In the Norse tale, the Master Thief is a farmer’s apprentice. In his country there is an order or society of thieves, and the apprentice wishes to join them. The thieves promise to admit him to their society provided he can succeed in stealing an ox from his master as the master is driving three oxen, one by one, to market. It must be done, the thieves say, without the master’s knowledge, and without hurting him. The youth put a silver-buckled shoe in his master’s way as he traveled along the road. The farmer admired the shoe but passed on without touching it, as an odd shoe would be of no service to him. The thief cunningly picked up the shoe and ran around by another path so as to come out ahead of his master, and place the shoe in the farmer’s way again. This time he stopped, tied his ox to the fence, and picking up the shoe before him, went back to find its mate. The lad then stole the ox and took it away to the thieves’ council. But they want to try him still further, and direct him to steal a second ox from his master, who is again driving to market. Disguising himself the lad put a rope around his body under his arms and hung himself to a tree at the roadside. The farmer passed on, barely noticing the lad. He was so much troubled about the loss of his ox that he did not think of rendering assistance. The lad then untied himself, and running by a roundabout way came out on the road ahead of the farmer and hung himself as before. Again the farmer passed by unconcernedly. Again the thief hung himself. This time the farmer thought himself bewitched, and returned to see if the other two lads were still hanging. His second ox was now left tied up and the lad then led it also away. The thieves then said that if he would steal the third ox from the farmer, now on his guard against tricks, he should be their master. Going into a piece of woods along the road, as his master was passing by with the third ox, he imitated the bellowing of oxen. The farmer now hurried away to catch his lost cattle, leaving the third one to fall into the thief’s hands. The thieves thereupon took him into their council, but determined (as he shrewdly provoked them to do) to outdo the young thief, they went away to carry out their plans. The lad then returned his master’s oxen, and carried off all the valuables and goods which the thieves had stored away. Soon after he married his master’s daughter. This story was told in Western Europe, probably long before Herodotus heard the story of the Egyptian thief and wrote it out, or before the Hindoo tale of Karpara and Gata was made known outside of India. The tale of the Forty Thieves in the Arabian Nights also bears a close resemblance to these. The Spanish legend of the Poor Mason may have been borrowed from any one of these. Compare the main points of these stories with those of the tale of the Master Thief. THE STORY OF RHAMPSINITOS.