The Four Skillful Brothers

There was once a poor man who had four sons, and when they were grown up, he said to them, “My dear children, you must now go out into the world, for I have nothing to give you. So set out, and go to some distance and learn a trade, and see how you can make your way.”

So the four brothers bade their father farewell, and went through the town-gate together. When they had travelled about for some time, they came to a cross-way which branched off in four different directions. Then said the eldest, “Here we must separate, but on this day four years, we will meet each other again at this spot, and in the meantime we will seek our fortunes.” Then each of them went his way.

The eldest met a man who asked him where he was going, and what he was intending to do? “I want to learn a trade,” he replied. Then the man said, “Come with me, and be a thief.” “No,” he answered, “that is not a reputable trade, and the end of it is that one has to swing on the gallows.” “Oh, you need not be afraid of the gallows; I will only teach you to get such things as no other man could ever lay hold of, and no one will ever detect you,” the man answered. So the eldest brother allowed himself to be talked into it and became an accomplished thief from whom nothing was safe if he desired to have it.

The second brother met a man who also asked what he wanted to learn in the world. He didn’t know. “Then come with me, and be an astronomer; there is nothing better than that, for nothing is hid from you,” the man told him. He liked the idea, and became such a skillful astronomer that when he had learnt everything, and was about to travel onwards, his master gave him a telescope and said to him, “With that you can see whatsoever takes place either on earth or in heaven, and nothing can remain concealed from you.

A huntsman took the third brother into training, and gave him such excellent instruction in everything which related to huntsmanship that he became an experienced hunter. When he went away, his master gave him a gun and said, “It will never fail you; whatsoever you aim at, you are certain to hit.”

The youngest brother met a tailor but was reluctant to pursue the trade. “With me you would learn a very different kind of tailoring, which is respectable and proper, and for the most part very honorable,” the ma n told him. So he let himself be persuaded, and went with the man, and learnt his art from the very beginning. When they parted, the man gave the youth a needle, and said, “With this you can sew together whatever is given you, whether it is as soft as an egg or as hard as steel; and it will all become one piece of stuff, so that no seam will be visible.”

When the appointed four years were over, the four brothers arrived at the same time at the cross-roads, embraced and kissed each other, and returned home to their father. They told him of all that had happened to them, and that each had learnt his own trade. They were sitting just in front of the house under a large tree, and the father said, “I will put you all to the test, and see what you can do.” Then he looked up and said to his second son, “Between two branches up at the top of this tree, there is a robin’s nest. Tell me how many eggs there are in it?” The astronomer took his glass, looked up, and said, “There are five.” Then the father said to the eldest, “Fetch the eggs down without disturbing the bird which is sitting hatching them.” The skillful thief climbed up, and took the five eggs from beneath the bird, which never observed what he was doing, and remained quietly sitting where she was, and brought them down to his father. The father took them, and put one of them on each corner of the table, and the fifth in the middle, and told the huntsman to shoot all five eggs in two, through the middle. The huntsman aimed, and shot the eggs, all five as the father had desired.

“Now it’s your turn,” said the father to the fourth son, “you shall sew the eggs together again, and the young birds that are inside them as well, and you must do it so that they are not hurt by the shot.” The tailor brought his needle, and sewed them as his father wished. When he had done this, the thief had to climb up the tree again, and carry them to the nest, and put them back again under the bird without her being aware of it. The bird sat her full time, and after a few days the young ones crept out, and they had a red line round their necks where they had been sewn together by the tailor.

“Well,” said the old man to his sons, “You have used your time well, and learnt something good. I can’t say which of you deserves the most praise. That will be proved if you have but an early opportunity of using your talents.” Not long after this, there was a great uproar in the country, for the King’s youngest daughter was carried off by a dragon. With no success in getting her back, the King proclaimed that whosoever brought her back should have a kingdom awarded to him. As a result, the four brothers resolved to go forth together and liberate the King’s daughter. “I will soon know where she is,” said the astronomer, and looked through his telescope and said, “I see her already, she is far away from here on a rock in the sea, and the dragon is near her watching her.” Then he went to the King, and asked for a ship for himself and his brothers, and sailed with them over the sea until they came to the rock. They found the King’s daughter sitting, and the dragon was lying asleep nearby. The thief then crept forth and stole her away from under the dragon, so quietly and skillfully that the monster never remarked it, but went on snoring.

Full of joy, they hurried off with her on board their ship, and steered out into the open sea. But the dragon, who when he awoke had found no princess there, followed them, and came snorting angrily through the air. Just as he was circling above the ship, and about to descend on it, the huntsman shouldered his gun, and shot him to the heart. The monster fell down dead, but was so large and powerful that his fall shattered the whole ship. The brothers and the princess managed to grab hold of a couple of planks and the tailor, who was not idle, took his wondrous needle, and with a few stitches sewed the planks together, and they seated themselves upon them, and collected together all the fragments of the vessel. Then he sewed these so skillfully together, that in a very short time the ship was once more seaworthy, and they could go home again in safety.

When the King saw his daughter returned, there were great rejoicings. He said to the four brothers, “Each of you has an equal right but I will give to each of you, as a reward, half a kingdom.” The brothers were pleased with this decision and they lived afterward with their father in the greatest happiness.

“The Four Skillful Brothers” is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. Image by Xandra_Iryna from Pixabay)