nt. And as they came up the pad, she was sitting at the
door, twining straws.

"Gode'en, missis," says he.

"Gode'en, fool," says she.

"I reckon I've fetched thee the right thing at last," says he.

The wise woman looked at them both, and wiped her spectacles.

"Canst tell me what that is as has first no legs, and then two legs, and
ends with four legs?"

And the fool scratched his head and thought and thought, but he couldn't
tell.

And the lass whispered in his ear:

"It's a tadpole."

"M'appen," says he then, "it may be a tadpole, missis."

The wise woman nodded her head.

"That's right," says she, "and thou 'st got thy pottle o' brains
already."

"Where be they?" says he, looking about and feeling in his pockets.

"In thy wife's head," says she. "The only cure for a fool is a good wife
to look after him, and that thou 'st got, so gode'en to thee!" And with
that she nodded to them, and up and into the house.

So they went home together, and he never wanted to buy a pottle o'
brains again, for his wife had enough for both.

The King of England and His Three Sons

Once upon a time there was an old king who had three sons; and the old
king fell very sick one time and there was nothing at all could make him
well but some golden apples from a far country. So the three brothers
went on horseback to look for some of these apples. They set off
together, and when they came to cross-roads they halted and refreshed
themselves a bit; and then they agreed to meet on a certain time, and
not one was to go home before the other. So Valentine took the right,
and Oliver went straight on, and poor Jack took the left.

To make my long story short, I shall follow poor Jack, and let the other
two take their chance, for I don't think there was much good in them.
Off poor Jack rides over hills, dales, valleys, and mountains, through
woolly woods and sheepwalks, where the old chap never sounded his hollow
bugle-horn, farther than I can tell you to-night or ever intend to tell
you.

At last he came to an old house, near a great forest, and there was an
old man sitting out by the door, and his look was enough to frighten you
or any one else; and the old man said to him:

"Good morning, my king's son."

"Good morning to you, old gentleman," was the young prince's answer;
frightened out of his wits though he was, he didn't like to give in.

The old gentleman told him to dismount and to go in to have some
refr