Evening star., 1927-10-08

be nsrs R + sssnaa;y os oTs, slsSopsh sG"s IS
This is the writer whom critics applaud for
The name is pseudonym: Fernan Cabailero
was born in 1897 and died in 1879
Once upon time there was a
father who had a daughter as self
willed and stubborn as she was beau
tiful. and she was the most beautiful
maiden for miles around. AS it hap
pened. because of the daughters great
beauty, no less than three suitors
presented themselves as candidates
for the daughters hand in marriage,
all of them equally eligible as hus-
bands.
The father said that his daughter
should choose her husband for her.
guided by her choice as to which man
she preferred. So the maiden was ask
ed to choose, and she decided that she
would have all three.
But, my dear daughter, that is
quite impossible"' the father expostu-
lated in some surprise.
II choose all three" the maiden in
sisted
Talk reasonably, girl" said her
| father. (which of the three suitors
| will you accept?"
"All three" the maiden repeated.
And all objection, all argument,
failed to make her change her mind.
AS you can readily imagine, the
girls father was considerably annoy
ed by this, but there was nothing for
him to do except to inform the suitors
that his daughter had decided to ac-
cept not one of them, but all three.
He told them that such a decision was
of course. impossible of being carried
out. and in his dilemma he evolved
plan. Each suitor was to go in quest
of something absolutely unique Of it's
kind. and the one who succeeded in
getting the best gift for his daughter
should marry her as his reward.
So they set off by different roads
and were gone for a very long time,
| each on his separate quest. Finally.
after searching in vain over the face
| of the earth, the three met again on
the seashore in a distant part of the
world. None of them had found any
thing especially beautiful or in any
way unique of it's kind. They discus.
sed in some despair their situation,
for it appeared that not one of
them could win the hand of the beau
tiful maiden with whom they were
all deeply in love.
Then. as it happened, one of the
suitors met an old man in the street
one day. The old man begged the
stranger to buy little mirror he had
In his hand. The stranger refused. for
the mirror was quite small and ugly
in appearance. Such a trinket could
be of little' use to him.
Then the old man said: "But this
| mirror has one great virtue. my dear
sir. The man who owns this mirror
may look into it at any time and see
any one he wishes to see, merely by
wishing and gazing into the glass"
The stranger could not at first be-
lieve this, but the old man convinced
him by demonstration that what he
claimed for the tiny looking-glas was
true. So the young suitor paid the
price asked and bought the mirror.
Then, as 1t happened, another of the
suitors met the old man in the street
one day. The old man begged this
second stranger to buy box of bal
sam. The stranger refused. for of
what use could this balsam ever be
to him, since it appeared exactly like
other balsam and had nothing either
beautiful or unique about it?
"Of what use is that little box Of
balsam to a traveller like me?" the
second suitor asked contemptuously.
This balsam may be of great use,"
the old man replied sincerely This
balsam. my young friend, possesses
the rare power of being able to raise
the dead to life
n~~ Just at this moment a funeral pro.
cession was passing by. The old man
stepped to the hearse and slipped a
little of the balsam into the dead
mans mouth. The man at once came
to life, got up. shouldered the coffin in
which he had been lying but a mo.
ment before, and walked home. This
demonstration, Of course, readily con-
vinced the second suitor of the efficacy
of the magic balsam, so he paid the
price asked for it and bought the
box
Now the third suitor in despair of
ever finding a gift ether unique or
sufficiently beautiful to carry back to
his lady love. was pacing up and
down the beach one day in great per-
pleXity. Suddenly he saw great chest
floating toward him over the waves,
and when it bumped against the shore
the lid flew up and out jumped a
great crowd of what appeared to be
! passengers. The last person out. who
appeared to be an old man. approach.
ed and asked whether the stranger
wished to buy the chest.
But have no use for the chest"
the third suitor objected. "What
good could it possibly do me to own
it?"
THAT chest has one great virtue"
said the old man. "It will carry its
owner and those who are with him,
in few hours, wherever he may de-
sire the chest to go. This Is quite true,
as these passengers who came with
me will tell you, for few hours ago
we were all In Spain"