You never know what you might get when you wash a pig...
The Road to Hell
There was once a poor man who was doing very badly. He went into the woods, hoping to find relief there. While he was trudging along, he met a man with a cock's feather in his hat. "Why do you have such a wretched look ?" the man asked him. So he told him about his misery. But the stranger only smiled and said, "Go home right away; there you will find what you need."
"But what am I to give you?" the poor man replied
"Oh well, just give me what you do not know about," answered the one with the cock's feather. And then he opened the poor man's artery a little bit with a pin, and with the blood he wrote on a slip of paper that the poor man would give him what he did not know about. Then he was gone.
What he did not know about!
When the peasant came home, he found an immense sum of money in his cupboard and all his misery came to an end. But his wife, who did not feel at ease seeing this, asked him why he suddenly had such a pile of money.
"Well," he replied, "I have met someone in the woods who gave me the money in return for what I do not know about."
His wife exclaimed, "You fool, don't you know that I'm pregnant ? "
So several weeks went past, and they had all they wanted. The new child, a boy, was born and was given the name of Hiasl. His father bought him a beautiful cradle adorned with gold and bedclothes of satin and everything the child needed; the house was built up anew, and the peasant and his wife went about in beautiful clothes. Servants and maids did the work. All the man did was buy things, but his main work consisted in eating and sleeping.
But he never was really happy, and he sighed whenever he saw his son, Hiasl. Hiasl was growing up, and as he had for a long time noticed his father's sighing, he wanted to know the reason; and so he finally went to his father and insisted that he be told all about it. His father also told him about that slip of paper written in Wood, by which he had acknowledged his debt.
Hiasl told his father that he wanted to go and look for that paper and that he would not come back until he had it. Then he left. He came to a hermit whom he asked to show him the road to Hell. But the hermit could not tell him and sent him to a second hermit, who was supposed to have traveled in far-off lands and to be much cleverer than the first one.
And so Hiasl set out on a long journey to find the second hermit, and he came to the deep, deep forest where the second hermit lived. He asked him for the road to Hell. "My dear friend," replied the hermit, "you will have to go to the next forest. There lives a robber chief. He has traveled through the whole world and has accomplished every possible task. He certainly will know the surest road to Hell."
And so he went to the next forest; but it was so thick and dark and impassable that he would have given up had he not been
looking for the road to Hell. And there lived the robber's brother, who was as repulsive and wild as the forest itself, and he hardly dared to ask him. But thinking of the paper, he took courage and asked him where the road to Hell was, and explained his quest.
"I shall tell you," replied the horrible man, "but you will have to do me a favor in return. I shall go with you and ask for the paper with the signature, but you must inquire for whom they are setting up the great throne that they have been working on in Hell for seven years. If you do so, I shall be satisfied with you."
Thus they went down the forest to Hell, where they found the robber's godfather, the devil Lucifer. He bade them a cheerful good morning and asked the robber what he wanted. "Well," he said, "we were quarreling up above in the world whether there exists in Hell a contract written with blood. The peasant so-and-so is said to have signed it. Go and find out." The devil searched all the regiments of devils, but only in the third regiment did he find the devil who had the paper.
"Here you are," said Lucifer to Hiasl, "but you can only get it if you do not wash yourself or blow your nose or cut your fingernails for seven years."
"Oh well," replied Hiasl, "I think I'll manage. But tell me, for whom do they set up the great throne in Hell ?"
"Oh that," said the devil, and he whispered into Hiasl's ear, "For the robber who stands by your side."
Now the two left Hell and went back to the terrible forest. "Now then, what did my godfather say about the throne ?" the robber asked his companion.
"Oh, you will be greatly distressed," replied Hiasl. "The devil told me that it is for you."
"Oh Lord!" cried the robber and was frightened to death. For the time being, he remained in the forest‹not as a robber though, but as a hermit‹and later on he went to Rome with a penitent heart in order to ask for the Pope's forgiveness for all his heavy sins. The Pope listened kindly to him, but then he imposed the following penance on him: for seven years he was not allowed to speak or to cry or to laugh, and he was only to eat what he might recover from the dogs.
Meanwhile the boy lived in the robber's hut in the deep wild forest and did not comb or wash himself or blow his nose or cut his nails. When the robber came back from Rome, he silently and gravely gave Hiasl all his money. Then by means of gestures he signaled that he was going to buy a couple of dogs.
The two lived together for seven years, and they both carefully observed the conditions imposed on them. And when the time was over, the boy found the contract on his bed and the robber obtained forgiveness for his sins. They separated. The robber remained in his hut as a hermit, but Hiasl traveled through the world with his money.
The country was governed by a king who had so many debts that not one stone in all his country belonged to him any more. He had three very beautiful daughters. The hermit went to the king and told him that if one of his daughters would for three years clean and kiss and then marry the pilgrim who would soon come, the king would be rid of his debts. "Well, this would not be bad," replied the king. "The pilgrim will certainly not be dirtier than the pigs in the stable."
He sent his three daughters to the royal dairy farm where they had to look after the pigs. The two elder ones, however, were very haughty and they secretly paid other girls to clean the hog pen. Only the third one handled the dung fork herself, and in addition to this she cleaned one dirty pig with brush and soap every day.
When Hiasl, the pilgrim, came with his knapsack full of gold and diamonds, the king received him kindly, led him to the hog pen, and called his daughters. The oldest one came. When she saw Hiasl all dirty with his hair entangled and hanging over the face and with long and filthy fingernails, she haughtily turned away and said to the king, "I do not clean such a pig."
Then the second one came. She looked at Hiasl, and her fine nose told her also that the pilgrim smelled frightfully. And she turned away with disgust and said to the king, "I should like to do it, but it is too awful."
At last the third one came. She saw at once that Hiasl would be more trouble than a pig‹but only the one time‹ and then it would be easier. And she said to the king, "Father, I will try. For often there is a good kernel in an ugly shell." And she had a bath prepared with soap and brush, with scissors and comb. She had clothes from the king's cupboard brought over and started her work. Of course, it took her longer to clean Hiasl than to clean a dirty pig, but when his hair was cut and combed, his fingernails cut, and when he left the bath with royal clothes on, he had become such a handsome man that people stopped in the streets and turned around to look at him. The two older sisters almost choked with envy and anger. They went far away from the royal palace, and the one is said to have hanged herself, the other one to have drowned herself.
But the youngest one married Hiasl, and they both reigned for many years over a kingdom that was free from debts.
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