of their wedding day, known as
the Diamond Wedding, but no guests were invited to share their simple
feast.

As they sat side by side they went over in memory the years of their
long life, and as they did so they felt sure that it was to punish
them for their sins that God had denied them the sweet happiness of
having children about them, and as they thought their tears fell fast.
At that moment some one knocked.

"Who is there?" cried the old woman, and ran to open the door. There
stood a little old man leaning on a stick, and white as a dove.

"What do you want?" asked the old woman.

"Charity," answered he.

The good old woman was kind-hearted, and she cut her last loaf in two,
giving one half to the beggar, who said, "I see you have been weeping,
good wife, and I know the reason of your tears; but cheer up, by God's
grace you shall be comforted. Though poor and childless to-day,
to-morrow you shall have family and fortune."

When the old woman heard this she was overjoyed, and fetching her
husband they both went to the door to invite the old man in. But he
was gone, and though they searched for him in every direction they
found nothing but his stick lying on the ground. For it was not a poor
old beggar, but an angel of God who had knocked. Our good friends did
not know this, so they picked up the stick and hurried off to find the
old man, with the purpose of returning it. But it seemed as if the
stick, like its master, were endowed with some marvellous power, for
whenever the old man or the old woman tried to pick it up it slipped
out of their hands and rolled along the ground. Thus they followed it
into a forest, and at the foot of a shrub which stood close by a
stream it disappeared. They hunted all round the shrub thinking to
find the stick there, but instead of the stick they came upon a bird's
nest containing twelve eggs, and from the shape of the shells it
seemed as if the young ones were ready to come forth.

"Pick up the eggs," said the old man, "they will make us an omelette
for our wedding feast."

The old woman grumbled a little, but she took the nest and carried it
home in the skirt of her gown. Fancy their astonishment when at the
end of twelve hours there came out, not unfledged birdlings, but
twelve pretty little boys. Then the shells broke into tiny fragments
which were changed into as many gold pieces. Thus, as had been
foretold, the old man and his wife found both family and fortune.