er and weaker than he, Gil was quite
content, and never ceased to be grateful for the little brother who had
come to be his playmate. But suddenly, as it seemed, he found that Jan
was almost as big as himself; for the boy had thriven wondrously, though
there were still several years which Jan could never make up. Gil was
still the leader, but Jan was not far behind; and Jan himself led all
the other boys when his brother was not by. Every one loved Jan, for he
was kind and merry, while Gil was often gloomy and disagreeable. Gil
wanted to be first in everything, but there began to be some things that
Jan could do better than he. It made Gil angry to hear his brother
praised; it made him sulky and malicious, and sometimes he spoke
unkindly to Jan, which caused the blue eyes to fill with tears. For, big
fellow though he was, Jan was five years younger, and he was a sensitive
lad, loving Gil more than anything else in the world. Gil's unkindness
hurt Jan deeply, but could not make him love his brother less.

Both boys were famous swimmers. Gil was still the stronger of the two,
and he could outswim any lad in town. As for Jan, the fishermen declared
that he took to the water like a fish. No one in all the village could
turn and twist, dive and glide and play such graceful pranks, flashing
whitely through the waves, as did Jan. This was a great trouble to Gil,
who wished to be foremost in this as in everything else. He was a
selfish fellow; he had wanted a playmate to follow and admire him. He
had not bargained for a comrade who might become a rival. And he seemed
to love his brother less and less as the days went by.

One beautiful summer day Gil and Jan called together the other boys, the
best swimmers in the village, and they all went down to the bay to swim.
They played all sorts of water-games, in which the two brothers were
leaders. They dived and floated and chased one another like fishes
through the water. Jan, especially, won shouts of applause for his
wonderful diving, for the other boys liked him, and were proud of him,
glad to see him win. This again made Gil jealous and angry. Jan dived
once more and remained under water so long that the boys began to fear
that he would never come up; and in his wicked heart Gil half hoped that
it was to be so. For it had come about that Gil began to wish he had no
brother at all. So different was he from the boy who made the eager
bargain with the good old Stork.

At last Jan