t?"--"I should say, do
no such thing," replied his wife. "Thou knowest the saying, 'If thou
dost want to find the Wind, seek him on the open steppe. He can go ten
different ways to thy one.' Think of that, dear husband, and go not at
all."--"I mean to go," replied the man, "though I never return home
again." Then he took leave of his wife and children, and went straight
out into the wide world to seek the Wind on the open steppe.

He went on farther and farther till he saw before him a forest, and
on the borders of that forest stood a hut on hens' legs. The man went
into this hut and was filled with astonishment, for there lay on the
floor a huge, huge old man, as grey as milk. He lay there stretched
at full length, his head on the seat of honour,[6] with an arm and
leg in each of the four corners, and all his hair standing on end. It
was no other than the Wind himself. The man stared at this awful
Ancient with terror, for never in his life had he seen anything like
it. "God help thee, old father!" cried he.--"Good health to thee,
good man!" said the ancient giant, as he lay on the floor of the
hut. Then he asked him in the most friendly manner, "Whence hath God
brought thee hither, good man?"--"I am wandering through the wide
world in search of the Wind," said the man. "If I find him, I will
turn back; if I don't find him, I shall go on and on till I
do."--"What dost thou want with the Wind?" asked the old giant lying
on the floor. "Or what wrong hath he done thee, that thou shouldst
seek him out so doggedly?"--"What wrong hath he done me?" replied
the wayfarer. "Hearken now, O Ancient, and I will tell thee! I went
straight from my wife into the field and reaped my little plot of
corn; but when I began to thresh it out, the Wind came and caught
and scattered every bit of it in a twinkling, so that there was
not a single little grain of it left. So now thou dost see, old
man, what I have to thank him for. Tell me, in God's name, why such
things be? My little plot of corn was my all-in-all, and in the
sweat of my brow did I reap and thresh it; but the Wind came and blew
it all away, so that not a trace of it is to be found in the wide
world. Then I thought to myself, 'Why should he do this?' And I said
to my wife, 'I'll go seek the Wind, and say to him, "Another time,
visit not the poor man who hath but a little corn, and blow it not
away, for bitterly doth he rue it!"'"--"Good, my son!" said the giant
who lay on the fl