ONCE upon a time there were two brothers, the older of whom was rich and had four children, while the younger was poor and had seven children. At last the family of the poor brother was in such want that the mother went to the rich man and said: “I am very wretched, for I am unable to provide my children with enough to eat. I take a little meal and mix it with a great deal of bran, and so manage to make bread. It is well nigh a year since my children have had any meat. They get nothing but the meal and bran bread.”
“And yet,” said he, “your children are strong, while mine, in spite of plentiful and rich food, and other comforts, are always ailing.”
“Yes,” said the woman, “though our lot is one of poverty and hunger, yet, thanks be to Heaven, our children are hale and hearty. But I fear for the future, and I have come to implore you, if you need to hire any work done, that you do not send for any one but me; and may God bless you and give health to your children.”
As she spoke these words the tears ran from her eyes, and the man called his wife and said to her: “Here is our sister-in-law wanting work. Have we something for her to do so she may not sit idle?”
“Yes,” answered his wife, “let her come twice a week and knead bread for us.”
When the poor woman heard these words she was glad, for she thought that when she kneaded the fine white bread they would give her some of it, and her children would eat and rejoice. She rose to go away, and they said to her, “Good-by, and remember to come tomorrow morning.”
They let her depart without relieving her want by giving her a scrap of anything. As she set off toward home she said to herself: “Would that I were rich and could go to my cupboard and bring out a bit of cheese, or a piece of bread, or a little rice, or other household store to gladden the hearts of the poor!”
Her children were eagerly awaiting her at home, but alas! she came with empty hands.
The next day she went early to the rich man’s house to knead bread, and when she finished her task they bade her farewell and told her to be sure to come next time, but they gave her nothing whatever.
As soon as she returned home the children said, “Have you brought us some food, mother?”
“No,” she replied, “but maybe they will send us a bit of bread when the baking is done.”
However, she waited in vain. Two or three days later she got word that they wanted her to come and knead again. So she went to the rich man’s house and began her work. As she was kneading, the thought came into her head not to wash her hands until she reached home. Then she could give to the children the water in which she washed off the dough and flour. She hurried home as soon as she had done kneading, and said to her children, “I am going to give you a little milk soup.”
Then she washed her hands thoroughly, and divided the water among them, and they liked it so much they said, “Mother, whenever you go to knead, be sure to bring us some of that broth to drink.”
Twice a week she went to the rich man’s house to knead bread, and her children had never been more hearty and vigorous. One day the rich man was passing by his younger brother’s house, and he put his head in at the door and said, “How do you do here?”
He looked at the children and was amazed to see how fat they were. That put him in a great rage, and he went home and called to his wife: “Come at once, and tell me what you give to my sister-in-law, who does the kneading for us.”
She was frightened by the way he shouted at her. “I never give her anything,” she declared, “because I am so afraid of giving her too much and then getting a scolding from you.”
“You must have given her something,” he persisted, “for her children are so fat they look as if they would burst.”
“Well,” said his wife, “she takes nothing away with her but her unwashed hands, and after she gets home she gives the water in which she washes her hands to the children to drink.”
“Then you must put a stop to that,” he ordered.
So the next time, when the woman had finished kneading, the rich man’s wife said to her, “Wash your hands and then go.”
The poor woman obeyed with a sad heart, and quailed to think of returning home without being able to give her children even the milk soup wash to which they had become accustomed. As soon as she reached her house the children gathered about her, clamoring that she should make haste and give them their usual treat; but she said, “I washed my hands before I came away this time.”
All the children began to weep and to say, “How could you so forget us as not to bring us that beautiful broth?”
In the midst of the lamentations the father entered the house, and asked, “What ails the children that they cry so noisily?”
She told him all that had happened, and he was much grieved. “Perhaps I can find a little food on the mountain-side,” said he. “I will take a bag and try to get some herbs and edible roots.”
So away he went, and he wandered a long distance. At last he found himself on the top of a high crag and saw, not far away, a great castle. “I wonder to whom that castle belongs,” said he.
He went nearer and climbed into a tree to get a better view of it. While he was looking, behold, a number of dragons came out. He counted them, and there were forty-nine. They left the door open and went away out of sight. So he climbed down from the tree and went to the castle, where he walked about from room to room and saw that it contained a vast amount of treasure. Into his bag he put as much gold as he could carry and hurried away with it, fearful that the dragons would catch him.
