Be off now, but come back in
three days, and then thou shalt have five hundred counted out in full.”

When the peasant went out by the gate, the sentry said, “Thou hast made
the King’s daughter laugh, so thou wilt certainly receive something
good.” “Yes, that is what I think,” answered the peasant; “five hundred
are to be counted out to me.” “Hark thee,” said the soldier, “give me
some of it. What canst thou do with all that money?” “As it is thou,”
said the peasant, “thou shalt have two hundred; present thyself in
three days’ time before the King, and let it be paid to thee.” A Jew,
who was standing by and had heard the conversation, ran after the
peasant, held him by the coat, and said, “Oh, wonder! what a luck-child
thou art! I will change it for thee, I will change it for thee into
small coins, what dost thou want with the great thalers?” “Jew,” said
the countryman, “three hundred canst thou still have; give it to me at
once in coin, in three days from this, thou wilt be paid for it by the
King.” The Jew was delighted with the profit, and brought the sum in
bad groschen, three of which were worth two good ones. After three days
had passed, according to the King’s command, the peasant went before
the King. “Pull his coat off,” said the latter, “and he shall have his
five hundred.” “Ah!” said the peasant, “they no longer belong to me; I
presented two hundred of them to the sentinel, and three hundred the
Jew has changed for me, so by right nothing at all belongs to me.” In
the meantime the soldier and the Jew entered and claimed what they had
gained from the peasant, and they received the blows strictly counted
out. The soldier bore it patiently and knew already how it tasted, but
the Jew said sorrowfully, “Alas, alas, are these the heavy thalers?”
The King could not help laughing at the peasant, and as all his anger
was gone, he said, “As thou hast already lost thy reward before it fell
to thy lot, I will give thee something in the place of it. Go into my
treasure chamber and get some money for thyself, as much as thou wilt.”
The peasant did not need to be told twice, and stuffed into his big
pockets whatsoever would go in. Afterwards he went to an inn and
counted out his money. The Jew had crept after him and heard how he
muttered to himself, “That rogue of a King has cheated me after all,
why could he not have given me the money himself, and then I should
have known what I had? How can I tell now if what I have had the luck
to put in my pockets is right or not?” “Good heavens!” said the Jew to
himself, “that man is speaking disrespectfully of our lord the King, I
will run and inform, and then I shall get a reward, and he will be
punished as well.”

When the King heard of the peasant’s words he fell into a passion, and
commanded the Jew to go and bring the offender to him. The Jew ran to
the peasant, “You are to go at once to the lord King in the very
clothes you have on.” “I know what’s right better than that,” answered
the peasant, “I shall have a new coat made first. Dost thou think that
a man with so much money in his pocket is to go there in his ragged old
coat?” The Jew, as he saw that the peasant would not stir without
another coat, and as he feared that if the King’s anger cooled, he
himself would lose his reward, and the peasant his punishment, said, “I
will out of pure friendship lend thee a coat for the short time. What
will people not do for love!” The peasant was contented with this, put
the Jew’s coat on, and went off with him. The King reproached the countryman because of the evil speaking of
which the Jew had informed him. “Ah,” said the peasant, “what a Jew
says is always false—no true word ever comes out of his mouth! That
rascal there is capable of maintaining that I have his coat on.”

“What is that?” shrieked the Jew. “Is the coat not mine? Have I not
lent it to thee out of pure friendship, in order that thou might appear
before the lord King?” When the King heard that, he said, “The Jew has
assuredly deceived one or the other of us, either myself or the
peasant,” and again he ordered something to be counted out to him in
hard thalers. The peasant, however, went home in the good coat, with
the good money in his pocket, and said to himself, “This time I have
hit it!”



8 The Wonderful Musician

There was once a wonderful musician, who went quite alone through a
forest and thought of all manner of things, and when nothing was left
for him to think about, he said to himself, “Time is beginning to pass
heavily with me here in the forest, I will fetch hither a good
companion for myself.” Then he took his fiddle from his back, and
played so that it echoed through the trees. It was not long before a
wolf came trotting through the thicket towards him. “Ah, here is a wolf
coming! I have no desire for him!” said the musician; but the wolf came
nearer and said to him, “Ah, dear musician, how beautifully thou dost
play. I should like to learn that, too.” “It is soon learnt,” the
musician replied, “thou hast only to do all that I bid thee.” “Oh,
musician,” said the wolf, “I will obey thee as a scholar obeys his
master.” The musician bade him follow, and when they had gone part of
the way together, they came to an old oak-tree which was hollow inside,
and cleft in the middle. “Look,” said the musician, “if thou wilt learn
to fiddle, put thy fore paws into this crevice.” The wolf obeyed, but
the musician quickly picked up a stone and with one blow wedged his two
paws so fast that he was forced to stay there like a prisoner. “Stay
there until I come back again,” said the musician, and went his way. After a while he again said to himself, “Time is beginning to pass
heavily with me here in the forest, I will fetch hither another
companion,” and took his fiddle and again played in the forest. It was
not long before a fox came creeping through the trees towards him. “Ah,
there’s a fox coming!” said the musician. “I have no desire for him.”
The fox came up to him and said, “Oh, dear musician, how beautifully
thou dost play! I should like to learn that too.” “That is soon
learnt,” said the musician. “Thou hast only to do everything that I bid
thee.” “Oh, musician,” then said the fox, “I will obey thee as a
scholar obeys his master.” “Follow me,” said the musician; and when
they had walked a part of the way, they came to a footpath, with high
bushes on both sides of it. There the musician stood still, and from
one side bent a young hazel-bush down to the ground, and put his foot
on the top of it, then he bent down a young tree from the other side as
well, and said, “Now little fox, if thou wilt learn something, give me
thy left front paw.” The fox obeyed, and the musician fastened his paw
to the left bough. “Little fox,” said he, “now reach me thy right paw”
and he tied it to the right bough. When he had examined whether they
were firm enough, he let go, and the bushes sprang up again, and jerked
up the little fox, so that it hung struggling in the air.