THERE were once two brothers, the one rich, the other poor. The rich one,however, gave nothing to the poor one, and he gained a scanty¹ living by tradingin corn, and often did so badly that he had no bread for his wife and children.

Once when he was wheeling a barrow through the forest he saw, on one sideof him, a great, bare, naked-looking mountain, and as he had never seen it before,he stood still and stared at it with amazement².

While he was thus standing³ he saw a twelve great, wild men coming towards him,and as he believed they were robbers he pushed his barrow into the thicket⁴, climbedup a tree, and waited to see what would happen. The twelve men, however, went tothe mountain and cried, "Semsi mountain, Semsi mountain, open," and immediatelythe barren mountain opened down the middle, and the twelve went into it, and assoon as they were within, it shut. After a short time, however, it opened again, and themen came forth⁵ carrying heavy sacks on their shoulders, and when they were all oncemore in the daylight they said, "Semsi mountain, Semsi mountain, shut thyself;" thenthe mountain closed together, and there was no longer any entrance to be seen to it,and the twelve went away.

When they were quite out of sight the poor man got down from the tree, and wascurious to know what really was secretly hidden in the mountain. So he went up toit and said, "Semsi mountain, Semsi mountain, open," and the mountain opened tohim also. The he went inside, and the whole mountain was a cavern⁶ full of silver andgold, and behind lay great piles of pearls and sparkling jewels, heaped up like corn.

The poor man hardly knew what to do, and whether he might take any of thesetreasures for himself or not; but at last he filled his pockets with gold, but he left thepearls and precious stones where they were. When he came out again he also said,"Semsi mountain, Semsi mountain, shut thyself;" and the mountain closed itself, andhe went home with his barrow.

And now he had no more cause for anxiety, but could buy bread for his wife andchildren with his gold, and wine into the bargain. He lived joyously⁷ and uprightly,gave help to the poor, and did good to every one. When, however, the money cameto an end he went to his brother, borrowed a measure that held a bushel, and broughthimself some more, but did not touch any of the most valuable things. When for thethird time he wanted to fetch something, he again borrowed the measure of his brother.

The rich man had, however, long been envious⁸ of his brother's possessions, and ofthe handsome way of living which he had set on foot, and could not understand fromwhence the riches came, and what his brother wanted with the measure. Then hethought of a cunning trick, and covered the bottom of the measure with pitch, andwhen he got the measure back a piece of money was sticking in it. He at once wentto his brother and asked him, "What hast thou been measuring in the bushel measure?""Corn and barley," said the other. Then he showed him the piece of money, andthreatened that if he did not tell the truth he would accuse him before a court ofjustice. The poor man then told him everything, just as it happened. The rich man,however, ordered his carriage to be made ready, and drove away, resolved to use theopportunity better than his brother had done, and to bring back with him quitedifferent treasures.

When he came to the mountain he cried, "Semsi mountain, Semsi mountain, open."The mountain opened, and he went inside it. There lay the treasures all before him,and for a long time he did not know which to clutch at first. At length he loadedhimself with as many precious stones as he could carry. He wished to carry hisburden outside, but, as his heart and soul were entirely⁹ full of the treasures, he hadforgotten the name of the mountain, and cried, "Simeli mountain, Simeli mountain,open." That, however, was not the right name, and the mountain never stirred, butremained shut. Then he was alarmed, but the longer he thought about it the more histhoughts confused themselves, and his treasures were no more of any use to him. Inthe evening the mountain opened, and the twelve robbers came in, and when they sawhim they laughed, and cried out, "Bird, have we caught thee at last! Didst thou thinkwe had never noticed that thou hadst been in here twice? We could not catch theethen; this third time thou shalt not get out again!" Then he cried, "It was not I, it wasmy brother," but let him beg for his life and say what he would, they cut his head off.

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