The Wishing Table

The Wishing Table - I am so full I can't eat another leaf. Meh! Meh!

A tailor lived together with three sons and a goat. In order for there to be enough milk for everyone, the goat was led out into the meadow every day where she could eat the best herbs. When the eldest son asked if she was full, the goat complained "I am so full I can't eat another leaf. Meh! Meh!" But when they got back home, the goat cried out "How can I eat my fill? I only jumped over ditches and found not a single leaf. Meh! Meh!" The father allowed himself to be tricked by the goat and chased his eldest son away. On the following days the same thing happened to the two other brothers.

On the next morning the father led the animal onto the meadow himself. "Goat. Are you full?" he asked in the evening. The goat answered "I am so full I can't eat another leaf. Meh! Meh!" But as soon as he had tied her up in the pen, the goat cried out "How can I eat my fill? I only jumped over ditches and found not a single leaf. Meh! Meh!" Then the father realised how wrong he had been towards his sons. Angrily he sheared the goat's head and chased it away.

The eldest son was apprenticed to a carpenter. When they parted, the Master gave him a little table which looked quite normal. But if you call out "Table, deck yourself", it suddenly became full of delicious food. This way the eldest son always had enough to eat. One evening he demonstrated what his little table could do at an inn, and invited all the guests there for a meal. As soon as one dish of food had been eaten up, another full dish appeared in its place. The innkeeper wanted to have this table and, in the night, he secretly exchanged it for one in his attic. The son made his way home the next morning without noticing anything.

The father was pleased and asked his son what he had brought with him. "This little table here." First the father was not very impressed, but when he heard what the table could do he invited all the relatives to come by. The son set up his little table and said "Table, deck yourself". But nothing happened. The table remained empty. Then it was that the carpenter son realised how his table had been swapped.