{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/hoe/hoe2-74.htm","path":"neu/hoe/hoe2-74.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/hoe/hoe2-74.htm","text":"ONCE upon a time there were two brothers, one of whom had abundance, but the other was very poor. p. 268 As is the way of the world, riches do not heed poverty, and thus it was with the two brothers. The rich one would not give the poor one even a spoonful of soup.\nOne day the rich brother gave a great feast. The poor brother expected to have been invited, but his hopes were vain.\nAll at once a bright idea struck him, and he went to the river and caught three large pike. \u201cI\u2019ll carry these to my brother,\u201d said he, \u201cand perhaps they will bring me a blessing.\u201d\nHe took the fish to his brother, and addressed him humbly, like a rich lord. But it made no difference. His brother only said, \u201cMany thanks,\u201d turned his back, and went off.\nWhat could the poor brother do? He also turned round, and went his way, sorrowfully reflecting, \u201cHe is my brother in name indeed, but he\u2019s worse than an entire stranger!\u201d\nAll at once he saw an old man sitting by the road, who rose up quickly and went towards him, saying, \u201cFriend, why do you look so sorrowfully on the world?\u201d\n\u201cSorrowful or not,\u201d said the poor brother, \u201cit goes well enough with me! I brought my rich p. 269 brother three fish for a present, and he didn\u2019t even give me a drink in return!\u201d\n\u201cBut you perhaps got something else?\u201d asked the old man.\n\u201cOh, yes, \u2018many thanks,\u2019 \u201d said he; \u201cthat\u2019s your something else!\u201d\nThe old man answered, \u201cGive me your \u2018many thanks,\u2019 and you shall become a rich man.\u201d\n\u201cTake it, and welcome,\u201d said the poor brother.\nThen the old man instructed him as follows:\u2014 \u201cGo home, look for Poverty under the stove, and throw it into the river, and you shall see how it will fare with you.\u201d\nThen he went his way, and the poor brother returned home. He found Poverty under the stove, seized it, and flung it into the river.\nAfter this, everything which he undertook succeeded with the poor brother, and it was a real marvel to see how he got on. His fields grew fine harvests, and his barns and stables were soon more imposing than his rich brother\u2019s.\nWhen the rich brother saw it, he grew envious, and wanted to know how the other had got wealthy. He was always teasing him to know how it was, and at last the other got tired of it, and said, p. 270 \u201cHow did I get rich? I dragged Poverty out from under the stove, and threw it in the water. That\u2019s how it was!\u201d\n\u201cThat\u2019s how it was,\u201d cried the rich brother. \u201cWait a bit! your sort shan\u2019t outdo me!\u201d\nSo he went to the river and fished for Poverty, from whom he supposed that his poor brother had received everything. He fished and fished, and would do nothing else, till at length he held Poverty fast.\nWhile he inspected and examined it at home, it slipped through his fingers and hid under his stove, and nobody could get it out again.\nAfter this everything went worse and worse with the rich brother, till he became at last quite poor, and remained so.\nThis story, which I have not abridged, is a well-known Sclavonic legend. It is probably connected with the story of the three apes which forms the introduction to that of \u201cKhaleefeh the Fisherman,\u201d in the Thousand and One Nights.","title":"THE RICH BROTHER AND THE POOR ONE.","type":"page"}