were assembled in the banqueting
hall, he spoke to them and said: 'Hearken to me, ye kings and princes,
for I have something to tell you. I had lost the key of my treasure
casket, so I ordered a new one to be made; but I have since found the
old one. Now, which of these keys is the better?'

Then all the kings and royal guests answered: 'Certainly the old key is
better than the new one.'

'Then,' said the wolf, 'if that is so, my former bride is better than my
new one.'

And he sent for the new bride, and he gave her in marriage to one of the
princes who was present, and then he turned to his guests, and said:
'And here is my former bride'--and the beautiful princess was led into
the room and seated beside him on his throne. 'I thought she had
forgotten me, and that she would never return. But she has sought me
everywhere, and now we are together once more we shall never part
again.'

_MOHAMMED WITH THE MAGIC FINGER_

Once upon a time, there lived a woman who had a son and a daughter. One
morning she said to them: 'I have heard of a town where there is no such
thing as death: let us go and dwell there.' So she broke up her house,
and went away with her son and daughter.

When she reached the city, the first thing she did was to look about and
see if there was any churchyard, and when she found none, she exclaimed,
'This is a delightful spot. We will stay here for ever.'

By-and-by, her son grew to be a man, and he took for a wife a girl who
had been born in the town. But after a little while he grew restless,
and went away on his travels, leaving his mother, his wife, and his
sister behind him.

He had not been gone many weeks when one evening his mother said, 'I am
not well, my head aches dreadfully.'

'What did you say?' inquired her daughter-in-law.

'My head feels ready to split,' replied the old woman.

The daughter-in-law asked no more questions, but left the house, and
went in haste to some butchers in the next street.

'I have got a woman to sell; what will you give me for her?' said she.

The butchers answered that they must see the woman first, and they all
returned together.

Then the butchers took the woman and told her they must kill her.

'But why?' she asked.

'Because,' they said, 'it is always our custom that when persons are ill
and complain of their head they should be killed at once. It is a much
better way than leaving them to die a natural death.'

'Very well,' repli