University of Virginia Library

XLVI.—THE TWO BROTHERS.

There was a man who had a wife but no sons, a female
hound but no puppies, and a mare but no foal. `What in
the world shall I do?' said he to himself. `Come, let me
go away from home to seek my fortune in the world, as I
haven't any at home.' As he thought, so he did, and went
out by himself into the white world as a bee from flower to
flower. One day, when it was about dinner-time, he came
to a spring, took down his knapsack, took out his provisions
for the journey, and began to eat his dinner. Just then a
traveller appeared in front of him, and sat down beside the
spring to rest; he invited him to sit down by him that they
might eat together. When they had inquired after each
other's health and shaken hands, then the second comer
asked the first on what business he was travelling about the
world. He said to him: `I have no luck at home, therefore
I am going from home; my wife has no children, my
hound has no puppies, and my mare has never had a foal;
I am going about the white world as a bee from flower to
flower.' When they had had a good dinner, and got up to
travel further, then the one who had arrived last thanked
the first for his dinner, and offered him an apple, saying:
`Here is this apple for you'—if I am not mistaken it was a
Frederic pippin—`and return home at once; peel the apple
and give the peel to your hound and mare; cut the apple
in two, give half to your wife to eat, and eat the other half
yourself. What has hitherto been unproductive will henceforth
be productive. And as for the two pips which you
will find in the apple, plant them on the top of your house.'
The man thanked him for the apple; they rose up and
parted, the one going onwards and the other back to his
house. He peeled the apple and did everything as the
other had instructed him. As time went on his wife became

the mother of two sons, his hound of two puppies, and his
mare of two foals, and, moreover, out of the house grew two
apple-trees. While the two brothers were growing up, the
young horses grew up, and the hounds became fit for hunting.
After a short time the father and mother died, and the two
sons, being now left alone like a tree cut down on a hill,
agreed to go out into the world to seek their fortune. Even
so they did: each brother took a horse and a hound, they
cut down the two apple-trees, and made themselves a spear
apiece, and went out into the wide world. I can't tell you
for certain how many days they travelled together; this I
do know, that at the first parting of the road they separated.
Here they saw it written up: `If you go by the upper road
you will not see the world for five years; if you go by the
lower road, you will not see the world for three years.'
Here they parted, one going by the upper and the other by
the lower road. The one that went by the lower road, after
three years of travelling through another world, came to a
lake, beside which there was written on a post: `If you go
in, you will repent it; if you don't go in, you will repent it.'
`If it is so,' thought he to himself, `let me take whatever
God gives,' and swam across the lake. And lo! a wonder!
he, his horse, and his hound were all gilded with gold.
After this he speedily arrived at a very large and spacious
city. He went up to the emperor's palace and inquired for
an inn where he might pass the night. They told him, up
there, yon large tower, that was an inn. In front of this
tower he dismounted; servants came out and welcomed
him, and conducted him into the presence of their master
in the courtyard. But it was not an innkeeper, but the king
of the province himself. The king welcomed and entertained
him handsomely. The next day he began to prepare
to set forth on his journey. The evening before, the king's
only daughter, when she saw him go in front of her apartments,
had observed him well, and fixed her eyes upon him.
This she did because such a golden traveller had never
before arrived, and consequently she was unable to close
her eyes the whole night. Her heart thumped, as it were;
and it was fortunate that the summer night was brief, for if
it had been a winter one, she could hardly have waited for
the dawn. It all seemed to her and whirled in her brain as
if the king was calling her to receive a ring and an apple;
the poor thing would fly to the door, but it was shut and
there was nobody at hand. Although the night was a short
one, it seemed to her that three had passed one after another.
When she observed in the morning that the traveller was
getting ready to go, she flew to her father, implored him not
to let that traveller quit his court, but to detain him and to
give her to him in marriage. The king was good-natured,
and could easily be won over by entreaties; what his daughter
begged for, she also obtained. The traveller was detained
and offered marriage with the king's daughter. The traveller
did not hesitate long, kissed the king's hand, presented a
ring to the maiden, and she a handkerchief to him, and thus
they were betrothed. Methinks they did not wait for publication
of banns. Erelong they were wedded; the wedding
feast and festival were very prolonged, but came to an
end in due course. One morning after all this the bridegroom
was looking in somewhat melancholy fashion down on the
country through a window in the tower. His young wife
asked him what ailed him? He told her that he was
longing for a hunt, and she told him to take three servants
and go while the dew was still on the grass. Her husband
would not take a single servant, but mounting his gilded
horse and calling his gilded hound, went down into the
country to hunt. The hound soon found scent, and put up
a stag with gilded horns. The stag began to run straight
for a tower, the hound after him, and the hunter after the
hound, and he overtook the stag in the gate of the courtyard,
and was going to cut off its head. He had drawn his
sword, when a damsel cried through the window: `Don't
kill my stag, but come upstairs: let us play at draughts for
a wager. If you win, take the stag; if I win, you shall give
me the hound.' He was as ready for this as an old woman
for a scolding match, went up into the tower, and on to the
balcony, staked the hound against the stag, and they began
to play. The hunter was on the point of beating her, when
some damsels began to sing: `A king, a king, I've gained a
king!' He looked round, she altered the position of the
draughtsmen, beat him and took the hound. Again they
began to play a second time, she staking the hound and he
his horse. She cheated him the second time also. The
third time they began to play, she wagered the horse, and
he himself. When the game was nearly over, and he was
already on the point of beating her, the damsels began to
sing this time too, just as they had done the first and second
times. He looked round, she cheated and beat him, took
a cord, bound him, and put him in a dungeon.

