to Grandfather Know-All for three golden hairs.” “To Grandfather Know-All? ’Tis a pity thou camest not sooner! But our lord the king has now long been waiting for such a messenger. I must bring thee to him.” When they came there the king said: “I hear thou goest on a message to Grandfather Know-All. We had here a well. Living water gushed from it; when anyone drank of it, were he at the point of death, he was at once again hale and hearty; and if he was already dead and they sprinkled him with this water, he again rose and walked. But now these twenty years the water has ceased to flow; wilt thou promise me to enquire of Grandfather Know-All whether there is any help for us? I will give thee a royal reward.” Plavachek promised, and the king graciously let him go forward.
After this he went long and far through a black forest, and in the middle of this forest he sees a great green meadow, full of fair flowers, and on it a castle of gold. It was the castle of Grandfather Know-All. It flashed and quivered as though it were on fire. Plavachek entered the castle, but found no one there, save that in one corner sat an old grandmother and spun. “Welcome. Plavachek,” she says, I am glad to see thee again.” It was his godmother, just as he was at her house in the wood for the night, when he carried the letter. “What, pray, has brought thee here?” “The king won’t have me for his son-in-law for nothing, and so he has sent me for three golden hairs of Grandfather Know-All.” The grandmother smiled, and she says: “Grandfather Know-All is my son, the clear orb of day; in the morning he is a little boy, at midday a man, and in the evening an old grandfather. I will provide thee with three hairs from his golden head, that I, too, may not be thy godmother for nothing. But for thee to stop here just as thou art, my little son, is impossible! My son is a really worthy soul, but when he comes hungry home at even, it might easily happen for him to roast thee and eat thee for supper. There is here an empty cask; I will fasten it over thee.” Plavachek begged her to ask also about the three things respecting which he had promised on his journey to bring answers. “I will ask,” said the grandmother, “and pay attention to what he says.”
All at once the wind began to roar outside, and through the western window, into the living-room, flew the sun, an old grandfather with a golden head of hair. “Sniff! snuff! There is man’s flesh!” says he. “Thou hast somebody here, little mother?” “Oh! star of day! whom, pray, could I have here without thy see-
