"Why not?" answered the Little Farmer. "He will tell four things, and
the fifth he keeps to himself." Now the miller became very curious, and
said, "Ask him to say something."
And the Little Farmer pinched the raven, so that it croaked, "Crr, crr."
"What does he say?" asked the miller. And the Little Farmer answered,
"First he says that there is wine under the pillow."
"That would be jolly!" cried the miller, and he went to look, and found
the wine, and then asked, "What next?"
So the Little Farmer made the raven croak again, and then said,
"He says, secondly, that there is roast meat in the oven."
"That would be jolly!" cried the miller, and he went and looked, and
found the roast meat. The Little Farmer made the fortune-teller speak
again, and then said,
"He says, thirdly, that there is salad in the bed."
"That would be jolly!" cried the miller, and went and looked, and found
the salad. Once more the Little Farmer pinched the raven, so that he
croaked, and said,
"He says, fourthly and lastly, that there are cakes under the bed."
"That would be jolly!" cried the miller, and he went and looked, and
found the cakes.
And now the two sat down to table, and the miller's wife felt very
uncomfortable, and she went to bed and took all the keys with her. The
miller was eager to know what the fifth thing could be, but the Little
Farmer said,
"Suppose we eat the four things in peace first, for the fifth thing is a
great deal worse."
So they sat and ate, and while they ate, they bargained together as to
how much the miller would give for knowing the fifth thing; and at last
they agreed upon three hundred dollars. Then the Little Farmer pinched
the raven, so that he croaked aloud. And the miller asked what he said,
and the Little Farmer answered,
"He says that there is a demon in the linen-closet."
"Then," said the miller, "that demon must out of the linen-closet," and
he unbarred the house-door, while the Little Farmer got the key of the
linen-closet from the miller's wife, and opened it. Then the man rushed
forth, and out of the house, and the miller said,
"I saw the black rogue with my own eyes; so that is a good riddance."
And the Little Farmer took himself off by daybreak next morning with the
three hundred dollars.
And after this the Little Farmer by degrees got on in the world, and
built himself a good house, and the other farmers said,
"Surely the Little Farmer has been where it rains gold pieces, and has
brought home money by the bushel."
And he was summoned before the bailiff to say whence his riches came.
And all he said was,
"I sold my calf's skin for three hundred dollars."
When the other farmers heard this they wished to share such good luck,
and ran home, killed all their cows, skinned them in order to sell them
also for the same high price as the Little Farmer. And the bailiff
said, "I must be beforehand with them." So he sent his servant into the
town to the skin-buyer, and he only gave her three dollars for the skin,
and that was faring better than the others, for when they came, they did
not get as much as that, for the skin-buyer said,
"What am I to do with all these skins?"
Now the other farmers were very angry with the Little Farmer for
misleading them, and they vowed vengeance against him, and went to
complain of his deceit to the bailiff. The poor Little Farmer was with
one voice sentenced to death, and to be put into a cask with holes in
it, and rolled into the water. So he was led to execution, and a priest
was fetched to say a mass for him, and the rest of the people had to
stand at a distance. As soon as the Little Farmer caught sight of the
priest he knew him for the man who was hid in the linen-closet at the
miller's. And he said to him,
"As I let you out of the cupboard, you must let me out of the cask."
At that moment a shepherd passed with a flock of sheep, and the Little
Farmer knowing him to have a great wish to become bailiff himself,
called out with all his might,
"No, I will not, and if all the world asked me, I would not!"
The shepherd, hearing him, came up and asked what it was he would not
do. The Little Farmer answered,
"They want to make me bailiff, if I sit in this cask, but I will not do
it!"
The shepherd said,
"If that is all there is to do in order to become bailiff I will sit in
the cask and welcome." And the Little Farmer answered,
"Yes, that is all, just you get into the cask, and you will become
bailiff." So the shepherd agreed, and got in, and the Little Farmer
fastened on the top; then he collected the herd of sheep and drove them
away. The priest went back to the parish-assembly, and told them the
mass had been said. Then they came and began to roll the cask into the
water, and as it went the shepherd inside called out, "I consent to be
bailiff!"
They thought that it was the Little Farmer who spoke, and they
answered,
"All right; but first you must go down below and look about you a
little," and they rolled the cask into the water.
Upon that the farmers went home, and when they reached the village,
there they met the Little Farmer driving a flock of sheep, and looking
quite calm and contented. The farmers were astonished and cried,
"Little Farmer, whence come you? how did you get out of the water?"
"Oh, easily," answered he, "I sank and sank until I came to the bottom;
then I broke through the cask and came out of it, and there were
beautiful meadows and plenty of sheep feeding, so I brought away this
flock with me."