himself quite a man, she called him back.

'After all, I don't know what is the use of your going, my boy!
For even if you should catch a fish, I have no fire to cook it
with.'

'Let me catch my fish, and I will soon make you a fire,' he
answered gaily, for he was young, and knew nothing about the
difficulties of fire-making.

It took him some time to haul the net through bushes and over
fields, but at length he reached a pool in the river which he had
often heard was swarming with fish, and here he set the net, as
his grandmother had directed him.

He was so excited that he hardly slept all night, and at the very
first streak of dawn he ran as fast as ever he could down to the
river. His heart beat as quickly as if he had had dogs behind
him, and he hardly dared to look, lest he should be disappointed.
Would there be even one fish? And at this thought the pangs of
hunger made him feel quite sick with fear. But he need not have
been afraid; in every mesh of the net was a fine fat fish, and of
course the net itself was so heavy that he could only lift one
corner. He threw some of the fish back into the water, and
buried some more in a hole under a stone, where he would be sure
to find them. Then he rolled up the net with the rest, put it on
his back and carried it home. The weight of the load caused his
back to ache, and he was thankful to drop it outside their hut,
while he rushed in, full of joy, to tell his grandmother. 'Be
quick and clean them!' he said, 'and I will go to those people's