“What has made you so sad?” asked he.
So the father told him what had occurred, and said that he should be afraid to let him have his daughter seeing her child might fall into the well.
“You are three fools,” said the young man, when he had heard him to an end, and leaving them, he thought over whether he should try to get Jane for his wife or not. At length he decided that he would marry her if he could find three people more foolish than her and her father and mother. He put on his boots and went out.
“I will walk till I wear these boots out,” said he, “and if I find three more foolish people before I am barefoot, I will marry her.”
So he went on, and walked very far till he came to a barn, at the door of which stood a man with a shovel in his hands. He seemed to be working very hard, shovelling the air in at the door.
“What are you doing?” asked John.
“I am shovelling in the sunbeams,” replied the man, “to ripen the corn.”
“Why don’t you have the corn out in the sun for it to ripen it?” asked John.
“Good,” said the man. “Why, I never thought of that! Good luck to you, for you have saved me many a weary day’s work.”