“Wonderful cloth, let him who is hungry and thirsty find here everything
he wants.”
They heard a whistling noise, saw something shine in the air above them,
and, immediately, in front of them, was a table set as if for a royal
banquet. There were numberless dishes, and hydromel and wine in plenty.
The idiot and his guest sat down, and when they had finished eating and
drinking the table disappeared. The fool wrapped up his cloth, and was
commencing his journey, when the man said to him—
“Will you give me your cloth for my girdle? When you say, ‘Girdle, which
swims so wonderfully, for my safety and not for my pleasure, let me find
myself in a boat on the water,’ the girdle will change itself into a
deep lake, upon which you can sail at your will.”
The simpleton thought how much his father would like to always have
water for his flocks. So he gave the man the cloth for the girdle, which
he tied around him. Then he took his stick in his hand, and the two
parted. In a short time, when the beggar was afar off, the fool began
again to remember how the oak had told him to keep the cloth for
himself, and he saw that unless he had it he would not be able to give
his mother the pleasant surprise he had intended. So he said to his
stick—
“Stick, which beats of itself, go quickly and look for my cloth. Go, I
want it back.”
The stick set off again, and coming up to the beggar commenced to beat
him, saying—
“So you seek the wealth of others, do you? Take that, knave, and that.”
The beggar tried to fly, but the stick pursued him, and however much he
would have liked to keep the cloth, he preferred rather to save himself
from the stick. The cudgel brought the cloth to its master, and he,
having hidden it under his coat, put on the girdle and, with the stick
in his hand, again went on his way. As he walked he thought with
pleasure of how he would be able to exercise the stick on his brothers,
and how pleased his father would be to always have water for the king’s
flocks, even though he should be in the midst of dry fields and woods.
Then he thought of his mother’s surprise at finding he had got the
wonderful cloth. All of a sudden he met a soldier clothed in rags, lame,
and covered with scars. He had once been a fine warrior, and, addressing
the young man, he said—
“Evil luck follows me, a man who has been a good soldier, and who has
fought well in his youth. What has been the good of it all? I am lamed
for life, and upon this lonely road I cannot even get anything to eat.
Take pity on me, and give me at least a piece of bread.”