A certain woman had a kind of adventure. When she went out into the
field to cut grass, or to fetch hemp, and placed food in the stove,
then somebody took the victuals out of the stove, and ate them all
clean up. She thought, what might such a thing as this signify?
Nohow could she guess it. She came, the door was shut, and there was
only remaining in the house a baby--maybe half a year old--in the
cradle. Well, she betook herself to a wise woman. She entreated her
and paid her to come, and she came. She looked about, she snuffed
about--I mean the wise woman. All at once she heard something
indefinite. 'Go you,' she said, 'into the field, and I'll hide
myself and we'll see what this is.' The woman went into the field,
and the wise woman hid herself in a corner, and kept a look-out.
Then, pop! the baby jumped out of the cradle! She looked, and it was
no more a baby, but an old man. He was quite dwarfish, and his beard
was long. In a moment he was after the eatables, pulled the victuals
out of the stove, then gave a screech, and began to gobble up the
food. When he had devoured all, then he became a baby again; but now
he didn't crawl into the cradle, but lay down, and screeched till
the whole house rang. Then the wise woman was after him: she placed
him on a block of wood, and began to chop the block under his feet.
He screeched and she chopped: he screeched and she chopped. Then she
saw how, taking an opportunity, he became an old man again, and
said: 'Old woman, I have transformed myself not once nor twice only:
I was first a fish, then I became a bird, an ant, and a quadruped,
and now I have once more made trial of being a human being. It isn't
better thus than being among the ants; but among human beings--it
isn't worse!'