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 cottage door. But the second seven years had taught him no more than the first his conduct was worse than before; and one day he beat his wife and son so brutally that they screamed to the old woman to come to their aid.

She did, and brought the steel cane with her. In a second the ruffian had vanished, and a big black crow was flying about the room, crying ‘Gour! Gour!’

The window was open, and he darted through it; and seeking the companions who had ruined him, he managed to make them understand what had happened.

‘We will avenge you,’ said they; and taking up a rope, set out to strangle the old woman.

But she was ready for them. One stroke of her cane and they were all changed into a troop of black crows, and this time their feathers are lasting still.

[From Contes Arméniens. Par Frédéric Macler.]