How Six Traveled Through the World
There was once a man who understood a variety of arts; he had served in the army, where he had behaved very bravely, but when the war came to an end he received his discharge, and three dollars’ salary for his services. “Wait a bit! this does not please me,” said he; “if I find the right people, I will make the King give me the treasures of the whole kingdom.” Thereupon, inflamed with anger, he went into a forest, where he found a man who had just uprooted six trees, as if they were straw, and he asked him whether he would be his servant, and travel with him. “Yes,” replied the man; “but I will first take home to my mother this bundle of firewood;” and, taking up one of the trees, he wound it round the other five, and, raising the bundle upon his shoulder, bore it away. Soon he returned, and said to his master, “We two shall travel well through the world!” They had not gone far before they came upon a hunter who was kneeling upon one knee, and preparing to take aim with his gun. The master asked him what he was going to shoot, and he replied, “Two miles from hence sits a fly upon the branch of an oak-tree, whose left eye I wish to shoot out.”
“Oh, go with me!” said the man, “for if we three are together, we must pass easily through the world.”
The huntsman consented, and went with him, and soon they arrived at seven windmills, whose sails were going round at a rattling pace, although right or left there was no wind and not a leaf stirring. At this sight the man said, “I wonder what drives these mills, for there is no breeze!” and they went on; but they had not proceeded more than two miles when they saw a man sitting upon a tree who held one nostril while he blew out of the other. “My good fellow,” said our hero, “what are you driving up there?”
“Did you not see,” replied the man, “two miles from hence, seven windmills? it is those which I am blowing, that the sails may go round.”
“Oh, then, come with me,” said our hero, “for, if four people like us travel together, we shall soon get through the world.”
So the blower got up and accompanied him, and in a short while they met with another man standing upon one leg, with the other leg unbuckled and lying by his side. The leader of the others said, “You have done this, no doubt, to rest yourself?” “Yes,” replied the man, “I am a runner, and in order that I may not spring along too quickly I have unbuckled one of my legs, for when I wear both I go as fast as a bird can fly.”
“Well, then, come with me,” said our hero; “five such fellows as we are will soon get through the world.”
The five heroes went on together, and soon met a sixth man who had a hat which he wore quite over one ear. The captain of the others said to him, “Manners! manners! don’t hang your hat on one side like that; you look like a simpleton!”
“I dare not do so,” replied the other; “for, if I set my hat straight, there will come so sharp a frost that the birds in the sky will freeze and fall dead upon the ground.”
“Then come with me,” said our hero, “for it is odd if six fellows like us cannot travel quickly through the world.”
These six new companions went into a city where the King had proclaimed that whoever should run a race with his daughter, and bear away the prize, should become her husband; but if he lost the race he should also lose his head. This was mentioned to our hero, who said that he would have his servant run for him; but the King told him that in that case he must agree that his servant’s life, as well as his own, should be sacrificed if the wager were lost. To this he agreed and swore, and then he bade his runner buckle on his other leg, and told him to be careful and to make sure of winning. The wager was, that whoever first brought back water from a distant spring should be victor. Accordingly the runner and the princess both received a cup, and they both began to run at the same moment. But the princess had not proceeded many steps before the runner was quite out of sight, and it seemed as if but a puff of wind had passed. In a short time he came to the spring, and, filling his cup, he turned back again, but had not gone very far, before, feeling tired, he set his cup down again, and laid down to take a nap. He made his pillow of a horse’s skull which lay upon the ground; thinking, from its being hard, that he would soon awake. Meantime the princess, who was a better runner than many of the men at court, had arrived at the spring, and was returning with her cup of water, when she perceived her opponent lying asleep. In great joy she exclaimed, “My enemy is given into my own hands!” and, emptying his cup, she ran on faster still. All would now have been lost, if, by good luck, the huntsman had not been standing on the castle, looking on with his sharp eyes. When he saw the princess was gaining the advantage, he loaded his gun and shot so cleverly that he carried away the horse’s skull under the runner’s head, without doing the man any injury. This awoke him, and, jumping up, he found his cup empty and the princess far in advance. However, he did not lose courage, but ran back again to the spring, and, filling his cup, returned home ten minutes earlier than his opponent. “See you,” said he, “now I have used my legs, the former