So when Ba.s.sanio came to him to ask for a loan of three thousand ducats to Antonio for three months, Shylock hid his hatred, and turning to Antonio, said--"Harshly as you have treated me, I would be friends with you and have your love. So I will lend you the money and charge you no interest. But, just for fun, you shall sign a bond in which it shall be agreed that if you do not repay me in three months' time, then I shall have the right to a pound of your flesh, to be cut from what part of your body I choose."

"No," cried Ba.s.sanio to his friend, "you shall run no such risk for me."

"Why, fear not," said Antonio, "my ships will be home a month before the time, I will sign the bond."

Thus Ba.s.sanio was furnished with the means to go to Belmont, there to woo the lovely Portia. The very night he started, the money-lender's pretty daughter, Jessica, ran away from her father's house with her lover, and she took with her from her father's h.o.a.rds some bags of ducats and precious stones. Shylock's grief and anger were terrible to see. His love for her changed to hate. "I would she were dead at my feet and the jewels in her ear," he cried. His only comfort now was in hearing of the serious losses which had befallen Antonio, some of whose ships were wrecked. "Let him look to his bond," said Shylock, "let him look to his bond."

Meanwhile Ba.s.sanio had reached Belmont, and had visited the fair Portia. He found, as he had told Antonio, that the rumor of her wealth and beauty had drawn to her suitors from far and near. But to all of them Portia had but one reply. She would only accept that suitor who would pledge himself to abide by the terms of her father's will. These were conditions that frightened away many an ardent wooer. For he who would win Portia's heart and hand, had to guess which of three caskets held her portrait. If he guessed aright, then Portia would be his bride; if wrong, then he was bound by oath never to reveal which casket he chose, never to marry, and to go away at once.

The caskets were of gold, silver, and lead. The gold one bore this inscription:--"Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire"; the silver one had this:--"Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves"; while on the lead one were these words:--"Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath." The Prince of Morocco, as brave as he was black, was among the first to submit to this test.

He chose the gold casket, for he said neither base lead nor silver could contain her picture. So he chose the gold casket, and found inside the likeness of what many men desire--death.

After him came the haughty Prince of Arragon, and saying, "Let me have what I deserve--surely I deserve the lady," he chose the silver one, and found inside a fool's head. "Did I deserve no more than a fool's head?" he cried.

Then at last came Ba.s.sanio, and Portia would have delayed him from making his choice from very fear of his choosing wrong. For she loved him dearly, even as he loved her. "But," said Ba.s.sanio, "let me choose at once, for, as I am, I live upon the rack."

Then Portia bade her servants to bring music and play while her gallant lover made his choice. And Ba.s.sanio took the oath and walked up to the caskets--the musicians playing softly the while.

"Mere outward show," he said, "is to be despised. The world is still deceived with ornament, and so no gaudy gold or shining silver for me. I choose the lead casket; joy be the consequence!"

And opening it, he found fair Portia's portrait inside, and he turned to her and asked if it were true that she was his.

"Yes," said Portia, "I am yours, and this house is yours, and with them I give you this ring, from which you must never part."

And Ba.s.sanio, saying that he could hardly

[Ill.u.s.tration: THEY WERE VERY TIRED WHEN AT LAST THEY CAME TO THE FOREST OF ARDEN

From the painting by Charles Folkard ] speak for joy, found words to swear that he would never part with the ring while he lived.

Then suddenly all his happiness was dashed with sorrow, for messengers came from Venice to tell him that Antonio was ruined, and that Shylock demanded from the Duke of Venice the fulfilment of the bond, under which he was ent.i.tled to a pound of the merchant's flesh. Portia was as grieved as Ba.s.sanio to hear of the danger which threatened his friend.

"First," she said, "take me to church and make me your wife, and then go to Venice at once to help your friend. You shall take with you money enough to pay his debt twenty times over."

But when her newly-made husband had gone, Portia went after him, and arrived in Venice disguised as a lawyer, and with an introduction from a celebrated lawyer Bellario, whom the Duke of Venice had called in to decide the legal questions raised by Shylock's claim to a pound of Antonio's flesh. When the court met, Ba.s.sanio offered Shylock twice the money borrowed, if he would withdraw his claim. But the money-lender's only answer was--

"If every ducat in six thousand ducats Were in six parts, and every part a ducat, I would not draw them,--I would have my bond"

It was then that Portia arrived in her disguise, and not even her own husband knew her. The duke gave her welcome on account of the great Bellario's introduction, and left the settlement of the case to her. Then in n.o.ble words she bade Shylock have mercy. But he was deaf to her entreaties. "I will have the pound of flesh," was his reply.

