Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/123

Rh The young man goes a-hunting. The mother rises and says to the goblin,—"Goblin, may the hght of your sun be cut off! I tell you to show my son a road with no returning, that he may go, and not come back." The goblin says,—"Wallah, your son is a strong man! Wherever we send him he comes back. I don't know where else to send him." "Then I'll tell my son to kill you," cries the mother angrily.

In the evening the son comes, and the mother says,—"Come, lay your head upon my lap and go to sleep, my son." The son goes to sleep on his mother's knees. The son has three marked hairs in his head. The mother twists them around her hand, and pulls them out. The son dies. Then the mother says ta the goblin,—"Come draw your sword and cut off his head." "I won't come," said the goblin. "My hand will not cut off that lad's head." Then the mother rises and takes the sword, and cuts the lad to pieces. She casts the little finger under the wall. She stuffs the bits into a haircloth sack, and sets it aside. The lion-cubs wake up. They come and take the sack, and carry it to the house of the old woman. The old woman fits the bones together, and also the pieces of flesh, sets the head on the body, and only the little finger is lacking. The lion-cubs return and find the little finger also, and carry it to the old woman, and she fastens it in its place. Then she pours lion's milk over the young man. He becomes whole, like one new born. She gives him the Water-melon of Immortality to smell, and he sneezes. She pours the Water of Life over him, and he comes to life and arises. He asks the old woman,—"What happened to me, little mother?" She replies,—"Why, my son, your mother killed you." "Then how did I come to life?" he asks.

Then the old woman says,—"When you brought the lion's milk, I kept it, and I gave you some other milk to take to your mother. I did the same with the Water-melon of Immortality, and the Water of Life. Your mother had killed you, and stuffed you into a haircloth sack. The lion-cubs brought the sack. I fitted your flesh and bones together. I poured the Milk of Immortality over you, and you became whole. I gave you the Water-melon of Immortality to smell, and you sneezed; I poured the Water of Life over you, and you came to life, and arose."