'But we know that you have been,' shouted the giants in great anger,
and they then beat him worse than on the first day.
The next morning, as the giants went out as usual to hunt, they said
to him, 'Do not go into the third room, for anything in the world; for
if you do go in we shall not forgive you as we did yesterday, and the
day before! We shall kill you outright!' No sooner, however, had the
giants gone out of sight, than the young man began to say to himself,
'Most likely they will kill me, whether I go into the room or not.
Besides, if they do not kill me, they have beaten me so badly already
that I am sure I cannot live long, so, anyhow, I will go and see what
is in the third room.' Then he got up and went and opened the door.
He was quite shocked, however, when he saw that the room was full of
human heads! These heads belonged to young men who had come, like
himself, to learn the trade that no one knows, and who, having obeyed
faithfully and strictly the orders of the giants, had been killed by
them.
The young man was turning quickly to go away, when one of the heads
called out, 'Don't be afraid, but come in!' Thereupon he went into the
room. Then the head gave him an iron chain, and said, 'Take care of
this chain, for it will serve you some time if you know how to use
it!' So he took the chain, and going out fastened the door.
He went and sat down in the usual place to wait for the coming home of
the giants, and, as he waited, he grew quite frightened, for he fully
expected that they would really kill him this time.
The instant the giants came home they took up their thick sticks and
began to beat him without stopping to ask anything. They beat him so
terribly that he was all but dead; then they threw him out of the
house, saying to him, 'Go away now, since you have learnt the trade
that no one knows!' When he had lain a long time on the ground where
they had thrown him, feeling very sore and miserable, at length he
tried to move away, saying to himself, 'Well, if they really have
taught me the trade that no one knows, for the sake of the king's
daughter I can suffer gladly all this pain, if I can only win her!'
After travelling for a long time, the young man came at last to the
palace of the king whose daughter he wished to marry. When he saw the
palace, he was exceedingly sad, and remembered the words of the
princess; for, after all his wanderings and sufferings, he had learnt
no trade, and had never been able to find what trade it was 'that no
one knows.' Whilst considering what he had better do, he suddenly
recollected the halter, the key, and the iron chain, which he had
carried concealed about him ever since he left the castle of the four
giants. He then said to himself, 'Let me see what these things can
do!' So he took the halter and struck the earth with it, and
immediately a handsome horse, beautifully caparisoned, stood before
him. Then he struck the ground with the iron chain, and instantly a
hare and a greyhound appeared, and the hare began to run quickly and
the greyhound to follow her. In a moment the young man hardly knew
himself, for he found himself in a fine hunting-dress, riding on the
horse after the hare, which took a path that passed immediately under
the windows of the king's palace. Now, it happened that the king stood
at a window looking out, and noticed at once the beautiful greyhound
which was chasing the hare, and the very handsome horse which a
huntsman in a splendid dress was mounted on. The king was so pleased
with the appearance of the horse and the greyhound, that he called
instantly some of his servants, and, sending them after the strange
rider, bade them invite him to come to the palace. The young man,
however, hearing some people coming behind him calling and shouting,
rode quickly behind a thick bush, and shook a little the halter and
the iron chain. In a moment the horse, the greyhound, and the hare had
vanished, and he found himself sitting on the ground under the trees
dressed in his old shabby clothes. By this time the king's servants
had come up, and, seeing him sit there, they asked him whether he had
seen a fine huntsman on a beautiful horse pass that way. But he
answered them rudely, 'No! I have not seen anyone pass, neither do I
care to look to see who passes!'
Then the king's servants went on and searched the forest, calling and
shouting as loudly as they could, but it was all in vain; they could
neither see nor hear anything of the hunter. At length they went back
to the king, and told him that the horse the huntsman rode was so
exceedingly quick that they could not hear anything of him in the
forest.
The young man now resolved to go to the hut where his old parents
lived; and they were glad to see that he had come back to them once
more.
Next morning, the son said to his father, 'Now, father, I will show
you what I have learned. I will change myself into a beautiful horse,
and you must lead me into the city and sell me, but be very careful
not to give away the halter, or else I shall remain always a horse!'
