“Stick which beats by itself, go quickly and look for my cloth. Go, I want it back.”
The stick went off at once in pursuit of the man and soon overtook him. It set upon him, and commenced to beat him, crying—
“So you seek the wealth of others, do you? Take that, you knave, and that.”
The man tried to escape, but it was no use, for the stick followed him, thrashing on, and repeating the same words. However much he would have liked to keep the cloth, he was obliged to throw it aside to save himself. The stick brought the cloth to its master, and the idiot continued his journey, thinking how he would surprise his mother and brothers. A little further on he met a man who carried in his hand an empty bag.
“Stop,” cried the man. “For the love of Heaven give me some pence or a piece of bread! My bag is empty, and I am hungry and have a long way to go.”
The fool spread his cloth once more, and said—
“Wonderful cloth, let him who is hungry and thirsty find here everything he wants.”
They heard a whistling noise, saw something shine in the air above them, and, immediately, in front of them, was a table set as if for a royal banquet. There were numberless dishes, and hydromel and wine in plenty. The idiot and his guest sat down, and when they had finished eating and drinking the table disappeared. The fool wrapped up his cloth, and was commencing his journey, when the man said to him—
“Will you give me your cloth for my girdle? When you say, ‘Girdle, which swims so wonderfully, for my safety and not for my pleasure, let me find myself in a boat on the water,’ the girdle will change itself into a deep lake, upon which you can sail at your will.”
The simpleton thought how much his father would like to always have water for his flocks. So he gave the man the cloth for the girdle, which he tied around him. Then he took his stick in his hand, and the two parted. In a short time, when the beggar was afar off, the fool began again to remember how the oak had told him to keep the cloth for himself, and he saw that unless he had it he would not be able to give his mother the pleasant surprise he had intended. So he said to his stick—