{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/hoe/hoe2-26.htm","path":"neu/hoe/hoe2-26.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/hoe/hoe2-26.htm","text":"The next story, which belongs to the same class as Grimm\u2019s \u201cDevil with the Three Golden Hairs,\u201d introduces us to the personified Frost, who is here a much less malevolent being than in the Kalevala, Runo xxx. It also combines two familiar classes of tales: those in which a man receives gifts which are stolen from him, and which he afterwards recovers by means of another, often a magic cudgel; and those in which a man visiting the house of a giant or devil in his absence is concealed by the old mother in order to listen to the secrets revealed by her son when he comes home.\nONCE upon a time there were two brothers, one of whom was rich and the other poor. The rich brother had much cornland and many cattle, but the poor one had only a little corner of a field, in which p. 72 he sowed rye. Then came the Frost and destroyed even this poor crop. Nothing was left to the poor brother, so he set out in search of the Frost. When he had gone some distance, he arrived at a small house and went in. He found an old woman sitting there, who asked what he wanted. The man answered, \u201cI had tilled a small field, and the Frost came and took away even the littie that I had. So I set out in search of him, to ask why he has done me this mischief.\u201d The old woman answered, \u201cThe Frosts are my sons, and they destroy everything; but just now they are not at home. If they came home and found you here, they would destroy you likewise. Get up on the stove, and wait there.\u201d The man crept up, and just then the Frost came in. \u201cSon,\u201d said the old woman, \u201cwhy did you spoil the field of a poor man who was sufficiently pinched without this?\u201d \u201cOh,\u201d said the Frost, \u201cI was only trying whether my cold would bite.\u201d Then said the poor man on the stove, \u201cOnly give me so much back that I can just scrape through, or I must soon die of hunger, for I have nothing to break and bite.\u201d The Frost said, \u201cWe will give him enough to last him all his life.\u201d Then he gave him a knapsack, saying, \u201cWhen you are hungry, you have only to p. 73 say, \u2018Open, sack,\u2019 and you will have food and drink in abundance. But when you have had enough, say, \u2018Sack, shut,\u2019 and all will immediately return into the knapsack, and it will shut of itself.\u201d\nThe man thanked him heartily for his gift, and went his way. When he had gone some distance, he said, \u201cOpen, sack,\u201d and immediately the knapsack opened of itself, and supplied him with food in plenty. When he had had enough, he said, \u201cSack, shut,\u201d and the food sprang into the knapsack, which closed of itself. When he got home, he continued to use it as the Frost directed.\nWhen he and his wife had lived comfortably thus for some time, the rich brother began to covet the knapsack, and wanted to buy it. He gave his poor brother a hundred oxen and cows, and as many horses and sheep. Thus the poor brother became rich, but he was not much better off, for he had to feed the animals. They all gathered round him, and he was now as poor as before. He did not know what to do, except to go back to the Frost and ask for a new sack. The Frost said, \u201cWhy were you so thoughtless as to give away such a knapsack? You are now just as poor as before.\u201d But at length he gave him a new knapsack, much handsomer than p. 74 the first. The poor brother thanked him heartily, and went away joyful, for he thought he had got a knapsack like the first.\nWhen he felt hungry, he said as before, \u201cOpen, sack.\u201d Immediately the knapsack opened, and two fellows sprang out with thick cudgels in their hands, who beat him as if it was a fine art. The man was so overwhelmed that he could hardly utter the words, \u201cSack, shut!\u201d Then the two retired and the knapsack shut. The man thought to himself, \u201cHave patience! I\u2019ll exchange this with my brother.\u201d When he got home, his brother noticed what a fine knapsack he had, and wanted to exchange. The other had no objection, and the exchange was soon effected. Then the rich brother invited all his relatives and the distinguished people of the neighbourhood, for he thought to use the knapsack first to provide a grand feast.\nAs soon as all these people were assembled, the host cried out, \u201cOpen, sack!\u201d Then the knapsack indeed opened, but the men with the cudgels leaped out among the people, and belaboured them so lustily that they all fled in different directions, and some barely escaped with their lives. They all caught it hot, both the host and his guests. When p. 75 at length the host cried out in his distress, \u201cSack, shut!\u201d the men sprang back, and the sack closed. But now the bolder guests themselves gave the host a good beating before they left. After this, things went as badly with the rich brother as with the poor one before. He kept the handsome knapsack, but the men with the cudgels were in it, and if he only thought of opening it, they laid them on his back. But the poor brother had enough for himself and his wife from the first knapsack as long as he lived.\nVersions of this story are current throughout Europe; but in general, the magical properties (of which there are usually two or three) are stolen or exchanged by a designing innkeeper, or other person, without the knowledge of the owner.","title":"THE TWO BROTHERS AND THE FROST. (JANNSEN.)","type":"page"}