ALL THINGS ARE AS FATE WILLS

thing that I have in my treasury.” Then he called the
chief treasurer, who came forward with a golden tray in
his hand. Upon the tray was a purse of silk. ‘“ See,”
said the king, “here is a purse, and in the purse are one
hundred pieces of gold money. But though that much
may seem great to you, it is but little of the true value of
the purse. Its virtue lies in this: that however much
you may take from it, there will always be one hundred
pieces of gold money left init. Now go; and while you
are enjoying the riches which I give you, I have only to
ask you to remember these are not the gifts of Fate, but
of a mortal man.”

But all the while he was talking the beggar’s head was
spinning and spinning, and buzzing and buzzing, so that
he hardly heard a word of what the king said.

Then when the king had ended his speech, the lords
and gentlemen who had brought the beggar in led him
forth again. Out they went through room after room—
out through the courtyard, out through the gate.

Bang !—it was shut to behind him, and he found him-
self standing in the darkness of midnight, with the splendid
clothes upon his back, and the magic purse with its hun-
dred pieces of gold money in his pocket.

He stood looking about himself for a while, and then
off -he started homeward, staggering and stumbling and
shuffling, for the wine that he had drank made him so
light-headed that all the world spun topsy-turvy around
him.

His way led along by the river, and on he went stumb-
ling and staggering. All of a sudden—plump ! splash !—
he was in the water over head and ears. Up he came,
spitting out the water and shouting for help, splashing

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