“The miller's son, however, did not want to walk by but rather stopped and greeted him friendly which the old man affectionately replied.
And when the man asked him for some bread his plea suited Hans fine, for he hoped that this would give him a chance for a chat.

“It's a pleasure,” said Hans therefore. ”Sit down here; the way is not very wide, but it will be wide enough for the two of us.”

“He gave him bread and filled his beaker with water.
The old man thanked and after a while he asked, ”What are you up to, that you are travelling?”
“I want to go to the czar and woo his daughter, as is the desire of my father,” answered Hans.

“So you want to marry the daughter of the czar?” asked the stranger once more.
“Actually I have something else in mind - besides, I do not know the girl at all; she is very beautiful, they all say - that is all I know,” replied Hans, ”and also it might well be that she does not want me at all; after all she does not know me either.

“And of what use to the czar is a son-in-law who has not learned anything practical; all the time I have only been at home thinking about all sorts of things.
Many questions indeed came up for which I have no satisfying answer so far.

“Besides the fact that I have not learned a proper trade like my brothers I have not become very wise either; but still I see many beautiful things in the world which increase my happiness.”

“Are you not in a rush to get to the festival of the czar in time, or is there still much time left?” the man continued to ask.

“I cannot judge that,” replied Hans, ”because I donit know at all how far it is to the court of the czar; I have never been there before.

“Also I can easily misjudge the time; because on the whole journey so far I have occupied myself only with the beautiful things around me and I talked to the dwellers of the wood, and so I often lost the time and the goal from my sight - although I have been walking briskly all the time.

“That reminds me: the czar has demanded the contestants to bring a ship with them on which one can travel over water, over land and through the air, and I have to get it first; so far I have not found a solution how to obtain such a ship.”

“Do you really believe such a magic ship might exist?” the old man continued to ask.
“Why not,” Hans replied friendly, ”I have never seen one, and never heard of anyone who has seen one; but myself, I have seen many things that others normally never believe.
Therefore I never talked about them to anyone.
What I have experienced would sound even more unbelievable for others than the idea of a flying ship.

“So I think that such a ship is possible indeed; it would not be the greatest miracle I have seen so far - although I donit expect myself to be able to build such a ship.
But I have not built the world either and it is full of small and big magnificent blessing wonders - as you surely know better than me, for with you I discover a deeper happiness than with me.

“This proves to me that you know more of life, and I am glad I have met you; your appearance convinces me that time can answer all my questions satisfactorily.”
“I see,” said the man and nodded his head.

“My two brothers have tried before me, but they did not succeed,” said Hans.
The old man nodded in agreement and smiled.