Page:Grimm-Rackham.djvu/316

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Grimm’s Fairy Tales
together so cleverly, that in a very short time the ship was seaworthy again, and they sailed happily home.

The King was overjoyed when he saw his daughter again, and he said to the four Brothers: ‘One of you shall marry her, but which one, you must decide among yourselves.’

An excited discussion then took place among them, for each one made a claim.

The Star-gazer said: ‘Had I not discovered the Princess, all your arts would have been in vain, therefore she is mine!”

The Thief said: ‘What would have been the good of discovering her if I had not taken her from under the Dragon? So she is mine.’

The Sportsman said: ‘You, as well as the Princess, would have been destroyed by the monster if my shot had not hit him. So she is mine.’

The Tailor said: ‘And if I had not sewn the ship together with my skill, you would all have been drowned miserably. Therefore she is mine.’

The King said: ‘Each of you has an equal right; but, as you can’t all have her, none of you shall have her. I will give every one of you half a kingdom as a reward.’

The Brothers were quite satisfied with this decision, and they said: ‘It is better so than that we should quarrel over it.’

So each of them received half a kingdom, and they lived happily with their Father for the rest of their days.

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