there were also roasted calves and fowls, and hundreds of barrels of wine flowed freely. The whole city was invited to the feast. When all was ready, the king himself led the four companions to the place of honor and seated them on a stand profusely decorated with gold and velvet. Then he said:
“I welcome you with joy, gentlemen. Your coming is a great honor to us. But before the wedding can take place, three feats must be accomplished.”
The prince did not even listen; he gazed entranced at the princess who was crying, and his heart melted within him. But the blacksmith answered:
“Your grace, we will do anything you may ask. Just tell us your wishes.”
The king laughed and said:
“I would like to announce the approaching wedding to my neighbor, a good friend, whose capital city is several hundred miles distant. I should like him to send his answer and congratulations, and I want the answer before we sit down to the feast.”
The prince was greatly alarmed at this request. But the tailor stepped forward, took the letter and bowing to the king said: “A mere trifle, your majesty, a mere trifle. I will gladly undertake that.”
And before the king realized what was happening, the tailor with the letter in hand grew so tall that he reached the clouds, and in that moment his long legs disappeared. The king looked amazed at the prince and said:
“That servant of yours knows a very clever trick.”
All were still looking in the direction in which the tailor disappeared, unable to say a word; and already the slender legs of the tailor appeared once more and the next instant he resumed his ordinary height and handed a letter to the king:
“I am bidden to present the king’s compliments; his majesty cannot come just now, but he hopes to get here in about three weeks.”
The king frowned a little, but he bethought himself of the remaining two chances. He turned to the prince and said:
“This feast is given in your honor, and you must eat everything yourselves. If you can eat all that is prepared, and if for the third test you can drink up all the wine, you will have won the princess. Try it all together.”
“That does not suit me,” cried the shoemaker angrily. “What would remain for me, if all ate?” And immediately he sat down and had the serving-men wait on him. The roasted oxen he gulped directly from the spits and sucked whole barrels of wine at one swallow, while the roasted calves and the fowls he consumed as a side-dish. The more he ate, the more his belly was swelling so that soon it knocked the tables over, pushed the people off and threatened to overthrow the whole stand. When he was done, he wiped the bristling mustache wih his greasy hand and remarked:
“It was good. I wish I could have a feast like that every day.”
Thus the three tests were met. The princess was happy that finally she would get a husband. But the king was angry and said:
“The terms were met and the princess is yours. But I will give no more dowry than one of you can carry away from the royal treasury.” At least there he would beat them.
The prince took his leave with compliments, saying that they would come for the dowry in the afternoon. Scarcely had the king left, when the shoemaker and the tailor got busy with oxen hides to make a bag. The shomaker punched holes with an awl and the tailor pulled the cord through with his teeth. They sewed such a large bag that it could hold an entire pond. When they were done, the blacksmith rolled up the bag and went to the treasury. All the doors were opened before him so that he might choose what to carry away. But the blacksmith lost no time choosing; he swept everything right and left into the bag. When the treasury was completely cleaned out, the bag was only two thirds full.
In the meantime the prince went for the princess who was quite happy to leave her cruel father, and they all left the city. The shoemaker was rather heavy and walked with difficudty, so that he was delaying them.
After the blacksmith carried away the dowry, the chamberlains rushed to the king to tell him, how completely the treasury had been ransacked. The king’s wrath was at once kindled, and he ordered the army to be collected and pursue the prince.
The four companions had just reached a valley among the hills: the shoemaker crept along with difficulty, but the blacksmith carried the bag with as much ease as if it were a cane. Then the tailor happened to look around and explaimed:
“Comrades, we are in a sorry plight. The soldiers are after us—cavalry.”
The blacksmith tried to tell them that they had nothing to fear, that he would see them through, but the shoemaker was in a great fright and kept yelling:
“This is my finish. I will run away. We are in terrible plight . . .” In vain they tried to comfort him. Pushing his big belly ahead of him he disappeared in the woods.
In the meantime the blacksmith dropped his bag gently on the ground and said: “This is my trick.”
He picked out a mighty oak which grew in the gulch, clinging with its roots to the boulders. He took hold of it, and in order not to frighten the prince pulled it gently out of the rock so that only half of the narrow valley was filled with
