A certain father had two sons, the elder of who was smart andsensible, and could do everything, but the younger was stupid andcould neither learn nor understand anything, and when people saw himthey said: «There’s a fellow who will give his father some trouble!’When anything had to be done, it was always the elder who was forcedto do it; but if his father bade him fetch anything when it was late,or in the night-time, and the way led through the churchyard, or anyother dismal place, he answered: «Oh, no father, I’ll not go there,it makes me shudder!» for he was afraid. Or when stories were toldby the fire at night which made the flesh creep, the listenerssometimes said: «Oh, it makes us shudder!» The younger sat in a cornerand listened with the rest of them, and could not imagine what theycould mean. «They are always saying: “It makes me shudder, itmakes me shudder!” It does not make me shudder,» thought he. «That,too, must be an art of which I understand nothing!»
Now it came to pass that his father said to him one day: «Hearken tome, you fellow in the corner there, you are growing tall and strong,and you too must learn something by which you can earn your bread.Look how your brother works, but you do not even earn your salt.’«Well, father,» he replied, «I am quite willing to learnsomething—indeed, if it could but be managed, I should like to learn howto shudder. I don’t understand that at all yet.» The elder brothersmiled when he heard that, and thought to himself: «Goodness, what ablockhead that brother of mine is! He will never be good foranything as long as he lives! He who wants to be a sickle must bendhimself betimes.»
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