In a certain town lived a weaver named Slow. One day all the pegs in his loom broke. So he took an axe, and in his search for wood, came to the seashore. There he found a great sissoo tree, and he thought: “This seems a good-sized tree. If I cut it down, I can make plenty of weaving-tools.” He therefore lifted his axe upon it.

Now there was a fairy in the tree who said: “My friend, this tree is my home. Please spare it. For I live here in utter happiness, since my body is caressed by breezes cool from contact with ocean billows.”

“But, sir,” said the weaver, “what am I to do? While I lack apparatus made of wood, my family is pinched by hunger. Therefore, please move elsewhere, and quickly. I intend to cut it down.”

“Sir,” said the fairy, “I have taken a liking to you. Ask anything you like, but spare this tree.”

“In that case,” said the weaver, “I will go home and return after asking my friend and my wife.” And when the fairy consented, the weaver started home. On entering the town, he encountered his particular friend, the barber, and said “My friend, I have won the favor of a fairy. Tell me what to ask for.”

And the barber said: “My dear fellow, if it is really so, ask for a kingdom. You can be king, and I will be Prime Minister. So we shall both taste the delights of this world before those of the world to come.”

“Quite so, my friend,” replied the weaver. “However, I shall ask my wife, too.” “Don’t,” said the barber. “It is a mistake to consult women. As the saying goes:

Give a woman food and resses

(Chiefly when her trouble presses);

Give her gems and all things nice;

Do not ask ‘for her advice.

And again:

Where a woman, gambler, child

As a guide is domiciled,

Death advances, stage by stage —

So declares the ancient sage.

And once again

Only while he does not hear

Woman’s whisper in his ear,

May a man a leader be,

Keeping due humility.

Women seek for selfish treasures,

Think of nothing but their pleasures,

Even children by them reckoned

To their selfish comfort second.”

And the weaver rejoined: “You may be right. Still, I shall ask her. She is a good wife.”

So he made haste and said to her: “My dear wife, today we won the favor of a fairy. He offers anything we want. So I have come to ask you to tell me what to say to him. Here is my friend, the barber, who tells me to ask for a kingdom.”

“Dear husband,” said she, “what sense have barbers? Do not take his advice. For the proverb says:

All advice you may discard

From a barber, child or bard,

Monk or hermit or musician,

Or a man of base condition.

“Besides, this king-business means a series of dreadful trouble and