` There 's no use , ' says he , ` going on this way . The fox never got a better messenger than himself . ' So he changed his clothes , and washed himself , and out he set to the prince 's forge and asked him to sit along with himself . The prince begged to be allowed to sit in the other carriage , and when they were half-way he opened his snuff-box . ` Master , ' says he , ` I 'd wish to be dressed now according to my rank . ' ` You shall be that , ' says Seven Inches . ` And now I 'll bid you farewell . Continue as good and kind as you always were ; love your wife ; and that 's all the advice I 'll give you . ' So Seven Inches vanished ; and when the carriage door was opened in the yard , out walks the prince as fine as hands could make him , and the first thing he did was to run over to his bride and embrace her . Every one was full of joy but the two other princes . There was not much delay about the marriages , and they were all celebrated on the one day . Soon after , the two elder couples went to their own courts , but the youngest pair stayed with the old king , and they were as happy as the happiest married couple you ever heard of in a story . From ` West Highland Tales . ' The Story of a Very Bad Boy Once upon a time there lived in a little village in the very middle of France a widow and her only son , a boy about fifteen , whose name was Antoine , though no one ever called him anything but Toueno-Boueno . They were very poor indeed , and their hut shook about their ears on windy nights , till they expected the walls to fall in and crush them , but instead of going to work as a boy of his age ought to do , Toueno-Boueno did nothing but lounge along the street , his eyes fixed on the ground , seeing nothing that went on round him . ` You are very , very stupid , my dear child , ' his mother would sometimes say to him , and then she would add with a laugh , ` Certainly you will never catch a wolf by the tail . ' One day the old woman bade Antoine go into the forest and collect enough dry leaves to make beds for herself and him . Before he had finished it began to rain heavily , so he hid himself in the hollow trunk of a tree , where he was so dry and comfortable that he soon fell fast asleep . By and by he was awakened by a noise which sounded like a dog scratching at the door , and he suddenly felt frightened , why he did not know . Very cautiously he raised his head , and right above him he saw a big hairy animal , coming down tail foremost .
` It is the wolf that they talk so much about , ' he said to himself , and he made himself XXXXX small as he could and shrunk into a corner .
about as at by like of out than though upon