t you can!'

'Why did you marry a serpent?' asked the boy. 'I thought he was a man!
How did he learn those odd tricks?'

As the sun rose, she woke her brother, and said, 'Go and take the goats
to pasture!'

'I will come too,' said the little boy.

'Go then!' said his mother, and they went together.

On the way the boy began: 'Dear uncle, this night my mother means to
kill both of us, by poisoning us with the bones of the serpent, which
she will grind to powder and sprinkle in our food.'

'And what are we to do?' asked the uncle.

'I will kill her, dear uncle. I do not want either a father or a mother
like that!'

When they came home in the evening they saw the woman preparing supper,
and secretly scattering the powdered bones of the serpent on one side
of the dish. On the other, where she meant to eat herself, there was no
poison.

And the boy whispered to his uncle, 'Dear uncle, be sure you eat from
the same side of the dish as I do!'

'All right,' said the uncle.

So they all three sat down to the table, but before they helped
themselves the boy said, 'I am thirsty, mother; will you get me some
milk?'

'Very well,' said she, 'but you had better begin your supper.'

And when she came back with the milk they were both eating busily.

'Sit down and have something too,' said the boy, and she sat down and
helped herself from the dish, but at the very first moment she sank dead
upon the ground.

'She has got what she meant for us,' observed the boy; 'and now we will
sell all the sheep and cattle.'

So the sheep and cattle were sold, and the uncle and nephew took the
money and went to see the world.

For ten days they travelled through the desert, and then they came to a
place where the road parted in two.

'Uncle!' said the boy.

'Well, what is it?' replied he.

'You see these two roads? You must take one, and I the other; for the
time has come when we must part.'

But the uncle cried, 'No, no, my boy, we will keep together always.'

'Alas! that cannot be,' said the boy; 'so tell me which way you will
go.'

'I will go to the west,' said the uncle.

'One word before I leave you,' continued the boy. 'Beware of any man who
has red hair and blue eyes. Take no service under him.'

'All right,' replied the uncle, and they parted.

For three days the man wandered on without any food, till he was very
hungry. Then, when he was almost fainting, a stranger met him and said,
'Will you work for me?'