he magpie heard this, it tore out all its feathers, leaving
nothing but the tail.

The old woman set off with her bald head to the well, to get a jug of
water to wash the dead body of her child.

By the well stood a girl with a pitcher, who had come to draw water;
when she saw the old woman she asked:

"My, old woman, why have you torn the hair out of your head till you
are perfectly bald?"

"Alas, my darling, how can I help tearing my hair and making myself
bald, when my little mouse is dead?"

The girl, in her grief, smashed her pitcher in two, then she hurried
to the empress to tell her the story; the royal lady, as soon as she
heard it, fell down from the balcony, broke her ankle, and died, while
the emperor, out of love for his wife, went away and became a monk in
the monastery of Lies, beyond the Country of Truth; while I

Acquaintance made with grandsires old,
To whom this simple tale I told,
It seemed to them such perfect chaff
That its bare memory raised a laugh.

The Pea Emperor.

Once upon a time something wonderful happened. If it hadn't happened,
it wouldn't be told.

There was once a good for nothing fellow, who was so poor and needy
that he had not even enough to eat to be able to drink water after it.
When he had wandered through all the countries in the world, he
returned home somewhat more sensible. He had passed through many
perils abroad, knocked his head against the top of the door, been
sifted through the coarse and the fine sieve. He would now gladly have
pursued some trade, but he had no money. One day he found three peas.
After picking them up from the ground he took them on the palm of his
hand, looked at them, pondered a long time, and then said laughing:
"If I plant these seeds in the ground, I shall have a hundred in a
year; if I afterward plant the hundred, I shall have thousands, and if
I put these thousands in the earth I shall reap who knows how many!
Then, if I go on in this way, I shall finally become a rich man. But
if I could help wealth to come quicker--let me see!"

He went to the emperor and begged him to order through the whole
empire barrels in which to keep his peas.

When the emperor heard that he needed such a quantity of barrels, he
thought he must be stifling in money, and was more and more convinced
of it when he entered into conversation with him. What is true must
remain true; he didn't keep his mouth shut, but opened it and bragged