They went together to the burnt Part of the city, and found some scorched wool. . They said, “ That will be useful at home.”
They gathered up as much as they could carry, and started home with it.
On the way they saw lying in the street a lot of cloth. The wise peasant threw down the wool, seized as much of the cloth as he could carry, and put it on his shoulders. The stupid one said :
“ Why throw away the wool ? It is nicely tied up, and nicely fastened on.” And so he did not take any of the cloth.
They went farther, and saw lying in the street some ready-made clothes that had been thrown away. The wise peasant unloaded the cloth, picked up the clothes, and put them on his shoulders. The stupid one said :
“ Why should I throw away the wool ? It is nicely tied up and securely fastened on my back.”
They went on their way, and saw silver plate scattered about. The wise peasant threw down the clothes, and gathered up as much of the silver as he could, and started off with it; but the stupid one did not give up his wool, because it was nicely tied up and securely tied on.
Going still farther, they saw gold lying on the road. The wise peasant threw down his silver and picked up the gold; but the stupid one said :
“ What is the good of taking off the wool ? It is nicely tied up and securely fastened to my back.”
And they went home. On the way a rain set in, and the wool became water-soaked, so that the stupid man had to throw it away, and thus reached home empty-handed; but the wise peasant kept his gold and became rich.
XVII. THE BIG OVEN
ONCE upon a time a man had a big house, and in the house there was a big oven; but this man’s family was small only himself and his wife.
When winter came, the man tried to keep his oven going; and in one month he burnt up all his firewood. He had nothing to feed the fire, and it was cold.
Then the man began to break up his fences, and use the boards for fuel. When he had burnt up all of his fences, the house, now without any protection against the wind, was colder than ever, and still they had no firewood.
Then the man began to tear down the ceiling of his house, and burn that in the oven.
A neighbor noticed that he was tearing down his ceiling, and said to him :
“ Why, neighbor, have you lost your mind ? pulling down your ceiling in winter. You and your wife will freeze to death!”
But the man said :
“ No, brother; you see I am pulling down my ceiling so as to have something to heat my oven with. We have such a curious one; the more I heat it up, the colder we are ! “
The neighbor laughed, and said :
“Well, then, after you have burnt up your ceiling, then you will be tearing down your house. You won’t have anywhere to live; only the oven will be left, and even that will be cold ! “
“Well, that is my misfortune,” said the man. “All my neighbors have firewood enough for all winter; but I have already burnt up my fences and the ceiling of my house, and have nothing left.”
The neighbor replied :
“ All you need is to have your oven rebuilt”
But the man said :
“ I know well that you are jealous of my house and my oven because they are larger than yours, and so you advise me to rebuild it.”
And he turned a deaf ear to his neighbor’s advice, and burnt up his ceiling, and burnt up his whole house, and had to go and live with strangers.
The End
