The parson thought, of course, that he was mad; but when he could get such a clever hand to work for him only for his keep, he thought he could not very well say no; and so the lad got what he wanted.
He worked for the parson in the daytime, and the parson read with him in the evening; and in this way they went on for some time, but at last the lad grew tired of his books.
"I am not going to sit here and read and grind away, and lose what few wits I have," he said; "and it won't be of much help either, for if you are lucky things will come right of themselves, and if you are not lucky you'll never make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."
And with this he pitched the books on the shelf and went his way.
All at once he came to a large forest, where the trees and the bushes were so thick that it was with difficulty he could get along. While he was thus pushing his way through, he began wondering what he should say when he came to the king's palace, and how best he could make use of the learning he had picked up from the parson. All of a sudden the twig of a tree struck him across his mouth, so that his teeth rattled.
"That is Twigmuntus," he said.
A little while after he came to a meadow where a cow was standing bellowing so furiously that it almost deafened him.
"That is Cowbelliantus," he said.
He then came to a river; but as there was neither bridge nor planks across it, he had to put his clothes on his head and swim across.
While he was swimming a perch came and bit him on the nose.