"Is this all true?" asked the king of his daughter. “Ah, yes,” she replied, "I suppose it is true; but I shall refuse to allow the marriage to take place for one year and a day. For," thought she, "in that time I may hear something of my dear hunter.'

All this while on the dragon's mountain the animals lay sleeping near their dead master. At last a large bumblebee settled on the hare's nose, but she only whisked it off with her paw, and slept again. The bee came a second time, but the hare again shook him off, and slept as soundly as before. Then came the bumblebee a third time, and stung the hare in the nose; whereupon she woke. As soon as she was quite aroused she woke the fox; the fox, the wolf; the wolf, the bear; and the bear, the lion.

But when the lion roused himself, and saw that the maiden was gone and his master dead, he gave a terrible roar, and cried, "Whose doing is this? Bear, why did you not wake me?"

Then said the bear to the wolf, "Wolf, why did you not wake me?"

"Fox," cried the wolf, "why did you not wake me?"

"Hare," said the fox, "why did you not wake me?"

The poor hare had no one to ask why he did not wake her, and she knew she must bear all the blame. Indeed, they were all ready to tear her to pieces, but she cried, "Don't destroy my life! I will restore our master. I know a mountain on which grows a root that will cure every wound and every disease if it is placed in the person's mouth; but the mountain on which it grows lies two hundred miles from here."

"Then," said the lion, "we will give you twentyfour hours, but not longer, to find this root and bring it to us."

Away sprang the hare very fast, and in twentyfour hours she returned with the root. As soon as they saw her the lion quickly placed the head of the hunter on the neck; and the hare, when she had joined the wounded parts together, put the root into the mouth, and in a few moments the heart began to beat, and life came back to the hunter.

On awaking, he was terribly alarmed to find that the maiden had disappeared. "She must have gone away while I slept," he said, "and is lost to me forever!"

These sad thoughts so occupied him that he did not notice anything wrong about his head, but in truth the lion had placed it on in such a hurry that the face was turned the wrong way. He first noticed it when they brought him something to eat, and then he found that his face looked backward. He was so astonished that he could not imagine what had happened, and asked his animals the cause. Then the lion confessed that they had all slept in consequence of being tired, and that when they at last awoke they found the princess gone, and himself lying dead, with his head cut off. The lion told him also that the hare had fetched the healing root, but in their haste they had placed the head on the wrong way. This mistake, they said, could be easily rectified. So they took the hunter's head off again, turned it around, placed it on properly, and the hare stuck the parts together with the wonderful root. After this the hunter went away again to travel about the world, feeling very sorrowful, and he left his ani

mals to be taken care of by the people of the town. It so happened that at the end of a year he came back again to the same town where he had freed the king's daughter and killed the dragon. This time, instead of black crape, the houses were hung with scarlet cloth. "What does it mean?" he said to the landlord. "Last year when I came your houses were all hung with black crape, and now it is scarlet cloth."

"O," replied the landlord, "last year we were expecting our king's daughter to be given up to the dragon, but the marshal fought with him and killed him, and to-morrow his marriage with the king's daughter will take place; that is the cause of our town being so gay and bright-it is joy now instead of sorrow."

The next day, when the marriage was to be celebrated, the hunter said, "Landlord, do you believe that I shall eat bread from the king's table here with any one who will join me?"

"I will lay a hundred gold pieces," replied the landlord, "that you will do nothing of the kind."

The hunter took the bet, and taking out his purse placed the gold pieces aside for payment if he should lose.

Then he called the hare and said to her, "Go quickly to the castle, dear Springer, and bring me some of the bread which the king eats."

Now, the hare was such an insignificant little thing that no one ever thought of ordering a conveyance for her, so she was obliged to go on foot. "O," thought she, "when I am running through the streets, suppose the cruel hound should see me." Just as she got near the castle she looked behind

her, and there truly was a hound ready to seize her. But she gave a start forward, and before the sentinel was aware, rushed into the sentry box. The dog followed, and wanted to bring her out, but the soldier stood in the doorway and would not let him pass, and when the dog tried to get in he struck him with his staff, and sent him away howling.

As soon as the hare saw that the coast was clear she rushed out of the sentry box and ran to the castle, and finding the princess's door open, she darted in and hid under her chair. Presently the princess felt something scratching her foot, and thinking it was the dog, she said, "Be quiet, Sultan; go away!" The hare scratched again at her foot, but she still thought it was the dog, and cried, “Will you go away, Sultan?" But the hare did not intend to be sent away, so she scratched the foot a third time. Then the princess looked down and recognized the hare by her necklace. She took the creature in her arms, carried her to her own room, and said, "Dear little hare, what do you want?"

The hare replied instantly, "My master, who killed the dragon, is here, and he has sent me to ask for some of the bread that the king eats."

Then was the king's daughter full of joy; she sent for the cook, and ordered him to bring her some of the bread which was made for the king. When he brought it the hare cried, "The cook must go with me, or that cruel hound may do me some harm." So the cook carried the bread, and went with the hare to the door of the inn.

As soon as he was gone she stood on her hind legs, took the bread in her fore paws, and brought it to her master.

"There!" cried the hunter; "here is the bread, landlord, and the hundred gold pieces are mine."

The landlord was much surprised, but when the hunter declared he would also have some of the roast meat from the king's table, he said: "The bread may be here, but I'll warrant you will get nothing more."

The hunter called the fox, and said to him, “My fox, go and fetch me some of the roast meat such as the king eats."

The red fox knew a better trick than the hare: he went across the fields, and slipped in without being seen by the hound. Then he placed himself under the chair of the king's daughter, and touched her foot. She looked down immediately, and recognizing him by his necklace, took him into her room. "What do you want, dear fox?" she asked.

"My master, who killed the dragon, is here," he replied, "and has sent me to ask for some of the roast meat that is cooked for the king."

The cook was sent for again, and the princess desired him to carry some meat for the fox to the door of the inn. On arriving, the fox took the dish from the cook, and after whisking away with his tail the flies that had settled on it, brought it to his master.

"See, landlord," cried the hunter, "here are bread and meat such as the king eats. And now I will have vegetables." So he called the wolf, and said, "Dear wolf, go and fetch me vegetables such as the king eats."

Away went the wolf straight to the castle, for he had no fear of anything, and as soon as he entered the room he went behind the princess and pulled her dress, so that she was obliged to look around. She