Tærskeplejlen fra himlen


The flail from heaven


Der var engang en bonde, som gik ud med et par okser for at pløje. Da han kom ud på marken, begyndte dyrenes horn at vokse, og voksede og voksede, så da han kom hjem, var de så store, at han ikke kunne komme ind gennem porten. Til alt held kom netop en slagter forbi, og til ham solgte han okserne på den betingelse, at slagteren også skulle have et mål roefrø, og for hvert korn skulle bonden have en daler. Det var en god forretning. Bonden gik hjem, bar frøene derhen på sin ryg, men på vejen tabte han et af dem. Slagteren betalte ham, hvad de var blevet enige om, så hvis bonden ikke havde tabt et frøkorn, havde han haft en daler mere endnu. Da han kom tilbage, var der af frøet vokset et stort træ, der nåede lige op til himlen. "Jeg må dog engang se, hvad englene tager sig for deroppe, jeg kan jo slippe nemt til det," tænke bonden. Han klatrede derop og så, at englene var i færd med at tærske havre. Da han havde set på det i nogen tid, mærkede han, at træet begyndte at vakle, og da han så ned, opdagede han, at der stod en og ville til at hugge det om. "Det ville være en rar redelighed, hvis jeg faldt ned herfra," tænkte han. Han kunne ikke klare sig på anden måde end ved at tage nogle af de avner, der lå i dynger deroppe, og lave en strikke af dem. Han tog også en hakke og plejl og lod sig så glide ned af tovet. Han kom netop ned i et dybt hul, så det var jo et held, at han havde hakken, så han kunne lave sig en trappe, som han kunne stige op af. Plejlen tog han med, og når han fortalte, hvad der var hændt ham, og viste den frem, kunne jo ingen tvivle på, at det var sandt.
A countryman was once going out to plough with a pair of oxen. When he got to the field, both the animals' horns began to grow, and went on growing, and when he wanted to go home they were so big that the oxen could not get through the gateway for them. By good luck a butcher came by just then, and he delivered them over to him, and made the bargain in this way, that he should take the butcher a measure of turnip-seed, and then the butcher was to count him out a Brabant thaler for every seed. I call that well sold! The peasant now went home, and carried the measure of turnip-seed to him on his back. On the way, however, he lost one seed out of the bag. The butcher paid him justly as agreed on, and if the peasant had not lost the seed, he would have had one thaler the more. In the meantime, when he went on his way back, the seed had grown into a tree which reached up to the sky. Then thought the peasant, "As thou hast the chance, thou must just see what the angels are doing up there above, and for once have them before thine eyes." So he climbed up, and saw that the angels above were threshing oats, and he looked on. While he was thus watching them, he observed that the tree on which he was standing, was beginning to totter; he peeped down, and saw that someone was just going to cut it down. "If I were to fall down from hence it would be a bad thing," thought he, and in his necessity he did not know how to save himself better than by taking the chaff of the oats which lay there in heaps, and twisting a rope of it. He likewise snatched a hoe and a flail which were lying about in heaven, and let himself down by the rope. But he came down on the earth exactly in the middle of a deep, deep hole. So it was a real piece of luck that he had brought the hoe, for he hoed himself a flight of steps with it, and mounted up, and took the flail with him as a token of his truth, so that no one could have any doubt of his story.