WHY IS THE SOLE OF MAN'S FOOT UNEVEN?
(from the servian.)
When the evil angels rebelled against heaven and escaped to the earth, they took the sun with them. Their prince, the archfiend, stuck it on a lance, and carried it on his shoulder.
When, however, the earth complained to heaven that it would be quite burnt up by the sun, an archangel was sent down to see how he could take the sun away from the archfiend. The archangel descended to the earth, and made friends with the prince of the rebels, who, however, at once divined the object of the visit, and stood, accordingly, on his guard.
One day, as they walked together on the earth, they came to the sea, and agreed to bathe in it. The archfiend stuck the lance, with the sun on the top of it, in the ground. After a little while the archangel said,—
"Let us dive and see who will go down the deepest."