How Two Schildbürgers Swapped Houses
People don’t say for nothing that habit is second nature.Our Schildburgers eventually became so accustomed to their foolishness that they couldn’t break free from it. Everything they undertook turned into stupidity. So, you can’t joke with foolishness, or you’ll remain a fool forever.
Well, two Schildburgers heard that in ancient times, people used to exchange various goods with one another and gained great benefit from such exchanges. They thought and thought and finally decided to exchange with each other—not just anything, but their entire houses. The first Schildburger, who lived at the upper end of the street, dismantled his house and carried it, log by log, to the lower end, where the one he had agreed to exchange with lived. The second Schildburger, who lived at the lower end of the street, also dismantled his house and transported it to where the first Schildburger had originally lived. In their new locations, each of them reassembled their house, sat down to rest, and thought, “What did I gain from this?”
To us, it’s funny, but the Schildburgers weren’t laughing. Just think of all the effort they put into first dismantling and then rebuilding their houses! And all for nothing!
More fairy tales
- The Bremen Town Musicians
- How Eulenspiegel convinced a peasant that his green scarf was blue
- What Gift the Schildburgers Presented to the Emperor
- King Thrushbeard
- How the Schildburgers Built a New Town Hall and What They Forgot in the Process
