Once upon a time, there was a man who had three sons.
The youngest son was called ""Simpleton"".
Everyone always mocked him and made fun of him.
One day, the eldest son was leaving for the forest to cut woods.
His mother gave him beautiful cakes and a bottle of wine
in case he should feel hungry or thirsty.
When he entered the forest, he met an old dwarf with gray hair.
The dwarf said,
"Hello, will you please give me a little piece of cake out of your pocket,
and a sip of wine out of that bottle? I am very hungry and thirsty."
The clever son, however, replied.
"No way.
If I did so, I should have none for myself. Go away!"
The eldest son left the dwarf alone and went on.
Soon after the eldest son begun cutting a tree down, his axe slipped from his hands and cut his arm.
He had to return home and had his arm bandaged up.
It was the dwarf with gray hair that caused this.
Next, the second son went into the forest.
His mother gave him cakes and wine as she had done for the eldest son.
In the forest, he met a dwarf with gray hair
and the dwarf asked him for a piece of cake and a sip of wine,
just as the eldest son had been asked.
The second son was clever enough and said,
"If I did, I should have none for myself. Go away!"
He also left the dwarf alone and went on.
This time, too, the second son had to receive punishment.
After a few strokes on a tree with his axe, the axe hit his leg.
He could not walk, so he had to be taken back home.
Then, the youngest son, Simpleton, asked his father.
"Dad, let me go to cut woods in the forest."
His father said,
"Your brothers got injured when they were cutting a tree.
You should not even think of it, for you know nothing about wood-cutting."
Simpleton, however begged his father so persistently that his father finally gave up.
"OK, you can go.You will be wiser when you get hurt." said his father.
His mother gave him a cake made with water and baked in the ashes
and a bottle of sour beer.
In the forest, Simpleton also met a dwarf with gray hair.
When Simpleton greeted to him, the dwarf said,
"Please give me a piece of cake and a sip from the bottle.
I'm very hungry and thirsty."
Simpleton replied,
"I only have a cake baked in the ashes and sour beer.
If you still want them, let's sit down and have them together."
So, they sat down alongside.
As soon as Simpleton took the cake out, it turned into a beautiful sweet cake,
and the sour beer turned into fine wine.
They were delighted and ate the cake and drank the wine.
"You are very kind to share what you have willingly.
So, I'll give you a good luck.
See, there is an old tree over there.
Cut it down, and you'll find something good at the root of it. "
Saying so, the dwarf took his leave.
Simpleton went to the tree and cut it down as he was told to.
When the tree fell down,
he found a goose with pure gold feathers sitting in the root of it.
Simpleton picked up the goose
and carried it with him to an inn where he was planning to stay that night.
The landlord of the inn had three daughters.
When they saw the goose with pure gold feathers, they wanted to know what that beautiful bird was,
and they wanted one of the gold feathers.
The eldest sister thought,
"Soon I will have a chance to pluck one of the feathers out."
As soon as Simpleton went out, she grabbed the wings of the goose.
However, her hands and her fingers stuck fast to the goose.
In a short time the second daughter came, considering deeply how to get the gold feather,
but on the instant she touched her sister, her hands stuck fast to her sister.
Finally, the third daughter came with the same intention.
The two sisters shouted,
"keep away! Please keep away from us!"
but the third daughter could not see the point why she had to keep away from them.
"My sisters are there, so I also should be there" thought the third daughter, and ran up to them.
On touching the two sisters, the third daughter got stuck fast to the sisters.
The three daughters had no choice but to spend all night with the goose.
The next morning,
Simpleton held the goose under his arm,
and left the inn without paying attention to the three daughters being stuck to the goose.
So, the three daughters had to follow close behind him,
As Simpleton stepped out his foot, left or right,
they had to take the same steps all the way just as he did.
In the middle of the field, they met a pastor.
On seeing their march, the pastor said,
"Shame on you! What vulgar daughters!
Why are you running after this young man around the field?
Mind your manners!"
The pastor tried to pull the youngest daughter's hands away.
His hand, however, also stuck fast to the daughter on touching her.
The paster also had no choice but to follow and run behind them.
Soon a clerk passed by,
and he was surprised to see his master pastor running after three daughters.
He shouted,
"Where are you going, master pastor, in such a hurry? Please don't forget that we have a christening today!"
Then he ran after them and caught the paster by his sleeve,
but he also stuck fast to the pastor.
As the five was running in a line, two farmers came from the field with their hoes.
The pastor called out to them and asked them to pull him apart from the clerk.
No sooner had the farmers touched the clerk, they got stuck to them fast.
Now there were seven running just behind Simpleton.
In time, Simpleton came to a town.
The king of the town had a daughter, who was so serious that nobody could make her laugh.
So the king had officially announced
that whoever could make his daughter laugh should be allowed to marry her.
Simpleton heard this and proceeded with his goose
and the seven following behind him in front of the king and his daughter.
The daughter saw the seven running in a line,
she began to laugh loudly,and laughed and laughed, as if she would keep laughing forever.
Then,
Simpleton made a demand for marrying the daughter,
but the kind did not care for this son-in-law, and he made various excuses.
"If you want to marry my daughter,
you should find a man who can drink up all the wine in a storage cellar"
the king said to Simpleton.
Simpleton remembered the dwarf with gray hair and thought he would surely help him.
He went into the forest to see the dwarf.
Then,
in the same place he had cut down the tree he saw a man sitting.
He looked very sad.
Simpleton asked him,
"What's the matter with you?"
The man replied,
"I am too thirsty.
I cannot bear cold water,
and I have just finished a cask of wine.
Still I am far from satisfied."
"Oh, I can help you! Please come with me. Then you will be completely satisfied!"
said Simpleton.
Simpleton brought him to the king's storage cellar,
and the man sat in front of the cask, and kept drinking the wine till he felt pain in his side.
Before the day was over he finished drinking all of the wine in the cellar.
Then, Simpleton demanded the king's daughter again,
but the kind didn't want such a man called Simpleton by everyone
to take his precious daughter away.
So the king made a new condition
that Simpleton had to find a man who could eat a mountain of bread.
Without considering longer, Simpleton went straight into the forest.
There he found a man who looked very dreadful and tied his body up with a leather band.
He said,
" I have eaten an ovenful of bread, still I am far from satisfied.
I am still very hungry. I have tied myself up so as not to starve to death."
Hearing this, Simpleton was very delighted and said,
"Please come with me. I'll make you full and satisfied!"
Simpleton brought the man to the palace of the king.
All of the flour in the kingdom was collected, and a mountain of bread was baked from it.
The man from the forest stood in front of the bread, and started eating.
Before the day was over he had finished eating whole mountain of bread.
Then, Simpleton demanded the bride for the third time.
Still the king made excuses and ordered him to build a ship
which could go both on land and on water.
The king said to Simpleton,
"If you sail on it and come back, you shall marry my daughter."
Simpleton went straight into the forest and met the dwarf with gray hair
whom Simpleton had given a piece of cake before sitting in the same place.
The dwarf got to know what Simpleton wanted and said,
"You gave me cake and wine, so I'll give you the ship.
It's all because you were kind to me."
The dwarf gave Simpleton a ship which could sail both on land and on water.
Seeing the ship, the king knew he had to give up his daughter for him.
Their wedding was held,
and after the king's death,
Simpleton took the throne of the kingdom, and lived with his wife happily ever after.