s one got up, threw the flour into the tub, and made a
hole in the middle, telling the boy to fetch some water from the river
in his two hands, to mix the cake. When the cake was ready for baking
they put it on the fire, and covered it with hot ashes, till it was
cooked through. Then they leaned it up against the wall, for it was too
big to go into a cupboard, and the beardless one said to the boy:

'Look here, sonny: if we share this cake we shall neither of us have
enough. Let us see who can tell the biggest lie, and the one who lies
the best shall have the whole cake.'

The boy, not knowing what else to do, answered, 'All right; you begin.'

So the beardless one began to lie with all his might, and when he was
tired of inventing new lies the boy said to him, 'My good fellow, if
THAT is all you can do it is not much! Listen to me, and I will tell you
a true story.

'In my youth, when I was an old man, we had a quantity of beehives.
Every morning when I got up I counted them over, and it was quite easy
to number the bees, but I never could reckon the hives properly. One
day, as I was counting the bees, I discovered that my best bee was
missing, and without losing a moment I saddled a cock and went out to
look for him. I traced him as far as the shore, and knew that he had
crossed the sea, and that I must follow. When I had reached the other
side I found a man had harnessed my bee to a plough, and with his help
was sowing millet seed.

'"That is my bee!" I shouted. "Where did you get him from?"'
"Brother," replied the man, "if he is yours, take him." And he not only
gave me back my bee, but a sack of millet seed into the bargain, because
he had made use of my bee. Then I put the bag on my shoulders, took
the saddle from the cock, and placed it on the back of the bee, which I
mounted, leading the cock by a string, so that he should have a rest. As
we were flying home over the sea one of the strings that held the bag
of millet broke in two, and the sack dropped straight into the ocean. It
was quite lost, of course, and there was no use thinking about it, and
by the time we were safe back again night had come. I then got down from
my bee, and let him loose, that he might get his supper, gave the cock
some hay, and went to sleep myself. But when I awoke with the sun what
a scene met my eyes! During the night wolves had come and had eaten my
bee. And honey lay ankle-deep in the valley and knee-deep on the hills.
Then I