When they came back they perceived that some of their money was gone, and henceforth they determined that one of them should stay behind in the castle when the others went out.
The man returned home and said to his wife: “God has taken pity on us. See, here we have enough gold to make us rich,” and he opened his bag and showed her the golden money he had brought.
On the following day he purchased a house and moved his family into it. “But let us continue to live simply,” said he to his wife. “We will buy what we need and avoid extravagance.”
“Yes,” said she, “that is best. I do not forget how recently I have been glad to give the children milk soup to drink to save them from starving.”
For two months they lived happily, and had plenty to eat, and gave generously to the poor. Then the wife of the older brother came to visit them, for she had heard that they were well off now. Her own family, on the contrary, had begun to suffer misfortune. Their sheep had died, their crops had failed, and unseasonable frosts had ruined their fruit trees.
The wife of the younger brother did not feel any ill will toward her visitor because of the way she had been treated in the days of her misery, and she welcomed her heartily, and gave her the best seat, and set before her the choicest food in the house. This was very different from the treatment that had been accorded her, for the older brother’s wife used to receive her in the kitchen and never asked her to sit down.
After some time the visitor said: “Sister, pray tell me where your husband has found work, that my husband may if possible get work there also. We have been unfortunate of late and are in great want.”
“My husband has not got any employment,” responded the other. “You remember when I was last at your house and you made me wash my hands. That day he went to the mountains and found a castle where he got a lot of gold.”
“Would he take my husband to that castle?” asked the former rich woman. “Perhaps we too may thus gain relief.”
“He will do what he can for you, I am sure,” said the other. “If your husband will bring a bag tomorrow he will show him the way. He does not wish to get any more treasure for himself because he thinks we already have enough.”
The next morning the older brother came with a bag under his arm and said: “Good morrow, brother, how do you do? I hope you are well.”
Hitherto, if he saw his brother, he looked the other way, or turned aside, lest he should be asked for help. But the former poor man welcomed him and said: “It gives me joy to have you enter my house, for I have very seldom had the pleasure of seeing you.”
“Things have gone badly with me,” said the older brother, “and now I know not what to do.”
“Well,” said the other, “we will go to the mountains, and very likely you will have the luck to get as rich as ever.”
So they started off together, and when they came to where they could see the castle the younger brother showed his companion the tree from which he had watched the castle. “Climb up among the branches,” said he, “and wait till the dragons that dwell in the castle come out. Count them. If forty-nine come forth you can descend and enter the castle free from fear. But unless the entire forty-nine leave, do not go in.”
While he was looking a number of dragons came out
With these words he turned his steps toward home. His brother watched eagerly from the tree, and by and by he saw the dragons coming forth, and he counted them. But he counted wrong, and instead of saying forty-eight he said forty-nine. Then he scrambled down from the tree, hurried to the castle, and looked about, seeking the treasure, that he might fill his bag. Suddenly he heard a voice say, “So you are the thief and have come back to steal more of our gold!”
He found himself confronted by a dragon that had come out of a near-by room where it had been staying on guard. Immediately it bit off his head, and took both the body and the head and hung them at the entrance to the castle. When the other dragons came home he said to them: “There is no need to keep watch any longer. I have killed the thief and hung him up where he will serve as a warning to all other thieves that may approach our castle.”
After that none of the dragons stayed at home, but each day they went out together.
Two days passed, and the wife of the former rich man got uneasy because her husband did not return. She went to the house of her brother-in-law, and when she told him that her husband had not come back he said he would go and seek him. Off he went, and as soon as he drew near to the castle he climbed the tree and looked and saw his brother’s body hanging at the entrance. Then he waited till the dragons came out. He counted them with great care, and there were forty-nine. After they had gone from sight he went and got his brother’s body and put it in a bag that lay near the entrance. It was the very bag his brother had brought to contain the gold he hoped to get.
The younger brother carried his burden home and sent for his sister-in-law. When she came and saw her dead husband she wept and would not be comforted. At last she said: “We must get a tailor to sew him together. I cannot bury him like that, in two pieces.”
