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A king had two sons; one was cunning and unjust, while the other was good and just. When their father died, the unjust brother said to the just one, “Be off with you. We shall no longer live together. Here are three hundred gold sequins and a horse: that is your share of everything our father left us, and you shall have nothing more.” He took the three hundred sequins and the horse and went on his way, saying, “Thank God for the share of the whole kingdom that has fallen to me!” Some time later, the two brothers met on the road, both riding their horses. The just brother greeted the unjust one: “God help you, brother!” The other answered, “May God bring you woe! Why are you always speaking of God? These days injustice is better than justice.” Then the good brother said, “Let us wager that injustice is not better than justice.” So they wagered a hundred gold sequins and agreed to let the first person they met judge between them. A little farther along, they met the devil on horseback, disguised as a monk, and asked him to tell them whether justice or injustice was better. The devil said, “Injustice!” And so the good brother lost a hundred sequins. But they wagered another hundred, and then the third hundred, and by the judgment of the devil, who kept appearing before them in different disguises, the good brother lost all three hundred sequins, and then his horse as well. Then he said, “Thank God, I have no more sequins, but I still have my eyes. I shall wager them once more.” And so he wagered his eyes that justice was better than injustice. Then his brother, without seeking any further judgment, drew a knife, put out both his eyes, and said, “Now let justice help you, since you have no eyes.” In his sorrow he gave thanks to God and said, “I have lost my eyes for the sake of God’s justice, but I beg you, my brother, give me some water in a vessel to moisten my mouth and wash my wounds, and lead me away and leave me beneath the fir tree above the spring.” His brother did as he asked, gave him a vessel of water, and led him away and left him beneath the fir tree above the spring. As the poor man waited there, sometime in the night he heard fairies come to the spring, and while they bathed, one began to say to the others, “Do you know, sisters, that the king’s daughter has fallen ill with leprosy? The king has summoned every physician, but none can cure her. Yet if she only knew to take water now, after we have bathed, and bathe in it herself, she would be well within a day and a night. And anyone deaf, blind, or lame would likewise be healed by this water.” Just then the cocks crowed, and the fairies departed. Then the wretched man crawled on his hands and knees from beneath the fir tree to the water. First he washed his eyes, and at once his sight returned; then he filled his vessel with water and hurried to the king whose daughter had leprosy, saying, “I have come to cure the king’s daughter. If he will admit me, she shall be well within a day and a night.” When the king heard this, he let him into the maiden’s chamber, and he instructed them to bathe her in that water. When a day and a night had passed, the maiden was clean and cured of her leprosy. The king was overjoyed and gave him half his kingdom and his daughter in marriage, and so he became the king’s son-in-law, second only to the king himself. The news spread at once throughout the kingdom and reached the ears of his brother, who used to say that injustice was better than justice. He thought his brother had found good fortune beneath the fir tree, so he went to seek it for himself. First he took some water in a vessel, went beneath the fir tree, and put out his own eyes. Sometime in the night, the fairies came to bathe and began to speak of how the king’s daughter had been cured. “Someone must have been listening,” they said, “when we spoke of how she could be healed by this water after we had bathed. Perhaps someone is listening to us now as well. Let us go and see.” When they went over to the fir tree, they found the man who had come to seek good fortune and who used to say that injustice was better than justice. They seized him by his limbs and tore him apart. And that was how injustice helped the accursed fellow!