lady of the castle he'd gladly take with him the ducats and the fine
shirting and he asked her to give them to him at once as he had to get
back to heaven without delay.
The foolish woman wrapped up the shirting and counted out the money and
the laborer hurried off.
Once out of sight of the castle he sat down by the roadside, stuffed the
fine shirting into the legs of his trousers, and hid the ducats in his
pockets. Then he stretched himself out to rest.
Meantime the lord of the castle got home and his wife at once told him
the whole story and asked him if he didn't think she was fortunate to
find a man who had consented to deliver to their son in heaven three
hundred golden ducats and material for six fine shirts.
"What!" cried the husband. "Oh, what a gullible creature you are! Who
ever heard of a man falling out of heaven! And if he were to fall, how
could he climb back? The rogue has swindled you! Which way did he go?"
And without waiting to hear the poor lady's lamentations, the nobleman
mounted his horse and galloped off in the direction the laborer had
taken.
The laborer, who was still resting by the wayside, saw him coming and
guessed who he was.
"Now, my lord, we'll try you," he said to himself.
He took off his broad-trimmed hat and put it on the ground beside him
over a clod of earth.
"My good fellow," said the nobleman, "I am looking for a man with a
bundle over his shoulder. Have you seen him pass this way?"
The laborer scratched his head and pretended to think.
"Yes, master," he said, "seems to me I did see a man with a bundle. He
was running over there towards the woods and looking back all the time.
He was a stranger to these parts. I remember now thinking to myself that
he looked like one of those rogues that come from big cities to swindle
honest country folk. Yes, master, that's the way he went, over there."
The laborer seemed such an honest simple fellow that at once the
nobleman told him how the stranger had swindled his wife.
"Oh, the rogue!" the laborer cried. "To think of his swindling such a
fine lady, too! Master, I wish I could help you. I'd take that horse of
yours and go after him myself if I could. But I can't. I'm carrying a
bird of great value to a gentleman who lives in the next town. I have
the bird here under my hat and I daren't leave it."
The nobleman thought that as the laborer had seen the swindler he might
be able to catch him. So he said:
"My good man, if I sat here and guarded your hat, would you be willing
to mount my horse and follow that rascal?"
"Indeed I would, my lord, in a minute, for I can't bear to think of that
rogue swindling such a fine lady as your wife. But I must beg you to be
very careful of this bird. Don't put your hand under my hat or it might
escape and then I should have to bear the loss of it."
The nobleman promised to be most careful of the bird and, dismounting,
he handed his bridle to the laborer. That one mounted the nobleman's
horse and galloped off.
It is needless to say the nobleman never saw either man or horse again.
He waited and waited. At last when he could wait no longer he decided
that he would have to take the bird home with him and let the laborer
follow. So he lifted the edge of the hat very carefully, slipped in his
hand, and clutched--the dry clod of earth!
Deeply chagrined he went home and had to bear the smiles of his people
as they whispered among themselves that my lord as well as my lady had
been swindled.
The laborer as he neared his cottage called out to his wife:
"It's all right, wife! You won't get that beating! I find that the world
is full of people even more gullible than you!"
THE CANDLES OF LIFE
THE STORY OF A CHILD FOR WHOM DEATH STOOD GODMOTHER
[Illustration]
THE CANDLES OF LIFE
There was once a poor man named Martin. He was so very poor that when
his wife gave birth to a little boy, he could find no one who would
stand godmother to the child.
"No," he told his wife, "there's no one that I've asked who is willing
to hold this infant at the christening."
The poor mother wept and moaned and he tried to comfort her as best he
could.
"Don't be discouraged, my dear wife. I promise you your son will be
christened. I'll carry him to church myself and if I can find a
godmother no other way I'll ask some woman I meet on the road."
So Martin bundled up the baby and carried him to church. On the way he
met a woman whom he asked to be godmother. She took the baby in her arms
at once and held it during the christening.
Now Martin supposed that she was just an ordinary woman like any other.
But she wasn't. She was Death who walks about among men and takes them
when their time has come.
After the christening she invited Martin home with her. She showed him
through the various rooms of her house and down into great cellars. They
went a long way underground through cellar after cellar to a place where
thousands upon thousands of candles were burning. There were tall
candles just lighted, candles burned halfway down, and little short ones
nearly burned out. At one end of the place there was a heap of fresh
candles that had not yet been lighted.
