Grimm's Household Tales

Once upon a time there was a poor peasant called Crabb, who drove a load of wood to the town with two oxen and sold it to a doctor for two thalers. When the money was being counted out to him, it so happened that the doctor was sitting at the table, and when the peasant saw how daintily he ate and drank, his heart desired what he saw, and he would gladly have been a doctor too. So he remained standing a while, and at length asked whether he too could not be a doctor. “Oh, yes,” said the doctor, “that is quickly managed.” “What must I do?” asked the peasant. “In the first place, buy yourself an ABC book of the kind that has a rooster on the frontispiece. In the second place, turn your cart and your two oxen into money, and get yourself some clothes and whatever else pertains to medicine. Third, have a sign painted for yourself with the words ‘I am Doctor Knowall,’ and have that nailed up above your house door.” The peasant did everything that he had been told to do. When he had doctored people for a while, but not for long, a rich and great lord had some money stolen. Then he was told about Doctor Knowall, who lived in such and such a village and must know what had become of the money. So the lord had the horses put in his carriage, drove out to the village, and asked Crabb whether he was Doctor Knowall. Yes, he was, he said. Then Crabb was to go with him and bring back the stolen money. “Oh, yes, but Grethe, my wife, must go too.” The lord was willing and let both of them have a seat in the carriage, and they all drove away together. When they came to the nobleman’s castle, the table was set, and Crabb was told to sit down and eat. “Yes, but my wife, Grethe, too,” he said, and he seated himself with her at the table. And when the first servant came with a dish of delicate food, the peasant nudged his wife and said, “Grethe, that was the first,” meaning that this was the servant who brought the first dish. The servant, however, thought that the peasant meant by this to say, “That is the first thief,” and since he actually was one, he was terrified and said to his comrade outside, “The doctor knows everything. It will go badly for us; he said I was the first.” The second did not want to go in at all but was forced. So when he went in with his dish, the peasant nudged his wife and said, “Grethe, that is the second.” This servant was just as alarmed, and he got out. The third did not fare better, for the peasant again said, “Grethe, that is the third.” The fourth had to carry in a dish that was covered, and the lord told the doctor that he was to show his skill and guess what was beneath the cover. The doctor looked at the dish, had no idea what to say, and cried, “Ah, poor Crabb.” When the lord heard that, he cried, “There! He knows it. He knows who has the money!”

At this the servants looked terribly uneasy and made a sign to the doctor that they wished him to step outside for a moment. When, therefore, he went out, all four of them confessed to him that they had stolen the money. They said that they would gladly return it and give him a heavy sum into the bargain if he would not denounce them, for if he did, they would be hanged. They led him to the spot where the money was concealed. With this the doctor was satisfied, and he returned to the hall, sat down at the table, and said, “My lord, now I will search in my book to find out where the gold is hidden.” The fifth servant, however, crept into the stove to hear whether the doctor knew still more. The doctor, however, sat still and opened his ABC book, turned the pages backward and forward, and looked for the rooster. As he could not find it immediately, he said, “I know you are there, so you had better show yourself.” Then the fellow in the stove thought that the doctor meant him and, full of terror, sprang out, crying, “That man knows everything!” Then Dr. Knowall showed the count where the money was, but did not say who had stolen it, and received much money as a reward from both sides, and became a renowned man.