the
knife-grinder. "Now, if you could but manage to have money in your
pocket every time you put your hand in, your fortune is made."

"How shall I manage that?" said Hans.

"You must be a knife-grinder like me," said the man. "All you want is a
grindstone, the rest comes of itself: I have one here; to be sure it is
a little damaged, but I don't mind letting you have it in exchange for
your goose; what say you?"

"How can you ask?" answered Hans. "I shall be the luckiest fellow in the
world, for if I find money whenever I put my hand in my pocket, there is
nothing more left to want."

And so he handed over the goose to the pedlar and received the
grindstone in exchange.

"Now," said the knife-grinder, taking up a heavy common stone that lay
near him, "here is another proper sort of stone that will stand a good
deal of wear and that you can hammer out your old nails upon. Take it
with you, and carry it carefully."

Hans lifted up the stone and carried it off with a contented mind. "I
must have been born under a lucky star!" cried he, while his eyes
sparkled for joy. "I have only to wish for a thing and it is mine."

After a while he began to feel rather tired, as indeed he had been on
his legs since daybreak; he also began to feel rather hungry, as in the
fulness of his joy at getting the cow, he had eaten up all he had. At
last he could scarcely go on at all, and had to make a halt every
moment, for the stones weighed him down most unmercifully, and he could
not help wishing that he did not feel obliged to drag them along. And on
he went at a snail's pace until he came to a well; then he thought he
would rest and take a drink of the fresh water. And he placed the stones
carefully by his side at the edge of the well; then he sat down, and as
he stooped to drink, he happened to give the stones a little push, and
they both fell into the water with a splash. And then Hans, having
watched them disappear, jumped for joy, and thanked his stars that he
had been so lucky as to get rid of the stones that had weighed upon him
so long without any effort of his own.

"I really think," cried he, "I am the luckiest man under the sun." So on
he went, void of care, until he reached his mother's house.

THE GOOSE GIRL.

THERE lived once an old Queen, whose husband had been dead many years.
She had a beautiful daughter who was promised in marriage to a King's
son living a great way off. When the time appointed for the