The Four Skilful Brothers

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."

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."

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.

"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.

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.
