m
all--wife, priest, waiting-woman and wolf.

After that he left that part of the country, and went to the King to ask
his pardon, which he easily obtained.

And some say that the King remarked that it was a pity the poor wolf
should have been burned alive for the faults of the others.

*****

[Illustration: 57.jpg The obliging Brother.]

STORY THE FIFTY-SEVENTH -- THE OBLIGING BROTHER.

By Monsieur De Villiers.

_Of a damsel who married a shepherd, and how the marriage was arranged,
and what a gentleman, the brother of the damsel, said._

As you are all ready to listen to me, and no one comes forward at the
present moment to continue this glorious and edifying book of a Hundred
Stories, I will relate an instance which happened formerly in Dauphine,
fit to be included in the number of the said novels.

A gentleman who lived in Dauphine, had in his house a sister, aged
about eighteen or twenty, who was a companion to his wife, who loved her
dearly, so that they agreed together like two sisters.

It happened that this gentleman was bidden to the house of a neighbour,
who lived a couple of short leagues away, to visit him, and took with
him his wife and sister. They went, and God knows how cordially they
were received.

The wife of the neighbour who invited them, took the wife and sister of
the said gentleman for a walk after supper, talking of various matters,
and they came to the hut of the shepherd, which was near a large and
fine park in which the sheep were kept, and found there the chief
shepherd looking after his flock. And--as women will--they enquired
about many and various things, and amongst others they asked if he was
not cold in his cottage? He replied he was not, and that he was more
comfortable in his hut than they were in their glazed, matted, and
well-floored chambers.

They talked also of other matters, and some of their phrases had a
bawdy meaning; and the worthy shepherd, who was neither a fool nor a
blockhead, swore to them that he was prepared to undertake to do the job
eight or nine times in one night.

The sister of our gentleman cast amorous glances at the shepherd when
she heard this, and did not fail to tell him, when she found a fitting
opportunity, that he had made an impression on her, and that he was
to come to see her at her brother's house, and that she would make him
welcome.

The shepherd, who saw she was a pretty girl, was not a little pleased at
this news,