years' servitude." "And I see you have known how to benefit yourself
each time," said the Grinder; "but, could you now manage that you heard
the money rattling in your pocket as you walked, your fortune would be
made."

"Well! how shall I manage that?" asked Hans.

"You must become a grinder like me; to this trade nothing peculiar
belongs but a grindstone; the other necessaries find themselves. Here is
one which is a little worn, certainly, and so I will not ask anything
more for it than your goose; are you agreeable?"

"How can you ask me?" said Hans; "why, I shall be the luckiest man in
the world; having money as often as I dip my hand into my pocket, what
have I to care about any longer?"

So saying, he handed over the goose, and received the grindstone in
exchange.

"Now," said the Grinder, picking up an ordinary big flint stone which
lay near, "now, there you have a capital stone upon which only beat them
long enough and you may straighten all your old nails! Take it, and use
it carefully!"

Hans took the stone and walked on with a satisfied heart, his eyes
glistening with joy. "I must have been born," said he, "to a heap of
luck; everything happens just as I wish, as if I were a Sunday-child."

Soon, however, having been on his legs since daybreak, he began to feel
very tired, and was plagued too with hunger, since he had eaten all his