He answered, “Two miles from here a fly is sitting on the branch of an oak-tree, and I want to shoot its left eye out.”
“Oh, come with me,” said the man, “if we three are together, we certainly ought to be able to get on in the world!”
The huntsman was ready, and went with him.
They came to seven windmills whose sails were turning round with great speed, and yet no wind was blowing either on the right or the left, and no leaf was stirring. Then said the man, “I know not what is driving the windmills, not a breath of air is stirring,” and he went onward with his servants, and when they had walked two miles they saw a man sitting on a tree, who was shutting one nostril, and blowing out of the other. “Good gracious! what are you doing up there?”
He answered, “Two miles from here are seven windmills. Look, I am blowing them till they turn round.”
“Oh, come with me,” said the man. “If we four are together, we shall carry the whole world before us!”
Then the blower came down and went with him.
After a while they saw a man who was standing on one leg and had taken off the other, and laid it beside him. Then the master said, “You have arranged things very comfortably to have a rest.”
“I am a runner,” he replied, “and to stop myself running far too fast, I have taken off one of my legs, for if I run with both, I go quicker than any bird can fly.”
“Oh, come with me. If we five are together, we shall carry the whole world before us.”