What the Old Man Does is Always Right Page #2

"What the Old Man Does is Always Right" revolves around a wise old man who seems to make questionable deals. In this classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, the old man trades his horse for a cow, a cow for a sheep, a sheep for a goose, a goose for a hen, and a hen for a harmless bag of rotten apples. Everyone around him assumes he's being careless, but in the end, the old man's seemingly imprudent transactions turn out to be beneficial, proving that what the old man does is always right. His wisdom shines through as he navigates and turns around even the most absurd and unfavorable situations.

• Children

								

that be by the stove? The apples were beginning to roast. "What is
that?" asked one.

"Why, do you know"--said our peasant. And then he told them the
whole story of the horse, which he had exchanged for a cow, and all
the rest of it, down to the apples.

"Well, your old woman will give it you well when you get home,"
said one of the Englishmen. "Won't there be a noise?"

"What! Give me what?" said the peasant. "Why, she will kiss me,
and say, 'what the old man does is always right.'"

"Let us lay a wager on it," said the Englishmen. "We'll wager
you a ton of coined gold, a hundred pounds to the hundred-weight."

"No; a bushel will be enough," replied the peasant. "I can only
set a bushel of apples against it, and I'll throw myself and my old
woman into the bargain; that will pile up the measure, I fancy."

"Done! taken!" and so the bet was made.

Then the landlord's coach came to the door, and the two Englishmen
and the peasant got in, and away they drove, and soon arrived and
stopped at the peasant's hut. "Good evening, old woman." "Good
evening, old man." "I've made the exchange."

"Ah, well, you understand what you're about," said the woman. Then
she embraced him, and paid no attention to the strangers, nor did
she notice the sack.

"I got a cow in exchange for the horse."

"Thank Heaven," said she. "Now we shall have plenty of milk, and
butter, and cheese on the table. That was a capital exchange."

"Yes, but I changed the cow for a sheep."

"Ah, better still!" cried the wife. "You always think of
everything; we have just enough pasture for a sheep. Ewe's milk and
cheese, woollen jackets and stockings! The cow could not give all
these, and her hair only falls off. How you think of everything!"

"But I changed away the sheep for a goose."

"Then we shall have roast goose to eat this year. You dear old
man, you are always thinking of something to please me. This is
delightful. We can let the goose walk about with a string tied to
her leg, so she will be fatter still before we roast her."

"But I gave away the goose for a fowl."

"A fowl! Well, that was a good exchange," replied the woman.
"The fowl will lay eggs and hatch them, and we shall have chickens; we
shall soon have a poultry-yard. Oh, this is just what I was wishing
for."

"Yes, but I exchanged the fowl for a sack of shrivelled apples."

"What! I really must give you a kiss for that!" exclaimed the
wife. "My dear, good husband, now I'll tell you something. Do you
know, almost as soon as you left me this morning, I began to think
of what I could give you nice for supper this evening, and then I
thought of fried eggs and bacon, with sweet herbs; I had eggs and
bacon, but I wanted the herbs; so I went over to the schoolmaster's: I
knew they had plenty of herbs, but the schoolmistress is very mean,
although she can smile so sweetly. I begged her to lend me a handful
of herbs. 'Lend!' she exclaimed, 'I have nothing to lend; nothing at
all grows in our garden, not even a shrivelled apple; I could not even
lend you a shrivelled apple, my dear woman. But now I can lend her
ten, or a whole sackful, which I'm very glad of; it makes me laugh
to think about it;" and then she gave him a hearty kiss.

"Well, I like all this," said both the Englishmen; "always going
down the hill, and yet always merry; it's worth the money to see
it." So they paid a hundred-weight of gold to the peasant, who,
whatever he did, was not scolded but kissed.

Yes, it always pays best when the wife sees and maintains that her
husband knows best, and whatever he does is right.

That is a story which I heard when I was a child; and now you have
heard it too, and know that "What the old man does is always right."
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