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The Four Skillful Brothers

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Four brothers learn different skills, prove their abilities to their father, save a princess and receive rich rewards for it.

Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich
Katze und Maus in Gesellschaft
Marienkind
Von einem, der auszog, das Fürchten zu lernen
Der Wolf und die sieben jungen Geißlein
Der treue Johannes
Der gute Handel
Der wunderliche Spielmann
Die zwölf Brüder
Das Lumpengesindel
Brüderchen und Schwesterchen
Rapunzel
Die drei Männlein im Walde
Die drei Spinnerinnen
Hänsel und Gretel
Die drei Schlangenblätter
Die weiße Schlange
Strohhalm, Kohle und Bohne
Von dem Fischer und seiner Frau
Das tapfere Schneiderlein
Aschenputtel
Das Rätsel
Von dem Mäuschen, Vögelchen und der Bratwurst
Frau Holle
Die sieben Raben
Rotkäppchen
Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten
Der singende Knochen
Der Teufel mit den drei goldenen Haaren
Läuschen und Flöhchen
Das Mädchen ohne Hände
Der gescheite Hans
Die drei Sprachen
Die kluge Else
Der Schneider im Himmel
Tischchen deck dich, Goldesel und Knüppel aus dem Sack
Daumesdick
Die Hochzeit der Frau Füchsin
Die Wichtelmänner
Der Räuberbräutigam
Herr Korbes
Der Herr Gevatter
Frau Trude
Der Gevatter Tod
Daumerlings Wanderschaft
Fitchers Vogel
Von dem Machandelboom
Der alte Sultan
Die sechs Schwäne
Dornröschen
Fundevogel
König Drosselbart
Schneewittchen
Der Ranzen, das Hütlein und das Hörnlein
Rumpelstilzchen
Der liebste Roland
Der goldene Vogel
Der Hund und der Sperling
Der Frieder und das Katherlieschen
Die zwei Brüder
Das Bürle
Die Bienenkönigin
Die drei Federn
Die goldene Gans
Allerleirauh
Häsichenbraut
Die zwölf Jäger
Von dem Sommer- und Wintergarten
Jorinde und Joringel
Die drei Glückskinder
Sechse kommen durch die ganze Welt
Der Wolf und der Mensch
Der Wolf und der Fuchs
Der Fuchs und die Frau Gevatterin
Der Fuchs und die Katze
Die Nelke
Das kluge Gretel
Der alte Großvater und der Enkel
Die Wassernixe
Von dem Tode des Hühnchens
Bruder Lustig
Der Spielhansl
Hans im Glück
Hans heiratet
Die Goldkinder
Der Fuchs und die Gänse
Der Arme und der Reiche
Das singende, springende Löweneckerchen
Die Gänsemagd
Der junge Riese
Das Erdmännchen
Der König vom goldenen Berg
Die Rabe
Die kluge Bauerntochter
Der alte Hildebrand
Die drei Vögelchen
Das Wasser des Lebens
Doktor Allwissend
Der Geist im Glas
Des Teufels rußiger Bruder
Der Bärenhäuter
Der Zaunkönig und der Bär
Der süße Brei
Die klugen Leute
Märchen von der Unke
Der arme Müllerbursch und das Kätzchen
Die beiden Wanderer
Hans mein Igel
Das Totenhemdchen
Der Jude im Dorn
Der gelernte Jäger
Der Dreschflegel vom Himmel
Die beiden Königskinder
Vom klugen Schneiderlein
Die klare Sonne bringts an den Tag
Das blaue Licht
Das eigensinnige Kind
Die drei Feldscherer
Die sieben Schwaben
Die drei Handwerksburschen
Der Königssohn, der sich vor nichts fürchtet
Der Krautesel
Die Alte im Wald
Die drei Brüder
Der Teufel und seine Großmutter
Ferdinand getreu und Ferdinand ungetreu
Der Eisenofen
Die faule Spinnerin
Die vier kunstreichen Brüder
Einäuglein, Zweiäuglein und Dreiäuglein
Die schöne Katrinelje und Pif Paf Poltrie
Der Fuchs und das Pferd
Die zertanzten Schuhe
Die sechs Diener
Die weiße und die schwarze Braut
Der Eisenhans
Die drei schwarzen Prinzessinnen
Knoist und seine drei Söhne
Das Mädchen von Brakel
Das Hausgesinde
Das Lämmchen und Fischchen
Simeliberg
Auf Reisen gehen
Das Eselein
Der undankbare Sohn
Die Rübe
Das junggeglühte Männlein
Des Herrn und des Teufels Getier
Der Hahnenbalken
Die alte Bettelfrau
Die drei Faulen
Das Hirtenbüblein
Die Sterntaler
Der gestohlene Heller
Die Brautschau
Die Schlickerlinge
Der Sperling und seine vier Kinder
Das Märchen vom Schlaraffenland
Das Dietmarsische Lügenmärchen
Rätselmärchen
Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot
Der kluge Knecht
Der gläserne Sarg
Der faule Heinz
Der Vogel Greif
Der starke Hans
Das Bürle im Himmel
Die hagere Liese
Das Waldhaus
Lieb und Leid teilen
Der Zaunkönig
Die Scholle
Rohrdommel und Wiedehopf
Die Eule
Der Mond
Die Lebenszeit
Die Boten des Todes
Meister Pfriem
Die Gänsehirtin am Brunnen
Die ungleichen Kinder Evas
Die Nixe im Teich
Die Geschenke des kleinen Volkes
Der Riese und der Schneider
Der Nagel
Der arme Junge im Grab
Die wahre Braut
Der Hase und der Igel
Spindel, Weberschiffchen und Nadel
Der Bauer und der Teufel
Die Brosamen auf dem Tisch
Das Meerhäschen
Der Meisterdieb
Der Trommler
Die Kornähre
Der Grabhügel
Oll Rinkrank
Die Kristallkugel
Jungfrau Maleen
Die Stiefel von Büffelleder
Der goldene Schlüssel

