Once there was a lad named John, and he used to go to sleep always
and everywhere. One day he came to an inn where some farmers were
feeding their horses. So he crept into the cart, lay down on the
straw, and went to sleep. When the farmers had driven some distance,
they noticed John asleep in the cart. They thought: "What are we to
do with him? We have a beer cask here. We'll put him in it and leave
him in the forest." So they shut him in the cask, and off they drove.
John went on sleeping in the cask for a long time. Suddenly he woke
up and found himself in the cask, but he did not know how he had got
into it, neither did he know where he was. There was something running
to and fro near the cask, so he looked through the bunghole and saw
a great number of wolves gathered under the rocks. They had flocked
round, attracted by the human smell. One of the wolves pushed his
tail through the hole, and Sleepy John began to think that the hour
of his death was approaching. But he wound the wolf's tail round his
hand. The wolf was terrified, and, dragging the cask after him, he
ran after the rest of the wolves, who set off in all directions. Their
terror grew greater and greater as the cask bumped after them. At last
the cask struck against a rock and was smashed. John let go the wolf,
who took himself off as fast as he could.
Now John found himself in a wild mountain region. He began walking
about among the mountains and he met a hermit. The hermit said to him:
"You may stay here with me. I shall die in three days. Bury me then,
and I will pay you well for it."
So John stayed with him, and, when the third day came, the hermit,
who was about to die, gave him a stick, saying: "In whatever direction
you point this stick, you will find yourself there." Then he gave
him a knapsack, saying: "Anything you want you will find in this
knapsack." Then he gave him a cap, saying: "As soon as you put this
cap on, nobody will be able to see you."
Then the hermit died, and John buried him.
John gathered his things together, pointed the stick, and said:
"Let me be instantly in the town where the king lives." He found
himself there on the instant, and he was told that the queen would
every night wear out a dozen pairs of shoes, yet nobody was able
to follow her track. The lords were all flocking to offer to follow
the queen's traces, and John went too. He went into the palace and
had himself announced to the king. When he came before the king,
he said that he would like to trace the queen. The king asked him:
"Who are you?"