There were two brothers who were
both soldiers; the one was rich and the other poor. The poor man thought he
would try to better himself; so, pulling off his red coat, he became a
gardener, and dug his ground well, and sowed turnips.
When the seed came up, there was
one plant bigger than all the rest; and it kept getting larger and larger, and
seemed as if it would never cease growing; so that it might have been called
the prince of turnips for there never was such a one seen before, and never
will again. At last it was so big that it filled a cart, and two oxen could
hardly draw it; and the gardener knew not what in the world to do with it, nor
whether it would be a blessing or a curse to him. One day he said to himself,
‘What shall I do with it? if I sell it, it will bring no more than another; and
for eating, the little turnips are better than this; the best thing perhaps is
to carry it and give it to the king as a mark of respect.’
Then he yoked his oxen, and drew
the turnip to the court, and gave it to the king. ‘What a wonderful thing!’
said the king; ‘I have seen many strange things, but such a monster as this I
never saw. Where did you get the seed? or is it only your good luck? If so, you
are a true child of fortune.’ ‘Ah, no!’ answered the gardener, ‘I am no child
of fortune; I am a poor soldier, who never could get enough to live upon; so I
laid aside my red coat, and set to work, tilling the ground. I have a brother,
who is rich, and your majesty knows him well, and all the world knows him; but
because I am poor, everybody forgets me.’
The king then took pity on him, and
said, ‘You shall be poor no longer. I will give you so much that you shall be
even richer than your brother.’ Then he gave him gold and lands and flocks, and
made him so rich that his brother’s fortune could not at all be compared with
his.
When the brother heard of all this,
and how a turnip had made the gardener so rich, he envied him sorely, and
bethought himself how he could contrive to get the same good fortune for
himself. However, he determined to manage more cleverly than his brother, and
got together a rich present of gold and fine horses for the king; and thought
he must have a much larger gift in return; for if his brother had received so
much for only a turnip, what must his present be worth?
The king took the gift very
graciously, and said he knew not what to give in return more valuable and
wonderful than the great turnip; so the soldier was forced to put it into a
cart, and drag it home with him. When he reached home, he knew not upon whom to
vent his rage and spite; and at length wicked thoughts came into his head, and
he resolved to kill his brother.
So he hired some villains to murder
him; and having shown them where to lie in ambush, he went to his brother, and
said, ‘Dear brother, I have found a hidden treasure; let us go and dig it up,
and share it between us.’ The other had no suspicions of his roguery: so they
went out together, and as they were travelling along, the murderers rushed out
upon him, bound him, and were going to hang him on a tree.
But whilst they were getting all
ready, they heard the trampling of a horse at a distance, which so frightened
them that they pushed their prisoner neck and shoulders together into a sack,
and swung him up by a cord to the tree, where they left him dangling, and ran
away. Meantime he worked and worked away, till he made a hole large enough to
put out his head.
When the horseman came up, he
proved to be a student, a merry fellow, who was journeying along on his nag,
and singing as he went. As soon as the man in the sack saw him passing under
the tree, he cried out, ‘Good morning! good morning to thee, my friend!’ The
student looked about everywhere; and seeing no one, and not knowing where the
voice came from, cried out, ‘Who calls me?’
Then the man in the tree answered,
‘Lift up thine eyes, for behold here I sit in the sack of wisdom; here have I,
in a short time, learned great and wondrous things. Compared to this seat, all
the learning of the schools is as empty air. A little longer, and I shall know
all that man can know, and shall come forth wiser than the wisest of mankind.
Here I discern the signs and motions of the heavens and the stars; the laws
that control the winds; the number of the sands on the seashore; the healing of
the sick; the virtues of all simples, of birds, and of precious stones. Wert
thou but once here, my friend, though wouldst feel and own the power of
knowledge.
The student listened to all this
and wondered much; at last he said, ‘Blessed be the day and hour when I found
you; cannot you contrive to let me into the sack for a little while?’ Then the
other answered, as if very unwillingly, ‘A little space I may allow thee to sit
here, if thou wilt reward me well and entreat me kindly; but thou must tarry
yet an hour below, till I have learnt some little matters that are yet unknown
to me.’
So the student sat himself down and
waited a while; but the time hung heavy upon him, and he begged earnestly that
he might ascend forthwith, for his thirst for knowledge was great. Then the
other pretended to give way, and said, ‘Thou must let the sack of wisdom
descend, by untying yonder cord, and then thou shalt enter.’ So the student let
him down, opened the sack, and set him free. ‘Now then,’ cried he, ‘let me
ascend quickly.’ As he began to put himself into the sack heels first, ‘Wait a
while,’ said the gardener, ‘that is not the way.’ Then he pushed him in head
first, tied up the sack, and soon swung up the searcher after wisdom dangling
in the air. ‘How is it with thee, friend?’ said he, ‘dost thou not feel that
wisdom comes unto thee? Rest there in peace, till thou art a wiser man than
thou wert.’
So saying, he trotted off on the student’s nag, and left the poor fellow to gather wisdom till somebody should come and let him down.