"These," Death said, "are the candles of all the people in the world.
When a man's candle burns out, then it is time for me to go for him."
"Godmother," Martin said, pointing to a candle that was burning low,
"whose may that be?"
"That, my friend, is your candle."
Martin was frightened and begged Death to lengthen his candle, but Death
shook her head.
"No, my friend," she said, "I can't do that."
She reached for a fresh candle to light it for the baby just christened.
While her back was turned, Martin snatched a tall candle, lighted it,
and then pressed it on the stub of his own candle that was nearly burned
out.
When Death turned and saw what he had done, she frowned reprovingly.
"That, my friend, was an unworthy trick. However, it has lengthened
your life, for what is done is done and can't be undone."
Then she handed Martin some golden ducats as a christening present, took
the baby again in her arms, and said:
"Now let us go home and give this young man back to his mother."
At the cottage she made the sick woman comfortable and talked to her
about her son. Martin went out to the tavern and bought a jug of ale.
Then he spread the table with food, the best he could afford, and
Godmother Death sat down on the bench and they ate and drank together.
"Martin," she said to him at last, "you are very poor and I must do
something for you. I tell you what I'll do: I'll make you into a great
physician. I will spread sickness in the world and you will cure it.
Your fame will go abroad and people will send for you and pay you
handsomely. This is how we'll work together: when you hear of a person
taken sick, go to his house and offer to cure him. I will be there
invisible to every one but you. If I stand at the foot of the sick man's
bed, you will know that he's going to get well. So then you can
prescribe salves and medicines, and when he recovers he'll think you
have cured him. But if I stand at the head of the sick man's bed, you
will know that he has to die. In that case you must look grave and say
that he is beyond help. When he dies people will say how wise you were
to know beforehand."
She gave him further instructions and then, after bidding her godchild
and its mother a kind farewell, she left.
Time went by and Martin's fame as a great physician spread far and wide.
Wherever Godmother Death caused sickness, there Martin went and made
marvelous cures. Dukes and princes heard of him and sent for him. When
he rubbed them with salve or gave them a dose or two of bitter medicine
and they recovered, they felt so grateful to him that they gave him
anything he asked and often more than he asked.
He always remembered Death's warning not to treat a sick man if she
stood at his head. Once, however, he disobeyed. He was called to
prescribe to a duke of enormous wealth. When he entered the room he saw
Death standing at the duke's head.
"Can you cure him?" they asked Martin.
"I can't promise," Martin said, "but I'll do what I can."
He had the servants turn the duke's bed around until the foot instead
of the head was in front of Death. The duke recovered and rewarded
Martin richly.
But Death when next she met Martin reproved him:
"My friend, don't try that trick on me again. Besides, it is not a real
cure. The duke's time has come; he must go to his appointed place; and
it is my duty to conduct him thither. You think you have saved him from
me and he thinks so, but you are both mistaken. All you have given him
is a moment's respite."
The years went by and Martin grew old. His hair whitened and his muscles
stiffened. The infirmities of age came upon him and life was no longer a
joy.
"Dear Godmother Death," he cried, "I am old and tired! Take me!"
But Death shook her head.
"No, my friend, I can't take you yet. You lengthened the candle of your
life and now you must wait until it burns down."
At last one day as he was riding home after visiting a sick man, Death
climbed into the carriage with him. She talked with him of old times and
they laughed together. Then jokingly she brushed his chin with a green
branch. Instantly Martin's eyes grew heavy. His head slipped lower and
lower and soon he fell asleep on Death's lap.
"He's dead," the people said, when they looked in the carriage. "The
famous Doctor Martin is dead! Oh, what a great and good man he was!
Alas, who can take his place!"
He was buried with great pomp and all the world mourned his death.
His son, whose name was Josef, was a stupid fellow. One day as he was
going to church, his godmother met him.
"Well, Josef," she asked, "how are you getting on?"
"Oh, pretty well, thank you. I can live along for a while on what my
father saved. When that's gone, I don't know what I'll do."
"Tut! Tut!" said Death. "That's no way to talk. If you only knew it, I'm
your godmother who held you at your christening. I helped your father to
wealth and fame and now I'll help you. I tell you what I'll do: I'll
apprentice you to a successful doctor and I'll see to it that soon
you'll know more than he knows."
