After a while he bought another cow, which he killed, and he made thecalculation that if he sold the meat well he might gain as much as thetwo cows were worth, and have the skin into the bargain. When thereforehe got to the town with the meat, a great troop of dogs were gatheredtogether in front of the gate, with a large greyhound at the head ofthem, which jumped at the meat, snuffed at it, and barked, "Wow, wow,wow." As there was no stopping him, the peasant said to him, "Yes,yes, I know quite well that thou art saying, 'wow, wow, wow,' becausethou wantest some of the meat; but I should fare badly if I were togive it to thee." The dog, however, answered nothing but "wow, wow.""Wilt thou promise not to devour it all then, and wilt thou go bail forthy companions?" "Wow, wow, wow," said the dog. "Well, if thou insisteston it, I will leave it for thee; I know thee well, and know who is thymaster; but this I tell thee, I must have my money in three days or elseit will go ill with thee; thou must just bring it out to me." Thereuponhe unloaded the meat and turned back again, the dogs fell upon it andloudly barked, "wow, wow."
The countryman, who heard them from afar, said to himself, "Hark, nowthey all want some, but the big one is responsible to me for it."
When three days had passed, the countryman thought, "To-night my moneywill be in my pocket," and was quite delighted. But no one would comeand pay it. "There is no trusting any one now," said he; and at lasthe lost patience, and went into the town to the butcher and demandedhis money. The butcher thought it was a joke, but the peasant said,"Jesting apart, I will have my money! Did not the great dog bring you thewhole of the slaughtered cow three days ago?" Then the butcher grew angry,snatched a broomstick and drove him out. "Wait a while," said the peasant,"there is still some justice in the world!" and went to the royal palaceand begged for an audience. He was led before the King, who sat there withhis daughter, and asked him what injury he had suffered. "Alas!" said he,"the frogs and the dogs have taken from me what is mine, and the butcherhas paid me for it with the stick," and he related at full length allthat had happened. Thereupon the King's daughter began to laugh heartily,and the King said to him, "I cannot give you justice in this, but youshall have my daughter to wife for it,—-in her whole life she has neveryet laughed as she has just done at thee, and I have promised her tohim who could make her laugh. Thou mayst thank God for thy good fortune!"
"Oh," answered the peasant, "I will not have her, I have a wife already,and she is one too many for me; when I go home, it is just as bad asif I had a wife standing in every corner." Then the King grew angry,and said, "Thou art a boor." "Ah, Lord King," replied the peasant,"what can you expect from an ox, but beef?" "Stop," answered the King,"thou shalt have another reward. Be off now, but come back in three days,and then thou shalt have five hundred counted out in full."
When the peasant went out by the gate, the sentry said, "Thou hast madethe King's daughter laugh, so thou wilt certainly receive somethinggood." "Yes, that is what I think," answered the peasant; "five hundredare to be counted out to me." "Hark thee," said the soldier, "give mesome of it. What canst thou do with all that money?" "As it is thou,"said the peasant, "thou shalt have two hundred; present thyself in threedays' time before the King, and let it be paid to thee." A Jew, who wasstanding by and had heard the conversation, ran after the peasant, heldhim by the coat, and said, "Oh, wonder! what a luck-child thou art! Iwill change it for thee, I will change it for thee into small coins,what dost thou want with the great thalers?" "Jew," said the countryman,"three hundred canst thou still have; give it to me at once in coin, inthree days from this, thou wilt be paid for it by the King." The Jew wasdelighted with the profit, and brought the sum in bad groschen, three ofwhich were worth two good ones. After three days had passed, accordingto the King's command, the peasant went before the King. "Pull his coatoff," said the latter, "and he shall have his five hundred." "Ah!" saidthe peasant, "they no longer belong to me; I presented two hundred ofthem to the sentinel, and three hundred the Jew has changed for me,so by right nothing at all belongs to me." In the meantime the soldierand the Jew entered and claimed what they had gained from the peasant,and they received the blows strictly counted out. The soldier bore itpatiently and knew already how it tasted, but the Jew said sorrowfully,"Alas, alas, are these the heavy thalers?" The King could not helplaughing at the peasant, and as all his anger was gone, he said,"As thou hast already lost thy reward before it fell to thy lot,I will give thee something in the place of it. Go into my treasurechamber and get some money for thyself, as much as thou wilt." Thepeasant did not need to be told twice, and stuffed into his big pocketswhatsoever would go in. Afterwards he went to an inn and counted out hismoney. The Jew had crept after him and heard how he muttered to himself,"That rogue of a King has cheated me after all, why could he not havegiven me the money himself, and then I should have known what I had?How can I tell now if what I have had the luck to put in my pockets isright or not?" "Good heavens!" said the Jew to himself, "that man isspeaking disrespectfully of our lord the King, I will run and inform,and then I shall get a reward, and he will be punished as well."
When the King heard of the peasant's words he fell into a passion, andcommanded the Jew to go and bring the offender to him. The Jew ran to thepeasant, "You are to go at once to the lord King in the very clothes youhave on." "I know what's right better than that," answered the peasant,"I shall have a new coat made first. Dost thou think that a man with somuch money in his pocket is to go there in his ragged old coat?" TheJew, as he saw that the peasant would not stir without another coat,and as he feared that if the King's anger cooled, he himself would losehis reward, and the peasant his punishment, said, "I will out of purefriendship lend thee a coat for the short time. What will people not dofor love!" The peasant was contented with this, put the Jew's coat on,and went off with him.
The King reproached the countryman because of the evil speaking of whichthe Jew had informed him. "Ah," said the peasant, "what a Jew says isalways false — no true word ever comes out of his mouth! That rascalthere is capable of maintaining that I have his coat on."
"What is that?" shrieked the Jew. "Is the coat not mine? Have I notlent it to thee out of pure friendship, in order that thou might appearbefore the lord King?" When the King heard that, he said, "The Jewhas assuredly deceived one or the other of us, either myself or thepeasant," and again he ordered something to be counted out to him in hardthalers. The peasant, however, went home in the good coat, with the goodmoney in his pocket, and said to himself, "This time I have hit it!"
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