he is too dear to me, you must therefore let me retain him; I will give you a ton of gold for him." The Sultan then ordered an instrument to be brought, that the hermit might play upon it; and calling on the captive king of Spain, he said: "The king of Spain shall be your footstool." Then the king was obliged to lie down on the ground, and his wife placed her foot on his neck, but he did not recognise her; and the same took place every time the hermit played before the Sultan. The hermit continued to play and sing every day, and the Sultan became more and more attached to him; he also walked every day with the Sultan in his rose-garden. He once said to the Sultan: My revered Sultan, is it permitted to pluck a beautiful rose in your garden?"

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Yes, my dear hermit," answered the Sultan, “ask from me whatever thou wilt, and it shall be granted thee."

"Then," replied the hermit, "I will pray that I may conduct the king of Spain back to his own country."

To this the Sultan assented; but the hermit must first swear that he would return as soon as he had conducted the king of Spain home. The hermit now took the king back to his own land, and was about to return immediately; but the king said: “ My dear hermit, I cannot let thee go back to Turkey; thou must remain with me, I cannot part with thee." The king would on no account suffer him to depart, and so the hermit was obliged to remain.

When the chief minister appeared before his sovereign, the king asked him what had become of his queen.

The minister answered, that she had conducted herself unbecomingly, and had fled with her coachman.

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That I am surprised to hear," replied the king; "for the shirt my wife gave me at our marriage is quite white.”

The minister answered: "Of that I know nothing; I only know that she is fled, and no one knows whither."

At this the king was bitterly grieved. Now the minister's plan was that the king should marry his daughter, and the king himself seemed at times inclined to enter into it. At table the minister's daughter sat by the side of the king, who joked and toyed with her; but immediately after he. would relapse into sadness, and sigh mournfully at the remembrance of his lost wife. The hermit he had always

with him to sing while he sat at table with his minister. One day the king said to him: Come, my dear hermit, sing me a beautiful song, with thy fine clear voice, to comfort me." The hermit sang:*

"Ah, why must I so sad

From out this garden wander;

And what I've ever loved,

Renounce through cruel slander?"

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But "Certainly he did

Upon this the king said: "My dear hermit, thou surely hast known my wife." The hermit answered: the minister has told you she had fled." say so," replied the king; "but my shirt is still quite white." He then said to him, confidentially : "If thou knowest my wife, tell me."

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Yes, I know her well," answered the hermit; "but even if I were to tell you so, you would not believe me. I brought you out of Turkey, and you have been my footstool every day, and I have been so long with you and you have not known me, but have believed the words of the minister."

The king thereupon looked attentively at the hermit, and felt convinced that he was his wife. But now his anger was turned upon the wicked minister.

He caused a great banquet to be announced, and invited all his ministers and his governors, and when they were all assembled, asked them what ought to be the punishment of him who slandered the absent. Then the chief minister answered: He deserves to have his tongue

torn out."

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At this moment the queen entered the hall in her royal robes, and the king said: There stands one whom thou hast slandered!" He then ordered the executioner to be summoned, to fulfil the judgment the minister had passed upon himself *.

* This tale agrees in substance with the ballad of the "Graf von Rom" in Uhland, ii. 784; and with the Flemish story of "Ritter Alexander aus Metz und seiner Frau Florentina." See Grimm, "Deutsche Sagen," No. 531.

MILLET-THIEF.

THERE was once a very rich merchant who had a fine house and a large and beautiful garden, in which was a piece of land sown with millet. As the merchant was one day walking in his garden-it was in the spring of the year, and the seed had sprung up fast and strong-he saw to his great vexation that, during the night, a part of the millet had been shorn away by some bold thief; and just that part of the garden in which every year he was in the habit of sowing millet, was that in which he took the greatest delight. He determined to capture the thief, and then either punish him severely himself, or give him over to justice. For this purpose he called his three sons, Michael, George, and John, and said to them: "This night a thief has been in our garden, and cut a part of the millet, which vexes me exceedingly. The offender must be caught and punished. You, my sons, must now keep watch during the night, one after another, and whoever catches the thief shall receive from me a handsome reward."

