ious
victuals. So they ate and drank together and were merry. After the meal
was over the charcoal-burner said,

"Over there, on the bench, lies an old worn-out hat, which has wonderful
properties: if you put it on and draw it well over your head it is as if
a dozen field-pieces went off, one after the other, shooting everything
down, so that no one can stand against them. This hat is of no use to
me, and I will give it to you in exchange for the table-cloth."

"All right," answered the other, taking the hat and carrying it off, and
leaving the table-cloth behind him. Before he had gone far he struck
upon the knapsack, and summoned his soldiers to fetch back the
table-cloth again.

"First one thing, and then another," thought he, "just as if my luck
were never to end." And so it seemed, for at the end of another day's
journey he came up to another charcoal-burner, who was roasting his
potatoes just like the others. He invited him to eat with him off his
wishing-cloth, to which the charcoal-burner took such a fancy, that he
gave him for it a horn, which had different properties still from the
hat. If a man blew on it down fell all walls and fortresses, and finally
towns and villages in heaps. So the man gave the table-cloth in exchange
for it to the charcoal-burner, afterwards sending his men to fetch it
back, so that at last he had in his possession knapsack, hat, and horn,
all at one time.

"Now," said he, "I am a made man, and it is time to go home again and
see how my brothers are faring."

When he reached home he found that his brothers had built themselves a
fine house with their silver and gold, and lived in clover. He went to
see them, but because he wore a half-worn-out coat, a shabby hat, and
the old knapsack on his back, they would not recognise him as their
brother. They mocked him and said,

"It is of no use your giving yourself out to be our brother; he who
scorned silver and gold, seeking for better fortune, will return in
great splendour, as a mighty king, not as a beggar-man." And they drove
him from their door. Then he flew into a great rage, and struck upon his
knapsack until a hundred and fifty men stood before him, rank and file.
He ordered them to surround his brothers' house, and that two of them
should take hazel-rods, and should beat the brothers until they knew who
he was. And there arose a terrible noise; the people ran together and
wished to rescue the brothers in their extremity, but t