The four clever brothers
A poor man said to his four sons one day, `My children, I have nothing to give you, no money or land. Go out into the world and learn a trade.
The brothers agreed to return home after four years. Each of them set off in a different direction.
The first brother met a clever thief. The thief taught him his trade!
The second brother met a stargazer. He taught the boy to look at the stars and tell the future. He gave the boy a glass and said: in this you can see everything in the world.’
The third brother learnt his trade from a huntsman. The huntsman gave him a bow.
`If you use this,’ he said, `you will always hit you target.’
The youngest brother met a tailor. The tailor taught him how to make the finest clothes. The tailors gave him a needle, and said, `Use this needle, and no one will see your fine stitches.’
Four years later the four brothers came home and their father decided to test them.
He said, `how many eggs are there in the nest on top of that tree?’
The star –gazer said, `five.’
Then the father asked, `can you remove the eggs from under the bird?’
The thief climbed the tree and took away the eggs.
Then the father out the five eggs on a table, one at each corner and one in the middle.
`Now shoot’, he cried, `and hit them all with one out.’
The huntsman hit all the eggs with one arrow.
`Now,’ said the father, `Put the eggs back in the nest.’
The tailor sewed the eggs up carefully, and the thief took them up the tree and put them under the bird.
`Well done! The father Said.
Now at this time, the news came that the king’s daughter had been carried off by a dragon. The king told everyone, `if any man brings back my daughter, he can marry her’
The four brothers decided to rescue the princess.
The star –gazer said, `I see her on a rock. The dragon is close beside her.’
The brothers sailed across the sea until came to the rock. They saw the princess, but the dragon was sleeping close by.
The chief crept up and stole the princess, and the brothers carried her off. Soon after, the dragon woke up and flew into the sky above the boat. The huntsman took his bow and shot him through the heart. But the dragon fell on to the ship and broke it into hundred pieces. Them the tailor sewed up the planks very carefully and they brought the princess safely home her father.
But then the brothers began to quarrel.
`I saw the princess first,’ said one.
`I stole her away from the dragon,’ said the next.
`Shot the dragon’ said the third.
`But you were all drowning,’ said the fourth, `and I sewed up the planks.’
Then the king said, `I cannot give her to all of you, so let her marry another man. Each of you can have part of my kingdom.’
The brothers were happy with that lived happily ever after.
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