There was once upon a time an old man whose family consisted of his
wife and three sons. They were exceedingly poor, and finding that they
could not possibly all live at home, the three sons went out into the
world in different directions to find some means of living. Thus the
old man and his wife remained alone.
Having neither horses nor oxen, the old man was obliged to go every day
to the forest for fuel, and carry home the firewood on his back.
On one occasion it was nearly evening when he started to go to the
forest, and his wife, who was afraid to remain alone in the house,
begged very hard to be permitted to go with him. He objected very much
at first, but as she persisted in her entreaties, he at length
consented to her following him, first bidding her, however, take good
care to make the house-door safe, lest some one should break into the
house.
The old woman thought the door would be safest if she took it off its
hinges, and carried it away on her back. So she took it off and
followed her husband as fast as she was able. The old man, however, was
not angry when he saw how she had mistaken his words, and the manner
she had chosen to make sure of the door; for, he reflected, there was
little or nothing at all in the house for any one to steal.
When they had reached the forest the husband began to cut wood, and his
wife gathered the branches together in a heap. Meanwhile it had got
very late, and they were anxious as to how they should pass the night,
seeing their own house was so far off that they would be unable to
reach it before morning, and there were no houses in the neighbourhood
where they could sleep. At last they observed a very tall and widely
spreading pine-tree, and they resolved to climb up and pass the night
on one of its branches.
The man got up first, and his wife followed him, drawing, with great
difficulty, the door after her. Her husband advised her to leave the
door on the ground under the tree; but she would not listen to him, and
could not be persuaded to remain in the tree without her house-door.
Hardly had they settled themselves on a branch, the old woman holding
fast her door, before they heard a great noise, which came nearer and
nearer.
They were excessively frightened at the noise, and dared neither speak
nor move.
In a short time they saw a captain of robbers followed by twelve of his
men, approach the tree; the robbers were dressed all alike, in gold and
silver, and one of them carried a sheep killed and ready for roasting.
When the old man and woman saw the band of robbers come and settle
under the pine-tree in which they had themselves taken refuge they
thought their time was come, and gave themselves up for lost.
As soon as the robbers had settled themselves, the youngest of them
made a fire and put the sheep down to roast, whilst the captain
conversed with the others. The sheep was already roasted and cut up,
and the robbers had begun with great gaiety to eat it, when the old
woman told her husband that she could not possibly hold the door any
longer, but must let it fall. The old man begged her piteously not to
let it go, but to hold it fast and keep quiet, lest the robbers should
discover and kill them. The old woman said, however, that she was so
exceedingly tired she could no longer by any possibility hold it. The
old man, seeing it was no good talking about it, declared that, as he
could not hold his corner of the door any longer when she had let go
her corner, it was not worth while to complain, “since,” as he said,
“what must be must be, and it is no use to be sorry for anything in
this world.” Thereupon they both loosened their holds of the door at
once, and it fell down, making a great noise—especially with its iron
lock—as it fell from branch to branch.
The door made so much noise in falling, that the whole forest re-echoed
with the sound.
The robbers, greatly astonished at the noise, and too frightened by the
unexpected clashing above their heads to see what was the cause, took
to their heels, without once thinking of the roast sheep they left
behind, or of any of the treasures which they had brought with them.
One of them alone did not run away far from the spot, but hid himself
behind a tree, and waited to see what might come of so much noise.
The old couple, seeing the robbers did not return, came down from the
tree, and, being exceedingly hungry, began to eat heartily; the old man
all the time praising the wisdom of his wife in throwing down the door.
The robber who had hidden himself, seeing only the old people near the
fire, came up to them, and begged to be allowed to share their meal, as
he had not eaten anything for the last twenty-four hours. This they
permitted, and spoke of all kinds of things, until the old man
exclaimed suddenly to the robber, “Take care! you have a hair on your
tongue! Do not choke yourself, for I have no means to bury you here!”
The brigand took this joke in earnest, and begged the old man to take
the hair out of his mouth, and he would in return show him a cave
wherein a great treasure was hidden. As he was describing the great
heaps of gold ducats, thalers, shillings, and other coins which he said
were in the cave, the old woman interrupted him, saying, “I will take
the hair out of your mouth, without pay! Only put your tongue out and
shut your eyes!” The robber very gladly did as she told him, and she
caught up a knife and in a moment cut off a piece of his tongue. Then
she said, “Well, now! I have taken the hair out!” When the robber felt
what had been done to him he jumped up and down in pain, and at length
ran away without hat or coat in the same direction as his companions
had gone, shouting all the time, “Help! help! give me some plaster!”
His companions, hearing imperfectly these words, misunderstood him, and
thought he cried to them, “Help yourselves; here is the police-master!”
especially as he ran as if the captain of police with a large force was
at his heels. Accordingly, the robbers themselves ran faster and
farther away.
Meanwhile the old couple thought it no longer safe to stay under the
pine-tree, so they gathered up quickly all the money, whether gold or
silver, which they could carry, and hurried back to their home. When
they got there they found the hens of the neighbours had pulled off the
thatch of their house; they were, however, the less sorry for this,
since they had now money enough to build another and a better home. And
this they did, and continued to live in their fine new house without
once remembering their sons, who had been wandering about the world
already some nine long years.