is face, "whom would you select?" Antonio timidlv
said that he would select the brother.

"You are only guessing, aren't you?" said old Julian doubtfully.

"Bah! No, sir!" said the boy. "I can give you a reason for my
selection."

"Very well, give your reason, then."

"The woman would be right in selecting her brother"--

"Because"--

"Because, what to a woman is a husband? She can marry again; she can
find another."

"That is true," said the old man.

"And what to a woman is her son? Is it not possible to bear another
one after she marries again?"

"To be sure," said old Julian.

"But," continued the boy, raising his voice, "is it possible for her
to bring into the world another brother? Is it possible? The woman's
parents were dead. Therefore she would be right in selecting her
brother instead of her husband or her son."

"Exactly so, my boy," returned the satisfied old man, nodding his
gray head. "Since you have answered correctly, to-morrow I will tell
you another story."

Notes.

This saga-like story is of peculiar literary interest because of
its ancient connections. I know of no modern analogues; but there
are two very old parallels, as well as two unmistakable references
to the identical situation in our story which date from before the
Christian era, and also a Persian Maerchen that goes back as far as
the twelfth century.

Herodotus (III, 119) first tells the story of a Persian woman who
chooses rather to save the life of her brother than of her husband
and children.

"When all the conspirators against Darius had been seized [i.e.,
Intaphernes, his children, and his family], and had been put in chains
as malefactors condemned to death, the wife of Intaphernes came
and stood continually at the palace-gates, weeping and wailing. So
Darius after a while, seeing that she never ceased to stand and weep,
was touched with pity for her, and bade a messenger go to her and say,
'Lady, King Darius gives thee as a boon the life of one of thy kinsmen;
choose which thou wilt of the prisoners.' Then she pondered a while
before she answered, 'If the king grants the life of one alone, I make
choice of my brother.' Darius, when he heard the reply, was astonished,
and sent again, saying, 'Lady, the king bids thee tell him why it is
that thou passest by thy husband and thy children, and preferrest to
have the life of thy brother spared. He is not so near to thee as thy
children, not so dear as thy husband.