` Ah ! mother , ' he replied , ` you see I was quite right when I said I knew a messenger was the profession for me . ' His father too possessed a horse which he often used to take out into the fields to graze . One day he took the Hazel-nut child with him . At midday the father turned to his small son and said , ` Stay here and look after the horse . I must go home and give your mother a message , but I shall be back soon . ' When his father had gone , a robber passed by and saw the horse grazing without any one watching it , for of course he could not see the Hazel-nut child hidden in the grass . So he mounted the horse and rode away . But the Hazel-nut child , who was the most active little creature , climbed up the horse 's tail and began to bite it on the back , enraging the creature to such an extent that it paid no attention to the direction the robber tried to make it go in , but galloped straight home . The father was much astonished when he saw a stranger riding his horse , but the Hazel-nut child climbed down quickly and told him all that had happened , and his father had the robber arrested at once and put into prison . One autumn when the Hazel-nut child was twenty years old he said to his parents : ` Farewell , my dear father and mother . I am going to set out into the world , and as soon as I have become rich I will return home to you . ' The parents laughed at the little man 's words , but did not believe him for a moment . In the evening the Hazel-nut child crept on to the roof , where some storks had built their nest . The storks were fast asleep , and he climbed on to the back of the father-stork and bound a silk cord round the joint of one of its wings , then he crept among its soft downy feathers and fell asleep . The next morning the storks flew towards the south , for winter was approaching . The Hazel-nut child flew through the air on the stork 's back , and when he wanted to rest he bound his silk cord on to the joint of the bird 's other wing , so that it could not fly any farther . In this way he reached the country of the black people , where the storks took up their abode close to the capital . When the people saw the Hazel-nut child they were much astonished , and took him with the stork to the King of the country . The King was delighted with the little creature and kept him always beside him , and he soon grew so fond of the little man that he gave him a diamond four times as big as himself .
The Hazel-nut child fastened the diamond firmly under the stork 's neck with a ribbon , and when he saw that the other storks were getting ready XXXXX their northern flight , he untied the silk cord from his stork 's wings , and away they went , getting nearer home every minute .
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