His two older brothers having failed to retrieve their mother’s magic brocade, the youngest son now sets out to bring the treasure back.

After waiting and eaiting for the secnd son to return home, the widow became desperately ill. At last she turned blind from weeping. Still neither of her sons ever came back.

The youngest son, beside himself with worry, begged his mother to let him go in search of the brocade.

“I’ll bring it back to you, Mother, I promise.”

Faint with exhaustion and despair, the widow nodded weakly.

Traveling swiftly, the youngest son took only half a month to arrive at the mountain pass. There he met the old woman in front of the stone house. She told him exactly the same thing that she had told his two brothers, but added, “My son, your brothers each went away with a box of gold. You may have one too.”

With steady firmness the boy refused. “I shall not let these difficulties stop me,” he declared. “I am going to bring back the brocade that took my mother three years to weave.”

Instantly he knocked two teeth out of his mouth and put them into the mouth of the handsome stone horse. The stone horse came alive and went to the tall green tree and ate ten pieces of red fruit hanging from its branches. As soon as it had done this, the horse lifted its elegant head, tossed its silver mane, and neighed. Quickly the boy mounted its back, and together they galloped off toward the east.

—

Next time: “Fire, Water, & Sun”