Peter Christen Asbjørnsen

“ So the charcoal-burner had to go into the parlour to the queen. He took a chair and sat down in the middle of the floor, while the queen walked up and down the room.
"One should never count one's chickens before they are hatched, and never quarrel about a baby's name before it is born," said the charcoal-burner; "but I never heard or saw such a thing before! When the queen comes toward me, I almost think it will be a prince, and when she goes away from me it looks as if it would be a princess." ”

“ Means, indeed!" said the charcoal-burner, "for you must know I have been ordained priest. Here you see both gown and hood."
"Nay, I'll never believe that," said the goody; "strong ale makes big words. You are just as bad, whichever end of you turns up; that you are," she said.
"You shall neither scold nor sorrow for the pit, for its last coal is quenched and cold," said the charcoal-burner.
It fell out one day that many people in priests' robes passed by the charcoal-burner's cottage on their way to the king's palace, so that it was easy to see that there was something in the wind there. ”

“ Lo! when the time came, it was both a prince and a princess, for twins were born; and so the charcoal-burner had hit the mark that time too. And because he could tell that which no man could know, he got money in carts full, and was the next man to the king in the realm.
"Trip, trap, trill,
A man is often more than he will." ”