In Heaven’s good name now to beg I’ll make bold,
My needs, then, oh kindly supply.’”
At the same moment a shower of golden acorns fell. The fool filled his pockets, thanked the oak, and bowing to her returned home.
“Well, stupid, where are the mushrooms?” cried one of his brothers.
“I have some mushrooms off the oak in my pockets.”
“Eat them yourself then, for you will get nothing else, you good-for-nothing. What have you done with your cap?”
“I put it on a poor stump of a tree that stood by the wayside, for its head was uncovered, and I was afraid it might freeze.”
He then scrambled on to the top of the stove, and as he lay down some of the golden acorns fell out of his pocket. So bright were they, they shone like sunbeams in the room. In spite of the fool’s entreaties the brothers picked them up and gave them to their father, who hastened to present them to the king, telling him that his idiot son had gathered them in the wood. The king immediately sent a detachment of his guards to the forest to find the oak which bore golden acorns. But their efforts were fruitless, for, though they hunted in every nook and corner of the forest, they found not a single oak that bore acorns of gold.
At first the king was very angry, but when he grew calmer he sent for his herdsman and said to him, “Tell your son, the fool, that he must bring me, by this evening, a cask filled to the brim with these precious golden acorns. If he obeys my commands you shall never lack bread and salt, and you may rest assured that my royal favour will not fail you in time of need.”