SMITH.] THE BOY AND THK CORN. 97 



I am coming, I am coming; stop your mourning." His uucle thought 

 it was an animal ou the outside, and he called out, " Put your hand 

 through the hole." So the nephew put his hand through and caught 

 hold of the rope and pulled it out and tied it to a post, and then opened 

 the door. And when the olil man saw his nephew he called out, "So 

 you have got home safe; where have you beenf and he made many 

 inquiries. And the young man explained everything to him, and told 

 how, at last, he had returned safely to his home with plenty of corn. 



THE LAD AND THE CHESTNUTS. 



This is another version of the foregoing tale : 



A man lived with his younger brother alone in the deep wilder- 

 ness. Game was plentiful — very plentiful. The elder brother hunted 

 it ; the younger staid home to gather sticks and build the fire against 

 the hunter's return. When he came, bringing deer, the younger one 

 said, " I will cook the venison ; give it to me to prepare for supper." 

 The elder one replied, " I will smoke before I eat." When he had 

 smoked he went to lie down. " I should think," said the younger, 

 " you would want to eat now." But no, he slept instead of tasting the 

 food, and when he awakened he bade his brother go to bed, and leave 

 him to help himself. 



The lad wondered, but he obeyed. Still he found the same thing 

 happened every day. In the mornings the elder brother left without 

 eating; in the evenings he bade the boy leave him alone. This awak- 

 ened the curiosity of the younger. "I will watch," said he; and he 

 ■watched. " He must eat something," he added to himself, " or he would 

 die. He must eat at night." So he pretended to take no notice. At 

 bedtime he lay down and made believe to sleep, but he kept one eye 

 open, although he seemed to be sound asleep. 



After a while the elder brother rose and opened a trap-door, and, when 

 below the ground, he began to make strange motions, and jiresently 

 drew out a kettle and commenced scraping it on the bottom. Then he 

 poured water onto it, and at last he took a whip and struck the kettle, 

 saying, as he placed it over the burning wood, "Now, my kettle will 

 grow larger"; and as he struck it, it became bigger with every blow; 

 and at length it was very large, and he set it to cool, and began greedily 

 to eat the contents. "Ah," thought the younger brother, as he watched, 

 "now, tomorrow, I will find out what he eats;" and he went to sleep 

 content. 



At daylight the elder set off to hunt. Now was the opportunity. 



Cautiously the boy lifted the trap-door, and there he at once saw the 



kettle. In it lay half a chestnut. " Now I know," said he, "what my 



brother eats;" and he thought to himself, "I will fix it all ready for him 



7e 



