Oh , you ARE funny ! But when you have had enough , whistle and you shall be let down ' ; and he rocked again with laughter . But no whistle came , and soon the legs ceased to shake and to kick , for the Black Gallows Bird was dead , as the Shifty Lad intended he should be . Then he went home to the Black Rogue 's wife , and told her that her husband was dead , and that he was ready to marry her if she liked . But the woman had been fond of the Black Rogue , thief though he was , and she shrank from the Shifty Lad in horror , and set the people after him , and he had to fly to another part of the country where none knew of his doings . Perhaps if the Shifty Lad 's mother knew anything of this , she may have thought that by this time her son might be tired of stealing , and ready to try some honest trade . But in reality he loved the tricks and danger , and life would have seemed very dull without them . So he went on just as before , and made friends whom he taught to be as wicked as himself , till they took to robbing the king 's storehouses , and by the advice of the Wise Man the king sent out soldiers to catch the band of thieves . For a long while they tried in vain to lay hands on them . The Shifty Lad was too clever for them all , and if they laid traps he laid better ones . At last one night he stole upon some soldiers while they were asleep in a barn and killed them , and persuaded the villagers that if THEY did not kill the other soldiers before morning they would certainly be killed themselves . Thus it happened that when the sun rose not a single soldier was alive in the village . Of course this news soon reached the king 's ears , and he was very angry , and summoned the Wise Man to take counsel with him . And this was the counsel of the Wise Man -- that he should invite all the people in the countryside to a ball , and among them the bold and impudent thief would be sure to come , and would be sure to ask the king 's daughter to dance with him . ` Your counsel is good , ' said the king , who made his feast and prepared for his ball ; and all the people of the countryside were present , and the Shifty Lad came with them . When everyone had eaten and drunk as much as they wanted they went into the ballroom . There was a great throng , and while they were pressing through the doorway the Wise Man , who had a bottle of black ointment hidden in his robes , placed a tiny dot on the cheek of the Shifty Lad near his ear . The Shifty Lad felt nothing , but as he approached the king 's daughter to ask her to be his partner he caught sight of the black dot in a silver mirror . Instantly he guessed who had put it there and why , but he said nothing , and danced so beautifully that the princess was quite delighted with him . At the end of the dance he bowed low to his partner and left her , to mingle with the crowd that was filling the doorway .
As he passed the Wise XXXXX he contrived not only to steal the bottle but to place two black dots on his face , and one on the faces of twenty other men .
Lad Man Rogue ball course left morning night stealing village