There was once upon a time a young boy who looked after the swine whose fame spread far and wide because of the wise answers he gave to every question. The king of the country heard of it likewise, but did not believe it, and sent for the boy. Then he said to him:

“If you can give me an answer to three questions which I will ask you, I will look on you as my own child, and you shall dwell with me in my royal palace.”

The boy said, “What are the three questions?”

The king said, “The first is, how many drops of water are there in the ocean?”

The swineherd boy answered, “Lord king, if you will have all the rivers on earth dammed up so that not a single drop runs from them into the sea until I have counted it, I will tell you how many drops there are in the sea.”

The king said, “The next question is, how many stars are there in the sky?”

The swineherd boy said, “Give me a great sheet of white paper.” He made so many fine points on it with a pen that they could scarcely be seen, and it was all but impossible to count them, any one who looked at them would have lost his sight. Then he said, “There are as many stars in the sky as there are points on the paper. Just count them.” But no one was able to do it.

The king said, “The third question is, how many seconds of time are there in eternity?”

Then said the swineherd boy, “In Muspellheim is the diamond mountain, which is two miles high, two miles wide, and two miles deep. Every hundred years a little bird comes and sharpens its beak on it, and when the whole mountain is worn away by this, then the first second of eternity will be over.”

The king said, “You have answered the three questions like a wise man, and shall henceforth dwell with me in my royal palace, and I will regard you as my own child.”