The Four Skilful Brothers

Once upon a time there was a poor man who had four sons. When they were grown up, he said to them, “My dear children, you must go out into the world now, for I have nothing to give you. Set out, go far away, learn a trade, and see how you can make your way.” So the four brothers took their walking sticks, said goodbye to their father, and went out through the town gate together.

After they had traveled for a while, they came to a crossroads where the road split in four different directions. The eldest brother said, “Here we must separate. But on this day four years from now, we will meet again at this spot. In the meantime, let each of us seek our fortune.”

Then each brother went his own way. The eldest met a man who asked him where he was going and what he wanted to do. “I want to learn a trade,” he replied. The man said, “Come with me and become a thief.” “No,” answered the brother, “that is no longer an honest trade, and in the end you end up hanging on the gallows.” “Oh,” said the man, “you need not fear the gallows.

I will teach you to take things that no other man can get, and no one will ever catch you.” So the brother let himself be persuaded, and while he stayed with the man he became an expert thief, so clever that nothing was safe from him if he wanted it.

The second brother met a man who asked him the same question. “I don't know yet,” he replied. “Then come with me and be an astronomer,” said the man. “There is nothing better, for nothing is hidden from you.” The brother liked the idea and became such a skilled astronomer that when he had learned everything and was about to travel on, his master gave him a telescope and said, “With this you can see everything that happens on earth or in heaven, and nothing can stay hidden from you.”

The third brother went with a huntsman, who taught him everything about hunting so well that he became an excellent hunter. When he left, his master gave him a gun and said, “It will never fail you. Whatever you aim at, you will hit.”

The youngest brother also met a man who asked what he wanted to do. “Would you like to be a tailor?” asked the man. “Not really,” said the youth. “Sitting hunched over from morning till night, pushing a needle back and forth, doesn't appeal to me.” “Oh, you don't know what you're saying,” answered the man.

“With me you will learn a very different kind of tailoring, one that is respectable and honorable.” So the youngest brother let himself be persuaded and went with the man, learning his art from the beginning.

When they parted, the man gave him a needle and said, “With this you can sew together anything that is given to you, whether it is as soft as an egg or as hard as steel, and it will become one piece without any seam showing.”

When the four years were up, the four brothers arrived at the crossroads at the same time, hugged and kissed each other, and returned home to their father. “So now,” he said, quite delighted, “the wind has blown you back to me.” They told him everything that had happened and that each had learned a trade.

Now they sat in front of the house under a large tree, and the father said, “I will put you to the test and see what you can do.” He looked up and said to his second son, “Between two branches at the top of this tree there is a chaffinch's nest.

Tell me how many eggs are in it.” The astronomer took his telescope, looked up, and said, “There are five.” Then the father said to the eldest, “Fetch the eggs down without disturbing the bird that is sitting on them.” The clever thief climbed up and took the five eggs from under the bird without the bird noticing.

She remained sitting quietly, and he brought the eggs down to his father. The father took them, placed one on each corner of the table and the fifth in the middle, and said to the huntsman, “With one shot, you shall shoot all five eggs through the middle.” The huntsman aimed and shot the eggs, all five as the father had asked, with just one shot.

He must have used some special powder. “Now it's your turn,” said the father to the fourth son. “You shall sew the eggs back together, along with the young birds inside, and you must do it so that they are not harmed by the shot.” The tailor took his needle and sewed them as his father wished.

When he was done, the thief had to climb up the tree again and put the eggs back into the nest under the bird without her noticing. The bird sat on the eggs for the full time, and after a few days the young birds hatched.

They had a red line around their necks where the tailor had sewn them together.

“Well,” said the old man to his sons, “I think you are worth more than green clover. You have used your time well and learned something good. I cannot say which of you deserves the most praise. That will be proved when you get a chance to use your talents.”

Not long after, there was a great uproar in the country. The king's daughter had been carried off by a dragon. The king was full of worry day and night and had it proclaimed that whoever brought her back could marry her.

The four brothers said to each other, “This is a fine chance to show what we can do!” and decided to go together to free the princess. “I will soon know where she is,” said the astronomer. He looked through his telescope and said, “I see her already.

She is far away 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. They sailed over the sea until they reached the rock.

There sat the princess, and the dragon was lying asleep with his head in her lap. The huntsman said, “I dare not shoot, for I might kill the beautiful maiden too.” “Then I will try my skill,” said the thief, and he crept over and stole the princess away from under the dragon, so quietly and cleverly that the monster did not notice but kept snoring.

Full of joy, they hurried with her onto the ship and sailed out into the open sea. But the dragon woke up and, finding the princess gone, followed them, snorting angrily through the air. Just as he was circling above the ship and about to dive down, the huntsman aimed his gun and shot the dragon through the heart.

The monster fell down dead, but it was so large and heavy that its fall shattered the whole ship. Luckily, they grabbed hold of a couple of planks and swam in the wide sea. They were in great danger again, but the tailor, who was not idle, took his wondrous needle and sewed the planks together with a few stitches.

They sat on them and gathered all the pieces of the wrecked ship. Then the tailor sewed them together so skillfully that in a very short time the ship was as good as new, and they could sail home safely.

When the king saw his daughter again, there were great celebrations. He said to the four brothers, “One of you shall have her as your wife, but you must decide among yourselves who it will be.” Then a heated argument broke out, for each brother claimed the princess for himself.

The astronomer said, “If I had not seen the princess, all your skills would have been useless, so she is mine.” The thief said, “What good would your seeing have been if I had not taken her from the dragon?

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 shot had not killed him, so she is mine.” The tailor said, “And if I had not sewn the ship back together with my skill, you would all have drowned miserably, so she is mine.” Then the king pronounced this judgment: “Each of you has an equal claim, and since you cannot all marry the maiden, none of you shall have her.

Instead, I will give each of you half a kingdom as a reward.” The brothers were pleased with this decision and said, “It is better this way than to quarrel with each other.” So each of them received half a kingdom, and they lived with their father in great happiness for as long as God willed.