ass to-day."

"What is that stretched before you?"

"It is a beaver."

"Take your axe," said the jackal, "and strike that beaver." The laborer
obeyed and struck the lion violently between the eyes.

"Strike hard," said the jackal again; "I did not hear very well."

He struck him three or four times more, until he had killed him. Then he
called the jackal: "See, I have killed him. Come, let me embrace you for
your good advice. To-morrow you must come here to get the lamb which I will
give you." They separated and each went his way. As for the peasant, the
next day, as soon as dawn, he took a lamb, put it into a sack, tied it up,
went into the court-yard and hung it up. Then while he went to get his oxen
to till his fields, at that moment, his wife opened the sack, set the lamb
free, and replaced it by a dog. The peasant took the sack and went to his
work. He attached his oxen and set to work, till the arrival of the jackal.
The jackal said to him, "Where is that promise you made me?"

"It is in the sack. Open it and you'll find the lamb which I give you."

He followed his advice, opened the sack, and saw two eyes which shone more
brightly than those of a lamb, and said to the laborer, "My friend, you
have deceived me."

"How have I deceived you?" asked the other. "As for the lamb, I put him in
the sack. Open it well; I do not lie."

The jackal followed his advice, he opened the sack, a dog jumped fiercely
out. When the jackal saw the dog he ran away, but the dog caught him and
ate him up.

* * * * *

SALOMON AND THE GRIFFIN

Our Lord Salomon was talking one day with the genii. He said to them:
"There is born a girl at Dabersa and a boy at Djaberka. This boy and this
girl shall meet," he added. The griffin said to the genii: "In spite of the
will of the divine power, I shall never let them meet each other." The son
of the King of Djaberka came to Salomon's house, but hardly had he arrived
when he fell ill; then the griffin carried away the daughter of the King of
Djaberka and put her upon a big tree at the shore of the sea. The wind
impelled the prince, who had embarked. He said to his companions, "Put me
ashore." He went under the big tree and fell asleep. The young girl threw
leaves at him. He opened his eyes, and she said to him: "Beside the
griffin, I am alone here with my mother. Where do you come from?"

"From Djaberka."

"Why," she continued, "has God created any h