time he paid
them back with some of his gold. The child didn't hesitate; he would do
it that right then--but how?

The legend didn't tell him. He pulled out a nut sized piece of gold
from his skull and placed it proudly onto his mother's lap.... Then,
dazzled by the riches within his head, he became maddened by desire and
drunk with power. So, he left the family home, and went out into the
world to squander his treasure.

* * * * *

By the way he was living his life--royally--and spreading his gold
around--lavishly--you would have thought his brain inexhaustible. And
yet it did become exhausted--as could be seen by the dullness in his
eyes and his pinched cheeks.

Finally, one morning, after a night of wild debauchery, the wretched
boy, alone amongst the debris of the festivities and the dimming
chandeliers, became terrified about the enormous hole appearing in his
ingot of a brain. It was time to stop. From then on, he was like a new
man. The man with the golden brain, went far away to live alone and
work with his hands. He became suspicious and timid like a miser,
turning his back on temptation, and trying to forget the fatal riches
that he no longer wanted.... Unfortunately, a friend, who knew of his
secret, had followed him. One night, the poor man was suddenly woken up
by an excruciating pain in his head. He jumped up frantically and
caught sight of _the friend_ running away in the moonlight with
something under his coat.... Another piece of brain had been stolen!...

* * * * *

Some time later, the man with the golden brain fell in love, and this
time, too, it came out very badly....

He fell deeply in love with a petite, blond woman, who loved him a lot,
too, but who loved fripperies, white feathers, and pretty, gold-tinged,
tassels bobbling along the full length of her boots, even more. In the
hands of this cute little creature--half bird, half doll--the gold
pieces just melted away at her pleasure. She indulged every known whim,
and he could never bring himself to say no to her. He even kept back
the awful truth about his fortune to the very end, for fear of
upsetting her.

--Are we really rich then? she would ask.

The poor man could only answer:

--Oh, yes... very rich!

And he would smile lovingly at the little blue bird who was unknowingly
eating away at his head. Yet, sometimes fear took hold of him, and he
had a craving to hang on to what little he