urpose; he also still continued the making of wooden shoes. Those
which Rose wore in winter were trimmed with lamb's-wool, which she
wrought very dexterously; she was clever and ingenious but, it must be
confessed, a little imperious; and was sometimes surprised sighing
like a person indulging in visionary wishes, and languishing under
some secret chagrin.

A year passed: Rose grew tall, and her brothers, weary of waiting for
an event so uncertain as her marriage with a king, executed a crime
which they had long meditated. Seeing that their father had touched
but one of the purses, they easily obtained possession of the rest,
and rising with the dawn, all three departed, saying, to satisfy their
consciences, that these purses must be finally theirs, and that they
would, meanwhile, turn them to advantage. When they should become very
rich, they would come back to their parents and take care of their
latter days. Each of them made a belt, in which he concealed his gold;
and with perfect concord, more frequently found amongst knaves than
honest men, they travelled a hundred leagues in eight days.

The woodcutter and his wife did not at first comprehend the extent of
their misfortune. They thought their children must have gone astray in
the forest, and the old man wandered everywhere in search of them. But
when he observed the loss of the purses, the truth was revealed, and
he felt ready to die with grief. "Cursed gold!" cried he, "thou hast
corrupted my brave and honest boys; they were poor, but virtuous; they
are now become villains, and will meet punishment from either man or
God!"

Thus saying, he took the remaining purse, and flung it into the bottom
of a well. Mother Thomas was vexed, but dared not speak, for the
unfortunate man was so much irritated and troubled that he would have
beaten her.

When his reason cleared a little, however, he felt that he had
committed an error in parting with his money, they being both old and
unable to work as formerly. The dame sold some articles which had been
purchased during their prosperity. But poverty was nothing; it was the
conduct of their sons which inflicted the bitter sting. How was this
then augmented, when some officers of justice arrived, and announced
that James, Peter, and Paul had been arrested. It seemed that while
drinking together in a public-house, they had spread on a table all
their gold. The host surprised them, and not believing that young
peasants, so co