<h3><SPAN name="chap129"></SPAN>129 The Four Skilful Brothers</h3>
<p>There was once a poor man who had four sons, and when they were grown up, he
said to them, “My dear children, you must now go out into the world, for
I have nothing to give you, so set out, and go to some distance and learn a
trade, and see how you can make your way.” So the four brothers took
their sticks, bade their father farewell, and went through the town-gate
together. When they had travelled about for some time, they came to a cross-way
which branched off in four different directions. Then said the eldest,
“Here we must separate, but on this day four years, we will meet each
other again at this spot, and in the meantime we will seek our fortunes.”</p>
<p>Then each of them went his way, and the eldest met a man who asked him where he
was going, and what he was intending to do? “I want to learn a
trade,” he replied. Then the other said, “Come with me, and be a
thief.” “No,” he answered, “that is no longer regarded
as a reputable trade, and the end of it is that one has to swing on the
gallows.” “Oh,” said the man, “you need not be afraid
of the gallows; I will only teach you to get such things as no other man could
ever lay hold of, and no one will ever detect you.” So he allowed himself
to be talked into it, and while with the man became an accomplished thief, and
so dexterous that nothing was safe from him, if he once desired to have it. The
second brother met a man who put the same question to him what he wanted to
learn in the world. “I don’t know yet,” he replied.
“Then come with me, and be an astronomer; there is nothing better than
that, for nothing is hid from you.” He liked the idea, and became such a
skillful astronomer that when he had learnt everything, and was about to travel
onwards, his master gave him a telescope and said to him, “With that you
canst thou see whatsoever takes place either on earth or in heaven, and nothing
can remain concealed from thee.” A huntsman took the third brother into
training, and gave him such excellent instruction in everything which related
to huntsmanship, that he became an experienced hunter. When he went away, his
master gave him a gun and said, “It will never fail you; whatsoever you
aim at, you are certain to hit.” The youngest brother also met a man who
spoke to him, and inquired what his intentions were. “Would you not like
to be a tailor?” said he. “Not that I know of,” said the
youth; “sitting doubled up from morning till night, driving the needle
and the goose backwards and forwards, is not to my taste.” “Oh, but
you are speaking in ignorance,” answered the man; “with me you
would learn a very different kind of tailoring, which is respectable and
proper, and for the most part very honorable.” So he let himself be
persuaded, and went with the man, and learnt his art from the very beginning.
When they parted, the man gave the youth a needle, and said, “With this
you can sew together whatever is given you, whether it is as soft as an egg or
as hard as steel; and it will all become one piece of stuff, so that no seam
will be visible.”</p>
<p>When the appointed four years were over, the four brothers arrived at the same
time at the cross-roads, embraced and kissed each other, and returned home to
their father. “So now,” said he, quite delighted, “the wind
has blown you back again to me.” They told him of all that had happened
to them, and that each had learnt his own trade. Now they were sitting just in
front of the house under a large tree, and the father said, “I will put
you all to the test, and see what you can do.” Then he looked up and said
to his second son, “Between two branches up at the top of this tree,
there is a chaffinch’s nest, tell me how many eggs there are in
it?” The astronomer took his glass, looked up, and said, “There are
five.” Then the father said to the eldest, “Fetch the eggs down
without disturbing the bird which is sitting hatching them.” The skillful
thief climbed up, and took the five eggs from beneath the bird, which never
observed what he was doing, and remained quietly sitting where she was, and
brought them down to his father. The father took them, and put one of them on
each corner of the table, and the fifth in the middle, and said to the
huntsman, “With one shot thou shalt shoot me the five eggs in two,
through the middle.” The huntsman aimed, and shot the eggs, all five as
the father had desired, and that at one shot. He certainly must have had some
of the powder for shooting round corners. “Now it’s your
turn,” said the father to the fourth son; “you shall sew the eggs
together again, and the young birds that are inside them as well, and you must
do it so that they are not hurt by the shot.” The tailor brought his
needle, and sewed them as his father wished. When he had done this the thief
had to climb up the tree again, and carry them to the nest, and put them back
again under the bird without her being aware of it. The bird sat her full time,
and after a few days the young ones crept out, and they had a red line round
their necks where they had been sewn together by the tailor.</p>
<p>“Well,” said the old man to his sons, “I begin to think you
are worth more than breen clover; you have used your time well, and learnt
something good. I can’t say which of you deserves the most praise. That
will be proved if you have but an early opportunity of using your
talents.” Not long after this, there was a great uproar in the country,
for the King’s daughter was carried off by a dragon. The King was full of
trouble about it, both by day and night, and caused it to be proclaimed that
whosoever brought her back should have her to wife. The four brothers said to
each other, “This would be a fine opportunity for us to show what we can
do!” and resolved to go forth together and liberate the King’s
daughter. “I will soon know where she is,” said the astronomer, and
looked through his telescope and said, “I see her already, she is far
away from here on a rock in the sea, and the dragon is beside her watching
her.” Then he went to the King, and asked for a ship for himself and his
brothers, and sailed with them over the sea until they came to the rock. There
the King’s daughter was sitting, and the dragon was lying asleep on her
lap. The huntsman said, “I dare not fire, I should kill the beautiful
maiden at the same time.” “Then I will try my art,” said the
thief, and he crept thither and stole her away from under the dragon, so
quietly and dexterously, that the monster never remarked it, but went on
snoring. Full of joy, they hurried off with her on board ship, and steered out
into the open sea; but the dragon, who when he awoke had found no princess
there, followed them, and came snorting angrily through the air. Just as he was
circling above the ship, and about to descend on it, the huntsman shouldered
his gun, and shot him to the heart. The monster fell down dead, but was so
large and powerful that his fall shattered the whole ship. Fortunately,
however, they laid hold of a couple of planks, and swam about the wide sea.
Then again they were in great peril, but the tailor, who was not idle, took his
wondrous needle, and with a few stitches sewed the planks together, and they
seated themselves upon them, and collected together all the fragments of the
vessel. Then he sewed these so skilfully together, that in a very short time
the ship was once more seaworthy, and they could go home again in safety.</p>
<p>When the King once more saw his daughter, there were great rejoicings. He said
to the four brothers, “One of you shall have her to wife, but which of
you it is to be you must settle among yourselves.” Then a warm contest
arose among them, for each of them preferred his own claim. The astronomer
said, “If I had not seen the princess, all your arts would have been
useless, so she is mine.” The thief said, “What would have been the
use of your seeing, if I had not got her away from the dragon? so she is
mine.” The huntsman said, “You and the princess, and all of you,
would have been torn to pieces by the dragon if my ball had not hit him, so she
is mine.” The tailor said, “And if I, by my art, had not sewn the
ship together again, you would all of you have been miserably drowned, so she
is mine.” Then the King uttered this saying, “Each of you has an
equal right, and as all of you cannot have the maiden, none of you shall have
her, but I will give to each of you, as a reward, half a kingdom.” The
brothers were pleased with this decision, and said, “It is better thus
than that we should be at variance with each other.” Then each of them
received half a kingdom, and they lived with their father in the greatest
happiness as long as it pleased God.</p>
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