Grimms Fairy Tales | Page 9

you into the horse-pond. Can you swim?'
Poor Hans was sadly frightened. 'Good man,' cried he, 'pray get me out of this scrape. I
know nothing of where the pig was either bred or born; but he may have been the squire's
for aught I can tell: you know this country better than I do, take my pig and give me the
goose.' 'I ought to have something into the bargain,' said the countryman; 'give a fat goose
for a pig, indeed! 'Tis not everyone would do so much for you as that. However, I will not
be hard upon you, as you are in trouble.' Then he took the string in his hand, and drove
off the pig by a side path; while Hans went on the way homewards free from care. 'After
all,' thought he, 'that chap is pretty well taken in. I don't care whose pig it is, but wherever
it came from it has been a very good friend to me. I have much the best of the bargain.
First there will be a capital roast; then the fat will find me in goose-grease for six months;
and then there are all the beautiful white feathers. I will put them into my pillow, and
then I am sure I shall sleep soundly without rocking. How happy my mother will be! Talk
of a pig, indeed! Give me a fine fat goose.'
As he came to the next village, he saw a scissor-grinder with his wheel, working and
singing,
'O'er hill and o'er dale So happy I roam, Work light and live well, All the world is my
home; Then who so blythe, so merry as I?'
Hans stood looking on for a while, and at last said, 'You must be well off, master grinder!
you seem so happy at your work.' 'Yes,' said the other, 'mine is a golden trade; a good
grinder never puts his hand into his pocket without finding money in it--but where did
you get that beautiful goose?' 'I did not buy it, I gave a pig for it.' 'And where did you get
the pig?' 'I gave a cow for it.' 'And the cow?' 'I gave a horse for it.' 'And the horse?' 'I gave
a lump of silver as big as my head for it.' 'And the silver?' 'Oh! I worked hard for that
seven long years.' 'You have thriven well in the world hitherto,' said the grinder, 'now if
you could find money in your pocket whenever you put your hand in it, your fortune
would be made.' 'Very true: but how is that to be managed?' 'How? Why, you must turn
grinder like myself,' said the other; 'you only want a grindstone; the rest will come of
itself. Here is one that is but little the worse for wear: I would not ask more than the value
of your goose for it--will you buy?' 'How can you ask?' said Hans; 'I should be the
happiest man in the world, if I could have money whenever I put my hand in my pocket:

what could I want more? there's the goose.' 'Now,' said the grinder, as he gave him a
common rough stone that lay by his side, 'this is a most capital stone; do but work it well
enough, and you can make an old nail cut with it.'
Hans took the stone, and went his way with a light heart: his eyes sparkled for joy, and he
said to himself, 'Surely I must have been born in a lucky hour; everything I could want or
wish for comes of itself. People are so kind; they seem really to think I do them a favour
in letting them make me rich, and giving me good bargains.'
Meantime he began to be tired, and hungry too, for he had given away his last penny in
his joy at getting the cow.
At last he could go no farther, for the stone tired him sadly: and he dragged himself to the
side of a river, that he might take a drink of water, and rest a while. So he laid the stone
carefully by his side on the bank: but, as he stooped down to drink, he forgot it, pushed it
a little, and down it rolled, plump into the stream.
For a while he watched it sinking in the deep clear water; then sprang up and danced for
joy, and again fell upon his knees and thanked Heaven, with tears in his eyes, for its
kindness in taking away his only plague, the ugly heavy stone.
'How happy am I!' cried he; 'nobody was ever so lucky as I.' Then up he got with a light
heart, free from all his troubles, and walked on till he reached his mother's