Once on a time lived a man and a woman who so long as they were
rich had no children, but when they were poor they had a little boy.
They could, however, find no godfather for him, so the man said he
would just go to another place to see if he could get one there.  As he
went, a poor man met him, who asked him where he was going.  He said
he was going to see if he could get a godfather, that he was poor, so no one
would stand as godfather for him.  "Oh," said the poor man, "you are poor,
and I am poor; I will be godfather for you, but I am so ill off I can give the
child nothing.  Go home and tell the nurse that she is to come to the church
with the child."
 

When they all got to the church together, the beggar was  already there,
and he gave the child the name of Ferdinand the Faithful.

When he was going out of the church, the beggar said, "Now go home, I
can give you nothing, and you likewise ought to give me nothing."  But
he gave a key to the nurse, and told her when she got home she was
to give it to the father, who was to take care of it until the child was
fourteen years old, and then he was to go on the heath where there was
a castle which the key would fit, and that all which was therein should
belong to him.  Now when the child was seven years old and had grown
very big, he once went to play with some other boys, and each of them
boasted that he had got more from his godfather than the other; but the
child could say nothing, and was vexed, and went home and said to his
father, "Did I get nothing at all, then, from my godfather?"  "Oh, yes," said
the father, "thou hadst a key if there is a castle standing on the heath, just
go to it and open it."  Then the boy went thither, but no castle was to be seen,
or heard of.

After seven years more, when he was fourteen years old, he again went
thither, and there stood the castle.  When he had opened it, there was
nothing within but a horse, a white one.  Then the boy was so full of
joy because he had a horse, that he mounted on it and galloped back to
his father.  "Now I have a white horse, and I will travel," said he.  So he set
out, and as he was on his way, a pen was lying on the road.  At first he thought
he would pick it up, but then again he thought to himself, "Thou shouldst leave
it lying there; thou wilt easily find a pen where thou art going, if thou hast need
of one."  As he was thus riding away, a voice called after him, "Ferdinand the
Faithful, take it with thee."  He looked around, but saw no one, then he went
back again and picked it up.  When he had ridden a little way farther, he
passed by a lake, and a fish was lying on the bank, gasping and panting for
breath, so he said, "Wait, my dear fish, I will help thee get into the water,"
and he took hold of it by the tail, and threw it into the lake.  Then the fish
put its head out of the water and said, "As thou hast helped me out
of the mud I will give thee a flute; when thou art in any need,
play on it, and then I will help thee, and if ever thou lettest anything
fall in the water, just play and I will reach it out to thee."  Then he rode
away, and there came to h

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