There was a poor man who had four sons, when they grew up he said to them, "Dear children, you must go out into the world now, I have nothing that I could give you; make up yourselves up and go abroad, learn a trade and see how you get along." So the four brothers took the walking staff, said goodbye to their father and went out together through the gate. After they had walked for a while, they came across one Way of the Cross, which led to four different areas. The eldest said, "Here we have to part, but today for four years we want to meet again at this point and try our luck in the meantime."

Now everyone went his own way, and the eldest met a man who asked him where he was going and what he was up to. "I want to learn a trade," he answered. Then the man said, "Go with me and become a thief." "No," he answered, "that no longer applies to honest trades, and the end of the story is that one is used as a clapper in the field bell." Oh," said the man, "you don't have to be afraid of the gallows: I just want to teach you how to get what no one else can get and where nobody can track you down." So he allowed himself to be persuaded, Ward the man was a trained thief and was so skillful that nothing he ever wanted was safe from him. The second brother met a man who put the same question to him about what he wanted to learn in the world. "I don't know yet," he replied. "So go with me and become a stargazer: nothing better than that, nothing remains hidden from you." He put up with that and became such a skilled stargazer that his master, when he had finished learning and wanted to move on, gave him a telescope and said to him, "With it you can see what is happening on earth and in heaven, and nothing can remain hidden from you." The third brother was apprenticed to a hunter and gave him such good instruction in everything that belongs to hunting that he became a trained hunter. As he was leaving, the master gave him a rifle and said, "It's not missing, what you're aiming for with it, you're sure to hit it." The youngest brother also met a man who spoke to him and asked what he was planning. "Wouldn't you like to become a tailor?" "I don't know that," said the boy, "sitting slouched from morning to night, sweeping back and forth with the needle and the iron, I can't think of." what,” answered the man, “you speak as you understand it: with me you will learn a completely different art of tailoring, it is decent and fair, partly very honorable.” So he let himself be persuaded, went along and learned the man’s art to the full the foundation. As he was leaving, he gave him a needle and said, "With it you can sew together whatever seems as soft as an egg or as hard as steel; and it becomes one piece so that no seam can be seen."

