the man to bring back
Dobbin; but he didn't come that day nor the next day, nor the next. So
the farmer said to his wife,

"My dear, we've been done. But I'll find that man if I have to trudge
through the whole kingdom. And you must come with me, as you know
him."

"But what shall we do with the house?" said the wife. "You know there
have been robbers around here, and while we are away they'll come and
take my best chiny."

"Oh, that's all right," said the farmer. "He who minds the door minds
the house. So we'll take the door with us and then they can't get in."

So he took the door off its hinges and put it on his back and they
went along to find the man from Paradise. So they went along, and they
went along, and they went along till night came, and they didn't know
what to do for shelter. So the man said,

"That's a comfortable tree there; let us roost in the branches like
the birds." So they took the door up with them and laid down to sleep
on it as comfortable, as comfortable can be.

[Illustration: Up the Tree]

Now it happened that a band of robbers had just broken into a castle
near by and taken out a great lot of plunder; and they came under the
very tree to divide it. And when they began to settle how much each
should have they began to quarrel and woke up the farmer and his wife.
They were so frightened when they heard the robbers underneath them
that they tried to get up farther into the tree, and in doing so let
the door fall down right on the robbers' heads.

"The heavens are falling," cried the robbers, who were so frightened
that they all rushed away. And the farmer and his wife came down from
the tree and collected all the booty and went home and lived happy
ever afterwards.

It was and it was not.

[Illustration: The Snake]

INSIDE AGAIN

A man was walking through the forest one day when he saw a funny black
thing like a whip wriggling about under a big stone. He was curious to
know what it all meant. So he lifted up the stone and found there a
huge black snake.

"That's well," said the snake. "I have been trying to get out for two
days, and, Oh, how hungry I am. I must have something to eat, and
there is nobody around, so I must eat you."

"But that wouldn't be fair," said the man with a trembling voice. "But
for me you would never have come out from under the stone."

"I do not care for that," said the snake. "Self-preservation is the
first law of life; you ask anybody if