THERE was once a shepherd who looked after the king’s flocks. He had
three sons, two of whom were considered very clever, but the third was
looked upon as a fool. The elder brothers helped their father to herd
the flocks, but the youngest, who was thought to be good for nothing,
played about or went to sleep.
He passed his days and nights sleeping on the top of the stove, and
never left that place unless he was driven from it. If he bestirred
himself, it was rather because he was too hot, or wanted something to
eat or drink. His father did not care for him, and called him a lazy
fellow, while his brothers often tormented him, pulling him off the
stove or refusing to let him eat. If his mother had not looked after him
he would have been nearly starved. She, however, would caress him and
give him food. Was it his fault that he was a fool? Who could tell what
Heaven had in store for him? It sometimes happens that the wisest folk
do not get on well, and that fools, especially such as are harmless and
inoffensive, succeed in a wonderful fashion.
One day when the two brothers returned from the fields, finding the
simpleton on the top of the stove, they made him dress and put on his
hat, and having dragged him into the yard, they gave him a good beating,
and turning him out, said to him—
“Go, simpleton, and lose no time, for you shall have neither lodging nor
supper until you have gone to the wood and brought us a basket of
mushrooms.”
The poor fellow, full of astonishment, did not even understand what his
brothers wished of him. After having stood for a time scratching his
head, he set off to a little forest of oak-trees which was near at hand.
All seemed wonderful and strange to him. Right in his way he came across
the dry trunk of a tree. He went up to it, took off his hat, and said—
“I see that other trees in the forest stand up and wear hats of green
leaves, but you alone, my poor friend, are bare. The cold will kill you.
You are amongst just such brothers as I have. No doubt you are a fool
like myself. Will you have my hat, then?”
Folding his arms, he wept tenderly. All of a sudden one of the trees
which grew near moved as if it were alive. The idiot was alarmed, and
was about to fly, when the tree, addressing him in a man’s voice, said—
“Do not fly, but stop and listen. That tree, which was cut down so
prematurely, was my son. No one besides myself has until now wept over
his so early blighted life. You alone have watered him with your tears.
As a reward for it, you shall henceforth obtain whatever you ask of me,
saying the following words:—
“Oak with the golden acorns, I beseech you give me what I want!”
At the moment that the oak ceased, a shower of golden acorns fell upon
the idiot, who filled his pockets with them, saluted the oak, thanked
it, and returned home.
“Ah, you simpleton!” cried his brothers, “where are the mushrooms?”
“I have in my pocket some oak mushrooms,” said the idiot.
“Eat them yourself, then, for your supper,” said they, “for you will
have nothing else, you sluggard. Where is your hat?”
“I covered a poor tree I came across on the road with it; it had nothing
on it, and I was afraid it would be frozen,” answered he.
The idiot climbed upon the stove as he said this, and lay down. All of a
sudden the golden acorns fell out of his pocket. The brothers rushed
forward, and paying no heed to the lad’s remonstrances, gathered up the
acorns and took them to their father. He told them to carry them to the
king, and tell him that one of his sons, an idiot, had found them in the
wood. When the king saw them, he at once sent some soldiers to look
through the wood for golden acorns, but all their search was fruitless.
They came back and told him that there was not a single golden acorn to
be found in the forest. The king fell in a great rage when he heard
that. When he was calm again, he ordered the shepherd to come to him,
and said—
“Tell your son, the idiot, that he must bring to the court this evening
a cask full to the brim of gold acorns. If he does so he shall receive
my royal favour, and you may be assured that you shall not be
forgotten.”
The shepherd went off to his son, and told him what the king had said.
“The king,” said the idiot, “I see, likes good things. He does not ask,
but commands me to do what he wishes, and makes mere promises, and for
them he wants a fool to bring him golden acorns. I shall not do it.”
Neither the prayers nor the threats of his father could make him change
his mind. At last his brothers pulled him off the stove, made him dress
and put on a hat, took him into the yard and beat him, and then put him
out, saying—
“Lose no time, you simpleton, but be off, for you shall have neither
lodging nor supper till you return from the wood with the golden
acorns.”
The fool did not know what to do, so he set off again to the forest. In
a short time he came to the stump on which was his hat, just by the old
oak. He raised his cap, bowed, and said—
“Oak with the golden acorns, help me in my distress, I beseech you. Give
me what I want.”
The oak shook itself, rattled its branches, and instead of golden acorns
a cloth fell into the lad’s hands.
“Take care of the cloth,” said the oak, “and keep it. In case of need,
say to it—
“‘Wonderful cloth, let one who is hungry and thirsty find here
everything he wants.’”
The oak ceased, and the lad, saluting and thanking it, commenced to go
home. As he went he wondered what his brothers would say to him, and he
thought how pleased his mother would be when he told her that he had got
the wonderful cloth. When he was half-way home he met a beggar, who said
to him—
“See, I am old, ill, and ragged, for the love of God give me something,
either money or a piece of bread.”