Death rubbed some salve over Josef's ears and led him to a doctor.
"I wish you to take this youth as an apprentice," she said. "He's a
likely lad and will do you credit. Teach him all you know."
The doctor accepted Josef as an apprentice and when he went out into the
fields to gather herbs and simples, he took the youth with him.
Now the magic salve with which Godmother Death had anointed Josef
enabled him to hear and understand the whisperings of the herbs. Each
one as he picked it, whispered to him its secret properties.
"I cure a fever," one whispered.
"And I a rash."
"And I a boil."
The doctor was amazed at his apprentice's knowledge of herbs.
"You know them better than I do," he said. "You never make a mistake. It
is I should be apprentice, not you. Let us go into partnership. I will
work under you and together we will make wonderful cures."
And so, owing to his godmother's gift, Josef became a great physician of
whom it was said that there was no illness for which he could not find a
remedial herb.
He lived long and happily until at last his candle burned down and
Death, his kind godmother, took him.
THE DEVIL'S GIFTS
THE STORY OF A MAN WHOM THE DEVIL BEFRIENDED
[Illustration]
THE DEVIL'S GIFTS
There were once two men, a shoemaker and a farmer, who had been
close friends in youth. The shoemaker married and had many children
to whom the farmer stood godfather. For this reason the two men
called each other "Godfather." When they met it was "Godfather,
this," and "Godfather, that." The shoemaker was an industrious
little man and yet with so many mouths to fill he remained poor. The
farmer on the other hand soon grew rich for he had no children to
eat into his savings.
Years went by and money and possessions began to change the farmer's
disposition. The more he accumulated, the more he wanted, until
people were whispering behind his back that he was miserly and
avaricious. His wife was like him. She, too, saved and skimped
although, as I have told you, they had neither chick nor child to
provide for.
The richer the farmer grew, the less he cared for his poor friend
and his poor friend's children. Now when they called him
"Godfather," he frowned impatiently, and whenever he saw any of
them he pretended to be very busy for fear they should ask him a
favor.
One day when he had slaughtered beef, the poor shoemaker came to him and
said:
"My dear Godfather, you have just made a killing. Won't you please give
me a little piece of meat? My wife and children are hungry."
"No!" roared the rich man. "Why should I feed your family? You ought to
save as I do and then you wouldn't have to ask favors of any one."
Humiliated by the refusal, the shoemaker went home and told his wife
what his friend had said.
"Go back to him," his wife insisted, "and tell him again that his
godchildren are hungry. I don't think he understood you."
So the poor little shoemaker returned to the rich man. He cleared his
throat apologetically and stammered:
"Dear Godfather, you--you don't want your poor godchildren to go hungry,
do you? Give me just one small piece of meat--that's all I ask."
In a rage, the rich man picked up a hunk of meat and threw it at his
poor friend.
"There!" he shouted. "And now go to hell, you and the meat with you, and
tell the Devil I sent you."
The shoemaker picked up the piece of meat. It was all fat and gristle.
"No use carrying this home," he thought to himself. "I think I better do
as Godfather says. Yes, I'll go to hell and give it to the Devil."
So he tramped down to hell and presented himself at the gate. The little
devil who stood on guard greeted him merrily.
"Hello, shoemaker! What do you want here?"
"I have a present for the Devil, a piece of meat that Godfather gave
me."
The little devil of a guard nodded his head understandingly.
"I see, I see. Very well then, come with me and I'll lead you to Prince
Lucifer. But I'll give you a bit of advice first. When the Prince asks
you what present you'd like in return, tell him you'd like the
tablecloth off his own table."
The little devil of a guard then conducted the shoemaker into Prince
Lucifer's presence and the Prince received him with every mark of
consideration. The shoemaker told him what Godfather had said and
presented him the hunk of meat. Lucifer received it most graciously.
Then he said:
"Now, my dear shoemaker, let me make you a little present in return. Do
you see anything here that you'd like?"
"If it pleases your Highness," the shoemaker said, "give me that cloth
that is spread over your table."
Lucifer at once handed him the cloth and dismissed him with many wishes
for a pleasant journey back to earth.
As the shoemaker was leaving the friendly little devil of a guard said
to him:
"I just want to tell you that's no ordinary tablecloth that the Prince
has given you. No, indeed! Whenever you're hungry, all you've got to do
is spread out that cloth and say: 'Meat and drink for one!' or, for as
many as you want, and instantly you will have what you ask."