When the appointed four years were up, the four brothers came together at the same time at the crossroads, hugged and kissed each other, and returned home to their father. "Well," said the latter quite happily, "has the wind blown to me again?" They told how it had happened to them and that each had learned his own lesson. Now they were just sitting in front of the house under a big tree when the father said, "Now I want to put you to the test and see what you can do." two branches a chaffinch nest, tell me how many eggs are in it?” The stargazer took his glass, looked up and said, “there are five.” broods, is disturbed.” The skillful thief climbed up and took the five eggs from under the body of the little bird, which did not notice anything and remained sitting quietly, and brought them down to the father. The father took them, placed one at each corner of the table and the fifth in the middle, and said to the hunter, "You shoot the five eggs in the middle in two with one shot." The hunter aimed his rifle and shot the eggs, as father had asked for, all five in one shot. He was sure of the powder that shoots around the corner. "Now it's your turn," said the father to the fourth son, "you sew the eggs back together and also the young birds that are in them, and in such a way that the shot doesn't harm them." The tailor fetched his Needle and sewed as the father had asked for. When he was done, the thief had to carry the eggs back up the tree to the nest and lay them under the bird without him noticing anything. The animal hatched them to completion, and after a few days the young crept out with a little red stripe round their necks where they had been sewn together by the tailor.

"Yes," said the old man to his sons, "I must praise you above the green clover, you have used your time well and learned something righteous: I cannot say which of you is to be preferred. If you only have the opportunity to use your art soon, it will be proven.” Not long after that, there was a great deal of noise in the country that the king's daughter had been kidnapped by a dragon. The king was worried about it day and night and let it be known who would bring her back if she was to be his wife. The four brothers said among themselves "that would be an opportunity where we could be seen" wanted to move out together and free the king's daughter. "I want to know soon where she is," said the stargazer, looked through his telescope and said, "I see her already, she is sitting far from here on a rock in the sea, and next to her is the dragon that is guarding her." So he went to the king and asked for a ship for himself and his brothers, and sailed with them across the sea until they came to the rock. The king's daughter sat there, but the dragon lay in her lap and slept. The huntsman said, "I must not shoot, I would kill the beautiful maiden at the same time." "I will try my salvation then," said the thief, crept up and stole her away from under the dragon, but so quietly and swiftly that the beast didn't notice anything, but snored away. Full of joy they hurried with her onto the ship and steered into the open sea, but the dragon, who had not found the king's daughter when he woke up, followed them and snorted furiously through the air. Just as he was hovering over the ship and about to lower himself, the hunter aimed his rifle and shot him square in the heart. The beast fell down dead, but it was so big and powerful that it smashed the whole ship as it fell. They happily caught a few more boards and swam around on the wide sea. There was great need again, but the tailor, not lazy, took his wonderful needle, sewed the boards together in haste with a few large stitches, sat on them, and gathered up all the pieces of the ship. Then he sewed these together so skillfully that in a short time the ship was ready to sail again and they could go home happily.

When the king saw his daughter again, there was great joy. He said to the four brothers, "One of you shall have her as a wife, but it is up to you to decide who that is." The stargazer said, "If I hadn't seen the king's daughter, all your arts would have been in vain: that's why she's mine." The huntsman said, "You and the king's daughter would have been torn apart by the beast if it hadn't hit my bullet: that's why it's mine." drowned miserably: therefore she is mine." Then the king declared: "Each of you has an equal right, and since each of you cannot have the virgin, none of you shall have her, but I want each a half as a reward give kingdom.” The brothers were pleased with this decision, and they said, “It is better this way than that we should be divided.” So each received half a kingdom, and they lived with their father in all happiness, so long as it pleased God.

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