The old man took a young tree, put it in a hole, drove in a post besideit, and when he had shovelled in some earth and had trampled it firmlydown, he tied the stem of the tree above, below, and in the middle,fast to the post by a rope of straw. "But tell me," said the stranger,"why you don't tie that crooked knotted tree, which is lying in thecorner there, bent down almost to the ground, to a post also that it maygrow straight, as well as these?" The old man smiled and said, "Sir,you speak according to your knowledge, it is easy to see that you arenot familiar with gardening. That tree there is old, and mis-shapen,no one can make it straight now. Trees must be trained while theyare young." "That is how it was with your son," said the stranger,"if you had trained him while he was still young, he would not haverun away; now he too must have grown hard and mis-shapen." "Truly itis a long time since he went away," replied the old man, "he must havechanged." "Would you know him again if he were to come to you?" asked thestranger. "Hardly by his face," replied the peasant, "but he has a markabout him, a birth-mark on his shoulder, that looks like a bean." Whenhe had said that the stranger pulled off his coat, bared his shoulder,and showed the peasant the bean. "Good God!" cried the old man, "Thouart really my son!" and love for his child stirred in his heart. "But,"he added, "how canst thou be my son, thou hast become a great lord andlivest in wealth and luxury? How hast thou contrived to do that?" "Ah,father," answered the son, "the young tree was bound to no post and hasgrown crooked, now it is too old, it will never be straight again. Howhave I got all that? I have become a thief, but do not be alarmed, I ama master-thief. For me there are neither locks nor bolts, whatsoeverI desire is mine. Do not imagine that I steal like a common thief,I only take some of the superfluity of the rich. Poor people are safe,I would rather give to them than take anything from them. It is the samewith anything which I can have without trouble, cunning and dexterityI never touch it." "Alas, my son," said the father, "it still does notplease me, a thief is still a thief, I tell thee it will end badly." Hetook him to his mother, and when she heard that was her son, she weptfor joy, but when he told her that he had become a master-thief, twostreams flowed down over her face. At length she said, "Even if he hasbecome a thief, he is still my son, and my eyes have beheld him oncemore." They sat down to table, and once again he ate with his parentsthe wretched food which he had not eaten for so long. The father said,"If our Lord, the count up there in the castle, learns who thou art, andwhat trade thou followest, he will not take thee in his arms and cradlethee in them as he did when he held thee at the font, but will causethee to swing from a halter." "Be easy, father, he will do me no harm,for I understand my trade. I will go to him myself this very day." Whenevening drew near, the master-thief seated himself in his carriage, anddrove to the castle. The count received him civilly, for he took him fora distinguished man. When, however, the stranger made himself known, thecount turned pale and was quite silent for some time. At length he said,"Thou art my godson, and on that account mercy shall take the place ofjustice, and I will deal leniently with thee. Since thou pridest thyselfon being a master-thief, I will put thy art to the proof, but if thoudost not stand the test, thou must marry the rope-maker's daughter,and the croaking of the raven must be thy music on the occasion." "Lordcount," answered the master-thief, "Think of three things, as difficultas you like, and if I do not perform your tasks, do with me what youwill." The count reflected for some minutes, and then said, "Well, then,in the first place, thou shalt steal the horse I keep for my own riding,out of the stable; in the next, thou shalt steal the sheet from beneaththe bodies of my wife and myself when we are asleep, without our observingit, and the wedding-ring of my wife as well; thirdly and lastly, thoushalt steal away out of the church, the parson and clerk. Mark what Iam saying, for thy life depends on it."
