e broken and
torn as if some great beast had crashed through them. But they were all
just as he had left them in the morning, with the creepers still
knotting tree to tree. No, it was clear that no lion had been near the
spot. Then he examined the ground carefully for a bird's feather or a
shred of a child's dress; he did not find these either, but the marks
of a man's foot were quite plain, and these he followed.

The track turned and twisted for about two miles, and then stopped at a
little cottage with roses climbing up the walls. The wolf did not want
to show himself, so he crept quietly round to the back, where there was
a hole in the door just big enough for the cats to come in and out of.
The wolf peeped through this hole and saw William eating his supper, and
chattering away to the old woman as if he had known her all his life,
for he was a friendly little boy, and purred like a pussy-cat when he
was pleased. And when the wolf saw that all was well with the child, he
was glad and went his way.

'William will be safer with them than with me,' he said to himself.

Many years went by, and William had grown a big boy, and was very useful
to the cowherd and his wife. He could shoot now with his bow and arrow
in a manner which would have pleased his first teacher, and he and his
playfellows--the sons of charcoal-burners and woodmen--were wont to keep
the pots supplied at home with the game they found in the forest.
Besides this, he filled the pails full of water from the stream, and
chopped wood for the fire, and, sometimes, was even trusted to cook the
dinner. And when _this_ happened William was a very proud boy indeed.

One day the emperor planned a great hunt to take place in the forest,
and, while following a wild boar, he outstripped all his courtiers and
lost his way. Turning first down one path and then the other, he came
upon a boy gathering fruit, and so beautiful was he that the emperor
thought that he must be of a fairy race.

'What is your name, my child?' asked the emperor; 'and where do you
live?'

The boy looked round at the sound of his voice, and, taking off his cap,
bowed low.

'I am called William, noble sir,' he answered, 'and I live with a
cowherd, my father, in a cottage near by. Other kindred have I none that
ever I heard of;' for the gardens of Palermo and the life of the palace
had now faded into dreams in the memory of the child.

'Bid your father come hither and speak to me,' said