natural consequence of the marriage of that
ancient maiden, she entered readily into the
scheme, and when the cat asked how the coy
fair one could be captured, informed him that
the operation might be easily effected with a
net, spun by a man of sixty years old, who
had never set eyes on the face of the woman.
"Such a net would be hard to find," thought
Tom. No. Such a net was not at all hard
to find. A net-maker, who had been blind
from his birth, was in the habit of making
nets every day, and the owl undertook to
steal one, if the cat would in the meanwhile
keep guard against the chimney. Tom's
duty, while at this post, was to give such
answers to the old lady, if she spoke from
below, as would prevent her from popping out
of the chimney before the owl's return. That
the old lady and the witch were one and the
same person, our readers have guessed long
ago.

The absence of the owl was of no long
duration, and as soon as she had returned with
the required article, she and the cat placed
it carefully over the aperture of the chimney.

"Is all right up there?" shrieked a harsh
voice from below.

"Perfectly," replied the owl, "the fog is of
surpassing thickness."

Satisfied with this answer, up went the
witch like a sky-lark, and was surprised to
find herself held fast by the net, which the
allied animals pulled with all their might.
Then began a kicking, and a plunging, and a
struggling, in the course of which poor Tom
received such a punch in the nose from the
broom-stick that projected through one of the
interstices of the net, that the tears came into
his eyes, and he was on the point of relaxing
his hold, and thus losing all his advantage.
However, the witch was at last fairly tired
out, and asked her captors, in a tolerably
humble voice, what was their will and
pleasure?

"I desire my liberty," said the owl, in a
lofty tone, worthy of William Tell.

"Take it and welcome," replied the witch,
with a titter. "You might have had it
without all this trouble. Good riddance of
bad rubbish."

"But we require something more," said
the owl. "You must marry the old gentleman
over the way."

Now, if there was a being in the world
that the venerable lady detested, it was our
worthy friend, the wizard; and hence, when
she heard the project of the two criminals,
she naturally renewed her plunging and
kicking with increased violence. However,
she was reminded that the gentleman in
question, although secretly a wizard, was
employed by the town as a witch-finder, and
further informed, that if she did not consent
to the very reasonable request of the owl and
the cat, she should be swung dangling from
the house-roof, so that her character as a
sorceress would be revealed before all the
world. If she hated the wizard, she might
easily gratify her hatred by making him
perfectly miserable in the marriage-state;
whereas if she refused to marry him, he
would certainly terminate her existence by
means of the stake and the tar-barrel. This
argument was irresistible; the witch
consented, though unwillingly, to the marriage-
scheme, and having bound herself by such
oaths as sorcerers deem sacred, to the due
fulfilment of her promise, was set at liberty
by her two captors. Upon this she mounted
her usual vehicle, and sailed through the air,
with the owl sitting behind on the stick-end,
and the cat sitting before on the broom-end,
until the whole party arrived safely at the
well, into which the old lady descended, to
fetch up the hidden treasure.

How the witch, by magical art, put on an
appearance of youth and beauty; how the
wizard married her in an ecstacy of delight;
how the cat and the owl took to their heels
as soon as the ceremony was over, and never
were heard of more; how the witch resumed
her pristine ugliness when evening
approached; and how the wizard was not only
disgusted at his bride, in spite of the treasure
that she brought, but was miserably hen-
pecked all the rest of his days, we need not
relate in detail. We have shown what the
people of a certain Swiss town mean, when,
wishing to indicate that a person has made a
bad bargain, they say that he has bought
cat's grease.

The historical value of the above legend is
considerably diminished by the fact, that the
town in which the proverb is said to be
especially current, does not exist at all: the
whole story being the invention of a living
German writer, named Gottfried Heller, who
has written a very choice book, called "Die
Leute von Seldwyla," but is not known to
the extent of his deserts. From this book
we have taken the substance of our tale, but
its form is entirely our own.

Now ready, price Five Shillings and Sixpence, neatly
bound in cloth,
THE FIFTEENTH VOLUME
OF
HOUSEHOLD WORDS,
Containing the Numbers issued between the Third of
January and the Twenty-seventh of June of the present
year.

Just published, in Two Volumes, post 8vo, price One
Guinea,
THE DEAD SECRET.
BY WILKIE COLLINS.
Bradbury and Evans, Whitefriars.