killed the unfortunate Swallow. When the Spendthrift saw
its dead body he cried, "Miserable bird! Thanks to you I am perishing
of cold myself."

One swallow does not make summer.

THE OLD WOMAN AND THE DOCTOR

An Old Woman became almost totally blind from a disease of the eyes,
and, after consulting a Doctor, made an agreement with him in the
presence of witnesses that she should pay him a high fee if he
cured her, while if he failed he was to receive nothing. The Doctor
accordingly prescribed a course of treatment, and every time he paid
her a visit he took away with him some article out of the house, until
at last, when he visited her for the last time, and the cure was
complete, there was nothing left. When the Old Woman saw that the
house was empty she refused to pay him his fee; and, after repeated
refusals on her part, he sued her before the magistrates for payment
of her debt. On being brought into court she was ready with her
defence. "The claimant," said she, "has stated the facts about our
agreement correctly. I undertook to pay him a fee if he cured me, and
he, on his part, promised to charge nothing if he failed. Now, he says
I am cured; but I say that I am blinder than ever, and I can prove
what I say. When my eyes were bad I could at any rate see well enough
to be aware that my house contained a certain amount of furniture and
other things; but now, when according to him I am cured, I am entirely
unable to see anything there at all."

THE MOON AND HER MOTHER

The Moon once begged her Mother to make her a gown. "How can I?"
replied she; "there's no fitting your figure. At one time you're a New
Moon, and at another you're a Full Moon; and between whiles you're
neither one nor the other."

MERCURY AND THE WOODMAN

A Woodman was felling a tree on the bank of a river, when his axe,
glancing off the trunk, flew out of his hands and fell into the water.
As he stood by the water's edge lamenting his loss, Mercury appeared
and asked him the reason for his grief; and on learning what had
happened, out of pity for his distress he dived into the river and,
bringing up a golden axe, asked him if that was the one he had lost.
The Woodman replied that it was not, and Mercury then dived a second
time, and, bringing up a silver axe, asked if that was his. "No, that
is not mine either," said the Woodman. Once more Mercury dived into
the river, and brought up the missing axe. The Woodman