Accordingly, in a moment he changed himself into a horse of
extraordinary beauty, and the father took him to the market-place to
sell him. Very soon a great number of people gathered round the horse,
wondering at his unusual beauty, and very high prices were offered for
him; the old man, however, raised the price higher and higher at every
offer. The news spread quickly about the city that a wonderfully
handsome horse was for sale in the market-place, and at length the
king himself heard of it, and sent some servants to bring the horse,
that he might see it. The old man led the horse at once before the
palace, and the king, after looking at it for some time with great
admiration, could not help exclaiming, 'By my word, though I am a
king, I never yet saw, much less rode, so handsome a horse!' Then he
asked the old man if he would sell it him. 'I will sell it to your
Majesty, very willingly,' said the old man; 'but I will sell only the
horse, and not the halter.' Thereupon the king laughed, saying, 'What
should I want with your dirty halter? For such a horse I will have a
halter of gold made!' So the horse was sold to the king for a very
high price, and the old man returned home with the money.
Next morning, however, there was a great stir and much consternation
in the royal stables, for the beautiful horse had vanished somehow
during the night. And at the time when the horse disappeared, the
young man returned to his parents' hut.
A day or two afterwards the young man said to his father, 'Now I will
turn myself into a fine church not far from the king's palace, and if
the king wishes to buy it you may sell it him, only be sure not to
part with the key or else I must remain always a church!'
When the king got up that morning, and went to his window to look out,
he saw a beautiful church which he had never noticed before. Then he
sent his servants out to see what it was, and soon after they came
back saying, that 'the church belonged to an old pilgrim, who told
them that he was willing to sell it if the king wished to buy it.'
Then the king sent to ask what price he would sell it for, and the
pilgrim replied, 'It is worth a great deal of money.'
Whilst the servants were bargaining with the father an old woman came
up. Now this was the same old woman who had sent the young man to the
castle of the four giants, and she herself had been there and had
learnt the trade that no one knew. As she understood at once all about
the church, and had no mind to have a rival in the trade, she resolved
to put an end to the young man. For this purpose she began to outbid
the king, and offered, at last, so very large a sum of ready money,
that the old man was quite astonished and confused at seeing the money
which she showed him. He accordingly accepted her offer, but whilst he
was counting the money, quite forgot about the key. Before long,
however, he recollected what his son had said, and then, fearing some
mischief, he ran after the old woman and demanded the key back. But
the old woman could not be persuaded to give back the key, and said it
belonged to the church which she had bought and paid for. Seeing she
would not give up the key, the old man grew more and more alarmed,
lest some ill should befall his son, so he took hold of the old woman
by the neck and forced her to drop the key. She struggled very hard to
get it back again, and, whilst the old man and she wrestled together,
the key changed itself suddenly into a dove and flew away high in the
air over the palace gardens.
When the old woman saw this, she changed herself into a hawk and
chased the dove. Just, however, as the hawk was about to pounce upon
it, the dove turned itself into a beautiful bouquet, and dropped down
into the hand of the king's daughter who happened to be walking in the
garden. Then the hawk changed again into the old woman, who went to
the gate of the palace and begged very hard that the princess would
give her that bouquet, or, at least, one single flower from it.
But the princess said, 'No! not for anything in the world! These
flowers fell to me from heaven!' The old woman, however, was
determined to get one flower from the bouquet, so, seeing the princess
would not hear her, she went straight to the king, and begged
piteously that he would order his daughter to give her one of the
flowers from her bouquet. The king, thinking the old woman wanted one
of the flowers to cure some disease, called his daughter to him, and
told her to give one to the beggar.
But just as the king said this, the bouquet changed itself into a heap
of millet-seed and scattered itself all over the ground. Then the old
woman quickly changed herself into a hen and chickens, and began
greedily to pick up the seeds. Suddenly, however, the millet vanished,
and in its place appeared a fox, which sprang on the hen and killed
her.
Then the fox changed into the young man, who explained to the
astonished king and princess that he it was who had demanded the hand
of the princess, and that, in order to obtain it, he had wandered all
over the world in search of some one who could teach him 'the trade
that no one knows.'
When the king and his daughter heard this, they gladly fulfilled their
part of the bargain, seeing how well the young man had fulfilled his.
Then, shortly afterwards, the king's daughter married the son of the
poor old couple; and the king built for the princess and her husband a
palace close to his own. There they lived long and had plenty of
children, and people say that some of their descendants are living at
present, and that these go constantly to pray in the church, which is
always open because the key of it turned itself into a young man who
married the king's daughter, after he had shown to her that he had
done as she wished, and learnt, for her sake, 'the trade that no one
knows.'