Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-01-11

lived happy and contented. He was
soon the richest man, not only in his
own village but in all the neighborhood,
and there was no one found to compare
with him. lie had hocks of sheep,
herds OF cattle, and droves OF horses,
and each flock had its shepherd; he had,
beside, plenty of land and much coin.
One day on the eve of Christmas he
said to his wife: "Get ready, wine,
spirits and all that is needed from here
tomorrow We will 90 to the farm, and
we will take the things to the shepherds
for them to enjoy themselves" The
wife obeyed his order, and prepared
everything that he had commanded to
get ready.
The next day when they were at the
farm the master said in the evening to
the shepherds: "Friends, gettogether,
eat, drink and amuse ourselves. | will
watch over the flOcks and herds tonight
in your stead" And he did as he had
said, and kept the watch.
When midnight came the wolves he
gan to howl around him, and the dogs
to bark; and the wolves said in their
language: "'I.et us come and do som,.
mischief and there shall be plenty Of
meat for you as well as for us
And the dogs replied in their tongue
"Come, SO that We too can have good
time" But among them there was one
old dog who had only two fangs in his
jaw, and he said to the wolves. "You
shall do no wrong to my master as long
as | have my two teeth in my mouth"
The master heard and understood all
! this discourse, and when morning came
he ordered the killing of all the dogs,
leaving alive only the faithful old one.
The astonished servants said, "Master,
this is great pity. But he replied,
"What have ordered must be DONE"
Then he prepared to return home,
with his wife, and both mounted on
horseback; the husband ON fine,
spirited horse, and the wife on an easy
happened that the husband got some lit
tie distance in advance, while the wife
fingered behind. The horse turned his
head and called out in horse language to
the mare, "Come on quicker! Why do
you hang back?" And the mare an
swered, "Oh, yes! it is very easy for
you to say "Come; you only carry the
master, but have to look after three,
my mistress, her child and my own
colt beside"
The husband turned his head laugh
ing when he heard his horse talk, and
his wife, seeing him laugh, hurried up
until she reached her good man, and
asked what he was laughing about.
"Oh, nothing, something had hap
pened to come into my head"
"Not satisfied, she still pressed him
to tell her why he laughed. But he re-
sisted and said:
"Let me alone wife. What does it
matter to you? Goodness alive! l don't
know myself why laughed"
The more he refused the more she in
sisted on knowing. AT last he said:
"Well, I'll let You know that if
should tell you the cause or my laugh
ter, should die on the instant"
Even this did not stop the wOman's
curiosity and more than ever she teased
him to speak out his secret.
They reached their home, and as he
dismounted from his horse he ordered IL
coffin to be made for him, and when it
was ready he went out in front of the
house and said to his wife, "See here
am going to place myselfin that coffin,
and will then tell you what made me
laugh, but as soon rs l have spoken
shall be dead man."
Then he laid himself down in the cof-
fin, and as he looked around him for
the last time he saw the. old farm dog
who came close to his master, with tears
falling from his eyes. When the poor
man saw this he said to his wife, "Bring
a piece Of bread and give it to the old
dog" The woman threw it to the dog,
who would not look at it. Then the
old farm cock ran up and began peck
ing at the bread, and the dog cried out,
"You miserable glutton! Can you eat
when you see that our good master is
Just going to die2 And the cox re-
piled "Let him die, it he is fool enough
to do it? have hundred wives;
call them all when find a bit of grain,
and as soon as they come up eat it
myself. And if one of them dare to
take it amiss chastise her with my bill
and he, with only one wife, has not
spunk enough to bring her to reason"
AS soon as the husband heard this he
sprung out OF the coffin, took stick,
and called his wife into their cham
ber "Come l will tell you what you
are so anxious to know Then he
reasoned with her with stick, saying,
'There! take that" and in this fash
ion he satisfied her inquisitiveness, and
never after that did she ask him what
made him laugh.