time for the man to set out for Oh's house his wife
said to him, "See now! we have nothing left in the house but a small
loaf and a bit of honeycomb. But we can do better than fill our
stomach with them. Do you take them to the old Wise Woman who lives
over beyond the hill. Tell her they are a gift, and then ask her what
we can do to meet the tricks of the little old Green One."

The man did as his wife bade him, though he was hungry and would have
been glad of a bit of the bread himself.

The Wise Woman was pleased with the gift, and thanked the man kindly.
Then the man told her all his troubles and asked her how he was to get
his son back again from Oh.

"Listen!" said the old woman. "Oh would gladly keep your son with him
as a husband for his daughter, and if you do not bring the lad away
with you this time, you will never have him back. This time Oh will
show you a flock of doves, and one of them will be your son. Look
closely at them, and the one that has tears in its eyes is he, for
only a human soul can weep."

The father thanked the old woman and hurried back home again, and very
soon after it was time to set out for Oh's house.

The man travelled along till he came to the wood and the place where
he had come twice already, and he stood there and cried, "Oh! Oh!"

Then Oh appeared before him. "Here I am," said Oh, "ready and waiting
for you. This time, as before, I tell you that if you know your son
when you see him you shall take him away with you, but if, this time,
you do not know him, then he is mine forever."

"Very well," said the man, "that is a bargain."

Then Oh took him down to the underworld. He called to a flock of doves
that was perched on the roof and scattered a handful of peas on the
ground for them. The doves flew down all about them and began to peck
up the peas; but one dove would not eat but sat mournfully on a low
bough and looked at them, and its eyes were full of tears.

"This one is my son," cried the man, pointing to the dove that wept.

As soon as he said this the dove changed its shape and became a young
man, and this was the son, though he had become so fine and tall and
handsome in these three years that his father could scarcely recognize
him.

Then Oh was in a fine rage. He danced with fury and tore his beard.

"Very well," he cried, "he is yours now, but you shall not keep him
long, and when I once get him back again he is mine forever."

But the lad paid no heed to