no longer. My servants
have scoured the woods and the whole neighborhood. One is prepared to
swear he heard a young girl singing yesterday."

Rosy-red saw that concealment was no longer possible. She liked the
man's voice, and she stepped out bravely, wearing her one slipper.

The stranger, bowing low before her, held out the other, and Rosy-red
took it and put it on. It fitted perfectly.

"Many girls have tried to put on that shoe," said the young man, "but
all have failed. And I have sworn to make the wearer my bride. I am a
chieftain's son, and thou shalt be a princess."

So Rosy-red left the cave with her granny, and mounting a camel was
led through the woods to her new home where she knew naught but
happiness and the days of her sufferings were quite forgotten. And
always she wore her magic red slippers.

The Star-Child

When Abraham was born, his father, Terah, who was one of the chief
officers of King Nimrod, gave a banquet to a large number of his
friends. He entertained them most sumptuously, and the merriest of the
guests was the chief of the king's magicians. He was an old man,
exceedingly fond of wine, and he drank deeply. The feast lasted
throughout the night, and the gray dawn of early morning appeared in
the sky before Terah's friends thought of rising from the table.

Suddenly the old magician jumped to his feet.

"See," he cried, excitedly, pointing through the open door to the sky.
"See yon bright star in the east. It flashes across the heavens."

The others looked, but said they could see nothing.

"Fools," shouted the old man, "ye may not see, but I do. I, the wisest
of the king's magicians and astrologers, tell you it is an omen. See
how the brilliant star darts across the sky! It has swallowed a
smaller star, and another, even a third, yet a fourth. It is an omen,
I say, a portent that bodes ill. And, moreover," he added, growing
still more excited, "it is an omen connected with the birth of the
little son of Terah."

[Illustration: "The big fellow here got angry, beat the others
and smashed them to bits." (_Page 95_).]

"Nonsense," cried Terah.

"Talk not to me of nonsense," said the magician, sternly. "I must
hasten to inform the king."

Hurriedly he left the house of Terah, followed by the other magicians,
some of whom now said they also had seen a star swallow four others.
They did not think it wise to contradict their chief, although he had
drunk a great deal o