his hind legs crossed,
and smoking a hubble-bubble.

[Illustration]

"Good morning, worthy gentlemen," said the Jackal; "how can I serve
you?"

Said the Merchant, "Last night, my Lord Judge, I lodged with this Miller
here, and he took charge of my mule; but now he says it has run away,
though I saw it with my own eyes tied by the halter to his mill. He
says that the mule I saw is his, and that his mill is the mother of it,
and that it was born last night while I was asleep."

"Go back to the mill," said the Jackal, "and wait for me. I will just
wash my face, and then I'll settle your business."

They went away, and waited a long time, but no Jackal. Late in the
afternoon, they got tired of waiting for the Jackal, and determined to
go and look for him. There he was still, sitting in his den and smoking
a hubble-bubble.

"Why didn't you come?" asked the Miller. "We have been waiting for you
all day."

"Oh, my dear sir, I was too busy," said the Jackal. "When I went to wash
my face, I found that all the water had caught fire; I have only just
put it out."

"You must be mad, your reverence," said the Miller. "Who ever heard of
water catching fire?"

"And who ever heard," replied the Jackal, "of a mill having a young
mule?"

The Miller saw that he was found out, and was so
much ashamed that he gave back the mule to
its owner, and the Merchant
went home.

How the Mouse got into his Hole

A MERCHANT was going along the road one day with a sack of peas on the
back of an Ox. The Ox was stung by a Fly, and gave a kick, and down fell
the sack. A Mouse was passing by, and the Merchant said, "Mousie, if you
will help me up with this sack I will give you a pea." The Mouse helped
him up with the sack and got a pea for his trouble. He stole another,
and a third he found on the road.

When he got home with his three peas he planted them in front of his
hole. As he was planting them he said to them, "If you are not all three
sprouting by to-morrow I'll cut you in pieces and give you to the black
Ox." The peas were terribly frightened, and the next morning they had
already begun to sprout, and each of them had two shoots. Then he said,
"If I don't find you in blossom to-morrow I'll cut you in pieces and
give you to the black Ox." When he went to look next day they were all
in blossom. So he said, "If I don't find ripe peas on you to-morrow I'll
cut you in pieces and give