Then he took the stick and beat her, saying:  “This is what I was laughing at.  This is what I was laughing at.  This is what I was laughing at,” until she cried out: 

“Don’t tell it to me.  Don’t tell it to me.  Don’t tell it to me.”

He left her alone.  When the dogs heard that, they rejoiced, ran out on the terrace, played, and ate their food.  From that day the wife never again said to her husband, “Tell me that!” They lived happy ever after.  If I have omitted anything, may God forgive me for it.

* * * * *

THE APPLE OF YOUTH

There once lived a king who had five daughters and no sons.  They grew up.  He wanted them to marry, but they would not have any of the young men of the city.  A youth came from a far country and stood under the castle, beneath the window of the youngest daughter.  She saw him, and told her father she would marry him.

“Bring him in,” said the King.

“He will come to-morrow.”

“God be praised,” said the King, “that you are pleased with us.”

The young man answered, “Give me your daughter for a wife.”

“Advise me,” said the King.

The stranger said, “Go and wait till to-morrow.”

The next day the young man said to the King:  “Make all the inhabitants of the city come out.  You will stand with the clerks at the entrance to the gate.  Dress your daughters and let them choose their husbands themselves.”

The people began to come out.  The eldest daughter struck one of them on the chest with an apple, and they said:  “That daughter has chosen a husband.  Bravo!” Each one of the daughters thus selected a husband, and the youngest kept hers.  A little while afterward, the King received a visit from one of his sons-in-law, who said to him, “What do you want us to give you?”

“I’ll see what my daughters want,” he answered.  “Come back in six days.”

When they went to see their wives the King said to them, “I will ask of you a thing about which they have spoken to me.”

“What is it?  We are anxious to know.”

“It is an apple, the odor of which gives to the one who breathes it youth, no matter what his age may be.”

“It is difficult,” they answered.  “We know not where it can be found.”

“If you do not bring it to me, you cannot marry my daughter.”

They kept silent, and then consulted with each other.  The youngest said to them, “Seek the means to satisfy the King.”

“Give us your advice——­”

“Father-in-law, to-morrow we shall bring you the apple.”  His brothers-in-law added:  “Go out.  To-morrow we will meet you outside the city.”

The next day they all five met together.  Four of them said to the other, “Advise us or we will kill you.”

“Cut off your fingers,” he said.

The first one began, and the three others did the same.  The youngest one took them and put them into his game-bag, and then he added, “Wait near the city till I come back.”