"What have you to say?" asked Portia of the merchant.

"But little," he answered; "I am armed and well prepared."

"The court awards you a pound of Antonio's flesh," said Portia to the money-lender.

"Most righteous judge!" cried Shylock. "A sentence: come, prepare."

"Tarry a little. This bond gives you no right to Antonio's blood, only to his flesh. If, then, you spill a drop of his blood, all your property will be forfeited to the state. Such is the law."

And Shylock, in his fear, said, "Then I will take Ba.s.sanio's offer."

"No," said Portia sternly, "you shall have nothing but your bond.

Take your pound of flesh, but remember, that if you take more or less, even by the weight of a hair, you will lose your property and your life."

Shylock now grew very much frightened. "Give me my three thousand ducats that I lent him, and let him go."

Ba.s.sanio would have paid it to him, but said Portia, "No! He shall have nothing but his bond."

"You, a foreigner," she added, "have sought to take the life of a Venetian citizen, and thus by the Venetian law, your life and goods are forfeited. Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the duke."

Thus were the tables turned, and no mercy would have been shown to Shylock, had it not been for Antonio. As it was, the money-lender forfeited half his fortune to the state, and he had to settle the other half on his daughter's husband, and with this he had to be content.

Ba.s.sanio, in his grat.i.tude to the clever lawyer, was induced to part with the ring his wife had given him, and with which he had promised never to part, and when on his return to Belmont he confessed as much to Portia, she seemed very angry, and vowed she would not be friends with him until she had her ring again. But at last she told him that it was she who, in the disguise of the lawyer, had saved his friend's life, and got the ring from him. So Ba.s.sanio was forgiven, and made happier than ever, to know how rich a prize he had drawn in the lottery of the caskets.

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS _John Bunyan, the son of a man who mended broken kettles and pans, a tinker, was born in England in 1628.

Though a wild lad, with little education, he married a splendid wife who changed the evil course of his life and interested him in religion.

This earnest, powerful, fighting Puritan preacher aroused his congregation so much and so often that the authorities put him in jail. Eight years before Bunyan's birth 74 Puritan men and 28 women, members of Dr. Robinson's church, escaped persecution by sailing in the Mayflower and landing at Plymouth Rock. For twelve years Bunyan was locked up in the little jail at the end of the bridge at Bedford. He made laces to support his family, and read the Bible and Fox's Book of Martyrs. Though an ignorant man, he became deeply religious.

Except the Bible, and possibly Shakespeare, probably no other book in the English language has been read by more people.

In the version here given the story has been condensed by omitting the less dramatic pa.s.sages, but the author's text remains otherwise unchanged._

CHRISTIAN STARTS ON HIS JOURNEY

By John Bunyan

As I walk'd through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a Den, and I laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a Dream. I dreamed, and behold I saw a Man cloathed with Rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a Book in his hand, and a great Burden upon his back.

I looked, and saw him open the Book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled; and not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, What shall I do?

I saw also that he looked this way and that way, as if he would run; yet he stood still, because, as I perceived, he could not tell which way to go. I looked then, and saw a man named Evangelist, coming to him, and asked, Wherefore dost thou cry?

He answered, Sir, I perceive by the Book in my hand, that I am condemned to die, and after that to come to Judgment, and I find that I am not willing to do the first, nor able to do the second.

Then said Evangelist, If this be thy condition, why standest thou still? He answered, Because I know not whither to go. Then he gave him a _Parchment-roll_, and there was written within, _Fly from the wrath to come_.

The Man therefore read it, and looking upon _Evangelist_ very carefully, said, Whither must I fly?

Then said _Evangelist_, pointing with his finger over a very wide field, Do you see yonder _Wicket-gate? The Man said, No.

Then sad the other, Do you see yonder shining Light? He said, I think I do. then said _Evangelist_, Keep that Light in your eye, and go up directly thereto: so shalt thou see the Gate; at which, when thou knockest, it shall be told thee what thou shalt do.

So I saw in my Dream that the Man began to run.

Now he had not run far from his own door, but his Wife and Children, perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the Man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on, crying, _Life!

Life! Eternal Life!_ So he looked not behind him, but fled towards the middle of the Plain.