Page:Tales of old Lusitania.djvu/165

Rh on the point of giving up the apple, when the apple, changing itself into millet seeds, fell into her hand. The man, however, equal to the occasion, now turned into a hen with a number of chickens, so as to eat up the seeds; but the millet seeds began to swell till they took the shape of a fox, and then jumped down and ate up the hen and her chicks, after which it once more took the form of a man and went home.

When the father saw his son return, he said to him, "My son, what a time you have been away! What has kept you so long?"

To which the son replied, "It is all your own fault if I have been absent long, my father. You will never be rich, however much I may try, for you would always cross my plans. By your foolishness in giving up the bridle you have put me in danger of losing my life over and over again. It is therefore high time I sought my fortune elsewhere."

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