He
gave chase over hedges and ditches for the whole day without feeling
tired, but in the evening the stag vanished from his sight, and when
the gold-child looked round him, he was standing before a little house,
wherein was a witch. He knocked, and a little old woman came out and
asked, “What are you doing so late in the midst of the great forest?”
“Have you not seen a stag?” “Yes,” answered she, “I know the stag
well,” and thereupon a little dog which had come out of the house with
her, barked at the man violently. “Wilt thou be silent, thou odious
toad,” said he, “or I will shoot thee dead.” Then the witch cried out
in a passion, “What! will you slay my little dog?” and immediately
transformed him, so that he lay like a stone, and his bride awaited him
in vain and thought, “That which I so greatly dreaded, which lay so
heavily on my heart, has come upon him!” But at home the other brother
was standing by the gold-lilies, when one of them suddenly drooped. “Good heavens!” said he, “my brother has met with some great
misfortune! I must away to see if I can possibly rescue him.” Then the
father said, “Stay here, if I lose you also, what shall I do?” But he
answered, “I must and will go forth!”

Then he mounted his golden horse, and rode forth and entered the great
forest, where his brother lay turned to stone. The old witch came out
of her house and called him, wishing to entrap him also, but he did not
go near her, and said, “I will shoot you, if you will not bring my
brother to life again.” She touched the stone, though very unwillingly,
with her forefinger, and he was immediately restored to his human
shape. But the two gold-children rejoiced when they saw each other
again, kissed and caressed each other, and rode away together out of
the forest, the one home to his bride, and the other to his father. The
father then said, “I knew well that you had rescued your brother, for
the golden lily suddenly rose up and blossomed out again.” Then they
lived happily, and all prospered with them until their death. 86 The Fox and the Geese

The fox once came to a meadow in which was a flock of fine fat geese,
on which he smiled and said, “I come in the nick of time, you are
sitting together quite beautifully, so that I can eat you up one after
the other.” The geese cackled with terror, sprang up, and began to wail
and beg piteously for their lives. But the fox would listen to nothing,
and said, “There is no mercy to be had! You must die.” At length one of
them took heart and said, “If we poor geese are to yield up our
vigorous young lives, show us the only possible favour and allow us one
more prayer, that we may not die in our sins, and then we will place
ourselves in a row, so that you can always pick yourself out the
fattest.” “Yes,” said the fox, “that is reasonable, and a pious
request. Pray away, I will wait till you are done.” Then the first
began a good long prayer, for ever saying, “Ga! Ga!” and as she would
make no end, the second did not wait until her turn came, but began
also, “Ga! Ga!” The third and fourth followed her, and soon they were
all cackling together. When they have done praying, the story shall be continued further, but
at present they are still praying without stopping.”



87 The Poor Man and the Rich Man

In olden times, when the Lord himself still used to walk about on this
earth amongst men, it once happened that he was tired and overtaken by
the darkness before he could reach an inn. Now there stood on the road
before him two houses facing each other; the one large and beautiful,
the other small and poor. The large one belonged to a rich man, and the
small one to a poor man. Then the Lord thought, “I shall be no burden to the rich man, I will
stay the night with him.” When the rich man heard some one knocking at
his door, he opened the window and asked the stranger what he wanted. The Lord answered, “I only ask for a night’s lodging.”

Then the rich man looked at the traveler from head to foot, and as the
Lord was wearing common clothes, and did not look like one who had much
money in his pocket, he shook his head, and said, “No, I cannot take
you in, my rooms are full of herbs and seeds; and if I were to lodge
everyone who knocked at my door, I might very soon go begging myself. Go somewhere else for a lodging,” and with this he shut down the window
and left the Lord standing there. So the Lord turned his back on the rich man, and went across to the
small house and knocked. He had hardly done so when the poor man opened
the little door and bade the traveler come in. “Pass the night with me,
it is already dark,” said he; “you cannot go any further to-night.”
This pleased the Lord, and he went in. The poor man’s wife shook hands
with him, and welcomed him, and said he was to make himself at home and
put up with what they had got; they had not much to offer him, but what
they had they would give him with all their hearts. Then she put the
potatoes on the fire, and while they were boiling, she milked the goat,
that they might have a little milk with them. When the cloth was laid,
the Lord sat down with the man and his wife, and he enjoyed their
coarse food, for there were happy faces at the table. When they had had
supper and it was bed-time, the woman called her husband apart and
said, “Hark you, dear husband, let us make up a bed of straw for
ourselves to-night, and then the poor traveler can sleep in our bed and
have a good rest, for he has been walking the whole day through, and
that makes one weary.” “With all my heart,” he answered, “I will go and
offer it to him;” and he went to the stranger and invited him, if he
had no objection, to sleep in their bed and rest his limbs properly. But the Lord was unwilling to take their bed from the two old folks;
however, they would not be satisfied, until at length he did it and lay
down in their bed, while they themselves lay on some straw on the
ground. Next morning they got up before daybreak, and made as good a breakfast
as they could for the guest. When the sun shone in through the little
window, and the Lord had got up, he again ate with them, and then
prepared to set out on his journey. But as he was standing at the door he turned round and said, “As you
are so kind and good, you may wish three things for yourselves and I
will grant them.” Then the man said, “What else should I wish for but
eternal happiness, and that we two, as long as we live, may be healthy
and have every day our daily bread; for the third wish, I do not know
what to have.” And the Lord said to him, “Will you wish for a new house
instead of this old one?” “Oh, yes,” said the man; “if I can have that,
too, I should like it very much.” And the Lord fulfilled his wish, and
changed their old house into a new one, again gave them his blessing,
and went on.