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Tale Summary

Once upon a time, a King announced that he would marry his daughter to anyone who could build a flying ship. There were three brothers living in the village, and the eldest two were clever and their mother’s favorites, and they set off right away with her blessing. The youngest son, who was stupid and treated poorly, had to convince his mother to let him go, and so she reluctantly sent him off with a bit of bread crust and water. Early in his journey he met a little man and told him about the King’s decree. The man asked for something to eat, and the boy saw that his crust had turned into two fresh rolls and cold meat and shared it. The little man then told him to cut down the first tree in the forest, bow three times, strike it with his ax, fall to his knees, and remain until he would be raised up. He said that the flying ship would appear to him, and that if he met anyone on the way to the castle he should bring them along. This happened just as the little man said, and the simpleton got into the ship and went through the air. Soon, he spied a man below with his ear to the ground, asked what he was doing, and got the reply that he was listening to what was going on in the world. He was invited onto the ship, and soon after, he saw a man hopping on one leg with his other tied behind his ear, who said that he had to keep it that way because he was too fast. He also came aboard the ship, and then the stupid boy saw a great hunter aiming at something a hundred miles away and invited him as well. Not long after, he saw a man who was able to eat a great deal, and a man who was able to drink an abnormal amount, and both came aboard. He then saw a man dragging wood, which he said would be changed into an army of soldiers if it was thrown on the ground. After he boarded the ship, the boy saw a man carrying straw to the village, which he said would cause a great freeze if it were strewn about, and this man joined the rest of the company. When they arrived at the court, the King was horrified that he would have to marry his daughter to a peasant, and so gave an impossible task to get rid of him, which was to fetch healing water from the world’s end before dinner was over. The fast runner untied his leg and fetched the water but stopped for a nap, which the man with the great hearing noticed, and so the marksman fired a shot to the world’s end to wake the runner. The King gave another impossible task, which was to eat twelve oxen and twelve tons of bread, a task that the man with the ability to eat large quantities did easily. Next, the King challenged them to drink forty casks of wine, which the thirsty man did. The King then told the simpleton to have a bath, which was meant to boil him alive, but the man with the straw created a freeze which saved him. The King next ordered them to raise an army instantly, which the man who carried wood did, and so he gave the simpleton riches and his daughter’s hand in marriage.

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