t one suitable punishment for you: within three
days you must bring all your daughters here and give them to me." The
man was so astonished at first, that he did not know what to do. He
made no reply, and after a few minutes went home. His sadness was so
great that he could not even eat. His wife and daughters, noticing
his depression, asked him what he was thinking about. At first he
did not want to tell them; but they urged and begged so incessantly,
that finally he was forced to do so.

He said to them, "To-day I cut down the tree where I got the leaves
which I sold. A snake came out from the stump, and told me that I
should bring you three girls to him or we should all die."

"Don't worry, father! we will go there with you," said the three
daughters.

The next day they prepared to go to the snake. Their parents wept
very much. Each of the three girls gave her mother a handkerchief as
a remembrance. After they had bidden good-by, they set out on their
journey with their father.

As soon as they reached the foot of the mountain, the three daughters
disappeared at once, and the poor father returned home cheerless. A
year had not passed by before a son was born to the old couple. They
named him Juan. When the boy was about eighteen years old, his mother
showed him the handkerchiefs of his sisters.

"Have I any sister?" said Juan to his mother.

"Yes, you have three; but they were taken away by a snake," she
told him. Juan was so angry, that he asked his parents to give him
permission to go in search of his sisters. At first they hesitated,
but at last they gave him leave. So, taking the three handkerchiefs
with him, Juan set out, and went to the mountain.

After travelling for more than ten days, Juan came across three boys
quarrelling over the possession of a cap, a pair of sandals, and a
key. He went near them, and asked them why they all wanted those three
things. The boys told him that the cap would make the person who wore
it invisible, the sandals would give their owner the power to fly,
and that the key would open any door it touched.

Juan told the three boys that it would be better for them to give
him those articles than to quarrel about them; and the boys agreed,
because they did not want either of the others to have them. So Juan
put the key in his pocket, the cap on his head, and the sandals on
his feet, and flew away. After he had passed over many mountains,
he descended. Near the place where he