ooking than myself, and that's not saying much.' (Applause from
all the old men.) 'So she wouldn't bring the water, but went in without
it.

'Then he sent his missus out, that was the ugliest you ever saw--old and
withered. But that did not hinder her from thinking the shadow she saw
was herself; and it is proud she was going into the house again.

'So at last the shoemaker himself went out, and when he stooped and saw
the shadow, he looked up in the tree, and he said: "Come down out of
that, for you have given me trouble enough." So she came down, and told
him her story; and he brought her to the young man's house.' (The cock
and hen now come in as in Lanka Pera.) 'And they lived happily ever
after.'

* * * * *

Another says: 'There was a young man killed a deer one time he was out
hunting. And a lion and a hound and a hawk came by, and they asked a
share of it. And he gave the flesh to the lion, and the bones to the
dog, and the guts to the hawk. And they thanked him; and they said from
that time he would have the strength of a lion, and the quickness of a
hound, and the lightness of a hawk.

'It was a good while after that he fell in love with a young girl; and
her father said that before he could marry her he must go out and see
who was it was stealing his cows; for there were some of them stolen
every night.

'So he watched, and he saw a witch coming and driving them away. And he
attacked her, and fought with her, and beat her by his strength, and she
made off. And he went to the place she had driven the cows, that was
underground, and he found the cows belonging to the whole neighbourhood.
And he drove them all out, and gave them to the owners.

'And after a little time the father said to him, that there was a fox in
the country, that no hound could catch, and that it was to be hunted
again on the next day. So the young man went out, and when he saw the
fox, he took the shape of a hound and followed it. And he was gaining on
it, and it took to a lake, and he went in after it, and it turned to its
own shape of a witch, and dragged him down.

'The girl used to go and be looking at the lake every day, but she never
got a sight of him. And at last, someone told her those water-witches
were very fond of music, and to get a musical instrument. So she brought
a musical instrument to the side of the lake, and she was playing it;
and the witch put up her hand out of the water. "What