THERE were once two brothers who both served as soldiers; one ofthem was rich, and the other poor. Then the poor one, to escapefrom his poverty, put off his soldier's coat, and turned farmer.

He dug and hoed his bit of land, and sowed it with turnip¹-seed.

The seed came up, and one turnip grew there which became large andvigorous, and visibly grew bigger and bigger, and seemed as if itwould never stop growing, so that it might have been called theprincess of turnips², for never was such an one seen before, andnever will such an one be seen again.

At length it was so enormous that by itself it filled a wholecart, and two oxen were required to draw it, and the farmer hadnot the least idea what he was to do with the turnip, or whetherit would be a fortune to him or a misfortune. At last he thought,"If thou sellest it, what wilt³ thou get for it that is of any importance,and if thou eatest it thyself, why, the small turnips would do theejust as much good; it would be better to take it to the King, andmake him a present of it."So he placed it on a cart, harnessed two oxen, took it to thepalace, and presented it to the King. "What strange thing isthis?" said the King. "Many wonderful things have come before myeyes, but never such a monster as this! From what seed can thishave sprung, or are you a luck-child and have met with it by chance?""Ah, no!" said the farmer, "no luck-child am I. I am a poor soldier,who because he could no longer support himself hung his soldier'scoat on a nail and took to farming land. I have a brother who is richand well known to you, Lord King, but I, because I have nothing, amforgotten by every one."Then the King felt compassion⁴ for him, and said, "Thou shalt beraised from thy poverty, and shalt have such gifts from me that thoushalt be equal to thy rich brother." Then he bestowed⁵ on him muchgold, and lands, and meadows, and herds⁶, and made him immenselyrich, so that the wealth of the other brother could not be comparedwith his. When the rich brother heard what the poor one had gainedfor himself with one single turnip, he envied him, and thought inevery way how he also could get hold of a similar piece of luck. Hewould, however, set about it in a much wiser way, and took goldand horses and carried them to the King, and made certain the Kingwould give him a much larger present in return. If his brother hadgot so much for one turnip, what would he not carry away withhim in return for such beautiful things as these? The King acceptedhis present, and said he had nothing to give him in return that wasmore rare and excellent than the great turnip. So the rich man wasobliged to put his brother's turnip in a cart and have it taken to hishome. When there he did not know on whom to vent⁷ his rage andanger, until bad thoughts came to him, and he resolved to kill hisbrother. He hired murderers, who were to lie in ambush⁸, and thenhe went to his brother and said, "Dear brother, I know of a hiddentreasure, we will dig it up together, and divide it between us."The other agreed to this, and accompanied him without suspicion.

While they were on their way, however, the murderers fell on him,bound him, and would have hanged him to a tree. But just as theywere doing this, loud singing and the sound of a horse's feet wereheard in the distance. On this their hearts were filled with terror,and they pushed their prisoner head first into the sack, hungit on a branch, and took to flight. He, however, worked up thereuntil he had made a hole in the sack through which he could put hishead. The man who was coming by was no other than a travellingstudent, a young fellow who rode on his way through the woodjoyously singing his song. When he who was aloft saw that someonewas passing below him, he cried, "Good day! You have come ata lucky time." The student looked round on every side, but didnot know whence the voice came. At last he said, "Who callsme?" Then an answer came from the top of the tree, "Raise youreyes; here I sit aloft in the Sack of Wisdom. In a short timehave I learnt great things; compared with this all schools area jest; in a very short time I shall have learnt everything, andshall descend⁹ wiser than all other men. I understand the stars,and the signs of the Zodiac, and the tracks of the winds, thesand of the sea, the healing of illness, and the virtues¹⁰ of all herbs,birds, and stones. If you were once within it you would feel whatnoble things issue forth¹¹ from the Sack of Knowledge."The student, when he heard all this, was astonished, and said,"Blessed be the hour in which I have found thee! May not I alsoenter the sack for a while?" He who was above replied as ifunwillingly, "For a short time I will let you get into it, if youreward me and give me good words; but you must wait an hourlonger, for one thing remains¹² which I must learn before I do it."When the student had waited a while he became impatient, andbegged to be allowed to get in at once, his thirst for knowledgewas so very great. So he who was above pretendedat last to yield, and said, "In order that I may come forth fromthe house of knowledge you must let it down by the rope, andthen you shall enter it." So the student let the sack down,untied it, and set him free, and then cried, "Now draw me up atonce," and was about to get into the sack. "Halt!" said the other,"that won't do," and took him by the head and put him upside downinto the sack, fastened it, and drew the disciple¹³ of wisdom upthe tree by the rope. Then he swung him in the air and said, "Howgoes it with thee, my dear fellow? Behold¹⁴, already thou feelest wisdomcoming, and art gaining valuable experience. Keep perfectly¹⁵ quiet untilthou becomest wiser." Thereupon he mounted the student's horse androde away, but in an hour's time sent some one to let the student out again.

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