A rich man once heard that on St John’s Day, at midnight, the fern blooms. Its tiny seeds possess a secret power: whoever possesses them can understand the language of animals and have their every wish granted. But only those who know nothing of this miracle can find it. The rich man decided to try his luck anyway. The sky was clear and starry as he set off into the forest to find the fern. But no sooner had the clock struck midnight than a terrible storm broke out. It hailed and thundered, trees crashed, and a bolt of lightning struck the very tree beneath which the man had been standing. The rich man sank to the ground, unconscious, and did not wake until the next morning. ‘Was I dreaming?’ he wondered. But standing beside him was the tree struck by lightning. So it was true: only someone unaware of the danger could find the fern seed. 

The rich man pondered how he might still get hold of the magical fern seed. When St John’s Eve came round again, he summoned his good-natured servant and said: ‘Tonight you must take the bull through the forest to the lower hut.’ The servant was rather surprised, but he fetched the bull and led it, as the rich man knew, across the fern field through the forest. As he passed the field with the ferns, something suddenly pressed against his shoe. At the same time, he heard two dogs barking: “Hey, hey,” called one. 

“What, what?” barked the other back.

“Thieves are coming tonight, but I won’t bark.”

“Why not?” barked the other back.

“The master had good meat today and gave me nothing, so I won’t bark either when the thieves come.” The poor servant’s hair stood on end. As fast as he could, he carried on with the bull, but the pain in his shoe grew worse and worse. Finally, he stopped, took off his shoe, shook it out thoroughly, and when he put it back on, whatever had been pressing against him had vanished.

At dawn, the servant arrived at the hut with the bull. The master asked curiously, “Did anything out of the ordinary happen last night?” The farmhand explained that something had been pressing against his foot inside his shoe. “But after I shook the shoes out, it felt better.” He got no further, for the master exclaimed, “Good heavens!” “You shook the magical fern seed out of your shoe. Had you kept it, I would have received everything I could ever have wished for.” 

At that very moment, the maid came in and cried: “Master! Thieves have been in the house and have stolen everything!”

“Yes, that’s what the dogs said last night,” said the servant, nodding. Then the maid quickly made a sign on his forehead so that his senses might return to his head. 

From that day on, however, the rich man wanted nothing more to do with the wondrous fern seed.