he troubled himself as
little as possible about the cares of life, and seemed to grow plumper
every day.

Peter, on the other hand, was thin and slim. He was continually worrying
himself about some trifle, and his face grew more and more care-worn
every day.

"Good morrow, friend Peter," said plump Hans, in a hearty tone of
cheer.

"Good-day, neighbor!" answered Peter, solemnly.

"Why are you so downcast?" asked Hans.

"Downcast! Have you no troubles," retorted Peter, "that you cannot
understand why people look downcast?"

"I?" said jovial Hans. "I've only one trouble in the world, and that
does not trouble me. My wife complains because I have become so stout."

"Happy man!" exclaimed Peter. "My friends complain because I am so
thin."

"My friends say it makes me move too slowly," said Hans.

"My wife upbraids me," returned Peter, "because I move so very quickly."

"Suppose we change bodies!" said they both in a breath. And they
changed.

Again, in a few months, Hans and Peter met one fine morning; and Hans
was again large and stout, while Peter had become thin and slim.

"What have you done to my body?" asked Hans.

"What have you done to my body?" asked Peter.

"I was puzzled at first," said Hans, "to know whether I was Hans or
Peter; but it soon came right."

"At first," returned Peter, "I knew not whether I was Peter or Hans, but
as you say, it soon came right."

"Then the difference," remarked Hans, "is not _my_ body."

"Nor _my_ body," put in Peter.

"But," said they both, "ourselves!"

* * * * *

"Worse and worse," said King Jollimon, at the conclusion of the
remarkable legend. "If there were four of you, I shudder to think what a
bad story the fourth one would tell!"

"It is because we did not know your majesty's taste," said the man with
the crooked back. "If you would hear us once more, we should please you
better."

"I have heard enough," said the king; but upon second thought he
consented that they should try again.

And first the crooked-backed man told the tale of

THE EGG-SHELL.

A boy once met a magician, who gave him an egg-shell, telling him to
place it in his mouth, but on no account to break it. The boy was as
foolish as boys usually are, so he instantly obeyed him, without at all
stopping to think what the consequences might be. Immediately his head
swelled up like an enormous balloon, so that the wind nearly blew him
away. He mana