enough, until he perceived a damsel with
long golden locks that hung down from the
window. Of these he caught hold; and the
damsel, using them like a rope, drew him up
to the window: when he perceived, to his
delight, that she was the very maiden whom
he sought.

The two young persons were immediately on
the best of terms, and the maiden told the
prince that it was a very good thing that her
mother was absent from home. The old beldam,
it seemed, had gone to gather certain magical
herbs, with which she was in the habit of turning
her daughter's suitors into wild beasts. Under
these circumstances an immediate flight was
advisable, and the two lovers accordingly got out of
the wood as fast as their legs could carry them;
but they had not proceeded far, before they saw
the old woman, not only running after them,
but gaining on them at every step. The prince,
bethinking himself of the hazel-nut, asked it
what he was to do?

"Open me," said the hazel-nut; and no sooner
did he comply with this mandate, than a torrent
of water rushed out of the shell, and impeded
the approach of the pursuer. But the old
woman was able to divide the water with
her staff, and the pursuit was renewed. The
other nut, being broken open at its own
request, emitted a violent flame, that nearly
consumed the forest; but the old woman
spat into it, and it was at once extinguished.
Perceiving that his charms were of no avail,
the prince now turned his face to the east,
crossed himself, and implored the protection of
the Almighty. Lightning at once flashed from
the clouds overhead, and not only was the old
woman struck dead, but struck buried too, for
the earth opened and swallowed her corpse.
When he returned home, the prince caused
the damsel to be baptised, and made her his
wife.

The end of this tale is most remarkable. According
to the law of symmetry which almost universally
regulates popular stories, the firey nut
ought to have destroyed the evil enchantress.
Nevertheless, the charms expected to be beneficial
prove utterly useless; the prince is only
saved by the interposition of the Deity, to
whom he appeals as a Christian; and the three
old women who seemed at first to be the powers
of good, are shown to be either powerless or
deceitful. We may be allowed the conjecture
that there was an original story in which the
three women were both potent and beneficent,
but that the end of it has been modified under
a Christian influence which forbade any
supernatural power that did not immediately
emanate from the Deity, to be regarded as good.
The most beneficent deities of the Greek mythology
were held up by St. Augustin and other
fathers of the Church as malignant demons,
whose very virtues were assumed for purposes
of deceit; by a similar theory the good and
bad enchantresses may have been made bad alike.
As for the old woman of the doorless house,
who transforms men into beasts, she is clearly
akin to Circe. The wild animals, who are
tamed with a piece of bread, will remind many
readers of Cerberus.

The following short story from the same
source may almost be regarded as a Catholic
legend.

There was once a pious monk, with long hair
and beard, who prayed without ceasing. One
night, his way led him by a churchyard in which
three horses, one red as blood, another black as
charcoal, the third yellow as saffron, were leaping
among the graves and around the church.
As soon as they saw the monk, they vanished;
so he hid himself behind a tree, and they at
once reappeared, taking their station by one of
the graves, and neighing and scraping, until a
man rose out of it, precisely in the condition in
which he had been buried. The horses rushed
towards this man, but did not touch him, and
he wept in silence, until the monk, fearing that
mischief would ensue, ordered the animals to
remain still. They at once obeyed. He then
touched them all with his staff, when the corpse
became animated, and the horses assumed a
human form. In answer to the monk's inquiries,
the old man explained that he had murdered all
his three sons in one night, and had died without
confessing the crime to a priest. The sons, who
had appeared as horses, had, on the other hand,
been guilty of disobedience, and had likewise
died unabsolved. Hearing this state of affairs,
the monk, having ordered the three sons to
beg their father's forgiveness, and the father
to repent of his sins, gave them all absolution.
Hereupon they embraced and kissed each
other, and then every one returned to his own
grave.

Early in March will be commenced a New Serial Work
of Fiction by
CHARLES READE, D.C.L.,
Author of " IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND."

Just published, in Three Volumes, post 8vo,
NO NAME.
By WILKIE COLLINS.
SAMPSON LOW, SON, and Co., 47, Ludgata-hill.
* * The author begs to announce that he has protected his right of
property (so far as the stage is concerned) in the work of his own
invention, by causing a dramatic adaptation of "No Name" to be written,
of which he is the sole proprietor, and which has been published and
entered at Stationers' Hall as the law directs.