"I hope you will pardon me for not being a better goose-herd," said Maximilian; "but, as I am a king, I am not used to such work."
"A king, indeed!" said the boy. "I was very silly to leave the geese with you. But I am not so silly as to believe that you are a king."
"Very well," said Maximilian, with a smile; "here is another gold piece, and now let us be friends."
The boy took the gold, and thanked the giver. He looked up into the king's face and said,—
"You are a very kind man, and I think you might be a good king; but if you were to try all your life, you would never be a good gooseherd."
THE INCHCAPE ROCK.
In the North Sea there is a great rock called the Inch-cape Rock. It is twelve miles from any land, and is covered most of the time with water.
Many boats and ships have been wrecked on that rock; for it is so near the top of the water that no vessel can sail over it without striking it.
More than a hundred years ago there lived not far away a kind-heart-ed man who was called the Abbot of Ab-er-broth-ock.