` Your magic is greater than mine , ' he said ; ` and you are young and strong , while I am old and tired . Take , therefore , the sceptre from my hand , and my crown from my head , and rule my people better than I have done . ' So at last Jack 's ambition was satisfied . He could not hope to be more than king , and as long as he had his cornet to provide him with soldiers he was secure against his enemies . He never forgave his brothers for the way they had treated him , though he presented his mother with a beautiful castle , and everything she could possibly wish for . In the centre of his own palace was a treasure chamber , and in this chamber the table , the cornet , and the bag were kept as the most prized of all his possessions , and not a week passed without a visit from king John to make sure they were safe . He reigned long and well , and died a very old man , beloved by his people . But his good example was not followed by his sons and his grandsons . They grew so proud that they were ashamed to think that the founder of their race had once been a poor boy ; and as they and all the world could not fail to remember it , as long as the table , the cornet , and the bag were shown in the treasure chamber , one king , more foolish than the rest , thrust them into a dark and damp cellar . For some time the kingdom remained , though it became weaker and weaker every year that passed . Then , one day , a rumour reached the king that a large army was marching against him . Vaguely he recollected some tales he had heard about a magic cornet which could provide as many soldiers as would serve to conquer the earth , and which had been removed by his grandfather to a cellar . Thither he hastened that he might renew his power once more , and in that black and slimy spot he found the treasures indeed . But the table fell to pieces as he touched it , in the cornet there remained only a few fragments of leathern belts which the rats had gnawed , and in the bag nothing but broken bits of stone . And the king bowed his head to the doom that awaited him , and in his heart cursed the ruin wrought by the pride and foolishness of himself and his forefathers . The Rover of the Plain -LSB- From Contes Populaires Slaves , par Louis Leger . -RSB- A long way off , near the sea coast of the east of Africa , there dwelt , once upon a time , a man and his wife . They had two children , a son and a daughter , whom they loved very much , and , like parents in other countries , they often talked of the fine marriages the young people would make some day . Out there both boys and girls marry early , and very soon , it seemed to the mother , a message was sent by a rich man on the other side of the great hills offering a fat herd of oxen in exchange for the girl . Everyone in the house and in the village rejoiced , and the maiden was despatched to her new home .
When all was quiet again the father said XXXXX his son : ` Now that we own such a splendid troop of oxen you had better hasten and get yourself a wife , lest some illness should overtake them .
For about as at by in on than to with