Household Stories by the Brothers GrimmGrimm, Jacob
General
Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm
Grimm, Jacob
Fairy tales -- Germany
"Certainly, my lord king," answered the man; "let me have as much gold
as my servant can carry, and I give up all claim to your daughter." And
the king agreed that he should come again in a fortnight to fetch the
gold. The man then called together all the tailors in the kingdom, and
set them to work to make a sack, and it took them a fortnight. And when
it was ready, the strong man who had been found rooting up trees took it
on his shoulder, and went to the king.
"Who is this immense fellow carrying on his shoulder a bundle of stuff
as big as a house?" cried the king, terrified to think how much gold he
would carry off. And a ton of gold was dragged in by sixteen strong men,
but he put it all into the sack with one hand, saying,
"Why don't you bring some more? this hardly covers the bottom!" So the
king bade them fetch by degrees the whole of his treasure, and even then
the sack was not half full.
"Bring more!" cried the man; "these few scraps go no way at all!" Then
at last seven thousand waggons laden with gold collected through the
whole kingdom were driven up; and he threw them in his sack, oxen and
all.
"I will not look too closely," said he, "but take what I can get, so
long as the sack is full." And when all was put in there was still
plenty of room.
"I must make an end of this," he said; "if it is not full, it is so much
the easier to tie up." And he hoisted it on his back, and went off with
his comrades.
When the king saw all the wealth of his realm carried off by a single
man he was full of wrath, and he bade his cavalry mount, and follow
after the six men, and take the sack away from the strong man.
Two regiments were soon up to them, and called them to consider
themselves prisoners, and to deliver up the sack, or be cut in pieces.
"Prisoners, say you?" said the man who could blow, "suppose you first
have a little dance together in the air," and holding one nostril, and
blowing through the other, he sent the regiments flying head over heels,
over the hills and far away. But a sergeant who had nine wounds and was
a brave fellow, begged not to be put to so much shame. And the blower
let him down easily, so that he came to no harm, and he bade him go to
the king and tell him that whatever regiments he liked to send more
should be blown away just the same. And the king, when he got the
message, said,
"Let the fellows be; they have some right on their side." So the six
comrades carried home their treasure, divided it among them, and lived
contented till they died.
CLEVER GRETHEL
THERE was once a cook called Grethel, who wore shoes with red heels, and
when she went out in them she gave herself great airs, and thought
herself very fine indeed. When she came home again, she would take a
drink of wine to refresh herself, and as that gave her an appetite, she
would take some of the best of whatever she was cooking, until she had
had enough;--"for," said she, "a cook must know how things taste."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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