In the story of Trophonius and Agamedes, which Pausanius tells, the two masons built the treasury of the king, so that one stone in the wall could be removed from the outside. The king found his wealth growing less, and set a trap for the thief. Agamedes was caught and Trophonius cut off his head. In the Hindoo story of two brothers, Gata and Karpara, not only treasure is stolen by means of a secret entrance to the king’s palace, but also the princess, the king’s daughter. Karpara was finally found out, was put to death, and as it was desired to catch the other thief, his body was exposed. The guards were ordered to seize any one who might mourn the death of Karpara. The word “Karpara” means a gourd or melon. Gata, Karpara’s brother, in order that he might mourn as Hindoos feel bound to do and yet not be caught, loaded some asses with melons, and as he passed the body of Karpara, contrives to have his load slip off, crying, as the gourds fell to the ground and burst, “Alas! for my precious Karpara!” The guards supposed, of course, that he referred to his gourds, and so did not arrest him. Afterwards they perceived the trick that had been played upon them, and told it to the king. He then, by royal proclamation, offered the princess in marriage to the clever thief if he would but come and claim her. STORY OF THE SHIFTY LAD. The historian of ancient Scottish legends records a tale which resembles in many points the tales mentioned above. In the Scottish story, the Shifty Lad goes through his apprenticeship, not among a company of thieves, but under the sole charge of the Black Rogue, of whom he at last rid himself by getting him to try the pleasant sensation of being hung by the neck. The trick answers to that of the Norse thief, but the mode of effecting it differs widely. Having disposed of his master, he engages himself to a carpenter, whom he persuades to break into the king’s storehouse. The advice of the Seanagal, whom the king consults, is that a hogshead of soft pitch be placed near the entrance. The wright, again making the venture, sinks into the pitch, and the Shifty Lad, stepping in on his shoulders, takes as much as he can carry, and then sweeping off his master’s head, leaves the body in the hogshead. Again the Seanagal is consulted, and his answer is “that they should set the trunk aloft on the points of the spears of the soldiers to be carried from town to town, to see if they could find any one at all that would show sorrow for it.” As they pass by the wright’s house, his wife screams, but the Shifty Lad cutting himself with an adze, leads the captain of the guard to think that the cry was caused by sorrow at his own hurt. The body is then by the king’s order hung on a tree, the guard being ordered to seize any one who should venture to take it down. The lad driving before him a horse loaded with two kegs of whisky, approaches the soldiers,