ntense desire and burning cupidity. The monarch thoroughly enjoyed the
jest, for all the time they were sitting right over it, and that was,
no doubt, why they could not see it, being under their feet. Well, the
old king recollected that afternoon that he had not communicated the
secret to his heir, and decided that the time had come when it was
necessary to do so. He therefore gave out that he felt sleepy after so
much feasting, and desired his friends to leave him alone for a while,
all except the missel-thrush (not the present, of course, but his
ancestor).

"Accordingly they all flew away to flirt in the copse, and so soon as
the court was clear the king told the missel-thrush to go and send his
son to him, as he had something of importance to communicate in private.
The missel-thrush did as he was bid, and in about half-an-hour the young
prince approached the palace. But when he came near he saw that the
king, overcome perhaps by too much feasting, had dozed off into slumber.
As it was a rule in the palace that the monarch must never be awakened,
the prince perched silently close by.

"Now, while he was thus sitting waiting for the king to wake up, as he
watched him it occurred to him that if any one came by--as the warden of
the orchard and--saw the two magpies up in the tree, he would wonder
which was which. Instead of one old Kapchack, lo! there would be two
antique Kapchacks.

"Thought the prince: 'The king is very clever, exceedingly clever, but
it seems to me that he has overreached himself. For certainly, if it is
discovered that there are two old ones about, inquiries will be made,
and a difficulty will arise, and it is not at all unlikely that one of
us will be shot. It seems to me that the old fellow has lived a little
too long, and that his wits are departing (here he gave a quiet hop
closer), and gone with his feathers, and it is about time I succeeded to
the throne. (Another hop closer.) In an empire like this, so recently
founded, the sceptre must be held in vigorous claws, and upon the whole,
as there is no one about----' He gave a most tremendous peck upon the
poor old king's head, and Kapchack fell to the ground, out of the tree,
stone dead upon the grass.

"The prince turned his head upon one side, and looked down upon him;
then he quietly hopped into his place, shut his eye, and dozed off to
sleep. By-and-by the courtiers ventured back by twos and threes, and
gathered on the tree, respectfull