The Fool's Good Fortune

A certain man died and left three sons. One was altogether a fool,

another was fairly intelligent, and the third was rather clever. This

being so, it was of course difficult for them to live together. In

dividing the inheritance among them, the fool was cheated, and in

regard to the cattle he was thus cozened: There were three entrances

to the penfold, two open and one very narrow. The two clever brothers

proposed to drive the beasts out of all three at once; those that

issued from the small gap were to belong to the fool. In this way the

latter's share was only one young bull out of the whole flock. But

to his feeble mind the division seemed fair enough, so he contentedly

drove his bull out into the forest, and tied it with a stout rope to

a young tree, whilst he himself wandered aimlessly about.

Three days later, the fool went to see his beast. It had eaten and

drunk nothing, but had pulled the tree up by the roots, and laid bare

a jar full of old gold coins. The fool was delighted, and played with

the money for a time, then he resolved to take the jar and present it

to the king. As he passed along the road, every wayfarer looked into

the pot, took out the gold in handfuls, and so that he should not

notice their thefts, filled it up with stones and blocks of wood. On

reaching the palace, the fool asked for an audience of the king, and

it was granted. He emptied out the contents of the jar at the feet of

the king. When the courtiers saw the wrath of the king, they took the

fool away and beat him. When he had recovered himself he asked why

he had been thrashed. One of the bystanders, for fun, cried to him:

'You have been beaten because you labour in vain.' The fool went

his way, muttering the words: 'You labour in vain.' As he passed a

peasant who was reaping, he repeated his phrase again and again, until

the peasant grew angry, and thrashed him. The fool asked why he had

been beaten, and what he ought to have said. 'You ought to have said:

"God give you a good harvest!"' The fool went on saying, 'God give you

a good harvest!' and met a funeral. Again he was beaten, and again

he asked what he should say. They replied that he should have said:

'Heaven rest your soul!' He then came to a wedding, and saluted the

newly-married couple with this funereal phrase. Again he was beaten,

and then told that he should say: 'Be fruitful and multiply!' His

next visit was to a monastery, and he accosted every monk with his

new salutation. They too gave him a thrashing, with such vigour that

the fool determined to have his revenge by stealing one of the bells

from their belfry. So he hid himself until the monks had gone to rest,

and then carried off a bell of moderate size. He went into the forest,

climbed a tree, and hung the bell on the branches, ringing it from

time to time, partly to amuse himself and partly to frighten away wild

beasts. In the forest there was a gang of robbers, who were assembled

to share their booty, and had just ended a merry banquet. Suddenly

they heard the sound of the bell, and were much afraid. They took

counsel as to what was to be done, and most of them were for flight,

but the oldest of the band advised them to send a scout to see what

was wrong. The bravest among them was sent to get information, and

the rest remained as quiet as possible. The brigand went on tiptoe

through the bushes to the tree where the fool was, and respectfully

asked: 'Who are you? If you are an angel sent by God to punish our

wickedness, pray spare us and we shall repent; if you are a devil

from hell, come and share with us.' The fool was not so stupid that

he did not see he had to deal with robbers, so he took out a knife,

tolled the bell, and then said with a grave air: 'If you wish to know

who I am, climb the tree and show me your tongue, so that I may mark

on it who I am and what I ask of you.' The robber obediently climbed

the tree, and put out his tongue as far as he could. The fool cut off

his tongue, and kicked him to the ground. The robber, mad with pain,

and frightened by his sudden fall, ran off howling. His comrades had

come out to meet him, and when they saw the plight he was in they

ran off in terror, leaving their wealth. Next morning the fool found

the booty, and without saying anything to anybody, took it home and

became much richer than his brothers. The fool built three palaces:

one for himself, one for me, and one for you. There is merrymaking

in the fool's palace--come and be one of the guests!