it was not long before he
made a false stroke: the axe slipped and cut his arm so badly that he
was obliged to go home and have it bound up. Now, this false stroke was
caused by the little gray old man.

Next day the second son went into the forest to cut wood, and his mother
gave him a cake and a bottle of wine. As he entered the wood the same
little old man met him, and begged for a piece of cake and a drop of
wine. But the second son answered rudely: "What I might give to you I
shall want myself, so be off."

Then he left the little old man standing in the road, and walked on. His
punishment soon came; he had scarcely given two strokes on a tree with
his axe, when he hit his leg such a terrible blow that he was obliged to
limp home in great pain.

Then the stupid son said to his father, "Let me go for once and cut wood
in the forest."

But his father said: "No, your brothers have been hurt already, and it
would be worse for you, who don't understand wood-cutting."

The boy, however, begged so hard to be allowed to go that his father
said: "There, get along with you; you will buy your experience very
dearly, I expect."

His mother, however, gave him a cake which had been made with water and
baked in the ashes, and a bottle of sour beer.

When he reached the wood the very same little old man met him, and after
greeting him kindly, said: "Give me a little of your cake and a drop
from your bottle, for I am very hungry and thirsty."

"Oh," replied the simple youth, "I have only a cake, which has been
baked in the ashes, and some sour beer; but you are welcome to a share
of it. Let us sit down, and eat and drink together."

So they seated themselves, and, lo and behold, when the youth opened his
basket, the cake had been turned into a beautiful cake, and the sour
beer into wine. After they had eaten and drank enough, the little old
man said: "Because you have been kind-hearted, and shared your dinner
with me, I will make you in future lucky in all you undertake. There
stands an old tree; cut it down, and you will find something good at the
root."

Then the old man said "Farewell," and left him.

The youth set to work, and very soon succeeded in felling the tree, when
he found sitting at the roots a goose, whose feathers were of pure gold.
He took it up, and, instead of going home, carried it with him to an inn
at a little distance, where he intended to pass the night.

The landlord had three daughters, who l