oney for his
expenses, saying, 'If you behave as well as your brother, I will do
honour to you as I did to him.' The young man promised to do his best,
and his conduct during three years was all that it should be. Then he
went home, and his father was so pleased with him that his feast of
welcome was even more splendid than the one before.

The third brother, whose name was Jenik, or Johnnie, was considered the
most foolish of the three. He never did anything at home except sit
over the stove and dirty himself with the ashes; but he also begged his
father's leave to travel for three years. 'Go if you like, you idiot;
but what good will it do you?'

The youth paid no heed to his father's observations as long as he
obtained permission to go. The father saw him depart with joy, glad to
get rid of him, and gave him a handsome sum of money for his needs.

Once, as he was making one of his journeys, Jenik chanced to cross a
meadow where some shepherds were just about to kill a dog. He entreated
them to spare it, and to give it to him instead which they willingly
did, and he went on his way, followed by the dog. A little further on
he came upon a cat, which someone was going to put to death. He implored
its life, and the cat followed him. Finally, in another place, he saved
a serpent, which was also handed over to him and now they made a party
of four--the dog behind Jenik, the cat behind the dog, and the serpent
behind the cat.

Then the serpent said to Jenik, 'Go wherever you see me go,' for in
the autumn, when all the serpents hide themselves in their holes, this
serpent was going in search of his king, who was king of all the snakes.

Then he added: 'My king will scold me for my long absence, everyone else
is housed for the winter, and I am very late. I shall have to tell
him what danger I have been in, and how, without your help, I should
certainly have lost my life. The king will ask what you would like in
return, and be sure you beg for the watch which hangs on the wall. It
has all sorts of wonderful properties, you only need to rub it to get
whatever you like.'

No sooner said than done. Jenik became the master of the watch, and
the moment he got out he wished to put its virtues to the proof. He was
hungry, and thought it would be delightful to eat in the meadow a loaf
of new bread and a steak of good beef washed down by a flask of wine, so
he scratched the watch, and in an instant it was all before him. Imagine