to live on.' So he called together all the
shipbuilders in the kingdom, and gave orders that a new ship should be
built. Then all the old people came and asked for work, and he answered
cheerfully, 'Oh, yes, there is plenty for everybody;' and when the boys
begged to be allowed to help he found something that they could do. And
when the old man with the long white beard stood before him, praying
that he might earn his bread, he replied, 'Oh, father, I could not
suffer you to work, but you shall be overseer, and look after the rest.'

Now the old man was a holy hermit, and when he saw how kind-hearted the
youth was he determined to do all he could for him to gain the wish of
his heart.

By-and-bye, when the ship was finished, the hermit said to his young
friend, 'Now you can go and claim the king's daughter, for hte ship will
float both by land and sea.'

'Oh, good father,' cried the young man, 'you will not forsake me? Stay
with me, I pray you, and lead me to the king!'

'If you wish it, I will,' said the hermit, 'on condition that you will
give me half of anything you get.'

'Oh, if that is all,' answered he, 'it is easily promised!' And they set
out together on the ship.

After they had gone some distance they saw a man standing in a thick
fog, which he was trying to put into a sack.

'Oh, good father,' exclaimed the youth, 'what can he be doing?'

'Ask him,' said the old man.

'What are you doing, my fine fellow?'

'I am putting the fog into my sack. That is my business.'

'Ask him if he will come with us,' whispered the hermit.

And the man answered: 'If you will give me enough to eat and drink I
will gladly stay with you.'

So they took him on their ship, and the youth said, as they started off
again, 'Good father, before we were two, and now we are three!'

After they had travelled a little further they met a man who had torn up
half the forest, and was carrying all the trees on his shoulders.

'Good father,' exclaimed the youth, 'only look! What can he have done
that for?'

'Ask him why he has torn up all those trees.'

And the man replied, 'Why, I've merely been gathering a handful of
brushwood.'

'Beg him to come with us,' whispered the hermit.

And the strong man answered: 'Willingly, as long as you give me enough
to eat and drink.' And he came on the ship.

And the youth said to the hermit, 'Good father, before we were three,
and now we are four.'

The ship travelled on again, and s