advice is to eat up his loaf of bread, and then to refuse to give
him a bit of ours until he has promised to let us put out his
eyes or break his legs.'

His eldest brother was delighted with this proposal, and the two
wicked wretches seized Ferko's loaf and ate it all up, while the
poor boy was still asleep.

When he did awake he felt very hungry and turned to eat his
bread, but his brothers cried out, 'You ate your loaf in your
sleep, you glutton, and you may starve as long as you like, but
you won't get a scrap of ours.'

Ferko was at a loss to understand how he could have eaten in his
sleep, but he said nothing, and fasted all that day and the next
night. But on the following morning he was so hungry that he
burst into tears, and implored his brothers to give him a little
bit of their bread. Then the cruel creatures laughed, and
repeated what they had said the day before; but when Ferko
continued to beg and beseech them, the eldest said at last, 'If
you will let us put out one of your eyes and break one of your
legs, then we will give you a bit of our bread.'

At these words poor Ferko wept more bitterly than before, and
bore the torments of hunger till the sun was high in the heavens;
then he could stand it no longer, and he consented to allow his
left eye to be put out and his left leg to be broken. When this
was done he stretched out his hand eagerly for the piece of
bread, but his brothers gave him such a tiny scrap that the
starving youth finished it in a moment and besought them for a