which I had reduced myself, until the doctor,
who had been busy in the kitchen, suddenly
came out, and, before I had time to avoid him,
put a red-hot iron hook into my gum-boil. I
howled and jumped, but he had made a deep
wound, and out of it came the rice I had
inside. All present now saw the truth, and the
doctor picking up the rice, cried at me, ' You
big simpleton, when you only had rice in your
mouth, why did not you say so? ' I made no
answer, but took to my heels and ran home.
Thus I lost a good wife and the prospect of
good fortune, and have ever since believed
myself the greatest simpleton yet born."

Having laughed heartily at this story, the
judge turned to the second man, and asked,
"What evidence have you, sir, of your right to
the bow you claim?"

"My story is short," he answered, "but will
show that I have as much right to the bow as
any man. I married early, and tried to be
happy, but found that my wife could not manage
the house without help; so I married another
wife (polygamy being allowed in my country), and
thought that all would be well managed by the
two, and I should get my rest after my day's
labour in the fields. But, alas, I was mistaken.
I had no more rest at home. If I spoke to one
wife for a tew minutes, the other complained
that I did not speak to her. I was not able to
bestow on one, the least attention or kindness
by deed, word, or even by a look, without suffering
from the other's jealousy. Thus I lost all
peace at home, and was quite miserable whenever
bad weather or any other cause obliged me
to stay in doors, and at night I had no sleep; for
if I tried to sleep with my face towards one
wife, the other complained; if I slept on my
back or with my face to the ground, both
complained. I was harassed in this manner
until I lost my patience, and told them there
was only one thing to be done, and that
was, they must take me each by a leg and
pull away till they divided me between them.
I had no sooner spoken, than they took me
at my word. They seized me by the feet and
began to pull away with all their strength,
each trying to outpull the other. In this
extremity I could only scream for help. The
neighbours rushed in, and I was extricated; but
such was the laughing, jeering, and hooting at
the simpleton who had thus given himself up to
his wives, that I had to fly from my country,
and now I am here, a beggar. My countrymen
have ever since, even up to this day, spoken of
me as the Great Simpleton."

This story having been told, the third man, at
the request of the judge, related the following:

"I married, at about the age of twenty, a rich
young woman; but, instead of adding to her
wealth, by trading, or following some lucrative
course of life, I did nothing until our money was
all gone. Then, being compelled by hunger,
and touched by the position and entreaties of my
wife, I went to work. I laboured all the day
in a rich man's garden, and with my earnings
bought a small quantity of rice and returned
home. My wife baked three cakes of the rice,
and we sat down to eat them, when a dispute
arose between us as to which had a right to
two. I said that I ought to get two, as I had
toiled all day and earned them all; my wife
maintained that she ought to get two, as she had
brought with her so much money and had fed me
so long, and had, besides, to make and bake the
cakes. Both of us were obstinate, and we would
by no means consent to an equal division. At
length, my wife hit upon a plan. She proposed
that we should sit by the cakes, and whoever
spoke first should get only one. I agreed, and
so we sat up all night without speaking. About
daybreak I fell asleep, quite wearied, and so did
my wife; but we rose soon, and looked at our
cakes, and remained silent. We did not sit
much longer in this manner, but both fainted.
Shortly after this, our neighbours, seeing our
door closed, and hearing no voice or sound of
stirring within, came and knocked. As they
received no answer, they broke open the door, and
found us lying apparently dead, but warm. So,
fancying us to be actually dead, they made a pile
of wood and placed us on it. Fire was set to
the pile, and most unfortunately just underneath
me. It burnt the wood on my side of the pile
so quickly that the heat roused me at once, and
I jumped up with a loud cry of ' Oh!' In the
next moment my wife started up and cried,
' Ah, you get only one cake!' Our neighbours
were surprised at this performance of the
corpses; but when my wife, in great glee,
boasted of her victory, and explained herself,
they laughed at us uproariously, and told us
that we were both of us the greatest simpletons
they ever heard of."

The judge settled the claims of the three
simpletons, thus: "You are really three very
great simpletons, and it is not easy to decide
which of you ought to get the bow. The
first, however, suffered not only from his folly,
but on account of his love, and because he
had not observed the approach of the doctor
with the red-hot iron hook. The second
suffered because he committed a mistake, and his
wives took unjust advantage of it. But the
third suffered starvation, solely because of his
foolishness, and is therefore the greatest
simpleton. In the present quarrel, however, all
three have been equal simpletons in fighting
for so worthless a thing as a passing stranger's
bow."

RAILWAY REVERIE.

THE dry tense cords against the signal-post
Rattle, like rigging of a wind-tossed ship;
And, overhead, up staring at the sun,
The scarlet target, duly split in half,
Silently tells that soon the gliding train,
Long-jointed, black, and winding, will glide in
With clamp, and roar, and hiss, and shrieking
scream,
Steered by that dusky, stolid, silent man
Who cares not who gets in, or who goes out,
So he but reach his home, and have his meal
With his good wife in quiet. See, the folk
Come faster—trap, and cart, and proud barouche,