The Four Clever Brothers

A poor man called his four sons and said he had nothing left to give them. They must go into the wide world and each learn a trade. He took them to a crossroads, blessed them, and they parted four ways, agreeing to meet at that spot again after four years.

The eldest met a stranger who offered to teach him the art of stealing. The young man objected that it was dishonest and could lead to the gallows. The stranger promised to take only what he called fair game, where no one would discover them. Persuaded, the brother learned to take almost anything he set his mind on. The second brother met an astronomer who took him as pupil and taught him, with a glass, to see everything in the sky and on the earth, so that nothing could stay hidden. The third fell in with a huntsman who trained him until he never missed with bow and arrow, whether the quarry ran or flew. The fourth met a tailor. He balked at ordinary sewing—sitting cross-legged with needle and goose all day would never suit him—but the master laughed and promised another kind of craft. The youth learned from the beginning, and when he left, the tailor gave him a needle that would sew anything, soft as an egg or hard as steel, with a joint so fine no seam would show.

After four years, at the time agreed, the four brothers met at the crossroads, welcomed one another, and went home to their father to tell how each had learned a craft. One day, sitting before the house under a very high tree, the father said he should like to try what each could do. He looked up and asked the second son how many eggs were in a chaffinch nest at the top. The star-gazer took his glass, looked, and said, “Five.” Then the father told the eldest to take the eggs without letting the sitting bird know. The thief climbed, brought down all five, and the bird kept sitting at her ease. The father put one egg on each corner of the table and the fifth in the middle, and told the huntsman to cut all five in two at one shot. The huntsman raised his bow and struck every egg as asked. Then the tailor’s turn: sew the eggs and the young birds inside so neatly that the shot should have done no harm. He took his needle and sewed as told; the thief carried them back under the bird without her knowing. She went on sitting and hatched them; in a few days the chicks crawled out with only a little red streak across their necks where the stitches had been.

“Well done,” said the father; “but I do not know which deserves the prize. May a time come to turn your skill to account!” Not long after, a great bustle filled the country: the king’s daughter had been carried off by a mighty dragon. Grief kept the king sleepless; he vowed to marry her to the man who rescued her. The four brothers said here was their chance, and agreed to try. The star-gazer looked through his glass and soon cried that he saw her afar off on a rock in the sea, the dragon close by guarding her. They asked the king for a ship, sailed to the place, and found her sitting as he had said, the dragon asleep with his head upon her lap. “I dare not shoot,” said the huntsman, “or I should kill the young lady too.” “Then I will try,” said the thief, and stole her from under the dragon so quietly the beast snored on. They hastened toward the ship full of joy—but the dragon woke, missed her, and came roaring through the air to pounce. The huntsman shot him straight through the heart; he fell dead, yet his great bulk overset the boat, and they had to swim on a few planks. The tailor took his needle, put some planks together with large stitches, sat on them, gathered the pieces of the boat, and tacked them so quickly that the boat was soon ready. They reached the ship and got home safe.

The king rejoiced and said one of them should marry her—but they must settle which. Each claimed her: without the glass she would not have been found; without the theft she would not have been taken; without the shot the dragon would have torn them; without the needle they would have drowned. The king said each was right, and since all could not have her—and she liked somebody else better—he would give each half a kingdom as reward. The brothers agreed that beat quarrelling or marrying an unwilling bride. Each received half a kingdom; they lived happily, cared for their father, and somebody else took better care of the princess than to let dragon or craftsman have her again.

Where this story comes from

“The Four Clever Brothers” is German, from the collection of the Brothers Grimm; it is not an Indian tale. Margaret Hunt’s 1884 translation calls it “The Four Skilful Brothers”, number 129 (Die vier kunstreichen Brüder).

The father’s test anticipates the rescue: locating, removing, striking and repairing are used in the same order. The second occasion turns a display of skill into a cooperative emergency.

This retelling follows the Project Gutenberg text based on Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes, including its joke that the princess liked somebody else better.

Read the original: Grimms’ Fairy Tales, tr. Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes (Project Gutenberg #2591, The Four Clever Brothers)

Reading guidance: older children. Includes cutting and magically repairing eggs and chicks, a dragon’s death and a shipwreck. The egg scene is impossible magic; leave real nests and wildlife undisturbed.

Reading the story closely

The huntsman shows judgment by refusing a shot while the dragon’s head rests in the princess’s lap. Accuracy alone is not enough; the timing and possible harm matter. Later, his successful shot creates a new danger when the falling dragon breaks the boat, so the tailor’s work is still needed.

Draw two parallel sequences for the egg test and rescue, matching each brother’s contribution. At the end, separate payment for assistance from control over the rescued person. This English version explicitly gives the princess another preference, allowing the reward to change without treating her as property.

Talk about it

• What skill does each brother learn on his travels?
• The princess could not have been saved without all four brothers. What would fail if any one of the four skills were missing?
• How would you have settled the brothers’ argument if you were the king?

Related stories

• The Bundle of Sticks — an Aesop fable showing that brothers are stronger when they work together
• The Three Languages — a Grimm son whose strange learning turns out to be useful after all
• The Queen Bee — three Grimm brothers set out, and the kindest one succeeds