'Very well', said the Sportsman, 'I'll not shoot them; don't be
afraid.'

But for all that, when he came back, there he had a whole string of
young snipes in his hand which he had shot.

'Oh, oh!' said the Snipe, 'why did you shoot my children after all?'

'What! these your children!' said the Sportsman; 'why, I shot the
ugliest I could find, that I did!'

'Woe is me!' said the Snipe; 'don't you know that each one thinks his
own children the prettiest in the world?'




THE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND

Once on a time there was a fisherman who lived close by a palace, and
fished for the king's table. One day when he was out fishing he just
caught nothing. Do what he would--however he tried with bait and
angle--there was never a sprat on his hook. But when the day was far
spent a head bobbed up out of the water, and said:

'If I may have what your wife bears under her girdle, you shall catch
fish enough.'

So the man answered boldly, 'Yes'; for he did not know that his wife
was going to have a child. After that, as was like enough, he caught