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Jack had no sooner read this inscription than he blew a strong blast, at which the vast foundation of the castle trembled. The giant and the magician were in horrid confusion, biting their thumbs and tearing their hair, because they knew their wicked reign was at an end. Jack came to the giant's elbow, as he was stooping to pick up his club, and at one blow with his sword of sharpness cut off his head. The magician saw this, and immediately mounted into the air and flew away in a whirlwind. Thus was the whole enchantment broken, and all the knights and ladies, who had been changed into birds and beasts, returned to their proper shapes and likenesses.

As for the castle, though it seemed at first to be of vast strength and bigness, it vanished in a cloud of smoke; whereupon a great joy seized the released knights and ladies. According to his wont, Jack sent the head of the giant as a present to the king. The next day, after they had rested at the foot of the mountain, in the old man's cottage, they all set forward for the court of King Arthur.

When they had come to his Majesty, Jack related all the passages of his fierce encounters. As a reward for his good services, the king prevailed upon the duke to give his daughter in marriage to valiant Jack, protesting that there was no man so worthy of her as he. To this the duke very honorably consented, and not only the court, but the whole kingdom, was filled with joy and triumph at the wedding. After this, the king, as a reward for all the good service done the nation, gave him a noble dwelling, with a plentiful estate attached thereto, where he and his wife lived the rest of their days in great happiness and content.

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"Speak, father!" once again he cried,
"If I may yet be gone !

And but the booming shots replied,
And fast the flames roll'd on.

1 Young Casabianca, a boy about thirteen years old, son to the Admiral of the Orient, remained at his post in the battle of the Nile after the ship had taken fire, and all the guns had been abandoned; and perished in the explosion of the vessel, when the flames had reached the powder.

Upon his brow he felt their breath,

And in his waving hair,

And looked from that lone post of death
In still yet brave despair;

And shouted but once more aloud,

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My father! must I stay?"

While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,

The wreathing fires made way.

They wrapped the ship in splendor wild,

They caught the flag on high,

And stream'd above the gallant child

Like banners in the sky.

There came a burst of thunder-sound-
The boy-oh! where was he?

Ask of the winds that far around

With fragments strew'd the sea ! —

With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,
That well had borne their part;
But the noblest thing that perish'd there
Was that young faithful heart!

ALI BABA, OR THE FORTY THIEVES.

IN a town in Persia there lived two brothers, the sons of a poor man; the one was named Cassim, and the other Ali Baba. Cassim, the elder, married a wife with a considerable fortune, and lived at his ease, in a handsome house, with plenty of servants; but the wife of Ali Baba was as poor as himself; they dwelt in a mean cottage in the suburbs of the city, and he maintained his family by cutting wood in a neighboring forest. One day, when Ali Baba was in the forest, and preparing to load his asses with the wood he had cut, he saw a troop of horsemen coming towards him. He had often heard of robbers who infested that forest, and, in a great fright, he hastily climbed a large thick tree, which stood near the foot of a rock, and hid himself among the branches. The horsemen soon galloped up to the rock, where they all dismounted. Ali Baba counted forty of them, and he could not doubt but they were thieves, by their ill-looking countenances. They each took a loaded portmanteau from his horse; and he who seemed to be their captain, turning to the rock, said, "Open Sesame," and immediately a door opened in the rock, and all the robbers passed in, when the door shut itself. In a short time the door opened again, and the forty robbers came out, followed by their captain, who said, "Shut Sesame. The door instantly closed; and the troop, mounting their horses, were presently out of sight.

Ali Baba remained in the tree a long time, and seeing that the robbers did not return, he ventured down, and,

approaching close to the rock, said, "Open Sesame." Immediately the door flew open, and Ali Baba beheld a spacious cavern, very light, and filled with all sorts of possessions, merchandise, rich stuffs, and heaps of gold and silver coin, which these robbers had taken from merchants and travellers. Ali Baba then went in search of his asses, and having brought them to the rock, took as many bags of gold coin as they could carry, and put them on their backs, covering them with some loose fagots of wood; and afterwards (not forgetting to say "Shut Sesame ") he drove the asses back to the city; and having unloaded them in the stable belonging to his cottage, carried the bags into the house, and spread the gold coin out upon the floor before his wife.

His wife, delighted with possessing so much money, wanted to count it; but finding it would take up too much time, she was resolved to measure it, and running to the house of Ali Baba's brother, she entreated them to lend her a small measure. Cassim's wife was very proud and envious: "I wonder," she said to herself, "what sort of grain such poor people can have to measure; but I am determined I will find out what they are doing." So before she gave the measure, she artfully rubbed the bottom with some suet.

Away ran Ali Baba's wife, measured her money, and having helped her husband to bury it in the yard, she carried back the measure to her brother-in-law's house, without perceiving that a piece of gold was left sticking to the bottom of it. "Fine doings, indeed!" cried Cassim's wife to her husband, after examining the measure, "your brother there, who pretends to be so poor, is richer

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