Again the King considered how to get rid of his unpleasant guests, and
caused their chief to be brought and said, “If thou wilt take gold and
renounce my daughter, thou shalt have as much as thou wilt.”
“Oh, yes, Lord King,” he answered, “give me as much as my servant can
carry, and I will not ask for your daughter.”
On this the King was satisfied, and the other continued, “In fourteen
days, I will come and fetch it.” Thereupon he summoned together all the
tailors in the whole kingdom, and they were to sit for fourteen days
and sew a sack. And when it was ready, the strong one who could tear up
trees had to take it on his back, and go with it to the King. Then said
the King, “Who can that strong fellow be who is carrying a bundle of
linen on his back that is as big as a house?” and he was alarmed and
said, “What a lot of gold he can carry away!” Then he commanded a ton
of gold to be brought; it took sixteen of his strongest men to carry
it, but the strong one snatched it up in one hand, put it in his sack,
and said, “Why don’t you bring more at the same time? that hardly
covers the bottom!” Then, little by little, the King caused all his
treasure to be brought thither, and the strong one pushed it into the
sack, and still the sack was not half full with it. “Bring more,” cried
he, “these few crumbs don’t fill it.” Then seven thousand carts with
gold had to be gathered together in the whole kingdom, and the strong
one thrust them and the oxen harnessed to them into his sack. “I will
examine it no longer,” said he, “but will just take what comes, so long
as the sack is but full.” When all that was inside, there was still
room for a great deal more; then he said, “I will just make an end of
the thing; people do sometimes tie up a sack even when it is not full.”
So he took it on his back, and went away with his comrades. When the
King now saw how one single man was carrying away the entire wealth of
the country, he became enraged, and bade his horsemen mount and pursue
the six, and ordered them to take the sack away from the strong one.
Two regiments speedily overtook the six, and called out, “You are
prisoners, put down the sack with the gold, or you will all be cut to
pieces!” “What say you?” cried the blower, “that we are prisoners!
Rather than that should happen, all of you shall dance about in the
air.” And he closed one nostril, and with the other blew on the two
regiments. Then they were driven away from each other, and carried into
the blue sky over all the mountains one here, the other there. One
sergeant cried for mercy; he had nine wounds, and was a brave fellow
who did not deserve ill treatment. The blower stopped a little so that
he came down without injury, and then the blower said to him, “Now go
home to thy King, and tell him he had better send some more horsemen,
and I will blow them all into the air.” When the King was informed of
this he said, “Let the rascals go. They have the best of it.” Then the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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