The brother, who went by the upper road, came to the
lake, forded it, and came out all golden—himself, his horse,
and his hound. He went for a night's lodging to the king's
tower; the servants came out and welcomed him. His
father-in-law asked him whether he was tired, and whether
he had had any success in hunting; but the king's daughter
paid special attention to him, frequently kissing and embracing
him. He couldn't wonder enough how it was
that everybody recognised him; finally, he felt satisfied that
it was his brother, who was very like him, that had been
there and got married. The king's daughter could not
wonder enough, and it was very distressing to her, that her
newly-married husband was so soon tired of her, for the
more affectionate she was to him, the more did he repulse

her. When the morrow came, he got ready to go out to
look for his brother. The king, his daughter, and all the
courtiers, begged him to take a rest. `Why,' said they to
him, `you only returned yesterday from hunting, and do you
want to go again so soon?' All was in vain; he refused to
take the thirty servants whom they offered him, but went
down into the country by himself. When he was in the
midst of the country, his hound put up a stag, and he after
them on his horse, and drove it up to a tower; he raised his
sword to kill the stag, but a damsel cried through a window:
`Don't meddle with my stag, but come upstairs that we may
have a game at draughts, then let the one that wins take off
the stakes, either you my hound, or I yours.' When he
went into the basement, in it was a hound and a horse—the
hounds and horses recognised each other—and he felt sure
that his brother had fallen into prison there. They began
the game at draughts, and when the damsel saw that he
was going to beat her, some damsels began to sing behind
them: `A king! a king! I've gained a king!' He took no
notice, but kept his eye on the draughtsmen; then the
damsel, like a she-devil, began to make eyes and wink at the
young man. He gave her a flip with his coat behind the
ears: `Play now!' and thus beat her. The second game
they both staked a horse. She couldn't cheat him; he took
both the hound and the horse from her. The third and
last time they played, he staking himself and she herself;
and after giving her a slap in her face for her winking and
making of eyes, he won the third game. He took possession
of her, brought his brother out of the dungeon, and they
went to the town.

Now the brother, who had been in prison, began to think
within himself: `He was yesterday with my wife, and who
knows whether she does not prefer him to me?' He drew
his sword to kill him, but the draught-player defended him.

He darted before his brother into the courtyard, and as he
stepped on to the passage from the tower, his wife threw her
arms round his neck and began to scold him affectionately
for having driven her from him overnight, and conversed so
coldly with her. Then he repented of having so foolishly
suspected his brother, who had, moreover, released him
from prison, and of having wanted to kill him; but his
brother was a considerate person and forgave him. They
kissed each other and were reconciled. He retained his
wife and her kingdom with her, and his brother took the
draught-player and her kingdom with her. And thus they
attained to greater fortune than they could ever have even
hoped for.