down, "pleased to ob----"

"He is of no use!" said the princess. "Away with him!"

Now came the turn of Jack the Dullard. He rode into the hall on his
goat.

"Well, it's most abominably hot here."

"Yes, because I'm roasting young pullets," replied the princess.

"Ah, that's lucky!" exclaimed Jack the Dullard, "for I suppose you'll
let me roast my crow at the same time?"

"With the greatest pleasure," said the princess. "But have you
anything you can roast it in? for I have neither pot nor pan."

"Certainly I have!" said Jack. "Here's a cooking utensil with a tin
handle." And he brought out the old wooden shoe, and put the crow into
it.

"Well, that _is_ a famous dish!" said the princess. "But what shall we
do for sauce?"

"Oh, I have that in my pocket," said Jack: "I have so much of it, that
I can afford to throw some away;" and he poured some of the clay out
of his pocket.

"I like that!" said the princess. "You can give an answer, and you
have something to say for yourself, and so you shall be my husband.
But are you aware that every word we speak is being taken down, and
will be published in the paper to-morrow? Look yonder, and you will
see in every window three clerks and a head clerk; and the old head
clerk is the worst of all, for he can't understand anything." But she
only said this to frighten Jack the Dullard: and the clerks gave a
great crow of delight, and each one spurted a blot out of his pen on
to the floor.

"Oh, those are the gentlemen, are they?" said Jack; "then I will give
the best I have to the head clerk." And he turned out his pockets, and
flung the wet clay full in the head clerk's face.

"That was very cleverly done," observed the princess. "I could not
have done that; but I shall learn in time."

And accordingly Jack the Dullard was made a king, and received a crown
and a wife, and sat upon a throne. And this report we have wet from
the press of the head clerk and the corporation of printers--but they
are not to be depended upon in the least!

SOMETHING.

"I want to be something!" said the eldest of five brothers. "I want to
do something in the world. I don't care how humble my position may be
in society, if I only effect some good, for that will really be
something. I'll make bricks, for they are quite indispensable things,
and then I shall truly have done something."

"But that _something_ will not be enough!" quoth the second brother.
"What you intend doing is