Our lad had had enough of this trade; but he told the chief that he would do it. He stays then, waiting for this gentleman, and at last he sees him coming. He presents himself before him, and says,
“Your purse or your life!”
The gentleman gives him his purse and all the money that he had, and he had a great deal. He said to him, “It is not enough yet. You must give me your fine clothes too, and your horse.”
They exchange clothes, and the gentleman goes off, very glad, although he had old clothes on, because he had spared him his life. Instead of returning to the robbers’ house, what does our lad do? He goes off on horseback with his money to his mother’s house. Everyone was astonished at his arrival, and that he had made his fortune so quickly. He goes to his mother, and judge of her joy! He tells her how it is that he has become so rich, and that it all happened far, far away. His mother told it to others, and at last this news comes to the ears of the mayor, who sends his servant to this young man to tell him to come to his house on the morrow without fault.
He goes then, leaving his mother in tears. His mother told him to tell the mayor how he had made his fortune so quickly. He tells him what business he had pursued, but that it was very far away, and that he had never killed anybody. The mayor said to him,
“If you do not steal my finest horse from my stable this very night, I will have you killed to-morrow.”[65]
This mayor was very rich, and he had a great many servants and a great many horses. There were three of them finer and more valuable than the others. Our lad goes home and consoles his mother. He asks her to give him his old clothes which he wore formerly, and, putting them over the others, he takes a big stick, and goes off to the mayor’s, crawling along like an old man. He knocks at the door, and asks shelter for the night. A lad comes to him, and says—
“We shall not give you shelter in this house to-night. You may go on farther.”
But he begs so much, and asks him to give him at least a corner of the stable—that he does not know where to go to—that at last they let him enter, and give him a little straw (to lie down on). Our lad hears what they say to each other. Three lads were to stop till midnight on the three finest horses, and at midnight three other servants were to take their places. What does our lad do? They were asleep on their horses. As soon as he hears midnight, he goes and gives one of them a knock, and says to him,
“It is midnight; go to bed.”