tained that the cricket was endowed with the faculty of prophecy, and that one could tell by his voice whether the winter would be mild or severe.

"Ay, I say nothing," observed the old king; "but I go my own ways, and have my own thoughts like other people."

And now the leap was to be taken. The flea jumped so high that nobody could see so far, and therefore they maintained that he had not leaped at all, which was quite contemptible on their parts.

The grasshopper only leaped half as high, but jumped right into the king's face, which his majesty said was not pretty behaviour.

The cricket stood still a long while, and was lost in thought, and people began to think at last that he could not jump at all.

"It is to be hoped he is not ill," said the watch dog, smelling him once more; when away he sprang, with a little sideways jerk, into the lap of the princess, who was sitting modestly on a golden stool.

Then the king said, "The highest leap is the one that aimed at my daughter, for that implies a delicate compliment. It wanted some head to hit upon such an idea: and the cricket has shown that he has a head."

So he obtained the princess.

The flea for all that maintained that he had jumped the highest, so he went into foreign lands, and it is said got killed, while the grasshopper sat outside in a ditch musing over his misfortune and singing his melancholy song.ANDERSEN'S TALES.

THE WRESTLER AND HIS PUPIL.

A certain one had arrived at perfection in the art of wrestling; for he used to know three hundred and sixty

excellent sleights in his art, and daily wrestled after a new fashion. But his innermost heart was inclined towards the beauty of one of his pupils. He taught him three hundred and fifty-nine manœuvres, (all in fact) except one artifice, the teaching of which he put off with excuses, and deferred. In brief, the youth reached the farthest limit of strength and skill, and no one was able to contend with him; so much so, that he one day said, in the presence of the king of the time, "The superiority which my master enjoys over me is (allowed him) in consideration of his age and the claims of training; otherwise, I am not inferior to him in strength, and in skill I am equal to him." These words sounded harsh and displeasing to the king; he commanded that they should wrestle. They got ready a spacious arena, and the lords and distinguished nobles of the court, together with all the athletes of the world, were in attendance. The youth advanced like a mad elephant, with a shock that, had there been a mountain of iron it would have torn it up from its base. The master knew that the young man was superior to him in strength, and equal in skill; he closed with him with that strange artifice which he had kept concealed from him. The youth knew not how to meet it. The master lifted him with both hands from the ground, and raised him above his head, and flung him to the ground. A shout arose from the multitude. The monarch commanded them to bestow a robe of honor and a reward of money on the tutor, and himself scolded and rebuked the youth, saying, “Thou presumedst to encounter thine own tutor, and failed to make good thy pretension." The youth said, "My lord! my master did not triumph over me by strength; but a nice point in wrestling which he had withheld from me was wanting to me; to-day he got the better of me by that

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nice point." The master said, "I reserved it for such a day as this; for the sages say, Give not a friend so much power that, if he should prove hostile, he may be able to do so.' Hast thou not heard what he said who suffered wrong from a pupil of his own?"

'I taught him archery every-day,

And when his arm waxed strong, he shot me.'-GULISTAN.

THE RESULT OF AVARICE.

In the city of Balkh there once lived four wealthy persons, mutual friends. It so happened, however, that all four became poor, and in their distress they applied to a certain sage for his advice. To him each of them told his own story. The sage compassionated them, and giving to each of them a talisman, said, "Each of you put your respective charm upon your head and go your way. On whatever spot it falls, let him dig there, and whatever casts up will belong to him." Accordingly all four, having thereupon placed each his talisman on his head, took their departure, all in the same direction.

When they had gone several miles, the talisman of one fell from his head. He then dug on the spot and found copper. "I consider this copper!" said he to the other three," as better than gold; if you like, you can all remain here with me." They did not accept his invitation, but went on. They had not gone far, when the talisman fell from the head of a second, who, on digging in the ground, found silver. Then he likewise said to the other two, “you remain with me. The silver is abundant, we might all make a livelihood out of it; each of you consider it as his own as much as mine." However they did not take his advice, but went on till the talisman of the third fell from

his head, and when he, too, dug up the ground, lo! gold was found. Delighted with his luck, he said to the fourth, Well, now, there can be nothing better than this. I should like much for us both to remain here." But he replied, “No, I will go on, and probably I shall find a mine of jewels; why should I stay here?" So saying, he proceeded forwards; when he had got about ten miles farther, his talisman also fell, and on his likewise digging in the ground, iron made its appearance. Seeing this result, he was exceedingly chagrined, and said to himself, "Why did I leave the gold, and not take my friends advice?" So abandoning the iron, he went in search of his companion, who had discovered the gold mine, but he neither found him nor his gold. Then he went after the man with the silver, but could not find him either; and from thence he went where he had left the copper discoverer, but him, also, he failed to find. Then bewailing his destiny, he said, "No man ever yet got beyond what he was predestined to obtain." At last he went to the sage's home, but even him he did not find there. The poor fellow, overwhelmed with remorse, reproached himself with his avarice, which had brought him to such straits.-TALES OF A PARROT.

INVASION OF ENGLAND BY THE DANES.

A Danish chieftain of high rank, some say of royal blood, named Lothbroc, amusing himself with his hawk near sea, upon the western coasts of Denmark, the bird, in pursuit of her game, fell into the water; Lothbroc, anxious for her safety, got into a little boat that was near at hand, and rowed from' the shore to take her up, but before he could return to the land, a sudden storm arose, and he was driven out to sea. After suffering great hardship,

during a voyage of infinite peril, he reached the coast of Norfolk, and landed at a port called Rodham; he was immediately seized by the inhabitants, and sent to the court of Edmund, King of the East Angles; when the monarch was made acquainted with the occasion of his coming, he received him very favourably, and soon became particularly attached to him, on account of his great skill in the training and flying of hawks. The partiality which Edmund manifested for this unfortunate stranger, excited the jealousy of Beoric, the king's falconer, who took an opportunity of murdering the Dane, whilst he was exercising his birds in the midst of a wood, and secreted the body, which was soon after discovered by the vigilance of a favourite spaniel. Beoric was apprehended and, it seems, convicted of murder; for he was condemned to be put into an open boat without oars, mast, or rudder, and in that condition abandoned to the mercy of the ocean. It so chanced, that the boat was wafted to the very point of land that Lothbroc came from, and Beoric, escaped from the danger of the waves, was apprehended by the Danes, and taken before two of the chieftains of the country, who were both of them sons of Lothbroc. The crafty falconer soon learned this circumstance, and, in order to acquire their favour, made them acquainted with the murder of their father, which he affirmed was executed at the command of King Edmund, and that he himself had suffered the hardship at sea, from which he had been delivered by reaching the shore, because he had the courage to oppose the king's order, and endeavoured to save the life of the Danish nobleman. Incited by this abominable falsehood to revenge the murder of their father, by force of arms, they invaded the kingdom of the East Angles, pillaged the country, and having taken the king prisoner, caused him