wild boar was not perfectly hidden in the leaves,
and the tips of his ears peeped out. And when the cat caught sight of
one, she thought it was a mouse, and sprang upon it, seizing it with her
teeth. Out leaped the wild boar with a dreadful cry, and ran away
shouting,

"There is the culprit in the tree!"

And the dog and the cat looking up caught sight of the wolf, who came
down, quite ashamed of his timidity, and made peace with the dog once
more.

THE SIX SWANS

ONCE on a time a king was hunting in a great wood, and he pursued a wild
animal so eagerly that none of his people could follow him. When evening
came he stood still, and looking round him he found that he had lost his
way; and seeking a path, he found none. Then all at once he saw an old
woman with a nodding head coming up to him; and it was a witch.

"My good woman," said he, "can you show me the way out of the wood?"

"Oh yes, my lord king," answered she, "certainly I can; but I must make
a condition, and if you do not fulfil it, you will never get out of the
wood again, but die there of hunger."

"What is the condition?" asked the king.

"I have a daughter," said the old woman, "who is as fair as any in the
world, and if you will take her for your bride, and make her queen, I
will show you the way out of the wood."

The king consented, because of the difficulty he was in, and the old
woman led him into her little house, and there her daughter was sitting
by the fire.

[Illustration: THE SIX SWANS

"THE SWANS CAME CLOSE UP TO
HER WITH RUSHING WINGS; &
STOOPED ROUND HER; SO THAT
SHE COULD THROW THE SHIRTS
OVER THEM."]

She received the king just as if she had been expecting him, and though
he saw that she was very beautiful, she did not please him, and he could
not look at her without an inward shudder. Nevertheless, he took the
maiden before him on his horse, and the old woman showed him the way,
and soon he was in his royal castle again, where the wedding was
held.

The king had been married before, and his first wife had left seven
children, six boys and one girl, whom he loved better than all the
world, and as he was afraid the step-mother might not behave well to
them, and perhaps would do them some mischief, he took them to a lonely
castle standing in the middle of a wood. There they remained hidden, for
the road to it was so hard to find that the king himself could not have
found it, had it not been for