THE KING AND THE GOOSE-HERD.

"COBBLER! stick to thy last." This proverb was never so royally exemplified as it was in the following true history, the principal actor in which was Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria, one of the most loving, as well as one of the most beloved, monarchs that ever wielded a sceptre.

On one hot summer day King Maximilian, clad in very plain habiliments, had gone out alone, as was his wont, to walk in the fine park which surrounded his castle of Tegernsee, and after a time drew a volume from his pocket and seated himself

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on a bench to read. The sultriness of the air and the perfect stillness of the place made his eyes heavy; and, laying down his book on the bench beside him, the monarch fell into a doze. His slumber did not last long, however, and on awaking he rose to continue his walk, but forgot his book, and left it lying on the bench. Wandering onwards from one division of the extensive park to another, he at length passed beyond its limits, and entered on those grassy downs which stretch down to the margin of the lake.

All at once the king remembered his book, and the possibility that it might be seen and appropriated by some stranger passing by. Unwilling to lose a book he valued, and equally unwilling to retrace the way he had come, while the lake path to the castle lay temptingly before him, the king looked round in every direction for some one whom he could send for the volume; but the only human being within view was a boy tending a large flock of geese. The monarch, therefore, went up to him, and said, “Hearken, my lad. Dost think thou

couldst find for me a book I left in such and such a part of the park? Thou'lt get two zwanzigers for bringing it to me."

The boy, who had never before seen the king, cast a most incredulous look on the corpulent gentleman who made him so astounding a proffer, and then turned away, saying, with an air of comical resentment, "I am not so stupid as you take me for."

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Why do you think I consider you stupid?" asked the monarch.

"Because you offer me two zwanzigers for so trifling a service. So much money cannot be earned so easily," was the sturdy reply.

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Now, indeed," said the king, smiling good

humouredly, "I must think thee a simpleton! Why do you thus doubt my word ?"

"Those up yonder,” replied the boy, pointing in the direction of the distant castle, "are ready enough to make sport of the like of us; and ye're one of them, I'm thinking."

"And suppose I were?" said the king. "But see, here are the zwanzigers; take them, and fetch me the book.".

The herd-boy's eyes sparkled as he held actually in his hand a sum of money nearly equal to the hard coin of his summer's herding, and yet he hesitated.

"How now?" cried the king. "Why don't you set off at once?"

"I would fain do it, but I dare not," said the poor fellow; "for if the villagers hear I have left the plaguy geese they will turn me off, and how shall I earn my bread then ?"

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Simpleton!" exclaimed the king. "I will herd the geese till you return."

"You!" said the rustic, with a most contemptuous elongation of the pronoun. "You would make a pretty goose-herd; you are much too fat and much too stiff. Suppose they broke away from you, now, and got into the rich meadow yonder, I should have more trespass-money to pay than my year's wages come to. Just look at the 'Court Gardener' there-him with the black head and wings; he is a regular deserter, a false knave; he is for all the world like one of the Court people, and they, we all know, are good for nothing. He would lead you a fine dance! Nay, it would never do."

The king felt ready to burst with suppressed laughter; but, mastering himself, asked with tolerable composure, "Why can I not keep geese in

order as easily as men-I have plenty of them to control?"

"You!" again said the boy, sneeringly, as he measured the monarch from head to foot. "They must be silly ones, then. But perhaps you're a schoolmaster? Yet, even if ye be, it is much easier to manage boys than geese; that I can tell ye.":

"It may be so," said the king; "but come, make short work; will you bring the book, or will you not?"

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"I would gladly do it," stammered the boy, "but-"

"I'll be answerable for the geese," cried the king, "and pay all damages, if such there be."

This decided the question; and so, after exacting a promise that his substitute would pay particular attention to the doings of the stately gander whom he designated as the "Court Gardener," and pronounced an incorrigible breaker of bounds and prime seducer of the flock, he placed the whip in the king's hands and set off on his errand.

But scarcely had he gone a few yards when he turned back again.

"What is the matter now ?" called out the king. "Crack the whip,” resounded in return.

The monarch swung it with his best effort, but procured no sounding whack.

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"I thought so!" exclaimed the rustic. schoolmaster, forsooth, and cannot crack a whip!" So saying, he snatched the whip from the king's hand, and began, with more zeal than success, to instruct him in the science of whip-cracking. The king, though scarcely able to contain himself, tried in right earnest, and at length succeeded in extracting a tolerably sharp report from the leathern instrument of authority; and the boy, after once more trying to impress the duties of his responsible

office on his temporary substitute, ran off at full speed in the direction the king had indicated.

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The monarch, who could now indulge in a hearty laugh, sat himself down on a tree-stump, which the goose-herd had previously occupied, to await the return of his messenger. But it really seemed as if his feathered charge had discovered that the whip was no longer wielded by their accustomed prompt and vigilant commander, for the treacherous Court Gardener" suddenly stretched out his long neck, and, after reconnoitring on all sides, uttered two or three shrill screams; upon which, as if a tempest had all at once rushed under the multitude of wings, the whole flock rose simultaneously into the air, and before the king could recover from his surprise, they were careering with loud screams towards the rich meadows bordering on the lake, over which they quickly spread themselves in all possible directions.

At the first outburst the royal herdsman called "Halt!" with all his might; he brandished, and tried hard to crack the whip, but extracted no sound which could intimidate the "Court Gardener." He then ran to and fro, until streaming with perspiration, and yielding to adverse fate, he reseated himself on the tree-stump, and, leaving the geese to their own devices, quietly awaited the return of his messenger.

"The boy was right, after all," said he to himself; "it is easier to govern a couple of millions of men than a flock of plaguy geese;' and a Court Gardener can do a deal of mischief."

Meanwhile the boy had reached the bench, found the book, and sped back in triumph, little dreaming of the discomfiture his substitute had experienced. But when, on coming close up to the king, he looked round in vain for his charge, and, still