ed. He
called at every house, displaying his wares to any one likely to buy;
selling a ribbon here, perhaps some pins or needles there, but his
conduct, on the whole, seemed harmless enough. At length the day passed
by, and the merchant started homewards; but he had not moved many paces,
when he came to a stop, and seemed to debate in his mind whether he
should return or not. Then, looking up and down the road, and seeing no
one watching him, he suddenly took to his heels, and ran as hard as he
could in the opposite direction. I lost no time in climbing over the
wall, behind which I had been hiding, and quickly followed him. Out of
the town the villain ran as swiftly as he could go, and I followed as
close as possible, without being seen by him, and was only just in time
to see the rogue climb into an old barrel that was standing, end up, in
a field near the roadway. "Now," thought I, "I've got you in a trap, my
fine fellow," and I ran up to the barrel. I could hardly believe the
evidence of my eyes when I found it to be quite empty. Amazed beyond
measure, I at last turned my steps towards home.

'On arriving home, I found that my husband had not returned, and it was
fully twenty minutes past eight when at last he appeared, but I was so
astonished that I could not say a word to the little rascal, and once
more he went supperless to bed.

'For four more days I followed the little man without approaching a
solution to this riddle. Each day he would go about his business in the
usual manner and, in the evening, he would run to the barrel, into which
he would speedily disappear. He came home later and later every night,
until I could stand this state of things no longer; and, on the sixth
day I determined never to return until I had satisfactorily cleared up
this mystery. This time, instead of following my merchant through the
town, I went direct to the barrel, and, hiding myself behind a bush near
by, prepared to wait there all day and see what happened.

'I had not made myself comfortable many minutes before I saw two old men
coming along the road from the town; so old were they indeed, that they
could only creep along by leaning one against the other. Right up to the
barrel they crawled, and then, to my surprise, they scrambled over its
sides and disappeared. Presently two more just as old and decrepit came
along and disappeared in the same way. Now three more came, then two
again, and then only one, all as old and wre