Once upon a time a shepherd was taking his flock out to pasture, when he found a little baby lying in a meadow, left there by some wicked person, who thought it was too much trouble to look after it.The shepherd was fond of children, so he took the baby home with him and gave it plenty of milk, and by the time the boy was fourteen he could tear up oaks as if they were weeds.Then Paul, as the shepherd had called him, grew tired of living at home, and went out into the world to try his luck.
He walked on for many miles, seeing nothing that surprised him, but in an open space of the wood he was astonished at finding a man combing trees as another man would comb flax.
'Good morning, friend,' said Paul; 'upon my word, you must be a strong man!'
The man stopped his work and laughed.'I am Tree Comber,' he answered proudly; 'and the greatest wish of my life is to wrestle with Shepherd Paul.'
'May all your wishes be fulfilled as easily, for I am Shepherd Paul, and can wrestle with you at once,' replied the lad; and he seized Tree Comber and flung him with such force to the ground that he sank up to his knees in the earth.However, in a moment he was up again, and catching hold of Paul, threw him so that he sank up to his waist; but then it was Paul's turn again, and this time the man was buried up to his neck.'That is enough,' cried he; 'I see you are a smart fellow, let us become friends.'
'Very good,' answered Paul, and they continued their journey together.
By-and-by they reached a man who was grinding stones to powder in his hands, as if they had been nuts.
'Good morning,' said Paul politely; 'upon my word, you must be a strong fellow!'
'I am Stone Crusher,' answered the man, and the greatest wish of my life is to wrestle with Shepherd Paul.'
'May all your wishes be as easily fulfilled, for I am Shepherd Paul, and will wrestle with you at once,' and the sport began.After a short time the man declared himself beaten, and begged leave to go with them; so they all three travelled together.
A little further on they came upon a man who was kneading iron as if it had been dough.'Good morning,' said Paul, 'you must be a strong fellow.'
'I am Iron Kneader, and should like to fight Shepherd Paul,'
answered he.
'Let us begin at once then,' replied Paul; and on this occasion also, Paul got the better of his foe, and they all four continued their journey.
At midday they entered a forest, and Paul stopped suddenly.'We three will go and look for game,' he said, 'and you, Tree Comber, will stay behind and prepare a good supper for us.' So Tree Comber set to work to boil and roast, and when dinner was nearly ready, a little dwarf with a pointed beard strolled up to the place.
'What are you cooking?' asked he, 'give me some of it.'
'I'll give you some on your back, if you like,' answered Tree Comber rudely.The dwarf took no notice, but waited patiently till the dinner was cooked, then suddenly throwing Tree Comber on the ground, he ate up the contents of the saucepan and vanished.
Tree Comber felt rather ashamed of himself, and set about boiling some more vegetables, but they were still very hard when the hunters returned, and though they complained of his bad cooking, he did not tell them about the dwarf.
Next day Stone Crusher was left behind, and after him Iron Kneader, and each time the dwarf appeared, and they fared no better than Tree Comber had done.The fourth day Paul said to them: 'My friends, there must be some reason why your cooking has always been so bad, now you shall go and hunt and I will stay behind.' So they went off, amusing themselves by thinking what was in store for Paul.
He set to work at once, and had just got all his vegetables simmering in the pot when the dwarf appeared as before, and asked to have some of the stew.'Be off,' cried Paul, snatching up the saucepan as he spoke.The dwarf tried to get hold of his collar, but Paul seized him by the beard, and tied him to a big tree so that he could not stir, and went on quietly with his cooking.The hunters came back early, longing to see how Paul had got on, and, to their surprise, dinner was quite ready for them.
'You are great useless creatures,' said he, 'who couldn't even outwit that little dwarf.When we have finished supper I will show you what I have done with him!' But when they reached the place where Paul had left the dwarf, neither he nor the tree was to be seen, for the little fellow had pulled it up by the roots and run away, dragging it after him.The four friends followed the track of the tree and found that it ended in a deep hole.'He must have gone down here,' said Paul, 'and I will go after him.See! there is a basket that will do for me to sit in, and a cord to lower me with.
But when I pull the cord again, lose no time in drawing the basket up.'
And he stepped into the basket, which was lowered by his friends.
At last it touched the ground and he jumped out and looked about him.He was in a beautiful valley, full of meadows and streams, with a splendid castle standing by.As the door was open he walked in, but a lovely maiden met him and implored him to go back, for the owner of the castle was a dragon with six heads, who had stolen her from her home and brought her down to this underground spot.But Paul refused to listen to all her entreaties, and declared that he was not afraid of the dragon, and did not care how many heads he had; and he sat down calmly to wait for him.
In a little while the dragon came in, and all the long teeth in his six heads chattered with anger at the sight of the stranger.
'I am Shepherd Paul,' said the young man, 'and I have come to fight you, and as I am in a hurry we had better begin at once.'
'Very good,' answered the dragon.'I am sure of my supper, but let us have a mouthful of something first, just to give us an appetite.'
