True and False
Once upon a time, there were two brothers. One was named True and the other False. True was honest and trustworthy, but False was naughty and a big liar so that nobody ever believed what he said. Their mother was a widow and did not have much to live on, so when her sons grew up, she told them to leave her house and they could earn their own living. To each of them she gve a little sack of food, and so they went their way.
When they have walked till evening, they sat on a fallen tree in the forest and brought out their sack of food, for they were so hungry after having walked all day and they thought they should find out if the food in their pack tasted good. “Would you agree that we first eat from your pack as long as there is food in it, then we can eat the food from my pack,” asked False. True agreed, and so they ate. False took and ate all the nicest morsels, and all that True got were scraps, the burnt potato cakes and the crumbs that fell from the food that False had eaten. The next day, they again had dinner from True’s food pack until there was nothing left.
When they had walked all day and long into the evening, they needed to eat again and True wanted his share of the food from his brother’s food sack. But False refused and said that it was his food pack and that he did not have more than he himself needed.
“Yes, but you got and ate of my food sack as long as there was food in it,” said True.
“Yes, as you are such a fool to let others eat it up for you, that is what you deserve,” said False, “now you can sit there and slaver,” he said.
“Oh, yes, False is your name and false you are, and you have been that way ever since,” said True.
When False heard this, he beat his brother and gouged out his brother's eyes.. “Now you can see if people are true or flase, you blind goose,” he said and pushed his brother away.
Poor True left and wound his way through the thick forest, blind and alone, and did know how he would take care of himself. But soon he got hold of a stout lime tree, and he thought that he could climb up and sit up there in the night in order to escape wild animals. “When the birds sing, that means it’s daylight, and I can dare go forth again,” he thought, and settled himself up in the lime tree.
After he had been sitting for a while, he heard somebody cooking and working under the tree and soon he heard others coming. When he heard them greeting each other, he knew they were bears and wolves, ravens and hares who came for a social gathering. Then they set to eating and having a good time, and when they were done, they sat talking together.
The raven said, “why don’t we each tell a story while we sit here.?”
Yes, the others thought that was a good idea, and could be lots of fun, they said, and the bear began the storytelling for he was foremost among them:
The king of England has such bad eyes,” sid the bear, “he almost cannot see anything, but as soon as he came up to this lime tree in the mornings, while there was dew on the leaves, he took the dew and smeared it on his eyes. Thus he could see again so well as if he had not been blind before.”
“Yes,” said the wolf, “the king of England has a daughter who was deaf and mute, but he knew that I am sure, so he immediately looked for a remedy for her. Last year when she went to the altar, she spit out the bread, and there came a big turtle and swallowed it, but when they searched under the floor, they found the turtle sitting under the pew at the altar rail, and the bread stuck in its throat. They took out the bread from the turtle’s throat and gave it to the king’s daughter, then she was able to talk and hear like other people again.
“Yes, yes,” said the raven, “if the king of England knew what I know, he would not lack for water in his farm; under that big stone in the middle of his fields is the clearest spring water one could wish for, if he would only dig it out of there.”
“Yes,” said the hare, “the king of England has the most beautiful orchard in the whole land, but it does not bear much more than a cart of apples at one time; because a great gold chain is wound three times around the garden. If he digs it up, then it will become the best garden in his kingdom.
“But it is late into the night, and we must get home now,” said the raven; and so each when their own way.
When they had all left, True went to sleep right where he sat in the lime tree; but when the birds began to sing at dawn, he quickly woke up and took the dewdrops from the leaves of the tree and smeared them over his eyes. Then he could see again as good as he did before False gouged his eyes out.
And so he went to the farm of king of England and asked to be allowed to work there and he got it easily.
One day, the king came out to the farm and when he had been there for some time, he wanted a drink from his water spout because the day was hot and he had become thirsty. But when the water spouted, there was both silt and sand, and the king was angry.
“I do not think there is a man in all my kingdom who has water in his farm as bad as this, and so I must get water from way over the mountain and the valleys!” said the king.
”Yes, but if you will let me get people to remove that hug rock that lies in the middle of the fields, you will get not only good water but lots of it,” said True.
At once the king set people to work on it. Never have they brought up such a rock and when they had dug it out, there lay a spring of clear and so abundant as if it were coming out from a great barrel; and clearer water than this cannot be found in all England.
Some time later, the king was down at the farm again when there came a big hawk flying after his chickens, and everybody went clapping their hands to scare it away and they were screaming, “There he flies! There he flies!” The king gripped his gun and aimed but he could no longer see so far. So he became angry. “God give me somebody who can give me a cure for my eyes before I become completely blind!” said the king.” “That I shall give you,” said True, and he told the king how he had cured himself, and the king went to the lime tree that same evening. His eyes were cured as soon as he had smeared it with the dew that lay on the leaves at dawn.
Since that time, there was nobody else the king relied on except True; who must go with him wherever the king went, both at home or when he travelled.
One day they were walking together in the garden.
“I do not understand how it will go wih me,” said the king; “there is no man in England who takes care of his garden as I do, and yet I cannot get a single tree to bear fruit much more than a cartload.
“Yes, yes,” said True, “allow me to take out something that is wound three times around your garden, and if you would get people to help dig it up, your orchard will begin to bear fruiits.”
The king willingly gave his permission. True got people to help him dig, and at last he got out the entire goldchain and he became a very wealthy man. But the king did not mind that True was wealthier than himself because he was welll satisifed with his garden that was a luxurious green both front back, and bearing apples and pears sweeter than any the king had ever tasted.
One day the king and Tro were walking in the garden and as they talked, the king’s daughter walked by; and the king grieved when he saw her.
“Isn’t it such a pity that so beautiful a daughter such as mine does not have speech or hearing?” he asked True.
“Yes, but there is a remedy for that,” said True.
When the king heard this, he was overjoyed such that he promised to give True his daughter and half of his kingdom, if he could get her well again.
Taking two men with him, True went to the church and brought out the turtle from under the pew at the altar rail, sliced her up and took out the bread from its throat and gave it to the king’s daughter. At once she could speak and hear as well as other people.
And so it happened that True got the king’s daughter and there would be a royal wedding that would be heard of and talked about in the whole kingdom.
While they were dancing at the wedding, there came a beggar asking for a bite of food, and he was so pitiful and miserable to look that everyone drew away, but True recognized him at once and said that it was False, his brother.
“Oh, how could I know such a great gentleman, poor me,” said False
“Look at me, anyway, “said True, “It’s me whose eyes you gouged out a year ago. False was your name and false you are too was what I said then and what I still say. But you are my brother and you will get something to eat. Then you shall go to the lime tree where I stayed that night. If you hear something that will give you joy, then you will be on your way to getting well.
He told False two times, “That he, True, has had such use of sitting in the lime tree and became king over half of England, so…” False went on his way until he came to the lime tree and then the climbed up.
He had not sat there for long when all the animals came and ate and drank and had a happy gathering under the tree again. When they have eaten, the raven suggested that they should tell stories. False lay down to listen so that he was all ears. But the bear was angry and said, “There is someone who had told others what we talked about last year, and so, therefore, we will now remain silent about what we know.” And so they bade each other good night and parted, and False was none the wiser.
And so is he named False, and he was false.
