was very happy over his good fortune. "If my master can find
another boy to take my place, then I will come to serve you."

So Hans went back and tended the sheep until his master found another
boy. After that he served the Prince many years.

_Nathan and the Bear_

M. A. L. LANE

Little Nathan King was driving home his father's cows.

It was a cold night in October. In the clear sky the stars shone
bright.

The dry leaves fluttered down upon the road where they lay in drifts.

The air was sharp. Once a chestnut burr dropped at the boy's feet.

"Winter will soon be here," Nathan said to himself. He was thinking of
the snug kitchen and the good warm supper that his mother would have
ready for him.

It was dark. Nathan could just see the black shapes of the cows.

There were five of them. They were good, kind cows. Nathan liked to
take care of them.

He liked to pat their sleek, smooth sides.

The cows were fond of Nathan. Sometimes the black cow would put out
her rough tongue and touch his hand.

Now they were all in a hurry to reach the warm barn. They walked along
the road as fast as they could.

"I think I will go by the wood path," said Nathan to himself. "It is
only half as far, and I know every step of the way."

So he ran on before the cows, and let down the bars into the wood
path.

The cows went on after him. They, too, knew every step of the path.
Nathan often took them home that way. The end of the wood path was
near the door of the barn.

It was very still in the woods. The dry leaves rustled as the cows
walked through them. There was no other sound. The trees looked big
and black.

Nathan whistled as he walked. He had never been in the woods after
dark before. He was glad that he was not far from home.

Once the black cow stepped on a long, dry branch. The other end of the
branch flew up in Nathan's face and made him jump.

"What a baby I am!" said he. "There is nothing to be afraid of. I can
see the lamp in our kitchen now."

Nathan was now on the top of the hill. The trees were cut down on one
side of the path. He could look across a cornfield to his home.

He whistled more loudly than ever and walked bravely on.

"I wonder if there are any bears in these woods," he was thinking.
"Tom Shaw's father saw a bear on the mountain last week. Tom says he
would like to meet one. I should run if I heard a bear coming."

Nathan stopped a moment to listen. His heart beat fast. H