The Four Skilful Brothers 本领高强的四个兄弟

There was once a poor man who had four sons, and when they were
grown up, he said to them, "My dear children, you must now go out
into the world, for I have nothing to give you, so set out, and go to
some distance and learn a trade, and see how you can make your way."
So the four brothers took their sticks, bade their father farewell, and
went through the town-gate together. When they had travelled about
for some time, they came to a cross-way which branched off in four
different directions. Then said the eldest, "Here we must separate, but
on this day four years, we will meet each other again at this spot, and in
the meantime we will seek our fortunes."
Then each of them went his way, and the eldest met a man who asked
him where he was going, and what he was intending to do? "I want to
learn a trade," he replied. Then the other said, "Come with me, and be
a thief." "No," he answered, "that is no longer regarded as a reputable
trade, and the end of it is that one has to swing on the gallows." "Oh,"
said the man, "you need not be afraid of the gallows; I will only teach you
to get such things as no other man could ever lay hold of, and no one will
ever detect you." So he allowed himself to be talked into it, and while with
the man became an accomplished thief, and so dexterous that nothing was
safe from him, if he once desired to have it. The second brother met a man
who put the same question to him what he wanted to learn in the world.
"I don't know yet," he replied. "Then come with me, and be an astronomer;
there is nothing better than that, for nothing is hid from you." He liked the
idea, and became such a skillful astronomer that when he had learnt everything,
and was about to travel onwards, his master gave him a telescope and said to
him, "With that you canst thou see whatsoever takes place either on earth or
in heaven, and nothing can remain concealed from thee." A huntsman took
the third brother into training, and gave him such excellent instruction in
everything which related to huntsmanship, that he became an experienced
hunter. When he went away, his master gave him a gun and said, "It will
never fail you; whatsoever you aim at, you are certain to hit." The youngest
brother also met a man who spoke to him, and inquired what his intentions
were. "Would you not like to be a tailor?" said he. "Not that I know of,"
said the youth; "sitting doubled up from morning till night, driving the needle
and the goose backwards and forwards, is not to my taste." "Oh, but you are
speaking in ignorance," answered the man; "with me you would learn a very
different kind of tailoring, which is respectable and proper, and for the most
part very honorable." So he let himself be persuaded, and went with the man,
and learnt his art from the very beginning. When they parted, the man gave the
youth a needle, and said, "With this you can sew together whatever is given you,
whether it is as soft as an egg or as hard as steel; and it will all become one piece
of stuff, so that no seam will be visible."
When the appointed four years were over, the four brothers arrived at
the same time at the cross-roads, embraced and kissed each other, and
returned home to their father. "So now," said he, quite delighted,
"the wind has blown you back again to me." They told him of all that
had happened to them, and that each had learnt his own trade. Now
they were sitting just in front of the house under a large tree, and
the father said, "I will put you all to the test, and see what you can do."
Then he looked up and said to his second son, "Between two branches up
at the top of this tree, there is a chaffinch's nest, tell me how many eggs
there are in it?" The astronomer took his glass, looked up, and said, "There
are five." Then the father said to the eldest, "Fetch the eggs down without
disturbing the bird which is sitting hatching them." The skillful thief climbed
up, and took the five eggs from beneath the bird, which never observed what
he was doing, and remained quietly sitting where she was, and brought them
down to his father. The father took them, and put one of them on each corner
of the table, and the fifth in the middle, and said to the huntsman, "With
one shot thou shalt shoot me the five eggs in two, through the middle."
The huntsman aimed, and shot the eggs, all five as the father had desired,
and that at one shot. He certainly must have had some of the powder for
shooting round corners. "Now it's your turn," said the father to the fourth
son; "you shall sew the eggs together again, and the young birds that are inside
them as well, and you must do it so that they are not hurt by the shot." The
tailor brought his needle, and sewed them as his father wished. When he had
done this the thief had to climb up the tree again, and carry them to the nest,
and put them back again under the bird without her being aware of it. The bird
sat her full time, and after a few days the young ones crept out, and they had
a red line round their necks where they had been sewn together by the tailor.
"Well," said the old man to his sons, "I begin to think you are worth
more than breen clover; you have used your time well, and learnt something
good. I can't say which of you deserves the most praise. That will be proved
if you have but an early opportunity of using your talents." Not long after
this, there was a great uproar in the country, for the King's daughter was carried
off by a dragon. The King was full of trouble about it, both by day and night,
and caused it to be proclaimed that whosoever brought her back should have
her to wife. The four brothers said to each other, "This would be a fine opportunity
for us to show what we can do!" and resolved to go forth together and liberate
the King's daughter. "I will soon know where she is," said the astronomer, and
looked through his telescope and said, "I see her already, she is far away from
here on a rock in the sea, and the dragon is beside her watching her." Then he
went to the King, and asked for a ship for himself and his brothers, and sailed with
them over the sea until they came to the rock. There the King's daughter was
sitting, and the dragon was lying asleep on her lap. The huntsman said, "I dare
not fire, I should kill the beautiful maiden at the same time." "Then I will try my
art," said the thief, and he crept thither and stole her away from under the
dragon, so quietly and dexterously, that the monster never remarked it,
but went on snoring. Full of joy, they hurried off with her on board ship,
and steered out into the open sea; but the dragon, who when he awoke
had found no princess there, followed them, and came snorting angrily
through the air. Just as he was circling above the ship, and about to descend
on it, the huntsman shouldered his gun, and shot him to the heart. The
monster fell down dead, but was so large and powerful that his fall
shattered the whole ship. Fortunately, however, they laid hold of a
couple of planks, and swam about the wide sea. Then again they were in
great peril, but the tailor, who was not idle, took his wondrous needle, and
with a few stitches sewed the planks together, and they seated themselves upon
them, and collected together all the fragments of the vessel. Then he sewed
these so skilfully together, that in a very short time the ship was once more
seaworthy, and they could go home again in safety.
When the King once more saw his daughter, there were great rejoicings.
He said to the four brothers, "One of you shall have her to wife, but which
of you it is to be you must settle among yourselves." Then a warm contest
arose among them, for each of them preferred his own claim. The astronomer
said, "If I had not seen the princess, all your arts would have been useless, so
she is mine." The thief said, "What would have been the use of your seeing,
if I had not got her away from the dragon? so she is mine." The huntsman
said, "You and the princess, and all of you, would have been torn to pieces
by the dragon if my ball had not hit him, so she is mine." The tailor said, "And
if I, by my art, had not sewn the ship together again, you would all of you have
been miserably drowned, so she is mine." Then the King uttered this saying,
"Each of you has an equal right, and as all of you cannot have the maiden, none
of you shall have her, but I will give to each of you, as a reward, half a kingdom."
The brothers were pleased with this decision, and said, "It is better thus than that
we should be at variance with each other." Then each of them received half a
kingdom, and they lived with their father in the greatest happiness as long as it
pleased God.