lt something thrown in his face, and looking up, saw
an ill-bred squirrel that had flung a hollow nut at his forehead, and
now lay flat with his belly upon the bough, staring him full in the
face, and crying: 'The full one for me, the hollow for thee!' 'Ye
misbehaved rabble, let the strange gentleman alone,' cried a black and
white magpie that came wagging her tail up to him, through the grass.
She then seated herself on the student's shoulder, and said into his
ear: 'You must not judge of us all according to these uncourteous
beasts, learned sir, there are well bred folks among us. Only see,
through that aperture, yonder wise gentleman, the wild boar, how
quietly he stands and eats his acorns, and fosters his thoughts in
silence. Willingly I will give you my company and tell you all that I
know, for talking is my delight, especially with old people.'

"'There you are out in your reckoning,' said the student, 'I am still
young.'

"'Heavens, how men can deceive themselves,' cried the magpie, and she
looked very thoughtful.

"The student now thought he heard, from the depth of the wood, a sigh,
the sound of which penetrated his heart. He asked the cause of his
white and black companion, and she told him she would ask two lizards,
who were eating their breakfast. He accordingly went, with the magpie
on his shoulder, to the place where these creatures were to be found,
and beheld a very pretty sight. The two lizards, sure enough, were
genteel young ladies, for they sat under a great mushroom, which
stretched its golden yellow roof over them like a splendid marquee.
There they sat imbibing, with their little brown tongues, the dew from
the grass, and then wiping their mouths with one of the blades, they
went to take a walk together in a neighbouring grove of fern, which
seemingly belonged to the one who had invited her friend to the visit.
'Shack! shack!' cried the magpie, 'the gentleman wants to know who it
was that sighed.' The lizards raised their heads, waggled their tails
and cried,

'In the bower by the spring the Princess sleeps;
Safely the spider the lady keeps.'

"'Hem,' said the magpie, shaking her head, 'to think that one can be so
forgetful. To be sure in the adjoining beechen-bower slumbers the fair
Princess Doralice, about whom wicked King Spider has spun his web. Oh,
if you could save her, learned sir!' The student's heart was stirred,
and he asked the magpie where the bower was. The bir