“Thus the whole kingdom came into the rigours of time. Only the little boy did not know of anything; for he grew up under the loving care and protection of his mother - protection also from the approaches of the ministers who tried to win him for their respective duties.

“In the course of time the ministers found themselves forced to implement more and more stringent economic measures; for, with the inner wealth of the kingdom the outer wealth of the country also seemed to fade, and they did not want to leave a particularly poor heritage to the next king.

“Since ancient times there stood a well in the king's court from which milk flowed instead of water; and as long as the old king had governed everyone could draw milk from there as much as he needed so that nobody in the kingdom milked his cows; all the milk of the cows was given to the calves.

“However, when the wealth dwindled the ministers had to tap all possible resources of money in the kingdom; for they believed that only with the necessary material effort the well-being of the country could be secured, and this effort naturally had its price - particularly at a time when all life was constantly becoming more expensive.

“So they set up guards at the well and handed out the milk to everyone only against due payment.
Thus they secured a steady source of income for their governmental affairs - for the milk did not become more or less due to this measure - and after all, at least they believed, the profit in turn was meant to benefit the people which only under their government could unfold its full, combined strength.

“One day it so happened, that the guards reported to the ministers that every morning at dawn a man with a golden beard came to the well with a bucket in his hand, filling the bucket and disappearing again swiftly as the wind - before they were able to approach him.

“At first the ministers did not believe the news. One early morning however, they went on the lookout themselves, and dazzled they were when the golden-bearded man appeared in his bright glory. He filled the bucket and vanished with it as if the earth had swallowed him up.
The ministers could not imagine who that might be; they simply stood there, mouths and eyes wide open from amazement.

“From then on however, they thought continuously about how to seize him; for if this affair became known in the realm then no one else was willing to pay, and this important source of money would dry up over night. The ministers did not dare to imagine what the consequences for the individual ministries would be. Besides they wanted to get hold of this man.
They thought of how great a reputation it would bring the kingdom if they could show him to all the world; no king on earth had some such thing.

“So they thought out some tricks how to catch him; but in vain was all the thought, in vain the plenty of guards - they could not seize him.
When they were very close to him and thought they already had him, he disappeared and they could not hear or see anything of him.