'They are,' said she, 'and make haste lest the burying be ended before
you get there.'

Then off he went, running hard, and when the mourners saw a man coming
towards them with nothing on but his nightshirt, they forgot in their
fright what they were there for, and fled to hide themselves. And the
naked man stood alone at the head of the coffin.

Very soon a man came out of the wood and spoke to him.

'Do you know me?'

'Not I,' answered the naked man. 'I do not know you.'

'But why are you naked?' asked the first man.

'Am I naked? My wife told me that I had all my clothes on,' answered he.

'And _my_ wife told me that I myself was dead,' said the man in the
coffin.

But at the sound of his voice the two men were so terrified that they
ran straight home, and the man in the coffin got up and followed them,
and it was _his_ wife that gained the gold ring, as he had been sillier
than the other two.

From 'West Highland Tales.'

_THE HOODIE-CROW_

ONCE there lived a farmer who had three daughters, and good useful girls
they were, up with the sun, and doing all the work of the house. One
morning they all ran down to the river to wash their clothes, when a
hoodie came round and sat on a tree close by.

'Wilt thou wed me, thou farmer's daughter?' he said to the eldest.

'Indeed I won't wed thee,' she answered, 'an ugly brute is the hoodie.'
And the bird, much offended, spread his wings and flew away. But the
following day he came back again, and said to the second girl:

'Wilt thou wed me, farmer's daughter?'

'Indeed I will not,' answered she, 'an ugly brute is the hoodie.' And
the hoodie was more angry than before, and went away in a rage. However,
after a night's rest he was in a better temper, and thought that he
might be more lucky the third time, so back he went to the old place.

'Wilt thou wed me, farmer's daughter?' he said to the youngest.

'Indeed I will wed thee; a pretty creature is the hoodie,' answered she,
and on the morrow they were married.

* * * * *

'I have something to ask thee,' said the hoodie when they were far away
in his own house. 'Wouldst thou rather I should be a hoodie by day and a
man by night, or a man by day and a hoodie by night?'

[Illustration: INDEED I WILL WED THEE; A PRETTY CREATURE IS THE HOODIE]

The girl was surprised at his words, for she did not know that he could
be anything but a hoodie at all times.

Still