The Pink Fairy Book, part 17 · page 21 2101He called to his wife, who was washing in the kitchen: ‘Listen, Aita: when the robbers come and ask for me say I have gone to the vineyard.102Then tell the dog to call me, and chase him from the house.’103When he had given these directions he ran out of the back door and hid behind a barrel.104A few minutes later the robbers arrived, and called loudly for the shoemaker.105‘Alas! good gentlemen, he is up in the vineyard, but I will send the dog after him at once.106Here! now quickly to the vineyard, and tell your master some gentlemen are here who wish to speak to him.107Go as fast as you can.’108And she opened the door and let the dog out.109‘You can really trust the dog to call your husband?’ asked the robbers.110‘Dear me, yes!111He understands everything, and will always carry any message I give him.’112By-and-bye the shoemaker came in and said, ‘Good morning, gentlemen; the dog tells me you wish to speak to me.’113‘Yes, we do,’ replied the robber; ‘we have come to speak to you about that guitar.114It is your fault that we have murdered all our wives; and, though we played as you told us, none of them ever came back to life.’115‘You could not have played properly,’ said the shoemaker.116‘It was your own fault.’117‘Well, we will forget all about it,’ answered the robbers, ‘if you will only sell us your dog.’118‘Oh, that is impossible!119I should never get on without him.’120But the robbers offered him forty gold pieces, and at last he agreed to let them have the dog.121So they departed, taking the dog with them, and when they got back to their cave the captain declared that it was his right to have the first trial.122He then called his daughter, and said to her, ‘I am going to the inn; if anybody wants me, loose the dog, and send him to call me.’123About an hour after some one arrived on business, and the girl untied the dog and said, ‘Go to the inn and call my father!’124The dog bounded off, but ran straight to the shoemaker.125When the robber got home and found no dog he thought ‘He must have gone back to his old master,’ and, though night had already fallen, he went off after him.126‘Master Joseph, is the dog here?’ asked he.127‘Ah! yes, the poor beast is so fond of me!128You must give him time to get accustomed to new ways.’129So the captain brought the dog back, and the following morning handed him over to another of the band, just saying that the animal really could do what the shoemaker had said.130The second robber carefully kept his own counsel, and fetched the dog secretly back from the shoemaker, and so on through the whole band.131At length, when everybody had suffered, they met and told the whole story, and next day they all marched off in fury to the man who had made game of them.132After reproaching him with having deceived them, they tied him up in a sack, and told him they were going to throw him into the sea.133The shoemaker lay quite still, and let them do as they would.134They went on till they came to a church, and the robbers said, ‘The sun is hot and the sack is heavy; let us leave it here and go in and rest.’135So they put the sack down by the roadside, and went into the church.136Now, on a hill near by there was a swineherd looking after a great herd of pigs and whistling merrily.137When Master Joseph heard him he cried out as loud as he could, ‘I won’t; I won’t, I say.’138‘What won’t you do?’ asked the swineherd.139‘Oh,’ replied the shoemaker.140‘They want me to marry the king’s daughter, and I won’t do it.’141‘How lucky you are!’ sighed the swineherd.142‘Now, if it were only me!’143‘Oh, if that’s all!’ replied the cunning shoemaker, ‘get you into this sack, and let me out.’144Then the swineherd opened the sack and took the place of the shoemaker, who went gaily off, driving the pigs before him.145When the robbers were rested they came out of the church, took up the sack, and carried it to the sea, where they threw it in, and it sank directly.146As they came back they met the shoemaker, and stared at him with open mouths.147‘Oh, if you only knew how many pigs live in the sea,’ he cried.148‘And the deeper you go the more there are.149I have just brought up these, and mean to return for some more.’150‘There are still some left there?’151‘Oh, more than I could count,’ replied the shoemaker.152‘I will show you what you must do.’153Then he led the robbers back to the shore.154‘Now,’ said he, ‘you must each of you tie a stone to your necks, so that you may be sure to go deep enough, for I found the pigs that you saw very deep down indeed.’1 2← previousThe Pink Fairy Book, part 16next →The Pink Fairy Book, part 18↑ back to The Pink Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/17/page/2/