There was once a man who had six sons. He did not give them names like
other people, but only called them according to their ages,—Eldest,
Next-Eldest, Third-Eldest, Third-Youngest, Next-Youngest, and Youngest.
They had no other names.
When Eldest was eighteen, and Youngest twelve, their father told them
that they must all go out into the world, and each must learn a trade.
They set out together, but when they came to a place where there were
six roads, all leading different ways, they agreed to part company, and
each chose a road. But they promised one another that just two years
from that day they would meet there again, and go home together to
their father.
On the appointed day they met, and went home together. Their father
questioned each of them as to what trade he had learned. Eldest said he
had learned to be a shipbuilder; he could build ships that went of
themselves. Next-Eldest had been to sea; he was a helmsman, and could
steer a ship as easily on the land as on the sea. Third-Eldest had only
learned the art of listening, but now he could hear in one country what
was going on in another. Third-Youngest had learned to shoot, and he
had become a crack shot. Next-Youngest had learned to climb; he could
go up and down a wall like a fly,—there was nothing too steep for him.
Now when their father had listened to what these five had to tell about
what they could do, he said that although upon the whole they had done
fairly well, yet he had expected something more of them. What they had
learned to do most people could do also. Now he must hear what Youngest
could do.
Youngest had always been his darling, and in him he had the greatest
confidence. Youngest was delighted that at last it was his turn to
speak, and said in the most cheerful manner that he had become a master
thief. When his father heard that, he was so angry that he gave
Youngest a sound box on the ear, saying, “Fie! for shame! You are a
disgrace to me and to all your family.”
Now it so happened that just at this very time the King’s fair young
daughter had been stolen away by a dwarf, and the King had promised
that whoever should find her and deliver her from the dwarfs power
should have her for his wife, and half the kingdom with her as her
marriage portion.
The six brothers determined to try their luck. The shipbuilder built a
ship that would go of itself. Then they all went on board, and the
helmsman steered the ship over the land and over the sea. The listener
kept on listening all the time, and at last he could hear the Princess
inside a glass mountain. So they sailed up to the glass mountain.
The climber climbed immediately to the top, and looking down he saw the
dwarf lying asleep with his ugly head on the Princess’s lap. Then he
ran down again, took the little master thief on his back, and climbed
right down inside the mountain with him. The master thief stole away
the Princess without waking the dwarf, and the climber helped them both
back to the ship. They got on board and sailed away.
The listener kept a strict watch on the dwarf all the time, and when
they had gone some little way he called to the others, “Now the dwarf
is waking; now he is stretching himself; now he misses the Princess;
and now he is coming!”
The Princess was dreadfully frightened, and said it was all over with
them now, unless they had some one on board who was a crack shot. The
dwarf could fly through the air, so that he would overtake them
directly; but he was shot-proof, except in one little black spot about
the size of a pin’s head, which was just in the middle of his chest.
Then came the dwarf, whirling and rushing through the air. But the
marksman was ready for him; he took aim and hit him right in the center
of the little black spot. Instantly the dwarf fell into the water dead.
So the six brothers came sailing home with the Princess, and took her
to her father’s palace. They were all in love with her, and each one of
them could say with truth that without him she could not have been set
free. The King was in a great strait. He could not tell to which of the
brothers he ought to give his daughter, and the Princess herself was
greatly troubled, for she did not know which one of them she liked
best.
But now it did not please the good God that there should be any
quarreling amongst them; so he made all six brothers and the Princess
die on the selfsame night, and he turned them all seven into stars, and
fixed them in the sky. And now people call them Pleiades, or the Seven
Stars. And the star that shines brightest of all the seven is the
Princess, but the palest is the master thief.