Prevod

Jan wanted his son to learn a trade, so he went to church and prayed to our Lord to tell him what would suit the boy best. The sexton was standing behind the altar and said, "Thieving, thieving." So Jan went back to his son and told him he must learn the art of thieving, for our Lord had said so. Then he set off with his son to find a man who knew the art. They walked for a long time and came to a great forest, where there stood a little cottage with an old woman inside. Jan said to her, "Do you know a man who can teach the art of thieving?" "You can learn that here," said the woman. "My son is a master of it." So Jan spoke to her son and asked whether he really knew his trade. The master thief said, "I'll teach your son properly, never fear. Come back in a year's time. If you can still recognize your son, I shall ask no fee at all; but if you cannot, you must give me two hundred thalers."

The father went home again, and the son became well versed in magic and thieving. When the year was up, the father set out, worrying all the while about how he was to recognize his son. As he walked along, lost in thought, a little man came towards him and said, "What's the matter, my good man? Why are you so downcast?" "Oh," said Jan, "a year ago I apprenticed my son to a master thief, who told me to come back in a year's time. If I couldn't recognize my son, I was to give him two hundred thalers; but if I knew him, I would owe him nothing. Now I'm so afraid I shan't recognize him, and I don't know where I am to get the money."

The little man told him to take a crust of bread and stand beneath the chimney with it. "There is a basket up on the pole, with a little bird peeping out of it. That is your son."

So Jan went there and tossed a crust of black bread in front of the basket. The little bird came out and looked at it. "Hello, my son! Is that you?" said the father. The son was delighted to see his father, but the master said, "The devil put that into your head! How else could you have recognized your son?" "Father, let's go," said the boy.

The father set off home with his son, and on the way a carriage came driving along. The son said to his father, "I'll turn myself into a fine big greyhound, and then you can make a good deal of money out of me." The gentleman in the carriage called out, "My good man, will you sell that dog?" "Yes," said the father. "How much do you want for him?" "Thirty thalers." "Well, my good man, that's a great deal, but never mind. He's such a magnificent hound that I'll take him." The gentleman put him in his carriage, but they had scarcely driven a little way when the dog leapt through the glass and out of the carriage, and there he was, no longer a greyhound, back beside his father.

Then they went home together. The next day was market day in the neighbouring village, and the boy said to his father, "Now I'll turn myself into a handsome horse, and you can sell me. But once you've sold me, you must take off my bridle, or I shan't be able to become human again." So the father took the horse to market, where the master thief came along and bought it for a hundred thalers. But the father forgot and did not take off the bridle. The man took the horse home and put it in the stable. As the maid was crossing the yard, the horse said, "Take off my bridle! Take off my bridle!" The maid stopped and listened. "Why, can you talk?" She went over and took off the bridle. At once the horse became a sparrow and flew out over the door, but the sorcerer turned into a sparrow too and flew after him. They flew at one another and fought, but the master got the worst of it, so he plunged into the water and became a fish. The boy became a fish as well, and again they bit at one another until the master had to yield. Then the master turned himself into a chicken, and the boy became a fox and bit off his head. So the master died, and dead he lies to this very day.