Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, though it was neither
in my time nor in your time nor in any one else's time, there was an
old man and an old woman, and they had one son, and they lived in a
great forest. And their son never saw any other people in his life,
but he knew that there was some more in the world besides his own
father and mother, because he had lots of books, and he used to read
every day about them. And when he read about some pretty young women,
he used to go mad to see some of them; till one day, when his father
was out cutting wood, he told his mother that he wished to go away to
look for his living in some other country, and to see some other
people besides them two. And he said, "I see nothing at all here but
great trees around me; and if I stay here, maybe I shall go mad before
I see anything." The young man's father was out all this time, when
this talk was going on between him and his poor old mother.

The old woman begins by saying to her son before leaving, "Well, well,
my poor boy, if you want to go, it's better for you to go, and God be
with you."--(The old woman thought for the best when she said that.)--
"But stop a bit before you go. Which would you like best for me to
make you, a little cake and bless you, or a big cake and curse you?"
"Dear, dear!" said he, "make me a big cake. Maybe I shall be hungry on
the road." The old woman made the big cake, and she went on top of the
house, and she cursed him as far as she could see him.

He presently meets with his father, and the old man says to him:
"Where are you going, my poor boy?" when the son told the father the
same tale as he told his mother. "Well," says his father, "I'm sorry
to see you going away, but if you've made your mind to go, it's better
for you to go."