"What is thy wish? What are thy commands?" said they.
"Take me from this mountain down to the seashore."
And at once the two took hold of him and carefully brought him down.
Our hero walks along the shore. See there! a vessel comes sailing near the island.
"Ahoy! good people! take me along!"
"No time to stop!" And they went sailing by. But the winds arose and the tempest was heavy.
"It seems as if this fellow over there is not an ordinary man; we had better go back and take him along," decided the sailors.
They turned the prow toward the island, landed, took the merchant's son along with them and brought him to his native town.
It was a long time, or perhaps only a short time after—who could tell?—that one day the merchant's son took again his shovel and went to the market place in search of work.
The same very rich merchant came along in his gilded carriage; and, as of old, all the fellows who saw him coming rushed away.