“What do I want with your cask? Why didn’t you bring the flour with
you?”
She grasped a weapon as she said this, and got ready to lay on her
husband, but he slipped behind the cask, and when he saw how matters
were, he said—
“Five, come out of the cask and beat my wife!”
In an instant out sprang five big fellows, who set to to thrash the
wife. The husband looked on till he thought she had had enough. Then he
listened to her cries for mercy, and said—
“Five, go back to your cask!”
In the twinkling of an eye the men ceased their labour, and disappeared
into the cask again. From that hour the woman was much improved, and the
peasant, seeing that he should not want the cask in order to preserve
quiet at home, began to think whether he could not somehow obtain his
basket by means of it. He concluded that the nobleman’s servants must
have taken the basket away, and he and his wife set their heads together
to think how they could get it from them.
“Since you have such a marvellous cask,” said she, “you need not be
afraid even of a thousand men. Why not then go to the nobleman and make
him give you the basket.” Her husband thought the idea was a good one,
so he went off to the nobleman’s house and asked him to come outside and
fight him. He laughed at the peasant, but thought he would have a joke
with him, so he told him to await him outside. Off went the peasant,
took his cask under his arm, and came to the spot where the nobleman was
to meet him. In a short time he came, bringing with him several of his
servants. As soon as he had come up he ordered his attendants to set on
the peasant and give him a good thrashing; but he, when he saw the
gentleman’s trickery, fell in a rage, and shouted out—
“Look you, sir, will you give me back my basket, or will you not? It
shall be better for you all if you do!”
When, however, he saw that no one paid any attention to what he said,
and that the attendants were about to thrash him, he cried out—
“Five to each man come out of the cask, and beat them thoroughly!”
In an instant there sprang forth five stout fellows for each of them,
and they laid upon them most unmercifully. The nobleman was afraid he
should be beaten till there was no life in him, and so he called out—
“Good fellow, for Heaven’s sake, do not beat us any more!”