home."

"Yes, my friend," said Jacob, "that is all very good; only tell me what
it is and I will shoot."

"Thunder and lightning!" bawled the red one, _"I do not know what it
is!"_

"Then be off with you!" said Jacob, "for, since you cannot answer my
question, all is over between us two."

At this the red one had to leave Jacob, so he fled away over hill and
dale, bellowing like a bull.

As for Jacob and Gretchen, they went back home together, very well
pleased with each other and themselves.

And the meaning of all this is, that many another
man beside Jacob Boehm would find himself
in a pretty scrape only for his wife.

[Illustration: Jacob and Gretchen get the best of the Red One and go
home together happily.]




[Illustration: TWO OPINIONS. This is a full page illustrated poem
depicting the magpie in the poem, with the poem weaving through the
pictures.]