"The Wren is King of the Birds," said the Headman of Windy-Gap. "Yes, King of the Birds," said the King, "and, therefore, my lawful tribute." [Illustration: "No bird will ever out-soar this flight of mine," said the Eagle.] And so, for ever after the villages sent to the King, not an Eagle, but a Wren as tribute. And in no village ever after were the lands unplowed and the fields unsown, the cloth unspun and the coats not made, the roofs unthatched and the apple-trees unplanted. And in every village in the hollow and on the height the people shouted for the Wren--"The Wren, the Wren, the King of all Birds." [Illustration] [Illustration: Bloom-of-Youth and the Witch of the Elders] Bloom-of-Youth and the Witch of the Elders [Illustration] Bloom-of-youth was a young, young girl. But, young as she was, she would have to be married, her step-mother said. Then married she was while she was still little enough to walk through the doorway of her step-mother's hut without stooping her head. Her husband was a hunter and he took her to live in a hut at the edge of a wood. He was out hunting the whole of the day. Now what did Bloom-of-Youth do while she had the house to herself? Little enough indeed. She swept the floor and she washed the dishes and she laid them back on their shelf. Then she went to the well for pails of water. When she went out she stayed long, for first she would look into the well at her own image and then she would make a wreath of flowers and put it on her head and look at herself again. After that, maybe, she would delay to pick berries and eat them. Then she would go without hurrying along the path, singing to herself.-- 'Said when he saw Me all in blue, "Who is the maid The sky must woo?" 'Said when he saw Me all in green, "Who is the maid The grass calls queen?"' When she would have got back to the hut the fire on the hearth would have gone out and she would have to light it again and then sweep the floor clear of the ashes that had blown upon it. After that she would have little time to do anything else except prepare a meal against the time when her husband would be back from his hunting. One morning her husband left his coat down on the bench. "My coat is torn; sew it for me," he said. Bloom-of-Youth said she would do that. But she did no more to the coat than take it up and leave it down again on the bench. The next day her husband said "My vest is torn too; have it and the coat sewn for me." He left the vest beside the coat and went out to his hunting. Bloom-of-Youth did nothing to the coat and nothing to the vest, and every day for a week her husband went out without coat or vest upon him. One day he put on his torn coat and his torn vest and went out to his hunting. When he came home that evening he had a bundle of wool with him.