s full of compassion for the old man. "Well, old man,"
said he, "'tis no use for thee to go to school, that's plain. Return
home. I'll tell thee what to do so that thy children shall never send
thee to school again. Fear not, old man, weep no more, and let not thy
soul be troubled! God shall bless thee, and all will be well. I know
well what ought to be done here." So the nobleman comforted the old
man, and the old man began to be merry. Then the nobleman took out his
purse, it was a real nobleman's purse, with a little sack in the
middle of it to hold small change. Lord! what a lovely thing it was!
The more he looked at it, the more the old man marvelled at it. The
nobleman took this purse and began filling it full with something.
When he had well filled it, he gave it to the old man. "Take this and
go home to thy children," said he, "and when thou hast got home, call
together all thy four sons and say to them, 'My dear children, long
long ago, when I was younger than I am now, and knocked about in the
world a bit, I made a little money. "I won't spend it," I said to
myself, "for one never knows what may happen." So I went into a
forest, my children, and dug a hole beneath an oak, and there I hid my
little store of money. I did not bother much about the money
afterward, because I had such good children; but when you sent me to
school I came to this self-same oak, and I said to myself, "I wonder
if these few silver pieces have been waiting for their master all
this time! Let us dig and see." So I dug and found them, and have
brought them home to you, my children. I shall keep them till I die;
but after my death consult together, and whosoever shall be found to
have cherished me most and taken care of me and not grudged me a clean
shirt now and then, or a crust of bread when I'm hungry, to him shall
be given the greater part of my money. So now, my dear children,
receive me back again, and my thanks shall be yours. You can manage it
amongst you, and surely 'tis not right that I should seek a home among
strangers! Which of you will be kind to your old father--for money?'"

So the old man returned to his children with the purse in a casket,
and when he came to the village with the casket under his arm, one
could see at once that he had been in a _good forest_.[25] When one
comes home with a heavy casket under one's arm, depend upon it there's
something in it! So, no sooner did the old man appear than his eldest
daughter-in