ose to the coach. Zezolla, seeing that the man was ever running
by her side, cried, "Coachman, drive on quickly," and in a trice the
coach set off at such a rattling pace that she lost one of her
slippers, the prettiest thing that ever was seen. The servant being
unable to catch the coach, which flew like a bird, picked up the
slipper, and carrying it to the King told him all that happened.
Whereupon the King, taking it in his hand, said, "If the basement,
indeed, is so beautiful, what must the building be. You who until now
were the prison of a white foot are now the fetter of an unhappy heart!"

Then he made a proclamation that all the women in the country should
come to a banquet, for which the most splendid provision was made of
pies and pastries, and stews and ragouts, macaroni and
sweetmeats--enough to feed a whole army. And when all the women were
assembled, noble and ignoble, rich and poor, beautiful and ugly, the
King tried the slipper on each one of the guests to see whom it should
fit to a hair, and thus be able to discover by the help of the slipper
the maiden of whom he was in search, but not one foot could he find to
fit it. So he examined them closely whether indeed every one was there;
and the Prince confessed that he had left one daughter behind, "but,"
said he, "she is always on the hearth, and is such a graceless
simpleton that she is unworthy to sit and eat at your table." But the
King said, "Let her be the very first on the list, for so I will."

So all the guests departed--the very next day they assembled again, and
with the wicked sisters came Zezolla. When the King saw her he had his
suspicions, but said nothing. And after the feast came the trial of the
slipper, which, as soon as ever it approached Zezolla's foot, it darted
on to it of its own accord like iron flies to the magnet. Seeing this,
the King ran to her and took her in his arms, and seating her under the
royal canopy, he set the crown upon her head, whereupon all made their
obeisance and homage to her as their queen.

When the wicked sisters saw this they were full of venom and rage, and,
not having patience to look upon the object of their hatred, they
slipped quietly away on tip-toe and went home to their mother,
confessing, in spite of themselves, that--

"He is a madman who resists the Stars."

VII

THE MERCHANT

Troubles are usually the brooms and shovels that smooth the road to a
man's good fortune, of which he l