"From whom did I steal it?" she cried. "It is my own son."
"Bring him."
She brought the child to him, and the merchant left her the crow and took
the boy to his home and soon became very, rich. The mother came back from
the fountain. The other woman said:
"Where is your son? Listen, he is crying, that son of yours."
"He is not crying," she answered.
"You don't know how to amuse him. I'll go and take him."
"Leave him alone," said the mother. "He is asleep."
They ground some wheat, and the child did not appear to wake up.
At this the husband returned from the market and said to the mother, "Why
don't you busy yourself looking after your son?" Then she arose to take
him, and found a crow in the cradle. The other woman cried:
"This is the mother of a crow! Take it into the other house; sprinkle it
with hot water." She went to the other house and poured hot water on the
crow.
Meanwhile, the child called the merchant his father and the merchant's wife
his mother. One day the merchant set off on a journey. His mother brought
some food to him in the room where he was confined.
"My son," she said, "will you promise not to betray me?"
"You are my mother," answered the child; "I will not betray you."
"Only promise me."
"I promise not to betray you."
"Well, know that I am not your mother and my husband is not your father."
The merchant came home from his journey and took the child some food, but
he would not eat it.
"Why won't you eat?" asked the merchant. "Could your mother have been
here?"
"No," answered the child, "she has not been here."
The merchant went to his wife and said to her, "Could you have gone up to
the child's chamber?"