So the man went out and got a tailor, who sewed the head on to the body, and afterward the burial took place. Then the younger brother gave his sister-in-law some money, and said, “Go and provide for yourself and your children, and if you are in want again, do not hesitate to come and ask me for what you need.”
Meanwhile the dragons had returned to their castle and found the dead man gone. “So the thief had an accomplice!” they exclaimed. “We must destroy him also.”
The chief dragon was a powerful magician, and the next day he assumed the form of a man, and went to the town to try to discover who had come to their castle and removed the body with its severed head. While he was loitering about, uncertain how to get the desired information, he concluded he would go to a tailor and have a suit of clothes made. The tailor took his measure, and the dragon said: “Now mind you sew the seams well so the stitches won’t come out. You must do a careful job, or I will not pay you. It’s not often I have a nice suit made, and I am particular. Use good strong thread and—”
“Stop!” cried the tailor with rising anger. “There is no need for you to make such a fuss. Why, yesterday I had to sew together a dead man whose head had been separated from his body. His relations were entirely satisfied with the way I did the difficult task. If I can do a job like that so well, in spite of the fact that it was out of my line, you can be assured I have the skill to make you a satisfactory suit. So have done with your advising, or you will drive me crazy.”
“Do you know the person who hired you to sew the dead man?” asked the dragon.
“Of course I do,” answered the tailor. “He lives near by. If you like, I will point out his house, and you can go in and ask him whether the body was well sewed or not.”
So he took the dragon a little way along the street and showed him where the brother of the dead man dwelt. But instead of going into the house, the dragon went to a carpenter’s shop and ordered forty-eight chests, each just big enough to contain one of the dragons. When the chests were finished he had them sent to a lonely spot outside of the town, and thither he summoned his dragons. They got into the chests, and he hired wagons to bring the chests to the house of the dead man’s brother. He himself went on ahead, and toward evening he found the former poor man seated in his doorway. “Sir,” said he, “I have had forty-eight chests sent to me. You can see them coming down the street on those wagons. Would you be so kind as to let me leave them in your yard for the night?”
“You are welcome to leave them there for the night,” said the man, “and as much longer as suits your convenience.”
After the wagons had been unloaded and the dragon chief had gone, the man’s children began climbing about and jumping on the chests. The dragons who were inside groaned from time to time, and said, “Ah, would it were dark that we might eat them all.”
Presently the children took notice of the groanings and the words, and they ran to their father and said: “Those chests are bewitched. They are talking.”
The man thought a moment and said, “Forty-eight, and the one that brought them makes forty-nine!”
Then he went to the chests and put his ear to one of the keyholes. He heard the direful words and the groaning, and he said to himself, “Now that I have you monsters in my power I’ll make sure of you.”
So off he went and bought some iron rods, heated them red hot in his kitchen fire, and one by one thrust them into the chests until he had killed all the forty-eight dragons. That done, he called his servant, opened one of the chests, and said: “My man, look here. Some one has played us a trick and put a dragon in this chest. If I had not killed the creature it would have devoured us all. Take it and throw it into the sea.”
The servant lifted it on his back, went to the seashore, which was not far away, and threw the creature down where the rising tide would soon carry it away. Then he went home, but while he was gone his master had opened another chest. The man had his servant look in, and said: “Here is the dragon. Surely you did not throw it far enough out into the sea, else how would it have returned?”
Again the servant carried a dragon to the shore, and once more returned to find what was apparently the same dead dragon. His master kept him going nearly all night, and when he made the trip with the forty-eighth dragon he was so exasperated that he waded right into the sea and cast it out as far as he could. When he returned home, he said, “Master, is it back?”
“No,” the man answered, “it has not come back. You must have thrown it in very deep.”
Next morning the chief dragon came, and he was a good deal perturbed, because he had expected his dragons would destroy the family of the former poor man, and then join their chief before daylight at an appointed spot outside of the town. “I find that one of your chests is open and empty,” the man informed the dragon.
He led the way to the yard, and when the dragon bent over to look into the chest the man seized him and pushed him inside, slammed down the cover, and locked it. Then he ran for a red-hot iron, and soon the last of the dragons had perished.
The castle among the mountains was now without an owner, and the man took possession of it and lived there as happy as a prince—and may whoever reads this story, or hears it read, live happier still.