hat a nail was
wanting in one of the shoes, and asked him whether he should take the
horse to a farrier. "No, no, let it be!" replied the master; "it
will last out the couple of hours that I have now to travel; I am in
haste." So saying he rode off; but his horse soon began to limp, and
from limping it came to stumbling, and presently the beast fell
down and broke its leg. Thereupon the tradesman had to leave his
unfortunate horse lying on the road, to unbuckle the portmanteau, and
to walk home with it upon his shoulder, where he arrived at last late
at night.

"And all this misfortune," said he to himself, "is owing to the want
of a nail. More haste, the less speed!"

* * * * *

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

Once upon a time there lived a poor widow who had an only son named
Jack. She was very poor, for times had been hard, and Jack was too
young to work. Almost all the furniture of the little cottage had been
sold to buy bread, until at last there was nothing left worth selling.
Only the good cow, Milky White, remained, and she gave milk every
morning, which they took to market and sold. But one sad day Milky
White gave no milk, and then things looked bad indeed.

"Never mind, mother," said Jack. "We must sell Milky White. Trust me
to make a good bargain," and away he went to the market.

For some time he went along very sadly, but after a little he quite
recovered his spirits. "I may as well ride as walk," said he; so
instead of leading the cow by the halter, he jumped on her back, and
so he went whistling along until he met a butcher.

"Good morning," said the butcher.

"Good morning, sir," answered Jack.

"Where are you going?" said the butcher.

"I am going to market to sell the cow."

"It's lucky I met you," said the butcher. "You may save yourself the
trouble of going so far."

With this, he put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out five
curious-looking beans. "What do you call these?" he said.

"Beans," said Jack.

"Yes," said he, "beans, but they're the most wonderful beans that ever
were known. If you plant them overnight, by the next morning they'll
grow up and reach the sky. But to save you the trouble of going
all the way to market, I don't mind exchanging them for that cow of
yours."

"Done!" cried Jack, who was so delighted with the bargain that he ran
all the way home to tell his mother how lucky he had been.

But oh! how disappointed the poor wido