Then said he, “Father, I see well that with you I shall never
have food enough; if you will get me an iron staff which is strong, and
which I cannot break against my knees, I will go out into the world.”
The farmer was glad, put his two horses in his cart, and fetched from
the smith a staff so large and thick, that the two horses could only
just bring it away. The youth laid it across his knees, and snap! he
broke it in two in the middle like a bean-stalk, and threw it away. The
father then harnessed four horses, and brought a bar which was so long
and thick, that the four horses could only just drag it. The son
snapped this also in twain against his knees, threw it away, and said,
“Father, this can be of no use to me, you must harness more horses, and
bring a stronger staff.” So the father harnessed eight horses, and
brought one which was so long and thick, that the eight horses could
only just carry it. When the son took it in his hand, he broke off a
bit from the top of it also, and said, “Father, I see that you will not
be able to procure me any such staff as I want, I will remain no longer
with you.”

So he went away, and gave out that he was a smith’s apprentice. He
arrived at a village, wherein lived a smith who was a greedy fellow,
who never did a kindness to any one, but wanted everything for himself. The youth went into the smithy and asked if he needed a journeyman. “Yes,” said the smith, and looked at him, and thought, “That is a
strong fellow who will strike out well, and earn his bread.” So he
asked, “How much wages dost thou want?” “I don’t want any at all,” he
replied, “only every fortnight, when the other journeymen are paid, I
will give thee two blows, and thou must bear them.” The miser was
heartily satisfied, and thought he would thus save much money. Next
morning, the strange journeyman was to begin to work, but when the
master brought the glowing bar, and the youth struck his first blow,
the iron flew asunder, and the anvil sank so deep into the earth, that
there was no bringing it out again. Then the miser grew angry, and
said, “Oh, but I can’t make any use of you, you strike far too
powerfully; what will you have for the one blow?”

Then said he, “I will only give you quite a small blow, that’s all.”
And he raised his foot, and gave him such a kick that he flew away over
four loads of hay. Then he sought out the thickest iron bar in the
smithy for himself, took it as a stick in his hand and went onwards. When he had walked for some time, he came to a small farm, and asked
the bailiff if he did not require a head-servant. “Yes,” said the
bailiff, “I can make use of one; you look a strong fellow who can do
something, how much a year do you want as wages?” He again replied that
he wanted no wages at all, but that every year he would give him three
blows, which he must bear. Then the bailiff was satisfied, for he, too,
was a covetous fellow. Next morning all the servants were to go into
the wood, and the others were already up, but the head-servant was
still in bed. Then one of them called to him, “Get up, it is time; we
are going into the wood, and thou must go with us.” “Ah,” said he quite
roughly and surlily, “you may just go, then; I shall be back again
before any of you.” Then the others went to the bailiff, and told him
that the head-man was still lying in bed, and would not go into the
wood with them. The bailiff said they were to awaken him again, and
tell him to harness the horses. The head-man, however, said as before,
“Just go there, I shall be back again before any of you.” And then he
stayed in bed two hours longer. At length he arose from the feathers,
but first he got himself two bushels of peas from the loft, made
himself some broth with them, ate it at his leisure, and when that was
done, went and harnessed the horses, and drove into the wood. Not far
from the wood was a ravine through which he had to pass, so he first
drove the horses on, and then stopped them, and went behind the cart,
took trees and brushwood, and made a great barricade, so that no horse
could get through. When he was entering the wood, the others were just
driving out of it with their loaded carts to go home; then said he to
them, “Drive on, I will still get home before you do.” He did not drive
far into the wood, but at once tore two of the very largest trees of
all out of the earth, threw them on his cart, and turned round. When he
came to the barricade, the others were still standing there, not able
to get through. “Don’t you see,” said he, “that if you had stayed with
me, you would have got home just as quickly, and would have had another
hour’s sleep?” He now wanted to drive on, but his horses could not work
their way through, so he unharnessed them, laid them on the top of the
cart, took the shafts in his own hands, and pulled it all through, and
he did this just as easily as if it had been laden with feathers. When
he was over, he said to the others, “There, you see, I have got over
quicker than you,” and drove on, and the others had to stay where they
were. In the yard, however, he took a tree in his hand, showed it to
the bailiff, and said, “Isn’t that a fine bundle of wood?” Then said
the bailiff to his wife, “The servant is a good one, if he does sleep
long, he is still home before the others.” So he served the bailiff for
a year, and when that was over, and the other servants were getting
their wages, he said it was time for him to take his too. The bailiff,
however, was afraid of the blows which he was to receive, and earnestly
entreated him to excuse him from having them; for rather than that, he
himself would be head-servant, and the youth should be bailiff. “No,”
said he, “I will not be a bailiff, I am head-servant, and will remain
so, but I will administer that which we agreed on.” The bailiff was
willing to give him whatsoever he demanded, but it was of no use, the
head-servant said no to everything. Then the bailiff did not know what
to do, and begged for a fortnight’s delay, for he wanted to find some
way of escape. The head-servant consented to this delay. The bailiff
summoned all his clerks together, and they were to think the matter
over, and give him advice. The clerks pondered for a long time, but at
last they said that no one was sure of his life with the head-servant,
for he could kill a man as easily as a midge, and that the bailiff
ought to make him get into the well and clean it, and when he was down
below, they would roll up one of the mill-stones which was lying there,
and throw it on his head; and then he would never return to daylight. The advice pleased the bailiff, and the head-servant was quite willing
to go down the well.