xes, but he said he needed his dogs to hunt deer. The woman told
her son all that her husband had said to her, and after that the
little boy made it a habit to go off in the woods and sit at the foot
of a big chestnut-tree, and wonder what it was that ran before his
father's dogs.

"Matters went on this way until finally one day the man said he would
go out and catch a deer. He called his dogs, especially Old Top, the
oldest one of all. Top was a big hound, and hunted nothing else but
deer, and he was never known to fail to run down and catch the deer he
got after. Old Top went along when he was called, but it was very
plain to the little boy, who was watching, that he didn't go
willingly. Anyhow, Old Top went, though he looked back at the little
boy and wagged his tail knowingly more than once.

"Before the hunter got out of hearing, the dogs struck a trail and
pursued it in the direction of the big woods beyond the creek. For a
long time the little boy listened to the dogs running. Sometimes they
seemed to come nearer, and then they would go farther, and finally the
sound of their trailing died away altogether.

"After waiting and listening for some time, the little boy went into
the woods and sat at the foot of the chestnut-tree. While he was
sitting there thinking, and watching the big black ants chase each
other up and down the tree, he heard the bushes shake, and suddenly a
little old man appeared before him.

"'Heyday!' said the little old man. 'You are too young to be thinking.
Leave thoughts for old people; you should be at play.'

"'But sometimes,' replied the little boy, 'children have to think,
too. It doesn't make my head ache to think.'

"'I see, I see!' exclaimed the little old man; 'your name is Three
Wits. Three Wits, how are you? I hope you are well. You ought to have
come here a little sooner. There is a famous hunt going on in these
woods. It passed here awhile ago--a fool on a frightened horse and
seven crazy dogs galloping after Satan's sister. Oh, it is jolly! Stay
where you are, Three Wits. This famous hunt will pass this way again
directly, and you will have a plain view of it.'

"After a while the little boy heard the dogs coming, and presently he
saw the strangest sight his eyes had ever beheld. Going through the
woods as swift as the wind, he saw a great white Stag. On the back of
the Stag, and holding to its antlers, was an old woman. She was
grinning horribly, and her gray hair was