The Four Skilful Brothers

Once upon a time there wasThere 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. Travel far from home, learn a trade and find a way to earn your livingyou, 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, said goodbye to their fatherbade their father farewell, and went through the town-gate together. When they had travelled about for some time, they came to a crossroads with roads leading offa cross-way which branched off in four different directions. Then the eldest saidThen said the eldest, “Here we must separate, but on this day in four years, we will meet each other again at this spot, and in the meantime we will seek our fortunes.”

Then each of them went his way, and the eldest met a man who asked him where he was going, and what he intended to do.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 notno longer regarded as an honesta reputable trade, and it ends with being put to deaththe end of it is that one has to swing on the gallowsExplanation: The danger of execution remains, without the image of hanging..” “Oh,” said the man, “you need not be afraid of being put to deaththe gallows; I will only teach you to take things no one else could ever reach, without anyone catching youget 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 became an accomplished thief under the man’s teaching. He was so skilful that nothing was safe once he wanted itand 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 asked him the same question: what trade he wanted to learn.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, studying the starsastronomer; there is nothing better than that, for nothing is hidden from younothing is hid from you.” He liked the idea, and became such a skillful astronomer that when he had learnt everything, and was about to continue his travelstravel onwards, his master gave him a telescope and said to him, “With that you cancanst thou see whateverwhatsoever takes place on earth or in the skyeither on earth or in heaven, and nothing can remain concealed from youthee.” A huntsman took the third brother into training, and gave him such excellent instruction in everything about huntingeverything 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; whateverwhatsoever you aim at, you are certain to hit.” The youngest brother also met a man who spoke to him, and asked what he planned to doinquired what his intentions were. “Would you like to be a tailor and make clothes?Would you not like to be a tailor?” said he. “I don’t think soNot that I know of,” said the youth; “I don’t fancy sitting hunched over all day, sewing and moving a heavy iron back and forthsitting doubled up from morning till night, driving the needle and the goose backwards and forwards, is not to my taste.” “Oh, but you don’t know what you’re talking aboutyou 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 fragile as an eggas soft as an egg or as hard as steel; and it will all become one piece of materialstuff, so that no one will see where it was sewnno seam will be visible.”

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 testput 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.there is a chaffinch’s nest, tell me how many eggs there are in it?” The astronomer took his telescopeThe 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 sitting on them to keep them warmthe bird which is sitting hatching them.” The skilful thief climbed up and took the five eggs from under the bird. She did not notice and stayed quietly where she was. He brought the eggsThe 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, “Split all five eggs through the middle with a single shotWith one shot thou shalt shoot me the five eggs in two, through the middle.” The huntsman aimed and split all five eggs with one shot, just as his father had asked.aimed, and shot the eggs, all five as the father had desired, and that at one shot. His gunpowder must even have been able to shoot round corners!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 kept sitting on her eggs until they were ready to hatchThe 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.

“Well,” said the old man to his sons, “I am beginning to think you deserve the highest praiseI begin to think you are worth more than green cloverExplanation: The comparison with green clover echoes a German expression meaning to praise someone very highly.; 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 as soon asif you have anbut an early opportunity of using your talents.” Not long after this, the whole country was thrown into alarm: a dragon had carried off the King’s daughterthere was a great uproar in the country, for the King’s daughter was carried off by a dragon. The King worried about her day and night and announcedThe King was full of trouble about it, both by day and night, and caused it to be proclaimed that whoeverwhosoever brought her back should marry herhave 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 decided to go together and rescueresolved 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 princessthe beautiful maiden at the same time.” “Then I will try my skillart,” said the thief, and he crept therethither and stole her away from under the dragon, so quietly and skilfullyso quietly and dexterously, that the monster never noticed itthe 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 raised his gun to his shoulderthe 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 grabbed a couple of plankslaid hold of a couple of planks, and swam about the wide sea. Once again they were in terrible danger. But the tailor wasted no time: he took his magic needle and sewed the planks together with a few stitches. They sat on the planks and collected all the pieces of the ship.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 safe to sail againthe ship was once more seaworthy, and they could go home again in safety.

When the King once more saw his daughter, there were great rejoicings. He said to the four brothers, “One of you shall marry herhave her to wife, but you must decide among yourselves which onewhich of you it is to be you must settle among yourselves.” Then a heated argumentwarm contest arose among them, for each insisted that he deserved herof them preferred his own claim. The astronomer said, “If I had not seen the princess, all your skillsall 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 bulletball had not hit him, so she is mine.” The tailor said, “And if I, with my skillby 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 made his decisionThen the King uttered this saying, “Each of you has an equal right, and as you cannot all marry the princessall 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, “This is better than quarrelling with each otherIt 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.