_The stupid are not always really so, but only appear so. There is
always something they can learn._
In Bavaria there lived an Earl who had one son who seemed never to
learn anything. He could not remember even the simplest thing he
was told by his teacher. Everybody said:
“He is too stupid to bother with. The Earl should send him away,”
and that is exactly what the Earl did. He sent him to Switzerland
to a great school.
At the end of a year he came back home. “What have you learned in
Switzerland, my son?” asked the Earl.
“I have learned why the dogs bark,” the son replied.
“Did you learn anything else?” asked the Earl.
“Oh, yes! I have learned what the frogs say when they croak.”
The Earl was in a great rage and declared that he had wasted his
money on a teacher who taught such foolish things.
The stupid son was left all to himself now, and so he wandered
into the forest and came to a great castle and asked for a night’s
lodging. The lord said: “You may sleep in the tower, but the wild
dogs howl all night so that no one can sleep.”
Then the stupid son said: “I will find out what they are howling
about.” Accordingly he went into the tower to sleep, but soon the
dogs began to howl.
“What are you howling about?” he asked the leading dog. They were
much surprised to hear a man talking dog language; but they said:
“We are guarding a treasure of gold under the tower for the lord of
this castle.”
The next morning the stupid son told the lord what the dogs said.
The lord dug up the treasure, gave part of it to the stupid son,
and heard no more of the dogs.
The stupid son then went along and came to a place where the frogs
were croaking. He stopped and listened to what they said. They were
talking about some robbers who had planned to carry off the king’s
daughter.
The stupid son hurried to the King’s house and said: “The frogs
have told me that robbers will seize the princess to-night. Be on
your guard!”
The king thought this was a strange message, but he called his
guard and put them behind a big tree in the yard. Late that night
the robbers came creeping up to the window of the princess, but the
guards seized them and bore them before the king, who promptly put
them in jail. The king then loaded the stupid son with jewels and
sent him on his way. Soon he came home and showed the Earl all the
gold and jewels he had won.
“How did you get all this wealth, my son?” cried the Earl.
“By listening to what the dogs said when they barked, and to what
the frogs said when they croaked,” replied the stupid son.