|| An Austrian folktale ||
Once upon a time there was a very poor cobbler who lived with his wife. Unable to earn enough in his homeland, he decided to travel elsewhere. The wife slaughtered their only goat and packed the meat for his journey.
The cobbler took a portion of it with him and set forth. He walked the entire day, but was able to reach neither a village nor a town. Exhausted, the poor man sat down to rest a while beneath a statue that stood at the end of the path. He was about to unpack his meat when the statue began to speak, asking the cobbler, “Tell me, what do you have in your bundle?”
The man was startled. The statue was speaking! “A piece of goat meat,” he finally answered.
“My dear man, do you see the little wooden hut at the end of the path?”, asked the statue.
“Yes, I see it,” he answered. “Go there and throw your meat inside. The devils have their workshop there.
When they ask you what you demand in return, answer them, ‘that old rag that is lying on the bed.'” The man wondered for a while. “What if the devils capture me instead. Should I even listen to this statue! Oh! But what do I have to lose, I already have nothing. Let me take the risk”
He bravely went to the hut, threw his meat inside, and demanded in return the rag described by the statue. Only after some negotiation did they give it to him. The cobbler went away with it. Examining his reward, he saw that it was substantially worse than any rag he had at home.
Returning to the statue, the cobbler expressed his disappointment at its advice. But the statue said, “Take this little stick from my hand and strike the rag three times with it.” The cobbler did what he was told to do, and the finest foods appeared on the rag.
Thus the cobbler, who for a very long time had not had seen such food, gobbled it all up. When the feast was over, he thanked the statue, took the rag, and decided to return home. On the way he spent the night at an inn, where he demonstrated his magic item to the other guests. The innkeeper and the innkeeper’s wife were amazed, and they secretly wanted the magic rag.
That night they stole the cobbler’s rag, putting another one in its place near his bed. The next day the cobbler paid his bill and set off for home with the rag he presumed was genuine.
The cobbler reached home and showed it to his wife saying, ” Wife, now we don’t have to worry about food anymore!”. He took the little stick and slowly struck the rag three times. But no food appeared. The cobbler struck repeatedly, and more and more vigorously, but nothing happened. The cobbler thought that the statue tricked him. So he started his journey to reach the statue, again taking with him a portion of his goat. The statue told him to once more give his meat to the devils and to demand in return the old goat.
The cobbler did as he was told, and received the old goat, which was much worse off than the one he had slaughtered before his journey. Returning to the statue, he complained to it about the old animal he had received. But the statue placed a little stick in his hand and told the man to strike the goat on the back with it. The cobbler did what he was told, and to his amazement gold pieces fell from the goat’s ears. How happy our man was when he saw the gold! Quickly thanking the statue, he hurried homeward with the old goat.
On his way he felt hungry and thirsty, so he turned in at the same inn where he had previously spent the night. He paid the innkeeper in gold coins. The greedy inn-keeper kept a watch on him thinking there was a treasure in the cobbler’s room. He saw that the cobbler carried no bag but insisted his goat be in his room rather than in the stable. So later that night he secretly watched the cobbler get the gold from the goat’s ears.
The innkeeper wanted this magic item also. He replaced the magic goat with a very similar looking old goat. Again the cobbler went home and realized he had been cheated. He once again set forth to the statue, taking the rag and goat with him and some meat for along the way.
He accused the statue of tricking him and show him how the rag and the goat no longer worked. The statue recognized them as fake and asked him to tell the whole story. The statue said, “You have been careless with these items and innkeeper seems to have replaced them. I will help you one last time and then no more.
Take the meat to the devil’s workshop and this time ask for the old hat. He did as he was told and came back to the statue. The statue gave him a stick and asked him to tap on the hat thrice. On tapping three times, an entire regiment of soldiers came out from the hat, on tapping once, they went back into the hat.
The cobbler went to the innkeeper and demanded his items back. When the innkeeper didn’t give, he released the soldiers who started beating him. The innkeeper begged for mercy and returned the stolen items. The cobbler returned home a rich and happy man.
A king’s spy, living at the inn told the king about these items. The king arranged a visit to the cobbler’s with ten of his soldiers. The cobbler was happy to demonstrate the rag and the goat and impress the king. The king then demanded that the cobbler give these items to him for the benefit of his citizens. The cobbler refused.
The king was not pleased and ordered his guards to take the rag and goat by force. The cobbler ran after them and challenged the king to a war trusting in his hat. The king only laughed at him and ordered his soldiers to capture him. But the cobbler tapped his hat and the king’s soldiers were no match for those who climbed out the hat.
The king was soon captured. He requested the cobbler to release him and that he would never come back to this land again. The cobbler let him go and he was never heard of again.
The cobbler became the king. He chose only faithful and good people as his staff and ruled the kingdom well for many years.
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