as
also successful, cutting off all the seven heads of the monster.

With great joy Juan and Isabella returned to Maria's house. Then the
three went to the foot of the well. There Juan found the vine still
suspended. He tied one end of it around Isabella's waist, and then she
was pulled up by the two brothers waiting above. When they saw her,
Pedro and Felipe each claimed her, saying almost at the same time,
"What a beauty! She is mine." Isabella assured them that there were
other ladies below prettier than she. When he heard these words,
Felipe dropped one end of the vine again. When Maria reached the top
of the well, Felipe felt glad, and claimed her for himself. As the two
brothers each had a maiden now, they would not drop the vine a third
time; but finally Maria persuaded them to do so. On seeing only their
brother's figure, however, the two unfeeling brothers let go of the
vine, and Juan plunged back into the darkness. "O my friends!" said
Maria, weeping, "this is not the way to treat a brother. Had it not
been for him, we should not be here now." Then she took her magic comb,
saying to it, "Comb, if you find Juan dead, revive him; if his legs
and arms are broken, restore them." Then she dropped it down the well.

By means of this magic comb, Juan was brought back to life. The
moment he was able to move his limbs, he groped his way in the dark,
and finally he found himself in the same subterranean plain again. As
he knew of no way to get back to earth, he made up his mind to accept
his fate.

As he was lazily strolling about, he came to a leafy tree with
spreading branches. He climbed up to take a siesta among its fresh
branches. Just as he closed his eyes, he heard a voice calling,
"Juan, Juan! Wake up! Go to the Land of the Pilgrims, for there
your lot awaits you." He opened his eyes and looked about him, but
he saw nothing. "It is only a bird," he said, "that is disturbing
my sleep." So he shut his eyes again. After some moments the same
voice was heard again from the top of the tree. He looked up, but he
could not see any one. However, the voice continued calling to him
so loudly, that he could not sleep. So he descended from the tree to
find that land.

In his wanderings he met an old man wearing very ragged, worn-out
clothes. Juan asked him about the Land of the Pilgrims. The old man
said to him, "Here, take this piece of cloth, which, as you see, I have
torn off my garment, and show it to a hermit you