"Where am I, my dear brother? Where are you?" But there was no answer to his heart-rending cries. The cowardly brother, who had deserted him, was already far away. It was long before Lovallec, the blind one, would believe that his brother could be cruel enough to desert him. He called and cried for the absent brother, but the only answer he heard was in the mocking echoes. Night came, and he was tired, hungry, and thirsty. Despair seized him and he continued his lamentations. "Ah, my brother! my brother! how cruel you have been to forsake me! Is it my fate to die of hunger at the foot of this tree, or become the prey of the ravenous beasts that roam through this forest? No! Better a thousand times that I should die at once." With this the unfortunate brother climbed the tree, at the foot of which he found himself, groping his way up the trunk, and was preparing to throw himself to the ground to end his existence then and there, when he heard in the forest, near at hand, the terrible roaring of a lion. At this sound the leaves and branches of the tree trembled, and the blind unfortunate paused. The roaring of the Lion, as it seemed, was a call to the Wolf, who soon made his appearance at the foot of the tree. "You are late, Wolf!" exclaimed the Lion; "where do you come from?" "I have been at Offemborough," said the Wolf, "where I have tasted human flesh. There everyone is dying of thirst, and the people are too weak to protect themselves. That is why I am late." At this the Lion laughed heartily. "I know," said he, "how water can be procured for the inhabitants of this city." "But how can this be done?" the Wolf inquired. "It is easy enough," said the Lion, in his positive way; "take a small piece of the root of this very tree under which we are standing, and strike three times on the rock in the middle of the city, saying: "'Come, gentle Dew, from the skies, Refreshing Fountains rise, Oh, Rivers! greet men's eyes!' and immediately water, fresh and clear as crystal will flow, and it will flow in sufficient abundance to satisfy the needs of all." "You are wise," said the Wolf. "Can you not give me some other useful information?" "Yes," said the lion, "I can tell you a remedy that will cure all sorts of maladies and infirmities." "What is that?" said the Wolf. "To succeed in the art of medicine," said the Lion, shaking his mane and beard, "one has only to take the inner bark of this same tree, and apply it to the seat of the disease. For example, if one is blind, a portion of the inner bark of the tree would have to be applied to the eyes." "That is very strange," said the Wolf, "and I will remember it. But now tell me from whence you come: I have not seen you for many days." "I have just arrived from the city of the famous King, whose beautiful daughter now lies dangerously ill." "And how did the famous King's beautiful daughter come to be ill?" inquired the Wolf.