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Grimms' Fairy Tales
How
Six Men Got on in the World
There was once a man who understood all kinds
of arts; he served in war, and behaved well and bravely,
but when the war was over he received his dismissal, and
three farthings for his expenses on the way. "Stop,"
said he, "I shall not be content with this. If I can
only meet with the right people, the King will yet have
to give me all the treasure of the country." Then full
of anger he went into the forest, and saw a man standing
therein who had plucked up six trees as if they were blades
of corn. He said to him, "Wilt thou be my servant and
go with me?" "Yes," he answered, "but,
first, I will take this little bundle of sticks home to
my mother," and he took one of the trees, and wrapped
it round the five others, lifted the bundle on his back,
and carried it away. Then he returned and went with his
master, who said, "We two ought to be able to get through
the world very well," and when they had walked on for
a short while they found a huntsman who was kneeling, had
shouldered his gun, and was about to fire. The master said
to him, "Huntsman, what art thou going to shoot?"
He answered, "Two miles from here a fly is sitting
on the branch of an oak-tree, and I want to shoot its left
eye out." "Oh, come with me," said the man,
"if we three are together, we certainly ought to be
able to get on in the world!" The huntsman was ready,
and went with him, and they came to seven windmills whose
sails were turning round with great speed, and yet no wind
was blowing either on the right or the left, and no leaf
was stirring. Then said the man, "I know not what is
driving the windmills, not a breath of air is stirring,"
and he went onwards with his servants, and when they had
walked two miles they saw a man sitting on a tree who was
shutting one nostril, and blowing out of the other. "Good
gracious! what are you doing up there?" He answered,
"Two miles from here are seven windmills; look, I am
blowing them till they turn round." "Oh, come
with me," said the man. "If we four are together,
we shall carry the whole world before us!" Then the
blower came down and went with him, and after a while they
saw a man who was standing on one leg and had taken off
the other, and laid it beside him. Then the master said,
"You have arranged things very comfortably to have
a rest." "I am a runner," he replied, "and
to stop myself running far too fast, I have taken off one
of my legs, for if I run with both, I go quicker than any
bird can fly." "Oh, go with me. If we five are
together, we shall carry the whole world before us."
So he went with them, and it was not long before they met
a man who wore a cap, but had put it quite on one ear. Then
the master said to him, "Gracefully, gracefully, don't
stick your cap on one ear, you look just like a tom-fool!"
"I must not wear it otherwise," said he, "for
if I set my hat straight, a terrible frost comes on, and
all the birds in the air are frozen, and drop dead on the
ground." "Oh, come with me," said the master.
"If we six are together, we can carry the whole world
before us."
Now the six came to a town where the King had proclaimed
that whosoever ran a race with his daughter and won the
victory, should be her husband, but whosoever lost it, must
lose his head. Then the man presented himself and said,
"I will, however, let my servant run for me."
The King replied, "Then his life also must be staked,
so that his head and thine are both set on the victory."
When that was settled and made secure, the man buckled the
other leg on the runner, and said to him, "Now be nimble,
and help us to win." It was fixed that the one who
was first to bring some water from a far distant well was
to be the victor. The runner received a pitcher, and the
King's daughter one too, and they began to run at the same
time, but in an instant, when the King's daughter had got
a very little way, the people who were looking on could
see no more of the runner, and it was just as if the wind
had whistled by. In a short time he reached the well, filled
his pitcher with water, and turned back. Half-way home,
however, he was overcome with fatigue, and set his pitcher
down, lay down himself, and fell asleep. He had, however,
made a pillow of a horse's skull which was lying on the
ground, in order that he might lie uncomfortably, and soon
wake up again. In the meantime the King's daughter, who
could also run very well quite as well as any ordinary mortal
can had reached the well, and was hurrying back with her
pitcher full of water, and when she saw the runner lying
there asleep, she was glad and said, "My enemy is delivered
over into my hands," emptied his pitcher, and ran on.
And now all would have been lost if by good luck the huntsman
had not been standing at the top of the castle, and had
not seen everything with his sharp eyes. Then said he, "The
King's daughter shall still not prevail against us;"
and he loaded his gun, and shot so cleverly, that he shot
the horse's skull away from under the runner's head without
hurting him. Then the runner awoke, leapt up, and saw that
his pitcher was empty, and that the King's daughter was
already far in advance. He did not lose heart, however,
but ran back to the well with his pitcher, again drew some
water, and was at home again, ten minutes before the King's
daughter. "Behold!" said he, "I have not
bestirred myself till now, it did not deserve to be called
running before."
But it pained the King, and still more his daughter, that
she should be carried off by a common disbanded soldier
like that; so they took counsel with each other how to get
rid of him and his companions. Then said the King to her,
"I have thought of a way; don't be afraid, they shall
not come back again." And he said to them, "You
shall now make merry together, and eat and drink,"
and he conducted them to a room which had a floor of iron,
and the doors also were of iron, and the windows were guarded
with iron bars. There was a table in the room covered with
delicious food, and the King said to them, "Go in,
and enjoy yourselves." And when they were inside, he
ordered the doors to be shut and bolted. Then he sent for
the cook, and commanded him to make a fire under the room
until the iron became red-hot. This the cook did, and the
six who were sitting at table began to feel quite warm,
and they thought the heat was caused by the food; but as
it became still greater, and they wanted to get out, and
found that the doors and windows were bolted, they became
aware that the King must have an evil intention, and wanted
to suffocate them. "He shall not succeed, however,"
said the one with the cap. "I will cause a frost to
come, before which the fire shall be ashamed, and creep
away." Then he put his cap on straight, and immediately
there came such a frost that all heat disappeared, and the
food on the dishes began to freeze. When an hour or two
had passed by, and the King believed that they had perished
in the heat, he had the doors opened to behold them himself.
But when the doors were opened, all six were standing there,
alive and well, and said that they should very much like
to get out to warm themselves, for the very food was fast
frozen to the dishes with the cold. Then, full of anger,
the King went down to the cook, scolded him, and asked why
he had not done what he had been ordered to do. But the
cook replied, "There is heat enough there, just look
yourself." Then the King saw that a fierce fire was
burning under the iron room, and perceived that there was
no getting the better of the six in this way.
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 six conveyed the riches
home, divided it amongst them, and lived in content until
their death.
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret
Hunt (London: George Bell, 1884), 1:293-298. |
