his barrio. He surprised
everybody when he defeated the man who used to be the Hercules of
the place.

One day the king issued a proclamation: "He who can give the monarch
a carriage made of gold shall have the princess for his wife." When
Juan and Pedro heard this royal announcement, they were very anxious
to get the carriage and receive the reward.

Juan was the first to try his luck. He went to a neighboring mountain
and began to dig for gold. While he was eating his lunch at noon,
an old leper with her child approached him, and humbly begged him to
give her something to eat.

"No, the food I have here is just enough for me. Go away! You are
very dirty," said Juan with disgust.

The wretched old woman, with tears in her eyes, left the place. After
he had worked for three weeks, Juan became discouraged, gave up his
scheme of winning the princess, and returned home.

Pedro followed his brother, but he had no better luck than Juan. He
was also unkind to the old leper.

Lucas now tried his fortune. The day after his arrival at the mountain,
when he was eating, the old woman appeared, and asked him to give her
some food. Lucas gave the woman half of his meat. The leper thanked
him, and promised that she would give him not only the carriage made
of gold, but also a pair of shoes, a coat, and some trousers. She
then bade Lucas good-by.

Nine days passed, and yet the woman had not come. Lucas grew tired
of waiting, and in his heart began to accuse the woman of being
ungrateful. He repented very much the kindness he had shown the old
leper. Finally she appeared to Lucas, and told him what he had been
thinking about her. "Do not think that I shall not fulfil my promise,"
she said. "You shall have them all." To the great astonishment of
Lucas, the woman disappeared again. The next day he saw the golden
carriage being drawn by a pair of fine fat horses; and in the carriage
were the shoes, the coat, and the trousers. The old woman appeared,
and showed the young man how to wear the shoes and clothes.

Then he entered the carriage and was driven toward the palace. On
his way he met a man.

"Who are you?" said Lucas.

"I am Runner, son of the good runner," was the answer.

"Let us wrestle!" said Lucas. "I want to try your strength. If you
defeat me, I will give you a hundred pesos; but if I prove to be the
stronger, you must come with me."

"All right, let us wrestle!" said Runner. The struggle lasted for
ten minut