The master-thief went to the nearest town; there he bought the clothesof an old peasant woman, and put them on. Then he stained his face brown,and painted wrinkles on it as well, so that no one could have recognizedhim. Then he filled a small cask with old Hungary wine in which was mixeda powerful sleeping-drink. He put the cask in a basket, which he tookon his back, and walked with slow and tottering steps to the count'scastle. It was already dark when he arrived. He sat down on a stone inthe court-yard and began to cough, like an asthmatic old woman, and torub his hands as if he were cold. In front of the door of the stablesome soldiers were lying round a fire; one of them observed the woman,and called out to her, "Come nearer, old mother, and warm thyself besideus. After all, thou hast no bed for the night, and must take one wherethou canst find it." The old woman tottered up to them, begged them tolift the basket from her back, and sat down beside them at the fire. "Whathast thou got in thy little cask, old lady?" asked one. "A good mouthfulof wine," she answered. "I live by trade, for money and fair words Iam quite ready to let you have a glass." "Let us have it here, then,"said the soldier, and when he had tasted one glass he said, "When wineis good, I like another glass," and had another poured out for himself,and the rest followed his example. "Hallo, comrades," cried one of them tothose who were in the stable, "here is an old goody who has wine that isas old as herself; take a draught, it will warm your stomachs far betterthan our fire." The old woman carried her cask into the stable. One ofthe soldiers had seated himself on the saddled riding-horse, anotherheld its bridle in his hand, a third had laid hold of its tail. Shepoured out as much as they wanted until the spring ran dry. It was notlong before the bridle fell from the hand of the one, and he fell downand began to snore, the other left hold of the tail, lay down and snoredstill louder. The one who was sitting in the saddle, did remain sitting,but bent his head almost down to the horse's neck, and slept and blew withhis mouth like the bellows of a forge. The soldiers outside had alreadybeen asleep for a long time, and were lying on the ground motionless,as if dead. When the master-thief saw that he had succeeded, he gave thefirst a rope in his hand instead of the bridle, and the other who had beenholding the tail, a wisp of straw, but what was he to do with the onewho was sitting on the horse's back? He did not want to throw him down,for he might have awakened and have uttered a cry. He had a good idea,he unbuckled the girths of the saddle, tied a couple of ropes which werehanging to a ring on the wall fast to the saddle, and drew the sleepingrider up into the air on it, then he twisted the rope round the posts,and made it fast. He soon unloosed the horse from the chain, but if hehad ridden over the stony pavement of the yard they would have heardthe noise in the castle. So he wrapped the horse's hoofs in old rags,led him carefully out, leapt upon him, and galloped off.
When day broke, the master galloped to the castle on the stolen horse. Thecount had just got up, and was looking out of the window. "Good morning,Sir Count," he cried to him, "here is the horse, which I have got safelyout of the stable! Just look, how beautifully your soldiers are lyingthere sleeping; and if you will but go into the stable, you will seehow comfortable your watchers have made it for themselves." The countcould not help laughing, then he said, "For once thou hast succeeded,but things won't go so well the second time, and I warn thee thatif thou comest before me as a thief, I will handle thee as I would athief." When the countess went to bed that night, she closed her hand withthe wedding-ring tightly together, and the count said, "All the doorsare locked and bolted, I will keep awake and wait for the thief, but ifhe gets in by the window, I will shoot him." The master-thief, however,went in the dark to the gallows, cut a poor sinner who was hanging theredown from the halter, and carried him on his back to the castle. Thenhe set a ladder up to the bedroom, put the dead body on his shoulders,and began to climb up. When he had got so high that the head of the deadman showed at the window, the count, who was watching in his bed, fired apistol at him, and immediately the master let the poor sinner fall down,and hid himself in one corner. The night was sufficiently lighted bythe moon, for the master to see distinctly how the count got out of thewindow on to the ladder, came down, carried the dead body into the garden,and began to dig a hole in which to lay it. "Now," thought the thief,"the favourable moment has come," stole nimbly out of his corner, andclimbed up the ladder straight into the countess's bedroom. "Dear wife,"he began in the count's voice, "the thief is dead, but, after all, he ismy godson, and has been more of a scape-grace than a villain. I will notput him to open shame; besides, I am sorry for the parents. I will buryhim myself before daybreak, in the garden that the thing may not be known,so give me the sheet, I will wrap up the body in it, and bury him as adog burries things by scratching." The countess gave him the sheet. "Itell you what," continued the thief, "I have a fit of magnanimity onme, give me the ring too,—-the unhappy man risked his life for it,so he may take it with him into his grave." She would not gainsay thecount, and although she did it unwillingly she drew the ring from herfinger, and gave it to him. The thief made off with both these things,and reached home safely before the count in the garden had finished hiswork of burying.
