Year: 1872

FABLE FROM THE GERMAN.


In the mint, where all our pounds,
shillings and pence are made, there once
were a gold ducat and pennyj just coined.
There they lay, shining and clean, close
together on table, and the bright rays
of the sun danced and sparkled on them.


Then said the sovereign to the penny;
"You lump, get away from mel You are
only made of common copper, and are
not worthy of the sunlight that shines on
you. You will soon be lying all black and
dirty on the ground, and no one will take
the trouble of picking you up. / am
made of costly gold. / shall travel about
in the world with great lords and princes;
| shall do great things, and perhaps some
day shine in the Emperor's crown"


In the same room there lay by the fire
an old gray cat. When he heard this he
licked his paws thoughtfully, turned him.
self round on the other side, and said
"Some things go by the rule of contrary"


And so it proved with the pieces of
money. 1t turned out the very contrary
of what the gold ducat expected.


1t fell into the possession of an old miser,
who locked i. up in a great chest, where
it lay idle and useless with hundreds of
others like ITSELF But when the old mi
ser found that he should not live much
longer he buried all his money in the
ground, that no one might get it, and
there lies the proud ducat to this day,
dirty and black, and no one will ever find
il.


But the penny travelled far about in the
world, and it came to high honor. And
this is how it happened:


First, one of the poor boys at the mint
received it in his wages. He carried it
home, and as his little sister was so de-
lighted with the clean shining penny, he
gave it to her.


The child ran out into the garden to
show it to her mother, and saw a poor,
lame beggar passing by, who begged for
piece of bread.


"I have not got any," said the child.


"Then give me penny to buy some" !"
said the beggar, and the child gave him
her new penny.


The beggar limped off to the bakers.
Just as he came to the shop an old friend
of his passed by, dressed as a pilgrim,
with mantle, staff, and scrip. He gave
to some children who were standing round
the bakers door pictures of good and
holy men, and the children in return put
some money into the little box he had il
his hand The beggar asked: "Where
are you travelling tor"


The pilgrim answered: "Many hun
dred miles away to the city of Jerusalem,
where the Holy Christ dwelt and died. l
wish to offer up my prayers at his grave,
and redeem my brother, who is prisoner
in the hands of the Turks; it is for this
purpose that beg for money"


Then take a mite towards it from me, ]"
said the beggar, and he gave his penny to
the pilgrim, and would have gone away
as hungry as he came had not the baker,
who saw all that had passed, given him
the loaf which he wished to buy.


And now the pilgrim wandered through
many lands, and went in ship far over
the sea to the holy city of Jerusalem.
When he arrived here he first offered up
his prayers at the sepulchre of the Holy
Christ, and then went to the Turkish
Sultan who kept his brother prisoner.
He offered the Turk large sum of money
if he would set his brother free. But the
Sultan wanted more.


The pilgrim said: 81 have nothing more
to offer you but this copper penny, which
gar, out of compassion. May you also
have pity as he had, and this copper penny
will secure you reward"


Then the Sultan took compassion on
him, and set his brother free, and he re-
ceived the penny from the pilgrim.


The Sultan put the copper penny in his
pocket, and after little while forgot all
about it. Now it happened that after a
time the Emperor of Germany came to
Jerusalem to fight against the Sultan. So
the Sultan fought bravely at the head of
his army, and was never wounded; but
one day an arrow was aimed right at his
breast; it struck him, indeed, but glanced
off from his clothes without wounding
4. C..1a
prised, and when his clothes were exam
ined after the battle, the penny was found
in the pocket, and this had caused the ar
row to glance off. So the Sultan priced
the penny very much, and had it fastened
with golden chain to the hilt of his curved
sword Some time afterward the Sultan
was made prisoner by the Emperor, and
had to yield up his sword TO his conquer
or So the penny came into the posses
sion of the Emperor.


One day when the Emperor was sitting
at the table, and was just in the act of
raising his goblet to his lips, the Empress
said she was anxious to sec the curved
Turkish sword. So it was brought in,
and as the Emperor was showing it to the
Empress the penny became unfastened,
and fell into the goblet of wine. The En-
peror saw it; and before drinking the
wine he took out the penny. But when
he looked at it he perceived that the pen
ny had turned quite green. This showed
everybody that there was poison in the
goblet. A wicked servant had mixed the
poison, hoping to kill the Emperor. The
servant was ordered to execution, but
the penny was set in the Emperor's
crown.


So this penny made child happy, gave
bread to a beggar, delivered a prisoner,
saved Sultan from being wounded, and
preserved the life of an Emperor. 1t de-
served to be set in an Emperor's crown.
Perhaps it is there to this day, if we could
only see the crown.-ChildTeR's Hour.