MUCH SHALL HAVE MORE

“T threw it away into the water, and it floated down
the river.”

The beggar to whom the money had been given ran out
of the house howling, and down to the riverside, thump-
ing his head with his knuckles like one possessed. For
he knew that the branch that his brother had broken off
of the tree and had thrown into the water, was the very
one in which he had hidden the bag of money.

Yes; and so it was.

The next morning, as the rich man took a walk down
by the river, he saw a dead branch that had been washed
up by the tide. ‘“ Halloo!” says he, “this will do to
kindle the fire with.”

So he brought it to the house, and, taking down his
axe, began to split it up for kindling. The very first blow
he gave, out tumbled the bag of money.

But the beggar—well, by-and-by his grieving got better
of its first smart, and then he started off down the river
to see if he could not find his money again. He hunted
up and he hunted down, but never a whit of it did he see,
and at last he stopped at the rich man’s house and begged
for a bite to eat and lodgings for the night. There he
told all his story—how he had hidden the money that had
been given him from his brother, how his brother had
broken off the branch and had thrown it away, and how
he had spent the whole livelong day searching for it.
And to all the rich man listened and said never a word.
But though he said nothing, he thought to himself,
“Maybe, after all, it is not the will of Heaven that this
man shall have the money. Nevertheless, I will give him
another trial.”

257 R