The gardener’s eldest son came to a wood, and by the side of the wood
he saw a fox sitting; so he took his bow and made ready to shoot at it.
Then the fox said, ’Do not shoot me, for I will give you good advice; I
know that you want to find the golden bird. You will reach a village in
the evening and you will see two inns opposite to each other, one of
which is very pleasant and beautiful to look at: don’t go in there, but
rest for the night in the other, though it may appear to you to be very
poor and ugly.’ But the son thought to himself, ’What can a stupid fox know about the matter?’ So he shot his arrow at the fox; but he
missed it. Then he went his way, and in the evening came to the village
where the two inns were; and in one of these were people singing, and
dancing, and feasting; but the other looked very dirty, and poor. ’I
should be very silly,’ said he, ’if I went to that ugly house, and left
this charming place’; so he went into the smart house, and ate and drank
at his ease, and forgot the bird, and his country too. He forgot his entire quest until he was too old to even try.