w that she could look as well as
anyone in fine clothes.

They did what she asked, and when she entered in a magnificent dress,
she looked so beautiful that all saw she must be a princess in disguise.
The King's son recognised the charming damsel of whom he had once caught
a glimpse, and, flinging himself at her feet, asked if she would marry
him. The Princess then told her story, and said that it would be
necessary to send an ambassador to her father to ask his consent and to
invite him to the wedding.

The Princess's father, who had never ceased to repent his harshness
towards his daughter, had sought her through the land, but as no one
could tell him anything of her, he supposed her dead. Therefore it was
with great joy he heard that she was living and that a king's son asked
her in marriage, and he quitted his kingdom with his elder daughter so
as to be present at the ceremony.

By the orders of the bride, they only served her father at the wedding
breakfast bread without salt, and meat without seasoning. Seeing him
make faces, and eat very little, his daughter, who sat beside him,
inquired if his dinner was not to his taste.

[Illustration]

'No,' he replied, 'the dishes are carefully cooked and sent up, but they
are all so dreadfully tasteless.'

'Did not I tell you, my father, that salt was the best thing in life?
And yet, when I compared you to salt, to show how much I loved you, you
thought slightingly of me and you chased me from your presence.'

The King embraced his daughter, and allowed that he had been wrong to
misinterpret her words. Then, for the rest of the wedding feast they
gave him bread made with salt, and dishes with seasoning, and he said
they were the very best he had ever eaten.

Sebillot.

_THE ENCHANTED SNAKE_

There was once upon a time a poor woman who would have given all she
possessed for a child, but she hadn't one.

Now it happened one day that her husband went to the wood to collect
brushwood, and when he had brought it home, he discovered a pretty
little snake among the twigs.

When Sabatella, for that was the name of the peasant's wife, saw the
little beast, she sighed deeply and said, 'Even the snakes have their
brood; I alone am unfortunate and have no children.' No sooner had she
said these words than, to her intense surprise, the little snake looked
up into her face and spoke: 'Since you have no children, be a mother to
me instead, and I promise you wil