The Boat That Went Both on Land and on Water
There, was once a great kingdom whose king had a daughter to marry off. A bit proud she was, but more beautiful than any. The king was in no hurry to find her a husband. He loved to have her with him, for she was as quick as a warbler, as straight as an arrow, and as sunny as an Easter day. He didn't look forward to letting any young man have her, not even a king's son. "Anyway," thought he, "where will I ever find a real match for her? She's my daughter, after all, the daughter of a great king."
But in time, the queen, the dishwasher, the minister, and the cobbler, in fact everyone in the castle and in the streets, began reminding the king at every turn that this daughter of his was his only child and that he had to get her married -- not to a prince, perhaps, if he couldn't think of a suitable one, but at least to a capable lad who could one day govern the kingdom.
"Is that what you want?" cried the king one morning, as his minister brought the subject up for the umpteenth time. "Is that your wish? You want a capable lad? All right, at the stroke of noon, have it announced with a flourish of trumpets that I'll give my daughter to anyone who takes wood from my forest and builds me a boat that goes both on land and on water. Yes, I'll say, to anyone who comes asking for her riding a boat like that!"
To himself he said, "A lot of water will flow under the bridges before any mother's son brings me a boat you can sail over fields and waves. These fools won't pester me any more with their nonsense about having to get my girl married!"
In the same kingdom, near the castle, lived two brothers, both country boys. The elder was so clever, I tell you, his hands could make him anything he wanted. He could have made a cat a new pair of eyes, as they say.
He knew he was clever, though. In fact, he knew it a bit too well. Self-confidence is fine, but you see, you shouldn't count too much on your own cleverness. The lad said to himself, "If anyone's to build this boat that goes both on land and on water, why, it has to be me! I'll build it and I'll win the king's daughter. If I don't, no one else around here will!"
He took up his saw, his ax, and his adze; he filled his toolbox with chisels, gouges, and hammer. Then with a light step he set off for the king's forest.
On his way over Three Beech Trees Hill he met an old woman like the ones who comb the woods for dead branches. She greeted him.
"Good day, journeyman carpenter!" she cried. "Did you wake up this morning in good spirits?"
Courtesy should have made him stop, since she'd struck up a conversation. But he strode proudly by, filled as he was that morning with self-importance -- he who always seemed to have the world at his fingertips. He only nodded to her.
"Where are you off to?" she asked.
"To look after my business."
"What are you going to do with all your tools?"
"Make me some skittles!"
"Very well then, journeyman, skittles they shall be!"
When he got to work in the king's forest, everything he felled, shaped, or carved turned to skittles. He began again with elm and ash instead of beech, but it all ended up the same: skittles, nothing but skittles.
Being hot-tempered, he got angry and swore, then hurled adze, gouge, saw, and chisel through the trees. That way he labored twice: first throwing, then picking up.
In the evening he came home looking as though he'd been taken down a peg or two. "I ran into one of those old women with the evil eye," he complained to his younger brother. "Anyway, it was stupid of me to get wrapped up in the idea of building that boat. A boat that sails both on land and on water! Why, it'll be a month of Sundays before anyone builds such a contraption! The king just wanted to show everyone who's boss."
"You never know!" the younger objected. "Time is the father of miracles. You should have kept at it."
"You keep at it, then," growled the elder, angry again. "You go to the king's forest tomorrow and waste your time."
The younger didn't answer. He wouldn't have started the job on his own, but he wasn't going to turn away from it now. You have to let yourself be led and trust that you will be led.
The next morning he took the toolbox and set off for the king's forest, humming a song. On Three Beech Trees Hill he met an old woman hobbling along, bent in two, with one hand on her hip. She looked like one of the women who gather deadwood in the forest.
"Good day, journeyman carpenter," she greeted him.
"And to you, good lady."
"Where are you off to work?"
"My brother sent me to the king's forest. He wants me to see if I can build this boat the king's asking for. I don't know quite what I'll do, but sometimes ideas come when you try."
"A good thought, journeyman. Why shouldn't you succeed? Just get to work."
"Oh, don't worry, I will."
"And when you've built it, go up and show it to the king. On the way you'll meet six men-at-arms. Have them board your boat one after the other. The time will come when you'll need them."
The younger brother tipped his hat to her and took careful note of what she'd said. Then he thanked her and said good-bye.
He came to the king's forest, took off his jacket, and began felling trees.
Believe it or not, the wood he cut fell into place all by itself. One branch made an axle, another the rudder; one length made the gunwale, another the rail. The pieces joined themselves each to each by tenon and mortise, fitted themselves where they belonged, and worked out what the next piece would be. The whole design grew by itself. At last the boat the king had dreamed of, without even knowing what it might look like, took shape Under the lad's fingers just as a pine cone takes shape on the tree -- but a mite faster.
The journeyman sang and the work went forward. By midday the boat was finished -- perfectly finished, and even rather nicely decorated with delicate carvings.
The lad went aboard to try it out. The boat rolled down to the pond, launched itself, came back to land, and sailed as well on land as on water! So he steered it toward the castle where the king lived.
Without horses or mules, this carriage-boat sailed so straight over rivers, ponds, fields, and moors chat the tall poplars bent low out of its path and the whole landscape glided swiftly by. The lad rolled along, hair to the wind; but he still didn't assume, as many others would have done in his place, that he was the best in the world.
The first person he met on the way was a man-at-arms with a belly like a huge water-skin, lying flat on his stomach by the river. When someone wanted to cross, he'd swallow the river at one gulp so the person could go dry-shod.
"Ahoy, what are you doing there?" the lad cried.
"Drinking up the river!"
"That's all you do?"
"Yes, and I live very well by it!"
"Come aboard, I'll take you to the king's castle."
A little farther on he found another man-at-arms with a mouth like that of an oven, gnawing furiously at a mountain.
"Say, what are you doing there?"
"Chewing up the mountain!"
"That's all you do?"
"Yes, and I live very well by it!"
"Come aboard, I'll take you to the king's castle."
What did he see a little farther on? Another man-at-arms with a backside as round as the full moon. The fellow was lying on his back, and the wind from his behind was turning nine mills on the hill.
"Say, what are you doing there?"
"Living off my wind!"
"That's all you do?"
"Yes, and I live very well by it!"
The lad took this third man-at-arms on board his rolling boat.
Next was a fourth man-at-arms with ears like cabbage leaves. He was lying full-length on his side, with one ear to the earth, listening to dandelions grow on the other side of the world. This Sharp-Ears had no other trade and he lived very well. The lad had him come aboard, then sailed on toward the king's castle.
And next? A fifth man-at-arms, with arms like staves, who was throwing stones and knocking down larks for a hundred leagues around. That was all he did, and it gave him a good living! On board, on board! He too boarded the boat that went both on land and on water.
And last? A sixth man-at-arms, with legs like poles, who'd put on these legs to catch hares and who could out-race any hare! That was all he did, and it gave him a good living.
"Come aboard, come aboard!" cried the lad, "you too!" The man-at-arms with the long legs got in, and they sailed off to see the king.
In no time all seven reached the castle. Everyone came out to look and shouted with amazement. People rushed to the castle from all around and they couldn't believe their eyes, which they opened very wide. The grubby kitchen boy was there; and the old woman who darned the rags (she came panting up, needle in hand); and the king, the queen, and the damsel too.
The king stared and stared, with his crown askew on his head. Though amazed and frustrated, he'd given his word. He'd said what he'd said and he'd had it announced with flourishes of trumpets. Could he refuse his daughter to the one who came asking for her, quite simply and honestly, with just the boat he himself had requested -- the one that went both on land and on water?
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