Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/550

 5o8 Collectanea.

me what my church lacks ! You have had it torn down twice already." "This church needs the Thousand-noted Nightin- gale ; then it will be perfect." He spoke these words and vanished. The king returned to his palace.

Now this king had three sons. The sons noticed that their father was troubled about something, and they asked, — "Father, what is your grief?" He replied, — " I am growing old, and how am I going to go after the Thousand-noted Nightingale, which I must have to make my church complete." " We will go and bring it for you," his sons assured him. Then the three sons mounted their steeds and set forth.

After travelling for a month they reached a spot where the road forked. They stood there puzzled. A hermit met them, and asked, — " Where are you going, my brave fellows ? " " We are going to bring the Thousand-noted Nightingale, but we don't know which road to take," they replied. Then the hermit said, — " He who takes the wide road will return ; the one who takes the middle road may return or he may not ; the one who takes the lower road cannot hope to return. Do you ask why ? Well, you go along and you come to a river. The owner of the Thousand- noted Nightingale has bewitched it, and turned its waters into salt water which cannot be used, but you must drink of it and say, — " Ah, it is the water of life ! " You cross the river, and you come to a thicket. It is full of briars. They are ugly. You must gather them, and say, — " Oh, these are the flowers of immor- tality ! " You pass the thicket, and you come to a wolf tied on one side of your path and a lamb on the other. There is grass before the wolf, and meat before the lamb. You must take the grass and put it before the lamb, and the meat before the wolf. You pass on until you come to a great double gate. One side is closed, and the other is open. You must open the closed gate, and close the open one. You enter, and you find the owner of the Thousand-noted Nightingale asleep within. The owner sleeps for seven days, and remains awake for seven days. If you succeed in doing all I have said, you will be able to bring back the Thousand-noted Nightingale ; if not, you will neither be able to reach there nor to return.

The elder brother took the wide road. He went and went