at the time this story begins they had
both been so careless and idle that their masters declared they would
keep them no longer.

So home they went to their mother and youngest brother, of whom they
thought little, because he made himself useful about the house, and
looked after the hens, and milked the cow. 'Pinkel,' they called him in
scorn, and by-and-by 'Pinkel' became his name throughout the village.

The two young men thought it was much nicer to live at home and be idle
than to be obliged to do a quantity of disagreeable things they did not
like, and they would have stayed by the fire till the end of their lives
had not the widow lost patience with them and said that since they would
not look for work at home they must seek it elsewhere, for she would not
have them under her roof any longer. But she repented bitterly of her
words when Pinkel told her that he too was old enough to go out into the
world, and that when he had made a fortune he would send for his mother
to keep house for him.

The widow wept many tears at parting from her youngest son, but as she
saw that his heart was set upon going with his brothers, she did not try
to keep him. So the young men started off one morning in high spirits,
never doubting that work such as they might be willing to do would be
had for the asking, as soon as their little store of money was spent.

But a very few days of wandering opened their eyes. Nobody seemed to
want them, or, if they did, the young men declared that they were
not able to undertake all that the farmers or millers or woodcutters
required of them. The youngest brother, who was wiser, would gladly
have done some of the work that the others refused, but he was small and
slight, and no one thought of offering him any. Therefore they went from
one place to another, living only on the fruit and nuts they could find
in the woods, and getting hungrier every day.

One night, after they had been walking for many hours and were very
tired, they came to a large lake with an island in the middle of
it. From the island streamed a strong light, by which they could see
everything almost as clearly as if the sun had been shining, and they
perceived that, lying half hidden in the rushes, was a boat.

'Let us take it and row over to the island, where there must be a
house,' said the eldest brother; 'and perhaps they will give us food and
shelter.' And they all got in and rowed across in the direction of the
light.