"Nice life makes pleasant company," said the Wolf. "Such manners I never saw. For no sooner was I inside than the shoemaker flew at me with his last, and two smiths blew bellows and made the sparks fly, and beat and punched me with red-hot pincers, and tore great pieces out of my body, the hunter kept running about trying to find his gun, and it is well for me that he did not, for I should never have come out alive; and all the while a butcher sat up on a beam and flapped his arms and sang out to the others: 'Put a hook into him! Put a hook into him and drag him thither!' so it was all I could do to get out alive!" "Well," said his brother, "we can't choose in this wicked world, and an unbidden guest sometimes gets bad treatment. But I think that we will be very well advised to let these new neighbors alone." So the Wolf, and the Wolf's family, and the Wolf's brother and his brother's family, let the Sheep and the Pig and the Goose and the Hare and the Cock alone, and they lived very happily in their house in the woods. [Illustration: MOTHER READS A FAIRY TALE] DOLL-IN-THE-GRASS Once upon a time there was a King who had twelve sons. These sons did not like to do useful things--they only liked to ride and to hunt in the woods, and to do what pleased them. One day the King said: "You shall each one go forth into the world to seek a bride. But you must choose a bride who can do useful things--and, to prove it, she must be able to gather the flax and spin and weave a shirt all in one day. If she cannot do this, I will not accept her as my daughter-in-law." So the sons set out on their errands, each riding a beautiful horse, and looking forward to having a great time out in the world while he hunted for his bride. But the youngest son, Boots, was not popular with the others. So they said: "Boots shall not go with us. We will not have him along--he will not do the things that we want to do." So Boots drew rein on his horse, and the others rode out of sight. Now, Boots was very unhappy when he was left alone in the woods, and he got off his horse and sat down on a log to think. For he did not know where to go to have the good times that his brothers had been talking about, and he did not know where to seek a bride. As he sat thinking, he heard a strange sound near him--a sound like silver bells tinkling softly; or was it fairies laughing? Boots looked all about him, but could see nothing. "Here I am!" exclaimed a sweet little voice. And Boots looked down at the grass at his feet, and there was the tiniest little creature smiling up at him, swaying with the stem of a flower which waved in the slight breeze. "Why are you so sad?" asked this tiny maiden. "Oh," said Boots, "my father has sent me and my brothers forth into the world to find brides, and my brothers have gone on and left me all alone in the woods." The little creature laughed right merrily.