The brothers set out on their travels, and crossed the sea in search of fortune. The "fool" of the family remained at home; and, as he was an out-and-out sluggard, he would lie whole days at a time on the warm stove without doing a stroke of work, and only obeying his sisters-in-law with the greatest reluctance. He liked fried onions, potato soup, and cider, better than anything else in the world.
One day his sisters-in-law asked him to fetch them some water.
It was winter, and a hard frost; moreover, the sluggard did not feel at all inclined to go out. So he said, "Go yourselves, I prefer to stay here by the fire."
"Stupid boy, go at once. We will have some onions, potato soup, and cider ready for you when you come back. If you refuse to do what we ask you we shall tell our husbands, and then there will be neither cap, sash, nor red boots for you."
At these words the sluggard thought he had better go. So he rolled off the stove, took a hatchet and a couple of pails, and went down to the river. On the surface of the water, where the ice had been broken, was a large pike. The sluggard seized him by the fins and pulled him out.
"If you will let me go," said the pike, "I promise to give you everything you wish for."
"Well then, I should like all my desires to be fulfilled the moment I utter them."
"You shall have everything you want the moment you pronounce these words:
'At my behest, and by the orders of the pike, May such and such things happen, as I like.'"
"Just wait one moment while I try the effect," said the sluggard, and began at once to say:
"At my behest, and by the orders of the pike, Bring onions, cider, soup, just as I like."
That very moment his favourite dishes were before him. Having eaten a large quantity, he said, "Very good, very good indeed; but will it always be the same?"
The sluggard put the pike back into the river, and turning towards his buckets, said:
"At my behest, and by the orders of the pike, Walk home yourselves, my pails--that I should like."
The pails, and the strong rod to which they were fastened, immediately set off and walked solemnly along, the sluggard following them with his hands in his pockets. When they reached the house he put them in their places, and again stretched himself out to enjoy the warmth of the stove. Presently the sisters-in-law said, "Come and chop some wood for us."