VII + 

The godson went his way, and as he went he thought: + 

“How am I to destroy evil in the world? Evil is destroyed by banishing evil men, keeping them in prison, or putting them to death. How then am I to destroy evil without taking the sins of others upon myself?” + 

The godson pondered over it for a long time, but could come to no conclusion. He went on until he came to a field where corn was growing thick and good and ready for the reapers. The godson saw that a little calf had got in among the corn. Some men who were at hand saw it, and mounting their horses they chased it backwards and forwards through the corn. Each time the calf was about to come out of the corn, someone rode up and the calf got frightened and turned back again, and they all galloped after it, trampling down the corn. On the road stood a woman crying. + 

“They will chase my calf to death,” she said. + 

And the godson said to the peasants: + 

“What are you doing? Come out of the cornfield, all of you, and let the woman call her calf.” + 

The men did so; and the woman came to the edge of the cornfield and called to the calf. “Come along browney, come along,” said she. The calf pricked up its ears, listened awhile, and then ran towards the woman of its own accord, and hid its head in her skirts, almost knocking her over. The men were glad, the woman was glad, and so was the little calf. + 

The godson went on, and he thought: + 

“Now I see that evil spreads evil. The more people try to drive away evil, the more the evil grows. Evil, it seems, cannot be destroyed by evil; but in what way it can be destroyed, I do not know. The calf obeyed its mistress and so all went well; but if it had not obeyed her, how could we have got it out of the field?” + 

The godson pondered again, but came to no conclusion, and continued his way. + 