, for these creatures; even when we go to sleep each of us has a box that he shuts himself up in, lest the mice should nibble his ears off."

The master of the ship then remembered the cat he had bought for a penny, and said to his host,

"I have an animal on board my ship which, in the course of two or three days, would settle all these creatures."

"Brother," replied the master of the house, "if you really have such an animal, give it to me; I will fill your ship with gold and silver if what you tell me is

true."

After supper the merchant went on board his ship, brought the cat, and said to his host that they might now all go to sleep without getting into their boxes. But the people would not trust themselves to do this, and he alone slept without a box. Then he let the cat loose, and as she saw the rats and mice she began to

catch them and kill them, and to throw them all together in a heap. The rats and mice, however, as soon as they saw what she was, fled for shelter wherever they could. When the day broke, and the people of the house got up, there was a great heap of dead rats and mice to be seen in the middle of the room; and only now and then would there run one or the other of them across the room; but they peeped timidly out of their holes. And after three days there was not one to be seen. Then the master of the house filled our traveller's ship with gold and silver in return for the cat, and the merchant set sail in his ship for home.

When at last he reached his own house, his old servant came to him to ask what he had brought him for his penny. The master drew out a piece of marble, which was beautifully cut square, and answered, "See, this is what I have bought with your penny."

The servant, rejoiced at the sight, took the stone, carried it into his hut, and made a table of it. The next day he went out to fetch wood, and when he came back, lo! the stone was changed into gold, and shone like the sun. The whole hut was filled with its light. The honest servant was frightened at this, he ran to the master, and cried,

"Master, what is this you have given me? it cannot be mine; come and look at it."

The master went to the hut, and when he saw what a miracle heaven had worked, he exclaimed,

"My son, I see now that it must be so! Him whom God helps do all the saints help also. Come with me

and take your own."

And herewith he gave him all that he had brought home with him in his ship, and his own daughter for a wife as well.

STORY OF LITTLE SIMPLETON.

(FROM THE RUSSIAN.)

ONCE there lived a peasant and his wife who had three daughters. The two elder girls were cunning and selfish; the youngest was simple and open-hearted, and on that account came to be called, first by her sisters and afterwards by her father and mother, "Little Simpleton." Little Simpleton was pushed about, had to fetch everything that was wanted, and was always kept at work; but she was ever ready to do what she was told, and never uttered a word of complaint. She would water the garden, prepare pine splinters, milk the cows, and feed the ducks; she had to wait upon everybody,—in a word, she was the drudge of the family.

One day, as the peasant was going with the hay to market, he asked his daughters what they would like him to buy for them.

"Buy me

some kumach* for a sarafan,t father," answered the eldest daughter.

"And me some nankeen," said the second. The youngest daughter alone did not ask for a present. The peasant was moved with compassion for the girl; although a simpleton she was still his daughter. Turning to her he asked, “Well, Little Simpleton, what shall I buy for you?"

Little Simpleton smiled and replied,

"Buy me, dearest father, a little silver plate and a little apple."

"What do you want them for ?" asked her sisters.

"I will make the little apple roll round the plate, and will say some words to it which an old woman taught me because I gave her a cake."

The peasant promised to buy his daughters what they asked of him, and then started for market. He sold his hay, and bought the presents: some nankeen for one of his daughters, for another some kumach, and for Little Simpleton a little silver plate and a little apple. Then he returned home and gave these things to his daughters. The girls were delighted; the two elder ones made themselves sarafans, and laughed at Little Simpleton,

Red wool stuff from Bucharest.

A long dress worn by the Russian peasant women.

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