So he set off to find his fortune, and on the way he saw a tigress,
licking her paw, and moaning mournfully. He was just about to run
away from the terrible creature, when she called to him faintly,
saying, 'Good lad, if you will take out this thorn for me, I shall be
for ever grateful.'

'Not I!' answered the lad. 'Why, if I begin to pull it out, and it
pains you, you will kill me with a pat of your paw.'

[Illustration: Boy pulling thorn out of a tigress's paw]

'No, no!' cried the tigress, 'I will turn my face to this tree, and
when the pain comes I will pat _it_.'

To this the soldier's son agreed; so he pulled out the thorn, and when
the pain came the tigress gave the tree such a blow that the trunk
split all to pieces. Then she turned towards the soldier's son, and
said gratefully, 'Take this box as a reward, my son, but do not open
it until you have travelled nine miles'

So the soldier's son thanked the tigress, and set off with the box to
find his fortune. Now when he had gone five miles, he felt certain
that the box weighed more than it had at first, and every step he took
it seemed to grow heavier and heavier. He tried to struggle on--
though it was all he could do to carry the box--until he had gone
about eight miles and a quarter, when his patience gave way. 'I
believe that tigress was a witch, and is playing off her tricks upon
me,' he cried, 'but I will stand this nonsense no longer. Lie there,
you wretched old box!--heaven knows what is in you, and I don't care.'