The Five Mighty Men
Once upon a time, there was a young man named Martin, who was very poor. He knew that riches would never come to him if he stayed in one place, so he set out to seek his fortune in another part of the world.
One day, when he was going through a forest, he came upon a big, strong man who was chopping down huge trees with just one blow of an axe.
“My friend, with strength such as yours, you should come with me, and we will seek fortune together,” Martin said, and the big man agreed.
The two of them went out of the forest, where they came upon a hunter, taking aim with his gun. After taking very careful aim for about a minute, the hunter fired—and his shot killed a wasp that was annoying a horse grazing in a field six miles away.
“A most wonderful shot, my friend,” said Martin. “Why don’t you join us? We are on a journey to other parts of the world in search of riches.”
“I will come gladly,” replied the hunter.
A little farther on, the three of them passed close to some windmills, which were spinning round and round at great speed, although there was not a breath of air to turn the sails. Thinking this was very strange, they walked on and on and came upon a man sitting on a lump of rock, facing the windmills and blowing gently with his mouth. It was he who was making the sails of the windmills spin at such a speed.
At once, Martin invited him to join them, and all four continued the journey together.
They were greatly surprised when, later on, they met a tall, thin man who had both his legs tied together with rope. He could hardly walk, but he explained that if he did not keep his legs tied up, they would move so quickly that he would be carried miles away in no time.
He, too, was invited to join the party of travelers.
Still farther on, they met a fat little man, and the strange thing about him was that he wore his hat on one side of his head, pulled down over his right ear.
“Why do you wear your hat like that?” Martin asked him.
“I have to,” replied the fat man. “If I put my hat on straight and uncover my right ear, I would send out such a cold stream of air that all the birds for miles around would fall down, frozen to death.”
“Then keep your hat where it is and join us,” said Martin.
All six of them went on their way together, making for the nearest big city. There they found that the king had promised his daughter in marriage to the man who could beat her in a race.
Going to the court, Martin bowed to the king. “Your Majesty, I have among my friends a man who will race against your daughter,” he said.
“Very well,” agreed the king. “But I warn you that more than a hundred of the fastest runners have tried to beat her, but none has succeeded.”
It was arranged that the race should take place at once, and at a given signal, the princess and the runner started off. This time, Martin’s companion untied the rope from his legs and, in one fast stride, covered more than half the distance of the race.
He was so far ahead that he laid down to have a rest and fell asleep. In fact, he went off into such a deep sleep that the princess, running her hardest, went past him and looked like reaching the winning post with ease.
“Wake up!” Martin shouted, but this had no effect on the sleeping man at all. So the hunter took very careful aim with his gun, firing a shot that hit the tuft of grass beneath the sleeper’s head.
It woke him up. Leaping to his feet, he gave one mighty leap to the winning post, ahead of the princess.
The king’s daughter had been beaten, but the king was not very happy at the thought of allowing her to marry a young man without any money.
“They must be marvelous men,” he thought. “I must get rid of them by some means or other, before they take over my whole kingdom.”
In place of his daughter, he offered them a sack of gold. Martin and his five mighty men agreed to this, and the strongest of them came to the palace with a sack as big as a house.
“You promised us a sack of gold, Your Majesty,” smiled Martin. “Now let us fill it, and we will be on our way.”
“You may fill and take it, but only if you can carry it,” said the king. “It would take a hundred men to lift that weight of gold. By being greedy and choosing such a large sack, you will get no gold at all.”
It took all the gold in the kingdom to fill the great sack, but the king felt very confident until Martin’s forester friend picked up the full sack, put it on his back, and strode away with it, helped a little by the fat man and the hunter.
In a great rage, the king sent a troop of his best cavalrymen after them, but Martin was not worried when he saw them galloping closer and closer. He knew that he had the right one among his five mighty men to deal with a whole army if needed.
“This is a job for you, my good friend,” he said to the man who had set the windmills spinning round.
“I am at your service, Martin,” was the reply, and when the king’s soldiers were about half a mile away, he blew on them.
It was as though a giant whirlwind struck them. Horses and riders were picked up and thrown here and there in all directions.
That was the end of the chase, and Martin and his friends continued their journey with more gold than they could spend in their whole lifetime. Between them, they made up a band of men who could do anything they liked, and Martin was overjoyed with the result of his setting out to make his fortune—thanks to the five mighty men who had joined him and were now his faithful and happy companions forever.