Note 4 — V. FOLK-LORE AND FOLK-TALES.

Once upon a time a widow woman had an only son. His mother had six brothers. One day at evening his uncles said to the orphan, “Nephew, let us go and set up a fish-trap.”4 So the orphan went with them. Then the six brothers, his uncles, having built a good weir up-stream, set the trap. The orphan, having put together a few stones down-stream, below his uncle’s trap-weir, set his own trap carelessly in the middle of them, and returned home. The next morning they all came to look at their traps. The uncles’ trap, though very well put together, had not caught so much as a cray-fish; as for the orphan’s trap, it was quite full of fish. Then the uncles said, “Nephew, we will set up our trap here; do you go down-stream and set up your trap again.” Then, after the uncles had set up their trap in the orphan’s trap-weir, the orphan again set up his trap downstream. But again the fish entered it just in the same way; while not one fish had got into the uncles’ trap, the orphan’s trap was quite full of fish. Every morning the uncles continued to take for themselves the place where the orphan’s trap had been. At last the orphan, becoming very tired of continually setting up his trap in a different place, one morning, instead of fixing the trap in the stream, placed it on a clump of grass and left it there. Next morning his uncles came and called to the orphan: “Nephew, let us go and look at the traps.” The orphan answered, “For my part, I have not set up my trap at all; nevertheless I will go with you as your companion.” So saying, he went with them. Then he went to look at his trap, and found that a wood-pigeon had got inside it. He tied this wood-pigeon with a noose and brought it home.