The next morning he started out with a bucket to visit the stone lion. When he had told the lion his errand, the lion said:
“I will grant your wish, but you must be very careful to tell me when the bucket is nearly full; for if even one little piece of gold touches the ground, great misery will surely fall upon you.”
Now the elder brother was so greedy that he kept shaking the bucket to get the gold pieces closer together. And when the bucket was full he did not tell the lion, as the younger brother had done, for he wanted all he could possibly get.
Suddenly one of the gold pieces fell upon the ground.
“Oh,” cried the lion, “a big piece of gold is stuck in my throat. Put your hand in and get it out. It is the largest piece of all.”
The greedy man thrust his hand at once into the lion’s mouth and the lion snapped his jaws together! And there the man stayed, for the lion would not let him go. And the gold in the bucket turned into earth and stones.
When night came and the husband did not return, the wife became anxious and went out to search for him. At last she found him with his arm held fast in the lion’s mouth. He was tired and cold and hungry.
“Alas!” she said, “I wish we had not tried to get the gold. There is no food in the hut for us and we shall have to die.”
The lion was listening to all that was said, and he was so pleased at their misfortune that he began to laugh at them, “Ha, ha, ha!” As he laughed, he opened his mouth and the greedy man quickly drew out his hand, before the lion had a chance to close his jaws again. They were glad enough to get away, and they went to their brother’s house once more. The brother was sorry for them and gave them enough money to buy a home.
The younger brother and his mother lived very happily in their beautiful home, but they always remembered the Stone Lion on the hillside, who gave them their good fortune.