mud/content/library/grimm/146_the_turnip.txt

The Turnip

There were once two brothers who both served as soldiers; one of them
was rich, and the other poor. Then the poor one, to escape from his
poverty, put off his soldier’s coat, and turned farmer. He dug and hoed
his bit of land, and sowed it with turnip-seed. The seed came up, and
one turnip grew there which became large and vigorous, and visibly grew
bigger and bigger, and seemed as if it would never stop growing, so
that it might have been called the princess of turnips, for never was
such an one seen before, and never will such an one be seen again.

At length it was so enormous that by itself it filled a whole cart, and
two oxen were required to draw it, and the farmer had not the least
idea what he was to do with the turnip, or whether it would be a
fortune to him or a misfortune. At last he thought, “If thou sellest
it, what wilt thou get for it that is of any importance, and if thou
eatest it thyself, why, the small turnips would do thee just as much
good; it would be better to take it to the King, and make him a present
of it.”

So he placed it on a cart, harnessed two oxen, took it to the palace,
and presented it to the King. “What strange thing is this?” said the
King. “Many wonderful things have come before my eyes, but never such a
monster as this! From what seed can this have sprung, or are you a
luck-child and have met with it by chance?” “Ah, no!” said the farmer,
“no luck-child am I. I am a poor soldier, who because he could no
longer support himself hung his soldier’s coat on a nail and took to
farming land. I have a brother who is rich and well known to you, Lord
King, but I, because I have nothing, am forgotten by every one.”

Then the King felt compassion for him, and said, “Thou shalt be raised
from thy poverty, and shalt have such gifts from me that thou shalt be
equal to thy rich brother.” Then he bestowed on him much gold, and
lands, and meadows, and herds, and made him immensely rich, so that the
wealth of the other brother could not be compared with his. When the
rich brother heard what the poor one had gained for himself with one
single turnip, he envied him, and thought in every way how he also
could get hold of a similar piece of luck. He would, however, set about
it in a much wiser way, and took gold and horses and carried them to
the King, and made certain the King would give him a much larger
present in return. If his brother had got so much for one turnip, what
would he not carry away with him in return for such beautiful things as
these? The King accepted his present, and said he had nothing to give
him in return that was more rare and excellent than the great turnip.
So the rich man was obliged to put his brother’s turnip in a cart and
have it taken to his home. When there he did not know on whom to vent
his rage and anger, until bad thoughts came to him, and he resolved to
kill his brother. He hired murderers, who were to lie in ambush, and
then he went to his brother and said, “Dear brother, I know of a hidden
treasure, we will dig it up together, and divide it between us.” The
other agreed to this, and accompanied him without suspicion. While they
were on their way, however, the murderers fell on him, bound him, and
would have hanged him to a tree. But just as they were doing this, loud
singing and the sound of a horse’s feet were heard in the distance. On
this their hearts were filled with terror, and they pushed their
prisoner head first into the sack, hung it on a branch, and took to
flight. He, however, worked up there until he had made a hole in the
sack through which he could put his head. The man who was coming by was
no other than a travelling student, a young fellow who rode on his way
through the wood joyously singing his song. When he who was aloft saw
that someone was passing below him, he cried, “Good day! You have come
at a lucky time.” The student looked round on every side, but did not
know whence the voice came. At last he said, “Who calls me?” Then an
answer came from the top of the tree, “Raise your eyes; here I sit
aloft in the Sack of Wisdom. In a short time have I learnt great
things; compared with this all schools are a jest; in a very short time
I shall have learnt everything, and shall descend wiser than all other
men. I understand the stars, and the signs of the Zodiac, and the
tracks of the winds, the sand of the sea, the healing of illness, and
the virtues of all herbs, birds, and stones. If you were once within it
you would feel what noble things issue forth from the Sack of
Knowledge.”

The student, when he heard all this, was astonished, and said, “Blessed
be the hour in which I have found thee! May not I also enter the sack
for a while?” He who was above replied as if unwillingly, “For a short
time I will let you get into it, if you reward me and give me good
words; but you must wait an hour longer, for one thing remains which I
must learn before I do it.” When the student had waited a while he
became impatient, and begged to be allowed to get in at once, his
thirst for knowledge was so very great. So he who was above pretended
at last to yield, and said, “In order that I may come forth from the
house of knowledge you must let it down by the rope, and then you shall
enter it.” So the student let the sack down, untied it, and set him
free, and then cried, “Now draw me up at once,” and was about to get
into the sack. “Halt!” said the other, “that won’t do,” and took him by
the head and put him upside down into the sack, fastened it, and drew
the disciple of wisdom up the tree by the rope. Then he swung him in
the air and said, “How goes it with thee, my dear fellow? Behold,
already thou feelest wisdom coming, and art gaining valuable
experience. Keep perfectly quiet until thou becomest wiser.” Thereupon
he mounted the student’s horse and rode away, but in an hour’s time
sent some one to let the student out again.