Now, near the man's cottage was the King's palace, and, you must know,
just against the King's windows a great oak had sprung up, which
was so stout and big that it took away all the light from the King's
palace. The King had said he would give many, many dollars to the man
who could fell the oak, but no one was man enough for that, for as
soon as ever one chip of the oak's trunk flew off, two grew in its
stead. A well, too, the King would have dug, which was to hold water
for the whole year; for all his neighbors had wells, but he hadn't
any, and that he thought a shame. So the King said he would give to
any one who could dig him such a well as would hold water for a whole
year round, both money and goods; but no one could do it, for the
King's palace lay high, high up on a hill, and they had dug only a few
inches before they came upon the living rock.
But as the King had set his heart on having these two things done,
he had it given out far and wide, in all the churches of his kingdom,
that he who could fell the big oak in the King's courtyard, and get
him a well that would hold water the whole year round, should have
the Princess and half the kingdom. Well, you may easily know there
was many a man who came to try his luck; but for all their hacking and
hewing, and all their digging and delving, it was no good.
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