THE KNAPSACK
"Much obliged!" answered the soldier, "and farewell."
When he had walked on a distance he met an old woman who asked him for a penny. "A penny!" exclaimed he. "Three pennies are all I have, but it makes no difference whether there are three or two." So he gave the old woman one of his pennies, and walked on. In a little while he met another old woman who begged for a penny. "Whether I have two or one is all the same," said he, and immediately handed her one. Soon afterwards a third woman stopped and asked him for a little help. "One penny is my whole property," replied the soldier, "besides an old shirt and a pair of stockings without heels; but one or none it is all the same, so here is the penny. You are welcome to keep it."
The three old women were, however, one and the same, and this one was, moreover, a great and good fairy who had only assumed the shape of an old, wrinkled woman in order to try the soldier, whose free and generous ways she liked. If his heart was as good and brave as she thought, he deserved to be rewarded. So she told him all, and added that he might make three wishes, which would all be fulfilled.
The soldier was much surprised, and at first did not know what to wish for. But at length he said, "I wish to have and hold the grace and good-will of God."
227
