The Brown Fairy Book, part 30 · page 21 2101He was indeed greatly minded to make friends with this being called “man,” so, taking the form of an old field labourer, he entered the service of a farmer.102Under his care all the crops flourished exceedingly, but the master proved to be wasteful and ungrateful, and Rübezahl soon left him, and went to be shepherd to his next neighbour.103He tended the flock so diligently, and knew so well where to lead the sheep to the sweetest pastures, and where among the hills to look for any who strayed away, that they too prospered under his care, and not one was lost or torn by wolves; but this new master was a hard man, and begrudged him his well-earned wages.104So he ran away and went to serve the judge.105Here he upheld the law with might and main, and was a terror to thieves and evildoers; but the judge was a bad man, who took bribes, and despised the law.106Rübezahl would not be the tool of an unjust man, and so he told his master, who thereupon ordered him to be thrown into prison.107Of course that did not trouble the gnome at all, he simply got out through the keyhole, and went away down to his underground palace, very much disappointed by his first experience of mankind.108But, as time went on, he forgot the disagreeable things that had happened to him, and thought he would take another look at the upper world.1 2← previousThe Brown Fairy Book, part 29next →The Brown Fairy Book, part 31↑ back to The Brown Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/30/page/2/