What a long face the count did pull when the master came next morning,and brought him the sheet and the ring. "Art thou a wizard?" said he,"Who has fetched thee out of the grave in which I myself laid thee,and brought thee to life again?" "You did not bury me," said the thief,"but the poor sinner on the gallows," and he told him exactly howeverything had happened, and the count was forced to own to him thathe was a clever, crafty thief. "But thou hast not reached the end yet,"he added, "thou hast still to perform the third task, and if thou dostnot succeed in that, all is of no use." The master smiled and returnedno answer. When night had fallen he went with a long sack on his back, abundle under his arms, and a lantern in his hand to the village-church. Inthe sack he had some crabs, and in the bundle short wax-candles. He satdown in the churchyard, took out a crab, and stuck a wax-candle on hisback. Then he lighted the little light, put the crab on the ground, andlet it creep about. He took a second out of the sack, and treated it inthe same way, and so on until the last was out of the sack. Hereupon heput on a long black garment that looked like a monk's cowl, and stucka gray beard on his chin. When at last he was quite unrecognizable,he took the sack in which the crabs had been, went into the church, andascended the pulpit. The clock in the tower was just striking twelve;when the last stroke had sounded, he cried with a loud and piercingvoice, "Hearken, sinful men, the end of all things has come! The lastday is at hand! Hearken! Hearken! Whosoever wishes to go to heavenwith me must creep into the sack. I am Peter, who opens and shuts thegate of heaven. Behold how the dead outside there in the churchyard,are wandering about collecting their bones. Come, come, and creep intothe sack; the world is about to be destroyed!" The cry echoed throughthe whole village. The parson and clerk who lived nearest to the church,heard it first, and when they saw the lights which were moving about thechurchyard, they observed that something unusual was going on, and wentinto the church. They listened to the sermon for a while, and then theclerk nudged the parson and said, "It would not be amiss if we were to usethe opportunity together, and before the dawning of the last day, find aneasy way of getting to heaven." "To tell the truth," answered the parson,"that is what I myself have been thinking, so if you are inclined, we willset out on our way." "Yes," answered the clerk, "but you, the pastor, havethe precedence, I will follow." So the parson went first, and ascendedthe pulpit where the master opened his sack. The parson crept in first,and then the clerk. The master immediately tied up the sack tightly,seized it by the middle, and dragged it down the pulpit-steps, andwhenever the heads of the two fools bumped against the steps, he cried,"We are going over the mountains." Then he drew them through the villagein the same way, and when they were passing through puddles, he cried,"Now we are going through wet clouds." And when at last he was draggingthem up the steps of the castle, he cried, "Now we are on the steps ofheaven, and will soon be in the outer court." When he had got to the top,he pushed the sack into the pigeon-house, and when the pigeons flutteredabout, he said, "Hark how glad the angels are, and how they are flappingtheir wings!" Then he bolted the door upon them, and went away.
Next morning he went to the count, and told him that he had performedthe third task also, and had carried the parson and clerk out of thechurch. "Where hast thou left them?" asked the lord. "They are lyingupstairs in a sack in the pigeon-house, and imagine that they are inheaven." The count went up himself, and convinced himself that the masterhad told the truth. When he had delivered the parson and clerk from theircaptivity, he said, "Thou art an arch-thief, and hast won thy wager. Foronce thou escapest with a whole skin, but see that thou leavest my land,for if ever thou settest foot on it again, thou may'st count on thyelevation to the gallows." The arch-thief took leave of his parents,once more went forth into the wide world, and no one has ever heard ofhim since.
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