Part 24 (2/2)

”And mine, too,” piped the little Tailor who killed seven flies at a blow

”And whose turn is it now to tell a story?” said Doctor Faustus

”Tis his,” said the Lad who fiddled for the Jew, and he pointed to Hans who traded and traded until he had traded his lurinned sheepishly ”Well,” said he, ”I never did have luck at anything, and why, then, d'ye think I should have luck at telling a story?”

”Nay, never mind that,” said Aladdin, ”tell thy story, friend, as best thou mayst”

”Very well,” said Hans, ”if ye will have it, I will tell it to you; but, after all, it is not better than ets no ains”

”And what is your story about, my friend?” said Cinderella

”Tis,” said Hans, ”about how--”

Much shall have more and little shall have less

Once upon a ti who did the best he could to rule wisely and well, and to deal justly by those under him whom he had to take care of; and as he could not trust hearsay, he used every now and then to slip away out of his palace and go a his people to hear what they had to say for themselves about him and the way he ruled the land

Well, one such day as this, when he was taking a walk, he strolled out past the walls of the town and into the green fields until he ca house that stood by the banks of a river, wherein lived a man and his ere very well to do in the world There the king stopped for a bite of bread and a drink of fresh milk

”I would like to ask you a question,” said the king to the rich man; ”and the question is this: Why are some folk rich and soood man; ”only I remember my father used to say that much shall have more and little shall have less”

”Very well,” said the king; ”the saying has a good sound, but let us find whether or not it is really true See; here is a purse with three hundred pieces of golden ive it to the poorest ain, and then you shall tell me whether it has made you or hiars ere as poor as poverty itself, and the poorer of the tas one who used to sit in rags and tatters on the church step to beg charity of the good folk who came and went To hi, quoth he: ”Here is soold into the beggar's hat Then away he ithout waiting for a word of thanks

As for the beggar, he just sat there for a while goggling and staring like one moon-struck But at last his wits came back to his could carry him Then he spread his money out on the table and counted it--three hundred pieces of gold reat riches in his life before

There he sat feasting his eyes upon the treasure as though they would never get their fill And noas he to do with all of it? Should he share his fortune with his brother? Not a bit of it To be sure, until now they had always shared and shared alike, but here was the first great luood-luck that had ever fallen in his way, and he was not for spoiling it by cutting it in two to give half to a poor beggar-man such as his brother Not he; he would hide it and keep it all for his very own

Now, not far from where he lived, and beside the river, stood a -tree, and thither the lucky beggar took his purse of money and stuffed it into a knot-hole of a withered branch, then went his way, certain that nobody would think of looking for -place Then all the rest of the day he sat thinking and thinking of the ways he would spend what had been given hiood out of it At last ca in another part of the town, caain

”I nearly lost ar so soon as he had coar ”Hoas that?”

”Oh! The wind blew it off into the water, but I got it again”

”How did you get it?” said the first beggar

”I just broke a dead branch off of the -tree and drew ar

”A dead branch!!”