THE BOY WHO RESCUED HIS BROTHER ONCE upon a time there lived a very poor man who had a large family. One day a stranger came to him, and offered him a large sum of money for his little son. The man needed money so much that he sold the child, although he knew very well that the stranger was an evil spirit. Soon after this, another son was born in the family. When the boy was old enough to talk, he began to ask about his older brother. "Where is my brother?" he asked his mother one day. The mother began to weep. "Your father sold him to a stranger," she said. "Where has he been taken?" asked the little boy. "An evil spirit carried him away," the mother replied, "no one knows where." "I will go and bring my brother back," the child said. The very next day there came to the house a stranger, whom no one but the child could see. And he talked with the child. 237