their heels to the unknown, and they will come home of
themselves.'

The fisher's son did as the woman told him, and everything happened just
as she had said. But at parting the second sister said to him, as she
gave him another pair of shoes:

'Go to my third sister, for she has a son who is keeper of the birds of
the air, and sends them to sleep when night comes. He is very wise, and
perhaps he can help you.'

Then the young man thanked her, and went to the third sister.

The third sister was very kind, but had no counsel to give him, so he
ate and drank and waited till her son came home, after he had sent all
the birds to sleep. He thought a long while after his mother had told
him the young man's story, and at last he said that he was hungry, and
the cow must be killed, as he wanted some supper. So the cow was killed
and the meat cooked, and a bag made of its red skin.

'Now get into the bag,' bade the son, and the young man got in and took
his gun with him, but the dog and the falcon he left outside. The keeper
of the birds drew the string at the top of the bag, and left it to
finish his supper, when in flew an eagle through the open door, and
picked the bag up in her claws and carried it through the air to an
island. There was nothing to eat on the island, and the fisher's son
thought he would die for lack of food, when he remembered the box that
the lady had put in his pocket. He opened the lid, and three tiny little
birds flew out, and flapping their wings they asked,

'Good master, is there anything we can do for thee?'

'Bear me to the kingdom of the king under the waves,' he answered, and
one little bird flew on to his head, and the others perched on each of
his shoulders, and he shut his eyes, and in a moment there he was in the
country under the sea. Then the birds flew away, and the young man
looked about him, his heart beating fast at the thought that here dwelt
the lady whom he had sought all the world over.

He walked on through the streets, and presently he reached the house of
a weaver who was standing at his door, resting from his work.

'You are a stranger here, that is plain,' said the weaver, 'but come in,
and I will give you food and drink.' And the young man was glad, for he
knew not where to go, and they sat and talked till it grew late.

'Stay with me, I pray, for I love company and am lonely,' observed the
weaver at last, and he pointed to a bed in a corner, where the fisher's
son