at this.
Then the Queen asked him to show his tokens, and Jack fetched from his
pocket the beautiful garter, all shining with jewels, and held it up,
and the Queen came and threw her arms about Jack's neck and kissed
him, and said he was the brave man she'd marry, and no other. And me
brave Jack, to the astonishment of them all, confessed who he was, and
got married to her, and was ever afther the King of the Golden Mines.

_The Deserter_[4]

Once upon a time there was a deserter who was three times faithless to
his colours. Twice had he undergone the punishment due to desertion;
the third time he knew he was face to face with death. So he resolved
to flee by night and hide himself by day in some ditch or thicket, for
he was afraid that in the daylight he might be recognized and
arrested.

[Footnote 4: From "The Russian Grandmother's Wonder Tales." Copyright,
1906, by Charles Scribner's Sons.]

One night, as he was hastening onward, he saw a glimmer of light in
the distance, and thought to himself, "I will go toward that light;
perhaps it will somehow help me out of my trouble."

When, however, he came up to that light all he saw was an opening just
wide enough for him to creep into. The moment he was inside thick
darkness fell upon him. He could find his way neither in nor out; but
on groping around he at last came upon a staircase, up which he
climbed and found himself in a passage-way. Through this passage-way
he went for a long, long time, until at last he stumbled upon a door.
He opened the door and stepped into a room, but it was pitch dark
there too; so he groped all about until at last he stumbled upon
another door and entered another room.

So on he went through eleven rooms, and finally reached the twelfth,
where at last he found a lighted candle upon a table. The room was
beautifully fitted up, and he thought within himself, "Come what come
may, I shall make myself at home in this room."

So he stretched himself upon a couch. He lay there for a while lost in
thought, when, lo and behold! the table began to lay itself. When the
cloth was spread, all sorts of good cheer began to appear upon it.

"Come what come may," he thought to himself again, "I am hungry." So
he fell to and ate to his heart's content. When he had eaten all that
he could swallow he threw himself upon the couch again and began to
consider.

Suddenly three women entered, clothed entirely in black. One seated
herself at the