"The Table, the Donkey, and the Stick" (German: Tischlein deck dich, Goldesel und Knüppel aus dem Sack) is a fairy tale collected by The Brothers Grimm.
A tailor lives with his three sons and a goat. One day, he asks the eldest son to take the goat out and let it graze. He lets the goat forage in the meadows all day, and she says she is satisfied. When she comes home, the tailor asks her if she is satisfied, and she says that the eldest son starved her. The furious tailor banishes his eldest son from the house. The pattern repeats with the middle and youngest sons. Finally, when the tailor takes the goat out himself, she still says that she is not satisfied, causing him to realize that the goat lied about his sons, and he drives her out as well.
The eldest son becomes apprentice to a furniture maker and receives a magic table that will cover itself with fine food when he says, "Table, cover thyself." However, it gets stolen by a greedy innkeeper who switches it out for a regular table when the eldest son stays at his inn, and the son only finds this out when he brings the table home. The middle son becomes apprentice to a miller and receives a magic donkey that will produce gold from its mouth when he says, "Bricklebrit." It also gets stolen by the same innkeeper. The youngest son becomes apprentice to a woodturner and receives a magic stick that will beat up anyone he wants when he says, "Stick, get out of the sack!" He goes to the inn and, when the innkeeper tries to steal the stick, has it beat him up until he gives back the magic table and donkey. The three brothers go home with their treasures, reconcile with their father and live Happily Ever After.
Meanwhile, after being driven out, the goat finds a fox hole to hide in. When the fox returns home, it is scared away by the goat's eyes. The fox asks a bear for help, but he is also too frightened to go in. Finally, they get a bee to sting the goat, and she jumps out of the hole and runs away to parts unknown.
The tale is in the public domain and can be read here
, here, here, here and here.
In the Aarne-Thompson-Uther index it is classified as a Type 563 introduced by Type 212: "The Goat That Lied".
Tropes:
- Disproportionate Retribution: The tailor kicks his three sons out of house and home for supposedly not feeding the family goat enough.
- Easily Forgiven: At the end of the story, the sons forgive their father for kicking them out of the house based on the word of the goat.
- I Have No Son!: The tailor disowns each of this three sons in turn when he believes they starved the goat.
- Magical Incantation: The three brothers each receive special items from their masters that require a magic phrase to work.
- The eldest brother receives a table that makes fine food and drink appear on it when the words "Table, cover thyself," are said.
- The middle brother receives a donkey that pours gold coins from its mouth when the word "Bricklebrit" is said.
- The youngest brother receives a stick that beats up the nearest person when the words, "Stick, get out of the sack!" are said.
- Monster Organ Trafficking: The second son works for a miller and receives a donkey that spews gold coins out of its mouth when the word "Bricklebrit" is said.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The youngest son works for a woodturner and receives a magic stick that will jump out of its bag and beat the crap out of anyone its owner wants, with the words, "Stick, get out of the sack!" He uses it on the innkeeper who stole his eldest brother's magic table and his middle brother's magic donkey, and gets back both items.
- Pilfering Proprietor: The tailor's eldest son goes to work for a furniture maker and receives a magic table that can cover itself with food. When he goes to stay at an inn, the innkeeper switches it out for a regular table while he's sleeping, and does the same with the middle son's magic donkey that pours gold coins from its mouth. He gets his karma when he tries to steal the youngest brother's magic stick, only to find out that its purpose is to savagely beat anyone who threatens its owner.
- Talking Animal: The tailor's goat can talk, and claims that it was not fed enough by his sons.
- Traumatic Haircut: When the tailor finds out the goat lied about his sons starving it, he takes his razor and shaves all its fur off before driving it out of the house with a whip.
- Treated Worse than the Pet: A tailor asks his oldest son to take their talking (and spoiled rotten) goat to graze at the finest fields. The young man complies and, at the end of the day, he asks the goat if she has eaten enough. She says yes; but when they come back home, the goat tells the tailor his son let her starve, causing the old man to kick him out of the house. The pattern repeats with his other two sons but the tailor realizes he misjudged them after he feeds the goat himself and the greedy animal complains she still hasn't eaten enough. In a fit of rage, the tailor shaves the goat's head and kicks her out after a good beating.
- Uncertain Doom: In the epilogue, the goat hides inside a fox hole, gets stung by a bee and runs away in pain. The narrator comments that no one knows where she is now.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: When the eldest son takes the goat out to graze, it pretends to be satisfied, and then pretends that it hasn't eaten enough when the tailor asks if it's still hungry, which causes him to drive out his eldest son. The goat then does the same to the middle and youngest sons.
- Villainous Glutton: Even after the tailor has kicked out his sons for not feeding the goat enough and takes the goat out to graze himself, it still says it's not satisfied. This makes him realize that his sons were telling the truth, and he drives the goat out.
- Youngest Child Wins: The youngest son is the one who defeats the innkeeper and gets his brothers' treasures back.
