The Three Boons

Once upon a time, there was a blacksmith in a certain village, so unfortunate that no one else in any country was as unlucky as him. Whenever he was asked to make something, he would end up making something entirely different. If he was asked to repair something, he would break it even more. As for deceiving people, he was a master at it! So, no one wanted to give him any work, and he could barely get two meals a day. The only benefit he had was that he was constantly scolded by his wife.

One cold day, while sitting in his shop, his cheeks resting on his hand, the blacksmith was thinking about his fate. It was a freezing winter, he had no warm clothes to wear, and his stomach was burning with hunger. Suddenly, a tall, elderly man with a long white beard, shaking with the cold, appeared at his shop and said, "Hail, father, can you spare some food for this poor old man?"

The blacksmith replied, "Father, if I had food, I would have eaten it myself. I haven't had anything to eat for two days. I’m fasting with my wife and children, how can I give you anything? But, you can come inside and warm yourself. I'll stir the fire for you."

The old man, trembling, entered the house and said, "Ah, you saved me, father! I was freezing outside. It looks like you’re even poorer than me. At least I can survive if I get something to eat, but you have your wife and children too!"

The old man sat near the fire, and the blacksmith stoked it for him. When the old man got warm, he said, "You could not offer me food, but still, you have done what you could. Now, I’ll grant you three boons. Ask for whatever you want, and I will surely give them."

The blacksmith thought for a long time, scratching his head, but couldn't decide what boon to ask for. The old man urged him to make up his mind quickly as he was in a hurry. After much thought, the blacksmith said, "Alright, grant me this boon that anyone who takes this hammer in hand will never be able to let go of it without my command. And if they start hammering, they will not stop until I tell them to."

The old man said, "It shall be so. What else?"

The blacksmith said, "Grant me the boon that anyone who sits on my chair will not be able to rise without my permission."

The old man agreed, "It shall be so. What else?"

Finally, the blacksmith said, "Grant me the boon that if I place any money in my bag, no one but I can take it out."

The old man, who was actually a deity, became furious and said, "You fool! If you wanted, you could have gone to heaven with your family using these three boons. But instead, look at your misfortune!"

The deity left, and the blacksmith began to think. He realized that with these three boons, he could make some money. He spread the word across the village that anyone could come to his shop for free work.

Soon, the greedy, miserly people of the village started coming to his shop. One by one, the blacksmith would make them sit on his chair, or take the hammer, and if they didn’t pay him, they couldn’t leave or stop. He began to make a lot of money from them.

However, soon enough, people realized what was going on, and no one came to him anymore. The blacksmith was once again back to his miserable state.

One day, while wandering in the forest, the blacksmith encountered an old man who appeared to be a lawyer. But upon closer inspection, the blacksmith noticed that the man’s feet had hooves like a goat. He realized that this was none other than the devil.

Instead of running away, the blacksmith greeted the devil respectfully and said, "Greetings, how are you?"

The devil responded, "I’m fine. But you seem to be suffering greatly, why not work for me? I will give you plenty of money."

The blacksmith agreed, and the devil gave him three bags of gold coins, telling him to enjoy the wealth. He warned that after seven years, the blacksmith would have to come with him.

The blacksmith became very rich, living luxuriously. He spent the gold coins lavishly, and as the seven years approached, he ran out of money and had nothing left to eat.

One day, the devil appeared again and demanded that the blacksmith come with him. The blacksmith cleverly asked the devil to wait while he finished hammering a piece of iron. The devil, not knowing that the blacksmith had received a magical hammer, began to hammer away at the iron. But the blacksmith had commanded that the devil would not be able to stop until he told him to.

After a month, the blacksmith returned to find the devil still hammering away, exhausted and begging for mercy. The blacksmith agreed to let him go in exchange for more gold coins, and the devil gave him three more bags.

This cycle continued for many years, and each time the blacksmith received more gold. Eventually, the devil came once more to claim the blacksmith. However, this time the blacksmith tricked him again by using his magical boons to trap the devil in a chair, and he forced the devil to give him six bags of gold.

The blacksmith used the money for many more years, but eventually, he grew old and died. He went to the gates of heaven, but the deity who had given him the boons was furious and refused to let him in. So, the blacksmith went to hell, only to find that the devil was terrified of him, remembering all the times he had tricked him.

The devil, unable to escape, begged for mercy and promised never to bother the blacksmith again. The blacksmith, having completed his time on earth, laughed and moved on, having lived a life of trickery and fortune.