"And is this the reason a cat always falls on her feet?" asked Osman. "Even so, my little friend. Perhaps after this story you will feel more loving toward those soft-footed creatures," said the lady. Osman made a low bow and thanked her for her kindness in telling the story. He was about to leave the room when another of the visitors reached out her hand and softly patted his shoulder. "Sit down beside me, my child. I have a story to tell the company. Stay and hear it, if your dear mother is willing." "May I, mamma?" he asked. "Certainly, Osman, if you are good and quiet." The little boy at once settled himself beside the lady who had asked him to stay. This is the story he heard. THE WOOD-CUTTER AND FORTUNE Once upon a time there was a wood-cutter who lived in the forest with his wife and two children. He was very poor. Day after day, and year after year, he went out into the midst of the wood and worked hard chopping down the trees and cutting them up for fire-wood. After he had cut all the logs he could fasten upon the backs of his two mules, he went with them to the nearest town and sold his wood. As each year came to an end, the poor wood-cutter was no richer than he was at the beginning. When twenty such years had passed by, he began to feel quite hopeless. "What is the use of working so hard?" he said. "Perhaps if I stay in bed from morning until night, Fortune will take pity on me. I will try it, at any rate." The next morning, therefore, the wood-cutter stayed in bed, as he had promised himself he would do. When his wife found he did not get up, she went to wake him. "Come, come," she cried, "the cock crowed long since. You are late." "Late for what?" asked her husband. "Late for your work in the forest, to be sure." "What is the use? I should only gain enough to keep us for one day." "But, my dear husband, we must take what Fortune gives us. She has never been very kind to us, I must admit." "I am tired and sick of the way she has treated us. If she wishes to find me now, she must come here. I will not go to the wood to seek her any more." When she heard these words, the woodcutter's wife began to weep bitterly. She thought of the empty cupboard. She was afraid of hunger and cold. Neither his wife's pleadings nor her tears had any effect on the wood-cutter. He would not rise from the bed. In a little while a man came to the door of the cottage, and said: "Friend Wood-cutter, will you help me with your mules? I have a load to move." But the wood-cutter would not get up. "I have made a vow to stay in my bed, and here I shall stay," he answered. "Then, will you let me take your mules?" asked the neighbour. "Certainly, help yourself," said the wood-cutter. The neighbour took the mules and went away. It happened that he had found a rich store of treasure in his field, and he needed the mules to carry it for him to his home.