The San Francisco call., 1910-01-22

against a big black viper. He killed
the big viper with his ak. but the little
one he put into his belt so it should
recover, After a while he heard it say
"Thank you, hero! am Sharamana
the snake emperor's daughter; please
do take me where / tell you. We will
soon be at my fathers house. and as u
reward you ask of him the ring from
his right hand, the rug upon which he
is sitting and the whip which is lying
beside him"
In short time they really came to a
cave. The lad had to crawl into it. The
cave was pitch dark. and he hardly had
made half a step when kissing vipers
rushed at him from all sides and cor
ners. At this moment the little snake
turned into beautiful girl. with
golden hair and golden clothes. AS
soon as the vipers saw her they flew
back and politely bowed to the lad. Now
such politeness he had never seen in
his life. and he thought it very nice
indeed.
In corner of the cave the snake
emperor wa5 sitting drinking black
coffee and smoking a water pipe. For
q long time he looked wonderingly at
the lad, and finally he said: Whom
have you brought here. my daughterT
Sharamana replied: This man is my
brother of schoicet brotherhood of
choice, friendship in it's highest mean
, ing. is frequent occurrence with the
peasants of the Balkans and is con-
sidered like lSindred)
He has saved me from the claws OF
my enemy and killed him. whereas all
of my kind who had been near fed"
Upon that the snake emperor said:
open yonder chamber and let him take
as many gold pieces as he wants" But
the lad replied: Dear emperor, | want
no money; give me the ring from your
sorht bp q
sitting and the whip which is lying
near by. Either these or nothing
You ask much" said the emperor;
yet since you saved my dearest take
what seems to you your reward, so men
won't say they are better and more
generous than snakes.
Sharamana accompanied the lad
short way back and said in parting:
Now, you have luck in your hands /
am sorry, though, / can not give you
the necessary common sense for 1T.
With men always the wicked arc clever.
1T lis better to have 1t in ones head
than in ones purse. And now goodby
and luck be with you.
In returning home he found his
mother weak and eXha usted from hun
ger He took out the ring and thought
to himself: what is this ring to me?
/ will sell 1t and buy bread with ii"
So he ran out. on the way he came
was living Of whom he had been fond
for a long while. But what help was
that to him? Today was Sunday and
the house beleaguered by young men,
who all were looking up at the trellised
windows Of beautiful Aisha. He, too,
tarried a little while, just tiny mo-
ment-perhaps by chance he could yet
catch a glance. Suddenly the window
was flung open. and-splash he had
bucket Of water on his head and neck.
Angry beyond saying, he shook the
water from him and cried: You will
yet beg me to marry you!" Then he
took to his heels the young mems
laughter and scorn following him.
AS it grew dark he saw that the ring
on his finger illumined the whole street.
This one would save me candles" he
thought What a pity l have to give
it away. Yet shooting at two hares
at one time means to lose BOTH" He
met an old gentleman to whom he Of
fered the ring.
What good is this ring to me?" said
the old man. Give it to a pretty girl"
He gave the lad some money to buy
bread. Arrived at the bakers the lad
got ready to give him some small
change when he noticed to his utmost
amazement that he was holding i'm his
hand a gold piece. Immediately he or
dered whole sackful Of bread and had
the baker change the gold piece. At
home he saw that the small change
had again turned into gold. Now for
the first time he understood the rings
value. He therefore never took il
off his finger, and 30 it was no diff
cult task to become rich in short or
der. He sooa bought houses and shops
and was the richest merchant in town.
Beautiful Aisha hardly trusted her
eyes, seeing the poor lad stalking about
in such fine clothes. No matter how
often she showed herself at the win
dow he never would look up. Now,
about that she almost burst OF anger
At last she said 10 her father. whose
only, spoiled child she was, Get me
that lad. for | must know where his
wealth comes from or I'll die" The
frightened father fetched the lad. SO
he came. thinking that now surely