Claudio, who was eight years old and very innocent, quite believed in the man with two faces, and resolved to look for him everywhere.
That afternoon he went to the outskirts of the town and asked some woodmen:
"Where is the man with two faces?"
And they said to him mockingly:
"Go to the mountain over there and you will come to him."
He followed their counsel and climbed up the mountain without finding anybody. That night he had to spend on the mountain, climbing up to the top of a tree because the howling of the wolves frightened him so much that he did not dare to go back to his home. In the morning, on getting down from the tree, a squirrel saluted him with great ceremony, and said "Good morning."
"Listen, squirrel," said Claudio, "do you know where the man with two faces is?"
"I do not know, but my friend the eagle knows many things. Come with me and we will ask him."
The boy and the squirrel went together and on the top-most part of the mountain came upon the eagle's nest. The eagle turned towards the squirrel and asked what he wanted. On being told of what Claudio wanted he said to him: "I have sometimes heard this man spoken of, but I have never seen him. I only know that he is very unhappy, because he can only look at himself in the glass with his sad face, and on seeing himself so afflicted the poor fellow bursts into tears."
"And where does he live?" said the boy.