them, without letting the countryman or his wife observe it.

Thereupon the man ran as fast as he could, and got a basket just like
the other; and when he brought it to the cottage, the guests secretly
took the countryman's basket and put theirs in its place. Then they
took leave of the man and his wife, and returned to their master and
told him how daintily the countryman had treated them.

The countryman's wife threw away all the food that was left, intending
to cook fresh on the morrow. The next morning she went to her basket
and began to ask it for what she wanted; and when she found that the
basket gave her nothing, she called her husband and said: "Old
Greybeard, what basket is this you have brought me? Likely enough it
has served us once and for all; and what good is it now if it gives us
nothing more? Go back to the Wind and beg him to give us back our
flour, or I'll beat you to death."

So the poor man went back to the Winds. When he came to the old woman,
their mother, he fell to complaining of his wife. The old woman told
him to wait for her son, who would soon come home.

Not long after came the South Wind, and the countryman began to
complain of his wife. Then the Wind answered: "I am sorry, old man,
that you have such a wicked wife; but I will assist you, and she shall
not beat you any more. Take this cask, and when you get home and your
wife is going to beat you, place yourself behind the cask and cry:
'Five! out of the cask and thrash my wife!' and when they have given
her a good beating, then say: 'Five! back to the cask!'" Then the
peasant made a low bow to the Wind, and went his way.

When he came home he said: "There, I have brought you here a cask
instead of the basket."

At this the good woman flew into a rage and said: "A cask, indeed!
What shall I do with it? Why have you brought back no flour?" And, so
saying, she seized the poker, and was going to beat her husband. But
the poor man stepped quietly behind the cask and cried: "Five! out of
the cask! Thrash my wife instantly!" In a moment five stout young
fellows jumped out of the cask and fell to cudgelling the woman. And
when her husband saw that she was beaten enough, and she begged for
mercy, he cried: "Five! back to the cask!" Then instantly they stopped
beating her, and crept back into the cask.

The countryman thought over his loss and decided to go forthwith to
the nobleman and challenge him to fight. The nobleman laughed outright