67 lines
4 KiB
Text
67 lines
4 KiB
Text
The Thief and his Master
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Hans wished to put his son to learn a trade, so he went into the church
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and prayed to our Lord God to know which would be most advantageous for
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him. Then the clerk got behind the altar, and said, “Thieving,
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thieving.” On this Hans goes back to his son, and tells him he is to
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learn thieving, and that the Lord God had said so. So he goes with his
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son to seek a man who is acquainted with thieving. They walk a long
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time and come into a great forest, where stands a little house with an
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old woman in it. Hans says, “Do you know of a man who is acquainted
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with thieving?” “You can learn that here quite well,” says the woman,
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“my son is a master of it.” So he speaks with the son, and asks if he
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knows thieving really well? The master-thief says, “I will teach him
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well. Come back when a year is over, and then if you recognize your
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son, I will take no payment at all for teaching him; but if you don’t
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know him, you must give me two hundred thalers.”
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The father goes home again, and the son learns witchcraft and thieving,
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thoroughly. When the year is out, the father is full of anxiety to know
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how he is to contrive to recognize his son. As he is thus going about
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in his trouble, he meets a little dwarf, who says, “Man, what ails you,
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that you are always in such trouble?”
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“Oh,” says Hans, “a year ago I placed my son with a master-thief who
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told me I was to come back when the year was out, and that if I then
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did not know my son when I saw him, I was to pay two hundred thalers;
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but if I did know him I was to pay nothing, and now I am afraid of not
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knowing him and can’t tell where I am to get the money.” Then the dwarf
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tells him to take a small basket of bread with him, and to stand
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beneath the chimney. “There on the cross-beam is a basket, out of which
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a little bird is peeping, and that is your son.”
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Hans goes thither, and throws a little basket full of black bread in
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front of the basket with the bird in it, and the little bird comes out,
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and looks up. “Hollo, my son, art thou here?” says the father, and the
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son is delighted to see his father, but the master-thief says, “The
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devil must have prompted you, or how could you have known your son?”
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“Father, let us go,” said the youth.
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Then the father and son set out homeward. On the way a carriage comes
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driving by. Hereupon the son says to his father, “I will change myself
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into a large greyhound, and then you can earn a great deal of money by
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me.” Then the gentleman calls from the carriage, “My man, will you sell
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your dog?” “Yes,” says the father. “How much do you want for it?”
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“Thirty thalers.” “Eh, man, that is a great deal, but as it is such a
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very fine dog I will have it.” The gentleman takes it into his
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carriage, but when they have driven a little farther the dog springs
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out of the carriage through the window, and goes back to his father,
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and is no longer a greyhound.
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They go home together. Next day there is a fair in the neighboring
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town, so the youth says to his father, “I will now change myself into a
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beautiful horse, and you can sell me; but when you have sold me, you
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must take off my bridle, or I cannot become a man again.” Then the
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father goes with the horse to the fair, and the master-thief comes and
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buys the horse for a hundred thalers, but the father forgets, and does
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not take off the bridle. So the man goes home with the horse, and puts
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it in the stable. When the maid crosses the threshold, the horse says,
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“Take off my bridle, take off my bridle.” Then the maid stands still,
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and says, “What, canst thou speak?” So she goes and takes the bridle
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off, and the horse becomes a sparrow, and flies out at the door, and
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the wizard becomes a sparrow also, and flies after him. Then they come
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together and cast lots, but the master loses, and betakes himself to
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the water and is a fish. Then the youth also becomes a fish, and they
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cast lots again, and the master loses. So the master changes himself
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into a cock, and the youth becomes a fox, and bites the master’s head
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off, and he died and has remained dead to this day.
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