Overjoyed at his good fortune the little shoemaker hurried back to
earth. As night came on he stopped at a tavern. He thought this was a
good place to try the tablecloth. So he took it out of his bag, spread
it over the table, and said:
"Meat and drink for one!"
Instantly a fine supper appeared and the shoemaker ate and drank his
fill.
Now the landlord of the tavern was an evil, covetous fellow and when he
saw how the tablecloth worked his fingers itched to own it. He called
his wife aside and told her in guarded whispers what he had seen.
Her eyes, too, filled with greed.
"Husband," she whispered back, "we've got to get possession of that
tablecloth! Think what a help it would be to us in our business! I tell
you what we'll do: tonight when the shoemaker is asleep we'll steal his
tablecloth and slip in one of our own in its place. He's a simple fellow
and will never know the difference."
So that night while the shoemaker was asleep, they tip-toed in, stole
the magic tablecloth out of the bag, and substituted one of their own.
The next morning when the shoemaker awoke and spread out the cloth which
he found in his bag and said: "Meat and drink for one!" of course
nothing happened.
"That's strange," he thought to himself. "I'll have to take this back to
the Devil and ask him to give me something else."
So instead of going home he went back to hell and knocked at the gate.
"Hello, shoemaker!" the little devil of a guard said. "What do you want
now?"
"Well, you see it's this way," the shoemaker explained: "this
tablecloth of the Devil's worked all right last night but it doesn't
work this morning."
The little devil grinned.
"Oh, I see. And you want Prince Lucifer to take it back and give you
something else, eh? Well, I'm sure he will. If you want my advice, I
should say to ask him for that red rooster that sits in the chimney
corner."
The Prince received the shoemaker as kindly as before and was perfectly
willing to exchange the tablecloth for the red rooster.
When the shoemaker got back to the gate, the little devil of a guard
said:
"I see you've got the red rooster. Now I just want to tell you that's no
ordinary rooster. Whenever you need money, all you have to do is put
that rooster on the table and say: 'Crow, rooster, crow!' He'll crow and
as he crows a golden ducat will drop from his bill!"
"What a lucky fellow I am!" the little shoemaker thought to himself as
he hurried back to earth.
As night came on he stopped again at the same tavern and, when it was
time to pay for his supper, he put the red rooster on the table and
said:
"Crow, rooster, crow!"
The rooster crowed and sure enough a golden ducat dropped from his bill.
The covetous landlord licked his greedy lips and hurried off to his
wife.
"We've got a red rooster," the wife said. "I'll tell you what we'll do:
when the shoemaker's asleep we'll trade roosters. He's a simple fellow
and will never know the difference."
So the next morning after breakfast, when the shoemaker put what he
thought was his own rooster on the table and said: "Crow, rooster,
crow!" of course nothing happened.
"I wonder what's the matter with you," he said to the rooster. "I'll
have to take you back to the Devil."
So again he tramped down to hell and explained to the little devil of a
guard that the rooster no longer dropped golden ducats from his bill.
The little devil listened and grinned.
"I suppose you want Prince Lucifer to give you something else, eh?"
The shoemaker nodded.
"I'm sure he will," the little devil said. "He seems to have taken quite
a fancy to you. Now take my advice and ask him for the pair of clubs
that are lying under the oven."
So the shoemaker when he was led again into Lucifer's presence explained
to the Prince that the red rooster no longer worked and please would His
Highness give him something else instead.
The Prince was most affable.
"Certainly," he said.
"Well then, Your Highness, I'd like that pair of clubs I see under the
oven."
Lucifer gave him the clubs and wished him a pleasant journey home.
When the shoemaker got back to the gate, the little devil of a guard
wagged his head and blinked his eyes.
"Shoemaker," he said, "those are fine clubs! You don't know how fine
they are! Why, they'll do anything you tell them! If you point to a man
and say to them: 'Tickle that fellow!' they'll jump about and tickle him
under the ribs. If you say: 'Strike that fellow!' they'll hit him. And
if you say: 'Beat him!' they'll give him a terrible drubbing. Now I want
you to try these clubs on that landlord and his wife for they have been
playing tricks on you. They stole your tablecloth and your rooster. When
you reach the tavern tonight, they'll be entertaining a wedding party
and they'll say they haven't any room for you. Don't argue but quietly
take out your clubs and order them to knock about among the wedding
guests. Then order them to beat the landlord and his wife and those two
will soon cry for mercy and be more than willing to return you your
property."
