ther would rather have you
than the hens in his yard!

THE ALMOND TREE

A LONG time ago, perhaps as much as two thousand years, there was a rich
man, and he had a beautiful and pious wife, and they loved each other
very much, and they had no children, though they wished greatly for
some, and the wife prayed for one day and night. Now, in the courtyard
in front of their house stood an almond tree; and one day in winter the
wife was standing beneath it, and paring an apple, and as she pared it
she cut her finger, and the blood fell upon the snow.

"Ah," said the woman, sighing deeply, and looking down at the blood, "if
only I could have a child as red as blood, and as white as snow!"

[Illustration: THE ALMOND TREE

"KYWITT, KYWITT, KYWITT, I CRY,
OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BIRD AM I!"]

And as she said these words, her heart suddenly grew light, and she felt
sure she should have her wish. So she went back to the house, and when a
month had passed the snow was gone; in two months everything was green;
in three months the flowers sprang out of the earth; in four months the
trees were in full leaf, and the branches were thickly entwined; the
little birds began to sing, so that the woods echoed, and the blossoms
fell from the trees; when the fifth month had passed the wife stood
under the almond tree, and it smelt so sweet that her heart leaped
within her, and she fell on her knees for joy; and when the sixth month
had gone, the fruit was thick and fine, and she remained still; and the
seventh month she gathered the almonds, and ate them eagerly, and was
sick and sorrowful; and when the eighth month had passed she called
to her husband, and said, weeping,

"If I die, bury me under the almond tree."

Then she was comforted and happy until the ninth month had passed, and
then she bore a child as white as snow and as red as blood, and when she
saw it her joy was so great that she died.

Her husband buried her under the almond tree, and he wept sore; time
passed, and he became less sad; and after he had grieved a little more
he left off, and then he took another wife.

His second wife bore him a daughter, and his first wife's child was a
son, as red as blood and as white as snow. Whenever the wife looked at
her daughter she felt great love for her, but whenever she looked at the
little boy, evil thoughts came into her heart, of how she could get all
her husband's money for her daughter, and how the boy stood