Section 1
The Six Sillies explained simply
The Six Sillies by Andrew Lang
Original excerpt
Excerpt preview
Once upon a time there was a young girl who reached the age of thirty-seven without ever having had a lover, for she was so foolish that no one wanted to marry her. One day, however, a young man arrived to pay his addresses to her, and her mother, beaming with joy, sent her daugh...
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Once upon a time there was a young girl who reached the age of
thirty-seven without ever having had a lover, for she was so foolish
that no one wanted to marry her.
One day, however, a young man arrived to pay his addresses to her, and
her mother, beaming with joy, sent her daughter down to the cellar to
draw a jug of beer.
As the girl never came back the mother went down to see what had become
of her, and found her sitting on the stairs, her head in her hands,
while by her side the beer was running all over the floor, as she had
forgotten to close the tap. ‘What are you doing there?’ asked the
mother.
‘I was thinking what I shall call my first child after I am married to
that young man. All the names in the calendar are taken already.’
The mother sat down on the staircase beside her daughter and said, ‘I
will think about it with you, my dear.’
The father who had stayed upstairs with the young man was surprised
that neither his wife nor his daughter came back, and in his turn went
down to look for them. He found them both sitting on the stairs, while
beside them the beer was running all over the ground from the tap,
which was wide open.
‘What are you doing there? The beer is running all over the cellar.’
‘We were thinking what we should call the children that our daughter
will have when she marries that young man. All the names in the
calendar are taken already.’
‘Well,’ said the father, ‘I will think about it with you.’
As neither mother nor daughter nor father came upstairs again, the
lover grew impatient, and went down into the cellar to see what they
could all be doing. He found them all three sitting on the stairs,
while beside them the beer was running all over the ground from the
tap, which was wide open.
‘What in the world are you all doing that you don’t come upstairs, and
that you let the beer run all over the cellar?’
‘Yes, I know, my boy,’ said the father, ‘but if you marry our daughter
what shall you call your children? All the names in the calendar are
taken.’
When the young man heard this answer he replied:
‘Well! good-bye, I am going away. When I shall have found three people
sillier than you I will come back and marry your daughter.’
So he continued his journey, and after walking a long way he reached an
orchard. Then he saw some people knocking down walnuts, and trying to
throw them into a cart with a fork.
‘What are you doing there?’ he asked.
‘We want to load the cart with our walnuts, but we can’t manage to do
it.’
The lover advised them to get a basket and to put the walnuts in it, so
as to turn them into the cart.
‘Well,’ he said to himself, ‘I have already found someone more foolish
than those three.’
So he went on his way, and by-and-by he came to a wood. There he saw a
man who wanted to give his pig some acorns to eat, and was trying with
all his might to make him climb up the oak-tree.
‘What are you doing, my good man?’ asked he.
‘I want to make my pig eat some acorns, and I can’t get him to go up
the tree.’
‘If you were to climb up and shake down the acorns the pig would pick
them up.’
‘Oh, I never thought of that.’
‘Here is the second idiot,’ said the lover to himself.
Some way farther along the road he came upon a man who had never worn
any trousers, and who was trying to put on a pair. So he had fastened
them to a tree and was jumping with all his might up in the air so that
he should hit the two legs of the trousers as he came down.
‘It would be much better if you held them in your hands,’ said the
young man, ‘and then put your legs one after the other in each hole.’
‘Dear me to be sure! You are sharper than I am, for that never occurred
to me.’
And having found three people more foolish than his bride, or her
father or her mother, the lover went back to marry the young lady.
And in course of time they had a great many children.
Story from Hainaut.
(M. Lemoine. La Tradition. No, 34,)
Public-domain original text shown for study context.
What happens here
The Six Sillies follows fairy-tale trials, magic helpers, promises, danger, and earned reward.
Why this scene matters
This story matters because it turns fairy-tale trials, magic helpers, promises, danger, and earned reward into a compact public-domain reading experience that is easier to understand when the plot is explained plainly first.
Characters in this scene
- Main figure: The person, animal, or symbolic figure at the center of the story.
- The problem: The pressure, temptation, danger, or misunderstanding that drives the action.
- The story world: The setting and surrounding characters that make the choice or surprise meaningful.