` This is not common wood , ' answered the other . ` What sort of wood is it , then ? ' said the Simpleton . ` If you throw it upon the ground , ' said the man , ` it will be changed into an army of soldiers . ' ` Come into the ship with us , then . ' And so he too joined them ; and away the ship flew on , and on , and on , and once more the Simpleton looked out , and this time he saw a man carrying straw upon his back . ` Hallo ! Where are you carrying that straw to ? ' ` To the village , ' said the man . ` Do you mean to say there is no straw in the village ? ' ` Ah ! but this is quite a peculiar straw . If you strew it about even in the hottest summer the air at once becomes cold , and snow falls , and the people freeze . ' Then the Simpleton asked him also to join them . At last the ship , with its strange crew , arrived at the King 's Court . The King was having his dinner , but he at once despatched one of his courtiers to find out what the huge , strange new bird could be that had come flying through the air . The courtier peeped into the ship , and , seeing what it was , instantly went back to the King and told him that it was a flying ship , and that it was manned by a few peasants . Then the King remembered his royal oath ; but he made up his mind that he would never consent to let the Princess marry a poor peasant . So he thought and thought , and then said to himself : ' I will give him some impossible tasks to perform ; that will be the best way of getting rid of him . ' And he there and then decided to despatch one of his courtiers to the Simpleton , with the command that he was to fetch the King the healing water from the world 's end before he had finished his dinner .
But while the King was still instructing the courtier exactly what he was to say , the first man of the ship 's company , the one with the miraculous power of hearing , had overheard the King 's words , and hastily reported them XXXXX the poor Simpleton .
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