ot a Pinto Choose

ONCE upon a time, in
a country in the far East,
a merchant was travelling
towards the city with three
horses loaded with rich
goods, and a purse con-
taining a hundred pieces
of gold money. The day
was very hot, and the
road dusty and dry, so
that, by-and-by, when he
reached a spot where a
cool, clear spring of water
came bubbling out from
under a rock beneath the
shade of a wide-spreading
wayside tree, he was glad
enough to stop and refresh
himself with a draught of
the clear coolness and rest
awhile. But while he stooped to drink at the fountain the

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