There were two brothers who were both soldiers; the one was rich andthe other poor. The poor man thought he would try to better himself; so,pulling off his red coat, he became a gardener, and dug his ground well,and sowed turnips.

When the seed came up, there was one plant bigger than all the rest; andit kept getting larger and larger, and seemed as if it would never ceasegrowing; so that it might have been called the prince of turnips forthere never was such a one seen before, and never will again. At last itwas so big that it filled a cart, and two oxen could hardly draw it; andthe gardener knew not what in the world to do with it, nor whether itwould be a blessing or a curse to him. One day he said to himself, 'Whatshall I do with it? if I sell it, it will bring no more than another;and for eating, the little turnips are better than this; the best thingperhaps is to carry it and give it to the king as a mark of respect.'

Then he yoked his oxen, and drew the turnip to the court, and gave itto the king. 'What a wonderful thing!' said the king; 'I have seen manystrange things, but such a monster as this I never saw. Where did youget the seed? or is it only your good luck? If so, you are a true childof fortune.' 'Ah, no!' answered the gardener, 'I am no child of fortune;I am a poor soldier, who never could get enough to live upon; so Ilaid aside my red coat, and set to work, tilling the ground. I have abrother, who is rich, and your majesty knows him well, and all the worldknows him; but because I am poor, everybody forgets me.'

The king then took pity on him, and said, 'You shall be poor nolonger. I will give you so much that you shall be even richer than yourbrother.' Then he gave him gold and lands and flocks, and made him sorich that his brother's fortune could not at all be compared with his.

When the brother heard of all this, and how a turnip had made thegardener so rich, he envied him sorely, and bethought himself how hecould contrive to get the same good fortune for himself. However, hedetermined to manage more cleverly than his brother, and got together arich present of gold and fine horses for the king; and thought he musthave a much larger gift in return; for if his brother had received somuch for only a turnip, what must his present be worth?

The king took the gift very graciously, and said he knew not what togive in return more valuable and wonderful than the great turnip; sothe soldier was forced to put it into a cart, and drag it home with him.When he reached home, he knew not upon whom to vent his rage and spite;and at length wicked thoughts came into his head, and he resolved tokill his brother.

So he hired some villains to murder him; and having shown them where tolie in ambush, he went to his brother, and said, 'Dear brother, I havefound a hidden treasure; let us go and dig it up, and share it betweenus.' The other had no suspicions of his roguery: so they went outtogether, and as they were travelling along, the murderers rushed outupon him, bound him, and were going to hang him on a tree.

But whilst they were getting all ready, they heard the trampling of ahorse at a distance, which so frightened them that they pushed theirprisoner neck and shoulders together into a sack, and swung him up by acord to the tree, where they left him dangling, and ran away. Meantimehe worked and worked away, till he made a hole large enough to put outhis head.

When the horseman came up, he proved to be a student, a merry fellow,who was journeying along on his nag, and singing as he went. As soon asthe man in the sack saw him passing under the tree, he cried out, 'Goodmorning! good morning to thee, my friend!' The student looked abouteverywhere; and seeing no one, and not knowing where the voice camefrom, cried out, 'Who calls me?'

Then the man in the tree answered, 'Lift up thine eyes, for behold hereI sit in the sack of wisdom; here have I, in a short time, learned greatand wondrous things. Compared to this seat, all the learning of theschools is as empty air. A little longer, and I shall know all that mancan know, and shall come forth wiser than the wisest of mankind. HereI discern the signs and motions of the heavens and the stars; the lawsthat control the winds; the number of the sands on the seashore; thehealing of the sick; the virtues of all simples, of birds, and ofprecious stones. Wert thou but once here, my friend, though wouldst feeland own the power of knowledge.

The student listened to all this and wondered much; at last he said,'Blessed be the day and hour when I found you; cannot you contrive tolet me into the sack for a little while?' Then the other answered, as ifvery unwillingly, 'A little space I may allow thee to sit here, if thouwilt reward me well and entreat me kindly; but thou must tarry yet anhour below, till I have learnt some little matters that are yet unknownto me.'

So the student sat himself down and waited a while; but the time hungheavy upon him, and he begged earnestly that he might ascend forthwith,for his thirst for knowledge was great. Then the other pretended to giveway, and said, 'Thou must let the sack of wisdom descend, by untyingyonder cord, and then thou shalt enter.' So the student let him down,opened the sack, and set him free. 'Now then,' cried he, 'let me ascendquickly.' As he began to put himself into the sack heels first, 'Wait awhile,' said the gardener, 'that is not the way.' Then he pushed himin head first, tied up the sack, and soon swung up the searcher afterwisdom dangling in the air. 'How is it with thee, friend?' said he,'dost thou not feel that wisdom comes unto thee? Rest there in peace,till thou art a wiser man than thou wert.'

So saying, he trotted off on the student's nag, and left the poor fellowto gather wisdom till somebody should come and let him down.