That afternoon when all the children went down to the river to go swimming, the village trader took the town trader's little son to the house of a friend saying, "Please keep this little boy here until I come back for him."
By and by the villager went back to the town trader's house.
"Where is my son? He went away with you. Why didn't you bring him back?" asked the town trader.
"I took him with me and left him on the bank of the river while I went down into the water," said the villager. "While I was swimming about a big bird seized your son, and flew up into the air with him. I shouted, but I could not make the bird let go," he said.
"That cannot be true," cried the town trader. "No bird could carry off a boy. I will go to the court, and you will have to go there, and tell the judge."
The villager said, "As you please"; and they both went to the court. The town trader said to the judge:
"This fellow took my son with him to the river, and when I asked where the boy was, he said that a bird had carried him off."
"What have you to say?" said the judge to the village trader.
"I told the father that I took the boy with me, and that a bird had carried him off," said the village trader.
"But where in the world are there birds strong enough to carry off boys?" said the judge.