*A Folktale From Costa Rica: The Grateful Dead*

*Summarized by Jane*

*Once upon a time, there was a blind king who had three princes. To make their father have sight again, They went to find the magical bird. On the way to find, thee of them all met a crowd talking about the burial of a dead body of a man. No one wanted to pay. Just the youngest prince stopped and paid for it. At night, the prince met the soul of the man. Together, they travelled to find the bird. After many days, finally they found the bird. The owner of the bird wanted them to rescue his magical horse stolen by a fearsome giant. In return, he would give them the bird. After rescuing the horse with the help from the soul, the owner didn’t want to keep the promise. Again the soul helped the prince to have the bird and the horse and escaped from the owner. On the way to arrive home, the prince met his two brothers. The two brothers wanted to steal what the prince had achieved. They tricked the prince to sleep and dropped him from a cliff. After saying wrong about their brother, they used the bird to cure the father’s eyes. But it didn’t succeed. Meanwhile, The soul saved the youngest prince from death and helped him to come back to the castle to meet his father and his brothers. Just when the bird met the youngest prince, it had effect to return the sight to the king. After that the king knew what the two brothers did to their brother, he wanted to punish them. But the young prince embraced his brothers. "All is forgiven," he said, "for I know well that each of us is sometimes in need, and you are in need of forgiveness." The grateful soul of the poor dead man saw that all was well, so he wished his friend "Adios" and disappeared.*