The shoemaker thanked the little devil of a guard for his good advice
and, putting the clubs in his bag, climbed back to earth. When he
reached the tavern, sure enough he found a wedding party feasting and
dancing.
"Get out of here!" the landlord cried. "There's no room for you!"
Without a word the shoemaker took out his clubs and said:
"Clubs, knock around among the wedding guests!"
Instantly the two clubs went knocking about among the wedding guests,
tickling some and throwing down others, until the place was in an
uproar.
"Now beat the landlord and his wife!" the shoemaker cried.
At that the clubs hopped over to the landlord and his wife and began
beating them over the head and shoulders until they both dropped on
their knees before the shoemaker and begged for mercy.
"Are you ready to give me back my tablecloth and rooster?" the shoemaker
asked.
"Yes, yes!" they cried. "Only call off your clubs and we'll give you
back your tablecloth and rooster--we swear we will!"
When he thought he had punished them enough, the shoemaker ordered the
clubs to stop and the landlord and his wife tottered off as fast as
their trembling legs could carry them. Presently they returned with the
tablecloth and the rooster.
So the shoemaker, when he got home, had all three of the Devil's
presents tucked safely away in his bag.
"Now, wife!" he cried. "Now, children! Now we are going to have a
feast!"
He spread out the tablecloth and said:
"Meat and drink for ten!"
Instantly such a feast appeared that for a moment the poor wife and the
hungry children couldn't believe their eyes. Then they set to, and, oh!
I can't begin to tell you all they ate!
When they could eat no more, the shoemaker said:
"That isn't all. I've got something else in my bag."
He took out the clubs and said:
"Clubs, tickle the children!"
Instantly the clubs hopped around among the children and tickled them
under the ribs until they were all roaring with laughter.
"And that isn't all!" the shoemaker said. "I've got something else in my
bag."
He pulled out the red rooster, put him on the table, and said:
"Crow, rooster, crow!"
The rooster crowed and a golden ducat dropped from his bill.
"Oh!" the children cried, and the youngest one begged: "Make him do it
again! Make him do it again!"
So again the shoemaker said: "Crow, rooster, crow!" and again a golden
ducat dropped from the rooster's bill.
The children were so amused that the shoemaker kept the rooster crowing
all night long until the room was overflowing with a great heap of
shining ducats.
The next day the shoemaker said to his wife:
"We must measure our money and see how much we have. Send one of the
children over to Godfather to borrow a bushel measure."
So the youngest child ran over to the rich man's house and said:
"Godfather, my father says will you please lend us a bushel measure to
measure our money."
"Measure your money!" the rich man growled. "Pooh, pooh, what nonsense!
Wife, where's that old worn-out measure that we're going to throw away?
It's the very thing to lend these beggars."
The woman who was just as disagreeable as the man handed the child an
old broken measure and said, severely:
"See you bring it back at once!"
In a short time the little girl returned the measure.
"Thanks, Godfather," she said. "We've got a hundred bushels."
"A hundred bushels!" the farmer repeated scornfully after the child was
gone. "A hundred bushels of what? Look inside the measure, wife, and see
if you find a trace of anything."
The woman peered inside the measure and found a golden ducat lodged in a
slit. She took it out and the mere sight of it made her face and her
husband's face turn sick and pale with envy.
"Do you suppose those beggars really have got some money?" he said. "We
better go over at once and see."
So they hurried over to the shoemaker's cottage and they shook hands
with him and his wife most effusively and they rubbed their hands
together and they smiled and they smiled and the rich man said:
[Illustration: _He led them to Prince Lucifer_]
"Dear Godfather, how are you? And how are all my dear godchildren? And
what is this good fortune that has come to you?"
"I owe it all to you," the shoemaker said.
"To me?" the farmer repeated and, although he began to feel sick inside
to think that any one had benefited through him, he kept on smiling and
rubbing his hands. "Tell me about it, dear Godfather."
"You know that piece of meat you gave me," the shoemaker said. "You told
me to give it to the Devil. I took your advice and made the Devil a
present of it and he gave me all these wonderful things in return."