“No, he knew about the infinite beauty of the daughter of the czar, and though being czar seemed very attractive to him, his natural duty forbade him to leave the mill.
Therefore he wanted to stay and leave the right of the elder to the next in line who had much more freedom of disposing of himself - let aside that he himself did not yet know how to build such a ship.

“Thus approached by his brother, Charles explained that he too had not spared any effort to consolidate the reputation of the family and to increase its wealth.
He knew from experience that with his efforts he relieved his father, and that his brother too could devote himself much freer to the quality of his work, if he continued his activity of selling.
Also he had made so many good personal contacts all over the world, that their reputation and wealth could grow continuously; even the czar was among their satisfied customers.

“Although he did not know anything about milling, and he estimated the art of milling, which his father and his brother mastered, much higher than his own art of trading, he was nevertheless certain that the family could not do without his help; therefore he rather preferred - like his brother - to renounce the exceedingly attractive offer of the czar, and to continue to procure the corn and to sell the flour, as he was used to.

“He was aware of the immense beauty of the daughter of the czar; and apart from the fact that by right she belonged to his elder brother, he, Charles did not know how to get such a ship.
Therefore, Charles finished his explanation, he yielded his rights to Hans, because of all the three he was the freest to decide about his time. Hans should seek his fortune.

“What should the youngest say? His intentions were never really directed to the mill and the trade with cereals or flour; so far only two questions had occupied him, which he took from the faces of the smiling, golden grains: is life completely embedded into fate like under the protection of the benevolent parents, or is the living independent from fate; is life standing above fate, in a completely different world which was unknown to him so far, yet which he anticipated already?
How should he expect that marrying the daughter of the czar would answer these questions - let aside that he did not know at all where to get such a flying wonder-ship.

“The reasoning of his brothers seemed evident enough: he had had enough advantages from their doing duty, and he knew how right they were.
But which kind of reasons was he to give, since he did not want the rule of the czar either; so far he had not talked to anyone about his awkward ideas.

“The wise father knew anyway what moved him. Therefore Hans felt all the time supported and in a secret manner encouraged in his inner development by his father - as if he was continually persuading him with his understanding eyes to continue his urgent considerations and to make it the most important task of his life to find the answer to these questions.