The old man at the well had given me some words of advice. I didn’t comprehend their value at the time, but I am very glad that I remembered them in the heat of the moment.

When I came home from my journey, I saw my wife out in the garden with another man. I was about to shoot him with my bow and arrow when I remembered the old man saying, “Patience is the first step on the road to happiness.”

My wife kissed the man’s cheek, and my heart filled with a blind rage, but I remembered the old man’s words, “He wins who waits.”

“Mother,” said the young man, “Can you tell me nothing about my father?”

Returning Husband in He Wins Who Waits, Olive Fairy Book. Illustration by H.J. Ford.