_He who would succeed in great things must bring all forces and
influences to his aid._
Once there was a soldier who resolved to marry the king’s daughter.
He started out for the king’s palace. As he was going through the
forest he saw a man pulling up trees by the roots. “Come along with
me, I need you,” said the soldier. So the man took one of the trees
and wrapped it around the others and then shouldered the bundle.
The two then went on together.
Before long they came to a hunter aiming a gun. “What are you
aiming at?” asked the soldier. The hunter said: “Two miles off
there is a fly sitting on a fence. I am going to shoot out his left
eye.” The soldier told the hunter: “Come along with me; I need
you.” The hunter took up his gun and all three went along together.
After a while they came to a man sitting on a fence whistling. “My
good fellow, what are you doing there?” asked the soldier. The man
answered: “Do you not see those seven wind-mills over yonder with
their sails going around? I am furnishing the wind to turn them.”
The soldier said: “Come along with me. I need you.” So the man
climbed down from the fence and all four went along together.
Shortly they came to a man who was unbuckling his leg and taking it
off. “Why do you take your leg off, my friend?” asked the soldier.
“Oh,” replied the man, “if I use two legs I go so fast that nobody
can see me. One leg takes me as fast as the wind.” “Come along with
me, I need you,” said the soldier. So the man took up his leg and
all five went along together.
About dark they saw a funny fellow with his hat down on the side
of his head. “Why do you wear your hat so crooked, young fellow?”
asked the soldier. The fellow replied: “If I wear it straight a
frost will come and freeze everything stiff and still.” The soldier
said: “Come along with me; I need your help, too.” And so all six
went along together and came to the king’s palace.
“I must marry your daughter,” said the soldier to the king. “Oh,
no, you cannot,” said the king, and sent fifty men to drive the
soldier away. But see what happened! The first man caught all
fifty and tied them together with their own buckles and hung them
up on the church steeple. The second man took his gun and shot
the whiskers off the king’s chin. The third man began to whistle
and blew down the tall tower of the palace. The fourth man put on
both legs and ran to get the princess and take her away. The funny
fellow put his hat on straight and it blew so cold that the queen
sneezed herself into a fit. It was an awful situation, so the king
cried out:
“You can have the princess if you want her, but give me back my men
and my whiskers, and turn on the heat for I am about to freeze to
death.” The soldier set everything straight and went off with the
princess, who gladly married so wonderful a man.