his invitation. Physicians, old and young, came from every part of the
Empire to try their skill, and when they had seen poor Honeysuckle and
also the huge pile of silver shoes her father offered as a wedding gift,
they all fought with might and main for her life; some having been
attracted by her great beauty and excellent reputation, others by the
tremendous reward.

But, alas for poor Honeysuckle! Not one of all those wise men could cure
her! One day, when she was feeling a slight change for the better, she
called her father, and, clasping his hand with her tiny one said, "Were
it not for your love I would give up this hard fight and pass over into
the dark wood; or, as my old grandmother says, fly up into the Western
Heavens. For your sake, because I am your only child, and especially
because you have no son, I have struggled hard to live, but now I feel
that the next attack of that dreadful pain will carry me away. And oh,
I do not want to die!"

Here Honeysuckle wept as if her heart would break, and her old father
wept too, for the more she suffered the more he loved her.

Just then her face began to turn pale. "It is coming! The pain is
coming, father! Very soon I shall be no more. Good-bye, father!
Good-bye; good----." Here her voice broke and a great sob almost broke
her father's heart. He turned away from her bedside; he could not bear
to see her suffer. He walked outside and sat down on a rustic bench; his
head fell upon his bosom, and the great salt tears trickled down his
long grey beard.

As Mr. Min sat thus overcome with grief, he was startled at hearing a
low whine. Looking up he saw, to his astonishment, a shaggy mountain dog