And it came to pass that as he was riding across a heath, he saw from afar something like a great heap of hay laying on the ground, and when he drew nearer, he could see that it was the stomach of a man, who had laid himself down there, but the stomach looked like a small mountain. When the fat man saw the traveler, he stood up and said, "If you are in need of any one, take me into your service." The prince answered, "What can I do with such a clumsy man?" "Oh," said the stout one, "this is nothing, when I really puff myself up, I am three thousand times fatter." "If that's the case," said the prince, "I can make use of you, come with me."So the stout one followed the prince, and after a while they found another man who was lying on the ground with his ear laid to the turf. "What are you doing there?" asked the king's son. "I am listening," replied the man. "What are you listening to so attentively?" "I am listening to what is just going on in the world, for nothing escapes my ears, I even hear the grass growing." "Tell me," said the prince, "what you hear at the court of the old queen who has the beautiful daughter." Then he answered, "I hear the whizzing of the sword that is striking off a wooer's head." The king's son said, "I can make use of you, come with me."They went onwards, and then saw a pair of feet lying and part of a pair of legs, but could not see the rest of the body. When they had walked on for a great distance, they came to the body, and at last to the head also. "Why," said the prince, "what a tall rascal you are.""Oh," replied the tall one, "that is nothing at all yet, when Ireally stretch out my limbs, I am three thousand times as tall, and taller than the highest mountain on earth. I will gladly enter your service, if you will take me." "Come with me," said the prince, "Ican make use of you."They went onwards and found a man sitting by the road who had bound up his eyes. The prince said to him, "Have you weak eyes, that you cannot look at the light?" "No," replied the man, "but I must not remove the bandage, for whatsoever I look at with my eyes, splits to pieces, so powerful is my glance. If you can use that, I shall be glad to serve you." "Come with me," replied the king's son, "I can make use of you."They journeyed onwards and found a man who was lying in the hot sunshine, trembling and shivering all over his body, so that not a limb was still. "How can you shiver when the sun is shining so warm?" said the king's son. "Alas," replied the man, "I am of quite a different nature. The hotter it is, the colder I am, and the frost pierces through all my bones, and the colder it is, the hotter I am.
In the midst of ice, I cannot endure the heat, nor in the midst of fire, the cold." "You are a strange fellow," said the prince, "but if you will enter my service, follow me."They traveled onwards, and saw a man standing who made a long neck and looked about him, and could see over all the mountains. "What are you looking at so eagerly?" said the king's son. The man replied, "I have such sharp eyes that I can see into every forest and field, and hill and valley, all over the world." The prince said, "Come with me if you will, for I am still in want of such an one."And now the king's son and his six servants came to the town where the aged queen dwelt. He did not tell her who he was, but said, "If you will give me your beautiful daughter, I will perform any task you set me." The sorceress was delighted to get such a handsome youth as this into her net, and said, "I will set you three tasks, and if you are able to perform them all, you shall be husband and master of my daughter." "What is the first to be?" "You shall fetch me my ring which I have dropped into the red sea."So the king's son went home to his servants and said, "The first task is not easy. A ring is to be got out of the red sea. Come, find some way of doing it." Then the man with the sharp sight said, "Iwill see where it is lying," and looked down into the water and said, "It is hanging there, on a pointed stone." The tall one carried them thither, and said, "I would soon get it out, if I could only see it.""Oh, is that all," cried the stout one, and lay down and put his mouth to the water, on which all the waves fell into it just as if it had been a whirlpool, and he drank up the whole sea till it was as dry as a meadow. The tall one stooped down a little, and brought out the ring with his hand.
Then the king's son rejoiced when he had the ring, and took it to the old queen. She was astonished, and said, "Yes, it is the right ring.
You have safely performed the first task, but now comes the second.
Do you see the meadow in front of my palace? Three hundred fat oxen are feeding there, and these must you eat, skin, hair, bones, horns and all, and down below in my cellar lie three hundred casks of wine, and these you must drink up as well, and if one hair of the oxen, or one little drop of the wine is left, your life will be forfeited to me." "May I invite no guests to this repast?" inquired the prince, "No dinner is good without some company." The old woman laughed maliciously, and replied, "You may invite one for the sake of companionship, but no more."The king's son went to his servants and said to the stout one, "You shall be my guest to-day, and shall eat your fill." Hereupon the stout one puffed himself up and ate the three hundred oxen without leaving one single hair, and then he asked if he was to have nothing but his breakfast. Then he drank the wine straight from the casks without feeling any need of a glass, and drained them down to their dregs.
