It was not long before he was very sure that he could hear a deep roar.  His heart beat fast, but he walked steadily forward, and soon the roar was repeated, this time nearer and more distinctly, and he saw in the dim light a great wild ox coming towards him.

He found a large hole in the trunk of a huge tree.  “I will pass the night here in this tree,” he said to himself.

In a little while an old man appeared.  His body was covered with coarse hair and he was very ugly.  He looked fiercely at Jackyo from head to foot and said:  “What are you thinking of to come in here?  Do you not know that this is the royal castle of the king of evil spirits?”

Jackyo became more frightened than before and for a long time he could not speak, but at last he stammered:  “Excuse me, sir, but I cannot go home on account of the dark night.  I pray you to let me rest here for a short time.”

“I cannot let you stay here, because our king is not willing to help any one who does not belong to his kingdom.  If he did so, his kingdom would be lost.  But what is your name?  Do you know how to sing?” said the old man.

“My name is Jackyo, and I know a little bit about singing,” replied Jackyo.

“Well,” said the old man, “if you know any song, sing for me.”  Now Jackyo knew but one song, and that was about the names of the days of the week except Sunday.  He did not like to sing it, but the old man urged him, saying:  “If you do not sing, I will cut your head off.”  So Jackyo began to sing.

It happened that the king [5] of the evil spirits, whose name was Mensaya, heard Jackyo’s song and was very much interested in it.  He called a servant, named Macquil, and said:  “Macquil, go downstairs and see who is singing down there, and when you find him, bring him to me.”

Jackyo went before the king, bowed to the floor, touching the carpet with his forehead, and stood humbly before the king.

“Let me hear your song,” said the king.  So Jackyo, with great respect, sang the only song he knew.  Here it is: 

    Mon-day, Tues-day, Wednesday, Thurs-day, Fri-day, Sat-ur-day.

While he was singing, all the evil spirits in the cave gathered around him to hear his song, and Mensaya asked him to sing it over and over again.  They were all so pleased with it that Mensaya ordered Macquil to give Jackyo a large quantity of gold and silver as a reward for his beautiful song.

When the morning came Jackyo returned home, full of joy, and became known as the richest man in the village.

CHAPTER 2

Truth and Falsehood.

One day Truth started for the city to find some work.  On his way he overtook Falsehood, who was going to the city for the same purpose.  Falsehood asked permission to ride on the horse with Truth, and his request was granted.

On the way they questioned each other as to the sort of work they wanted.  Truth stated that he intended to be a secretary, so that he might always be clean and white.  Falsehood declared that he would be a cook, because then he would always have plenty of fine things to eat.