Once upon a time, a poor widow sends her young son Hans into the village to fetch a simple meal, but along the way into town he discovers a lump of gold. Thrilled, he heads back home to show his mother his amazing good luck. But no sooner has he started back than he meets a knight, who persuades him to exchange the gold for the knight's steed. 'The better for plowing!' the knight assures the boy. "Then a farmer along the way explains that the widow can't eat a horse, so why not exchange the horse for the farmer's cow? After making this reasonable bargain, the boy continues home but then meets up with a neighbor with a goose under his arm. Of course the widow wants a meal today, says the neighbor, so why not exchange cow for goose? Done. Finally, nearly home, he meets up with a boy who tells him that if he exchanges the goose for a whetstone he can keep his knife sharpened for slaughtering any number of geese in the future. Done again. But when he gets home he notices this clumsy stone in his pocket and, puzzled at its presence, throws it away before crossing the threshold of his home, none the sadder and certainly none the wiser.