* * * * *




AN IDYLL OF THE WOOD.


"Tell us a story," said the children, "a sad one, if you please, and a
little true. But, above all, let it end badly, for we are tired of
people who live happily ever after."

"I heard one lately," said the old man who lived in the wood; "it is
founded on fact, and is a sad one also; but whether it ends badly or no
I cannot pretend to say. That is a matter of taste: what is a bad
ending?"

"A story ends badly," said the children with authority, "when people
die, and nobody marries anybody else, especially if it is a prince and
princess."

"A most lucid explanation," said the old man. "I think my story will
do, for the principal character dies, and there is no wedding."

"Tell it, tell it!" cried his hearers, "and tell us also where you got
it from."

"Who knows the riches of a wood in summer?" said the old man. "In
summer, do I say? In spring, in autumn, or in winter either. Who knows