very one was fond. One day he said to his
mother: "All the other children have a grandmother, but I have none.
And that makes me feel very sad!"

"We will hunt up a grandmother for you," said his mother. Now it once
happened that an old beggar-woman came to the house, who was very old
and feeble. And when the child saw her, he said to her: "You shall be
my grandmother!" And he went to his mother and said: "There is a
beggar-woman outside, whom I want for my grandmother!" And his mother
was willing and called her into the house; though the old woman was
very dirty. So the boy said to his mother: "Come, let us wash
grandmother!" And they washed the woman. But she had a great many
burrs in her hair, so they picked them all out and put them in a jar,
and they filled the whole jar. Then the grandmother said: "Do not
throw them away, but bury them in the garden. And you must not dig
them up again before the great flood comes."

"When is the great flood coming?" asked the boy.

"When the eyes of the two stone lions in front of the prison grow red,
then the great flood will come," said the grandmother.

So the boy went to look at the lions, but their eyes were not yet
red. And the grandmother also said to him: "Make a little wooden ship
and keep it in a little box." And this the boy did. And he ran to the
prison every day and looked at the lions, much to the astonishment of
the people in the street.

One day, as he passed the chicken-butcher's shop, the butcher asked
him why he was always running to the lions. And the boy said: "When
the lions' eyes grow red then the great flood will come." But the
butcher laughed at him. And the following morning, quite early, he
took some chicken-blood and rubbed it on the lions' eyes. When the boy
saw that the lions' eyes were red he ran swiftly home, and told his
mother and grandmother. And then his grandmother said: "Dig up the jar
quickly, and take the little ship out of its box." And when they dug
up the jar, it was filled with the purest pearls and the little ship
grew larger and larger, like a real ship. Then the grandmother said:
"Take the jar with you and get into the ship. And when the great flood
comes, then you may save all the animals that are driven into it; but
human beings, with their black heads, you are not to save." So they
climbed into the ship, and the grandmother suddenly disappeared.

Now it began to rain, and the rain kept falling more and more heavily
from the