The eldest son Michael kept watch the first night. He took with him a brace of loaded pistols and a sharp sabre, with plenty to eat and drink, wrapped himself up in a warm cloak, and seated himself under an elder, where he soon fell into a sound sleep. When he awoke in the bright morning, there was a still larger piece of the millet cut away than on the preceding night; and when the merchant came into the garden, and saw this, and found that his son, instead of keeping watch and catching the thief, had slept, he was yet more angry, reprimanded and jeered him as a model of a watchman, from whom his very sword and pistols might have been stolen.

The next night George watched. Besides the weapons his brother had had with him, he took a strong cord and a stout cudgel. But the good watchman, George, likewise fell asleep, and the next morning found that the millet had been shorn off much more than on the preceding nights. The father now became quite furious, and said: "If the third watchman sleeps, there will be an end of the millet, and we shall require no more watching."

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The third night it was John's watch. He, notwithstanding all their persuasions, would not take any weapons with him, but secretly armed himself against sleep. He collected thorns and thistles, which, when he went into the garden to the place where he was to keep watch, he made into a heap; so that whenever he began to nod, he pricked his nose with the thorns which woke him up again instantly. At midnight he heard a tramping which came nearer and nearer, and at length reached the millet; he then heard a most diligent munching. Oho!" thought he, "I have caught thee now, and, taking a cord from his pocket, pushed the thorns gently aside and crept a little nearer to the thief; when-who could have thought it?—the thief proved to be a most beautiful little colt! John was highly delighted, and had no trouble in catching it; the little animal followed him quietly to the stable, which John securely fastened. And now he went to bed quite contented. Early in the morning, when his brothers rose and were going down into the garden, what was their astonishment at seeing their brother in bed and fast asleep. They awoke and jeered him as being such an excellent watchman, who could not stay out even for one night to watch. But John answered: Only be quiet, and I will show you the millet-thief." And his brothers and father then followed him to the stable, where the wonderful colt stood, of which no one was able to say whence it came or to whom it belonged. It was most beautiful of aspect, of slender and elegant form, and of snowy whiteness.

The merchant was overjoyed, and gave his vigilant son the colt as a reward. John received it with delight and named it MILLET-THIEF.

Soon after this, the brothers heard that a princess was enchanted in a palace that stood on the top of a glass mountain, which no one, on account of its being so slippery, could ascend; but whoever should be so fortunate as to reach the summit and ride three times round the palace, would disenchant the princess and have her to wife. Numbers had already endeavoured to ride up the mountain, but were all precipitated to its foot and lay dead around. This wonderful story was re-echoed through the whole country, and among others the three brothers thought that they

should also like to try their luck in riding up the glass mountain, and, if possible, win the princess. Michael and George bought powerful young horses, and had their shoes well sharpened; but John saddled his little Millet-Thief, and they set out on their adventure. They soon reached the glass mountain. The eldest rode first, but alas! his horse slipped, fell down with him, and both horse and rider forgot to get up again. The second then attempted to ride up, but his horse also slipped, fell down with him, and both man and horse forgot to get up again. Now John rode up, and it went trap, trap, trap, trap, trap, and up they were, and again trap, trap, trap, trap, trap, and they had gone three times round the palace as if Millet-Thief had been the same road a hundred times before. Now they stood in front of the palace-gates, which opened spontaneously, and the lovely princess stepped forth clad in silk and gold, and extended her arms joyfully towards John, who instantly alighting from Millet-Thief, hastened towards her and embraced her with the greatest delight.

The princess then turning to the colt, caressed it fondly, and said: 66 Ah! thou little rogue, why didst thou run away from me, so that I could no longer enjoy the only indulgence granted me, that of riding by night below on the green earth, as thou didst not return to bear me up and down the glass mountain? But now thou must never leave me again.

Then John became aware that his Millet-Thief belonged to the lovely princess. His brothers recovered from their fall, but John never saw them again. He lived happily and far removed from all earthly cares with his beautiful consort in the enchanted palace on the glass mountain. But to this mountain no other child of man has since found the way; because the enchantment was dissolved, and the princess released from the spell, by the sagacity of her little horse, which had conducted to her her liberator and consort.

THE SEVEN RAVENS.

As many strange things come to pass in the world, so there was a poor woman who had seven sons at a birth, all of