The Two Brothers

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"And what is the request?" he asked.

They answered, "We have been fully trained as huntsmen, but we still want experience, and what we ask is that you will let us leave you and go out into the world by ourselves."

The old man responded with delight, "You speak as brave hunstmen should, and what you wish is my desire also; go forth, all will, I know, be well with you."

After this they passed a happy evening, making merry over their supper.

When the appointed day came for their departure, the foster-father gave them each a good gun, and let them take as much as they wanted from the money he had saved for them. He went with them part of the way, and before finally saying good-bye to them, he made them a further present of a knife with a polished blade. "If later on," he said, "you should have to separate, stick this knife into a tree at the cross-ways, and when either of you wishes to know how his absent brother is faring, go back and look at the blade on the side facing the direction in which he went: if he is dead, the blade will be rusty, but as long as he is alive, it will remain bright."

The brothers travelled on and at last came to a forest which was too large to be traversed in a single day's journey, so they encamped there for the night, and fed on what they had in their hunting-pouches. The next day, however, they found it equally impossible to get out of the forest, and as they had now nothing left to eat, one of them said, "We must shoot something for ourselves, or we shall starve," and he loaded his gun and looked about to see what he could find.

An old hare came running by, and he was just going to shoot her, when she cried—

And with that she leaped into the underwood and brought out two of her young; but the little things were so lively, and gambolled so prettily, that the two huntsmen could not find it in their hearts to kill them. So they agreed to keep them, and the young animals followed them on foot.