ould not help being the most bungling
fisher.

The whole day passed in this way, while he sat on the rocks holding the
fishing rod and waiting in vain for his luck to turn. At last the day
began to darken, and the evening came; still he had caught not a single
fish. Drawing up his line for the last time before going home, he found
that he had lost his hook without even knowing when he had dropped it.

He now began to feel extremely anxious, for he knew that his brother
would be angry at his having lost his hook, for, it being his only one,
he valued it above all other things. The Happy Hunter now set to work
to look among the rocks and on the sand for the lost hook, and while he
was searching to and fro, his brother, the Skillful Fisher, arrived on
the scene. He had failed to find any game while hunting that day, and
was not only in a bad temper, but looked fearfully cross. When he saw
the Happy Hunter searching about on the shore he knew that something
must have gone wrong, so he said at once:

"What are you doing, my brother?"

The Happy Hunter went forward timidly, for he feared his brother's
anger, and said:

"Oh, my brother, I have indeed done badly."

"What is the matter?--what have you done?" asked the elder brother
impatiently.

"I have lost your precious fishing hook--"

While he was still speaking his brother stopped him, and cried out
fiercely:

"Lost my hook! It is just what I expected. For this reason, when you
first proposed your plan of changing over our occupations I was really
against it, but you seemed to wish it so much that I gave in and
allowed you to do as you wished. The mistake of our trying unfamiliar
tasks is soon seen! And you have done badly. I will not return you your
bow and arrow till you have found my hook. Look to it that you find it
and return it to me quickly."

The Happy Hunter felt that he was to blame for all that had come to
pass, and bore his brother's scornful scolding with humility and
patience. He hunted everywhere for the hook most diligently, but it was
nowhere to be found. He was at last obliged to give up all hope of
finding it. He then went home, and in desperation broke his beloved
sword into pieces and made five hundred hooks out of it.

He took these to his angry brother and offered them to him, asking his
forgiveness, and begging him to accept them in the place of the one he
had lost for him. It was useless; his brother would not listen to him,
much less