"Now," said the grinder, lifting up an ordinary heavy field-stone,
which lay beside him. "There you have a capital stone, which will be
just the thing to hammer your old nails straight upon. Take it and
lift it up carefully."
Hans raised the stone and marched on with a joyful heart, his eyes
shining with pleasure.
"I must have been born lucky," he cried out. "All that I desire comes
to me, as to a Sunday-child."
Meanwhile, having been on his legs since daybreak, he began to feel
tired; besides which, he was tormented by hunger, for he had eaten up
all his provision in his joy over the exchange of the cow.
At length he could only proceed with great trouble and must needs stop
every minute; the stones, too, crushed him terribly. Then he could
not conceal the thought: "How nice it would be now to have nothing to
carry!"
Like a snail he crept up to a well, wishing to rest himself and enjoy
a refreshing drink.
In order not to spoil the stones in setting them down, he laid them
carefully on the ground one beside the other, and bent himself down to
drink, but by an accident he gave them a little push, and both stones
went splashing down.
Hans, when he saw them sinking in the depths of the well, jumped up
with joy, kneeled down and thanked God, with tears in his eyes, that
He had shown him this grace and, without troubling him to think what
to do with them, had relieved him of the heavy stones which would have
been such a hindrance to him.
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