hers; I will make them a sign, as well as I can, for them to make
haste."

Then Blue Beard bawled out so loud that he made the whole house tremble.
The distressed wife came down and threw herself at his feet, all in
tears, with her hair about her shoulders.

"All this is of no help to you," says Blue Beard: "you must die;" then,
taking hold of her hair with one hand, and lifting up his sword in the
air with the other, he was about to take off her head. The poor lady,
turning about to him, and looking at him with dying eyes, desired him to
afford her one little moment to her thoughts.

"No, no," said he, "commend thyself to God," and again lifting his arm--

At this moment there was such a loud knocking at the gate that Blue
Beard stopped suddenly. The gate was opened, and presently entered two
horsemen, who, with sword in hand, ran directly to Blue Beard. He knew
them to be his wife's brothers, one a dragoon, the other a musketeer. He
ran away immediately, but the two brothers pursued him so closely that
they overtook him before he could get to the steps of the porch. There
they ran their swords through his body, and left him dead. The poor wife
was almost as dead as her husband, and had not strength enough to arise
and welcome her brothers.

Blue Beard had no heirs, and so his wife became mistress of all his
estate. She made use of one portion of it to marry her sister Anne to a
young gentleman who had loved her a long while; another portion to buy
captains' commissions for her brothers; and the rest to marry herself to
a very worthy gentleman, who made her forget the sorry time she had
passed with Blue Beard.

THE FAIRY.

Once upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters. The elder was
so much like her, both in looks and character, that whoever saw the
daughter saw the mother. They were both so disagreeable and so proud
that there was no living with them. The younger, who was the very
picture of her father for sweetness of temper and virtue, was withal one
of the most beautiful girls ever seen. As people naturally love their
own likeness, this mother doted on her elder daughter, and at the same
time had a great aversion for the younger. She made her eat in the
kitchen and work continually.

Among other things, this unfortunate child had to go twice a day to draw
water more than a mile and a half from the house, and bring home a
pitcherful of it. One day, as she was at this fountain, there came