for he had wit enough to praise the exquisite melody of his pipes, and gradually wrought himself into his full confidence, entertaining him with a thousand merry stories, for the sake of listening to which the shepherd would sometimes forget his darling pipes for half a day. At last the dwarf invited the shepherd to a party at which he promised him a great deal of pleasure. “Knight Fegesack, who lives in yonder castle,” said he, “celebrates his wedding to-morrow; he once set his dogs after me to hound me from his court when carrying some plates to his servants to help at a christening. All those great people who look with such contempt upon us and our acorns, will be gathered together yonder; we will go thither if you choose, and give them a little sauce to their mirth. Here, Jacob, is an invisible cap; if you put it on your head, nobody will be able to see you, though you see every thing that is going on around you. Try its virtues at home, and leave the rest to me; only clean out that bag you have got there, for, unless I am sadly deceived, you will soon have occasion to fill it with something better.”
Jacob took the wonderful cap from the dwarf, and made an attempt to try its virtue even before he reached the hut. Well, the sheep came running against him, and not even his own children could find him out, when he called them by name with the cap on his head. He now gave himself implicitly up to the dwarf’s directions.
The day afterwards, Jacob and the dwarf set out with their caps on their heads, and two empty wallets under their arms, to the castle of the knight. During the bridal ceremony they placed themselves upon the large round table, around which the bridegroom and bride and the principal guests were to sit. The dwarf then instructed the tittering shepherd in the part he was to perform.
In the course of an hour the whole company entered the room in pairs, and all took the places which were pointed out to them according to their several dignities, little suspecting the presence of any other guests.