was not worth calling running.” The King was disgusted, and his daughter not less, that a common soldier should carry off the prize, and they consulted together how they should get rid of him and his companions. At last the King said, “Do not distress yourself, my dear: I have found a way to prevent their return.” Then he called to the six travellers, and, saying to them, “You must now eat and drink and be merry,” he led them into a room with a floor of iron, doors of iron, and the windows guarded with iron bars. In the room was a table set out with choice delicacies, and the King invited them to enter and refresh themselves, and as soon as they were inside he locked and bolted all the doors. That done, he summoned the cook, and commanded him to keep a fire lighted beneath till the iron was red hot. The cook obeyed, and the six companions, sitting at table, soon began to feel warm, and at first thought it arose from eating; but, as it kept getting warmer and warmer, they rose to leave the room, and found the doors and windows all fast. Then they perceived that the King had some wicked design in hand, and wished to suffocate them. “But he shall not succeed!” cried the man with the hat; “I will summon such a frost as shall put to shame and crush this fire;” and, so saying, he put his hat on straight, and immediately such a frost fell that all the heat disappeared, and even the meats upon the dishes began to freeze. When two hours had passed, the King thought they would be stifled, and he caused the door to be opened, and went in himself to see after them. But, as soon as the door was opened, there stood all six fresh and lively, and requested to come out to warm themselves, for the cold in the room had been so intense that all the dishes were frozen! In a great passion the King went down to the Cook and scolded him, and asked why he had not obeyed his instructions. The Cook, however, pointing to the fire, said, “There is heat enough there, I should think!” and the King was obliged to own there was, and he saw clearly that he should not be able to get rid of his visitors in that way.
The King now began to think afresh how he could free himself, and he caused the master to be summoned, and said, “Will you not take money, and give up your right to my daughter? If so, you shall have as much as you wish.”
“Well, my lord King,” replied the man, “just give me as much as my servant can carry, and you are welcome to keep your daughter.”
This answer pleased the King very much, and our hero said that he would come and fetch the sum in fourteen days. During that time he collected all the tailors in the kingdom, and made them sew him a sack, which took up all that time. As soon as it was ready, the Strong Man, who had uprooted the trees, took the sack upon his shoulder, and carried it to the King. At the sight of him the King said, “What a powerful fellow this must be, carrying this great sack upon his shoulders!” and, sorely frightened, he wondered how much gold he would slip in. The King first of all caused a ton of gold to be brought, which required sixteen ordinary men to lift; but the Strong Man, taking it up with one hand, shoved it into the sack, saying, “Why do you not bring more at a time? this scarcely covers the bottom of the sack.” Then by degrees the King caused all his treasures to be brought, which the Strong Man put in, and yet they did not half fill his sack. “Bring more, more!” said he; “these are only a couple of crumbs.” Then they were obliged to bring seven thousand waggons laden with gold, and all these the man pushed into his sack—gold, waggons, oxen, and all. Still it was not full, and the Strong Man offered to take whatever they brought, if they would but fill his sack. When everything that they could find was put in, the man said, “Well, I must make an end to this; and, besides, if one’s sack is not quite full, why, it can be tied up so much easier!” and so saying, he hoisted it upon his back, and went away, and his companions with him.
When the King saw this one man bearing away all the riches of his kingdom, he got into a tremendous passion, and ordered his cavalry to pursue the six men, and at all risk to bring back the Strong Man with the sack. Two regiments accordingly pursued them quickly, and shouted out to them, “You are our prisoners! lay down the sack of gold, or you will be hewn to pieces!”
“What is that you are saying?” asked the Blower; “you will make us prisoners? but first you shall have a dance in the air!” So saying, he held one nostril, and blew with the other the two regiments right away into the blue sky, so that one flew over the hills on the right side, and the other on the left. One sergeant begged for mercy: he had nine wounds, and was a brave fellow undeserving of such disgrace. So the Blower sent after him a gentle puff which brought him back without harming him, and then sent him back to the King with a message that, whatever number of knights he might yet send, all would be blown into the air like the first lot. When the King heard this message, he said, “Let the fellows go! they will meet with their deserts!” So the six companions took home all the wealth of that kingdom, and, sharing it with one another, lived contentedly all the rest of their days.