Once a poor widow had two sons who were lazy and uncaring, and a third who was kind and hard-working. When their food was almost gone, the widow sent the oldest youth to earn money for food.

The boy set off and soon met a kindly old man who hired him to tend his sheep. The man told the boy to follow the sheep wherever they went, and he gave the lad a small box and a little bottle in which to bring back samples of the grass the sheep would eat and the water they would drink.

The boy agreed. The next day he followed the sheep on their way to their pasture. Before long, they reached a deep ravine with only a rickety footbridge to the other side. The sheep followed each other across the bridge, but the lazy youth said, "I'm not risking my life on that bridge!" He carelessly stretched out on the grass to nap.

When he awoke, the sheep were returning across the bridge, so the boy hurriedly stuffed some grass in the box. He filled the bottle with water from a stream as he followed the sheep back home.

The old man looked sadly at the box and bottle. "This is not what my sheep ate and drank. You must do better tomorrow."

The same thing happened the next day and the next. At the end of three days, the old man told the boy his job was done and offered him a bag of gold or an honest heart as his reward.

The greedy lad grabbed the bag of gold and started home. On the way, he joined some rowdy fellows who stole his gold. He arrived home with nothing to show.

The mother was greatly disappointed, but she hoped her second son could do better. The second boy set out and met the same old man, but he did just as his older brother had done. He, too, wanted the bag of gold pieces, but fell in with some gamblers and lost all his money. He, too, returned home empty-handed.

The poor mother was full of despair. Her youngest son pleaded, "Send me, Mother. I'll bring home some gold."

"You're hardly big enough!" she cried. But the boy convinced her to let him try, and he started off.

This boy also met the kindly old man and cheerfully agreed to tend his sheep. The next morning, when they reached the rickety bridge, the young shepherd was frightened, but a little lamb spoke clearly to him, "Hold on to my wool and I'll guide you across."

The boy grabbed on and carefully followed the lamb across the dilapidated bridge, through a deep forest and to a high wall. A bronze door sprang open and revealed a beautiful garden filled with trees and blossoms, delicate fruit and soft grass, silver birds and a crystal fountain.

The sheep drank from the fountain, shook off their wool coats and turned into little dwarfs. They ate their fill of the fruit and rested in the blossoms. Finally, the dwarfs put on their coats, turned back into sheep and journeyed home with the boy following quietly behind.

The little old man asked the boy what he had brought back. The boy handed him the box filled with delicious fruit and the bottle full of crystal water from the fountain. "They weren't sheep, sir," he told the old man. "They were wondrous little dwarfs."

The little old man nodded. He offered the boy a bag of gold or an honest heart. The lad replied that while his mother desperately needed the gold, an honest heart was the greatest worth. The old man was pleased and gave the boy three bags of gold to take to his mother. They were able to live comfortably ever after.

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From Fairy Tales from Many Lands, edited by H. Herda, Franklin Watts Inc., N.Y., 1956