‘And the pig?’
‘Oh, I got that instead of my cow.’
‘And the cow?’
‘I got that for a horse.’
‘And the horse?’
‘I gave a lump of gold as big as my head for it.’
‘And the gold?’
‘Oh, that was my wages for seven years’ service.’
‘You certainly have known how to manage your affairs,’ said the grinder. ‘Now, if you could manage to hear the money jingling in your pockets when you got up in the morning, you would indeed have made your fortune.’
‘How shall I set about that?’ asked Hans.
‘You must be a grinder like me—nothing is needed for it but a whetstone; everything else will come of itself. I have one here which certainly is a little damaged, but you need not give me anything for it but your goose. Are you willing?’
‘How can you ask me such a question?’ said Hans. ‘Why, I shall be the happiest person in the world. If I can have some money every time I put my hand in my pocket, what more should I have to trouble about?’
So he handed him the goose, and took the whetstone in exchange.
‘Now,’ said the grinder, lifting up an ordinary large stone which lay near on the road, ‘here is another good stone into the bargain. You can hammer out all your old nails on it to straighten them. Take it, and carry it off.’
Hans shouldered the stone, and went on his way with a light heart, and his eyes shining with joy. ‘I must have been born in a lucky hour,’ he cried; ‘everything happens just as I want it, and as it would happen to a Sunday’s child.’
In the meantime, as he had been on foot since daybreak, he began to feel very tired, and he was also very hungry, as he had eaten all his provisions at once in his joy at his bargain over the cow. At last he could hardly walk any further, and he was obliged to stop every minute to rest. Then the