place where he gently laid me on the
ground, and they all went away. I discovered that I was upon a large
broad hill, covered all over with the bones and teeth of elephants, and
was soon convinced that this was their burying-place. I reached the city
once more; my master thought I was lost, for he had seen the torn tree,
and found my bow and arrows. I told him what had happened, and led him
to the hill. We loaded the elephant on which we had come, and thus
collected more teeth than a man could have obtained in his whole life.
The merchant told me that not only he himself, but the whole city, was
indebted to me, and that I should return to my own country with
sufficient wealth to make me happy. My patron loaded a ship with ivory,
and the other merchants made me valuable presents. I reached Balsora
and landed my ivory, which I found to be more valuable than I had
expected. I set out with caravans to travel overland, and at last
reached Bagdad, where I presented myself to the Caliph, and gave an
account of my embassy. He was so astonished at my adventure with the
elephants that he ordered the narrative of it to be written in letters
of gold and to be deposited in his treasury.

[Illustration]

HANSEL AND GRETEL

[Illustration]

Once upon a time there dwelt near a large wood a poor wood-cutter, with
his wife and two children by his former marriage, a little boy called
Hansel and a girl named Gretel. He had little enough to eat; and once,
when there was a great famine in the land, he could not get even his
daily bread. As he lay thinking in his bed one evening, rolling about
for trouble, he sighed, and said to his wife, "What will become of us?
How can we feed our children, when we have no more than we can eat
ourselves?"

"Well, then, my husband," answered she, "we will lead them away, quite
early in the morning, into the thickest part of the wood, and there make
them a fire, and give them each a little piece of bread. Then we will go
to our work and leave them alone, so they will not find the way home
again, and we shall be freed from them."

"No, wife," replied he; "that I can never do. How can you bring your
heart to leave my children all alone in the wood; for the wild beasts
will soon come and tear them to pieces?"

"Oh, you simpleton!" said she. "Then we must all four die of hunger."

But she gave him no peace until he consented, saying, "Ah, but I shall
regret the poor children."

The two childre