“So Hans often stood in the store musing and looked full of joyous attention at the many golden corns. Gradually and without any particular effort he learned to distinguish and read their faces; for apart from the species which expressed itself in the colour in general, and in the shape and size, every single grain had its very own face.

“Sometimes Hans recognized entire families, which had come here together, and which now enjoyed the fresh serene air that permanently drifted through the store-house.

“One thing in particular struck the youngest: all the faces smiled at him happy all the time, as if they did not realize at all that they were going to be ground.
Or maybe they knew that this grinding did not touch their blissful nature?

“All the time Hans was occupied with this question; he tried to find out what was behind these golden grains which either went into death with great heroic braveness, or which were immortal and knew about it.
In either case the unfathomable smile on their faces proved - on the side of the corns - a detachedness from his burning question.

“The corns knew more than him, and they told him only that much: either they were going with joy into an uncertain destiny, or they were beyond fate.
Even when he sometimes stood at the mill and watched the corns being ground, it did not seem to him like crushing or pounding; he rather felt as if the inner, the soul, which certainly is hidden behind every face, was simply turned without, and now became obvious - whereas simultaneously the face stepped behind the soul.

“And when in such moments of inner muse his beloved father came, looked at his son attentively and with an alert and expert eye checked the refinement of the flour, it seemed to Hans that his father ever since had had the same thoughts; and from the radiant, quietly smiling face of the gracious father he knew that his father had for himself answered all these urgent questions already, although he never talked about or even hinted at this knowledge.

“Now the miller summoned the three sons. He told them about the task of the czar and about the reward that was waiting for the one who fulfilled the task.
And he said, ”I will gladly spend everything I have, if it serves your good fortune. Try and see if one of you can make such a ship!”

“The three sons were eager to do it. But Henry, the oldest, had scruples; he asked who was going to manage the mill if he became the czar and were fully occupied by the business of the government.
With a lot of effort he had now learned all the good knowledge of the father; and besides, he loved his work too much to give it up. Also his responsibility forced him to continue the ancient tradition of running the mill in the same manner as uncountable generations had done before him.