poor man, will
die to-day for revealing his secret knowledge to save her life."

"What is the secret knowledge?" asked one of the wives; and the
chanticleer flew at her and thrashed her mercilessly, saying at each
vigorous blow, "That is the secret, and if our master only treated the
mistress as I treat you, he would not need to give up his life
to-day."

And as if maddened at the thought, he beat them all in turn. The
master, seeing and appreciating the effect from the window, went to
his wife and treated her in precisely the same manner. And this
effected what neither doctors, sages, nor holy men could do--it cured
her.

THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS

There once lived a Hodja who, it was said, understood the language of
birds, but refused to impart his knowledge. One young man was very
persistent in his desire to know the language of these sweet
creatures, but the Hodja was inflexible.

In despair, the young man went to the woods at least to listen to the
pleasant chirping of the birds. By degrees it conveyed to him a
meaning, till, finally, he understood them to tell him that his horse
would die. On returning from the woods, he immediately sold his horse
and went and told the Hodja.

"Oh Hodja, why will you not teach me the language of birds? Yesterday
I went to the woods and they warned me that my horse would die, thus
affording me an opportunity of selling it and avoiding the loss."

The Hodja was silent, but would not give way.

The following day the young man again went to the woods, and the
chirping of the birds told him that his house would be burned. The
young man hurried away, sold his house, again went to the Hodja and
told him all that had happened, adding:

"See, Hodja Effendi, you would not teach me the language of the birds,
but I have saved my horse and my house by listening to them."

On the following day, the young man again went to the woods, and the
birds chirped him the doleful tale, that on the following day he would
die. In tears the young man went to the Hodja for advice.

"Oh Hodja Effendi! Alas! What am I to do? The birds have told me that
to-morrow I must die."

"My son," answered the Hodja, "I knew this would come, and that is
why I refused to teach you the language of birds. Had you borne the
loss of your horse, your house would have been saved, and had your
house been burned, your life would have been saved."

THE SWALLOW'S ADVICE

A man one day saw a swallow an