How the Schildburgers Lifted a Cow onto the Fortress Wall

One day, the Schildburgers went outside the city gates to inspect the old fortress wall, wondering if they could use some of its stones for construction.

But then they noticed that the entire wall was overgrown with grass on top. This greatly saddened them—after all, what a good hayfield was going to waste! They began consulting one another on how to reach the grass and what to do with it. Some thought they should scythe the grass. However, no one dared to climb such a high wall with a scythe. Others suggested finding good marksmen to shoot down each blade of grass with a musket. But, as you already know, there were no skilled marksmen in Schilda.

Finally, the town mayor spoke up.

"Why should we scythe this grass," he said, "or shoot down each blade with muskets? Let’s send a cow up the wall—it will eat all the grass."

This advice pleased all the Schildburgers. In gratitude, they decided to let the mayor’s cow be the first to go up the wall. He readily agreed.

So they brought the cow, tied a loop around its neck, threw a rope over the wall, and all together began pulling—hoisting the cow upward. The cow started choking, and when they pulled it higher, it stuck out its tongue completely. The mayor, seeing this, immediately shouted:

"Pull harder! It’s smelled the grass on the wall and is reaching for it with its tongue."

But no matter how hard the Schildburgers pulled on the rope, they couldn’t manage to lift the cow all the way up.

And when they lowered it back to the ground, the cow was already dead.

The entire Schildburg community was overjoyed! Now they had something to butcher and feast on, even though it was still a long time until the meat-eating season.

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How the Schildburgers Lifted a Cow onto the Fortress Wall

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