3. Hans Becomes a Bread Merchant

The village rich took advantage of this. They began vying with each other to tempt him to trade them dough for boots, a new fur coat, and firewood. Hans was strong for a long time and did not succumb to these temptations. However, when severe frost set in mid-December, he could no longer resist and began selling dough. He had already eaten enough, the elderly body did not need much. Hans did not eat half of the dough in a day, and he had a small surplus. He put this surplus into commercial circulation, selling a part of the dough to someone every day. There was a queue to buy the dough. The further the trade continued, the more Hans was taken in by the spirit of profit. He asked for a higher and higher price, haggling like a usurer. He was scolded, but people paid. One had to keep up with the Joneses.

Hans developed a real passion for profit. He even reduced his daily ration to expand his trade and lost some weight. On the other hand, he had heavy chests stuffed with fur coats and caftans, large logs of firewood were burning in the fireplace, and stacks of money were growing in a small chest under the bed. In just two months Hans became the richest man in the village.

He even rejuvenated from the newfound happiness. Now he began to fear death and, fearing that the old lighthouse would crush him, he bought a new house, moved there, and hired a maid to wash his linen, take care of the household and brew coffee, which he drank “like a rich man,” imitating the pastor of the neighboring village, who drank coffee with cream in the morning. Hans ordered a radio receiver from the city with a room loudspeaker, sat all day in a comfortable armchair, puffed on his pipe, and listened to what was going on in the world with a smug smile. His conscience did not bother him. When occasionally he remembered Professor Breuer, he thought: “What wrong have I done? The professor fed me but did not clothe me. Besides, you have to think about others. It is unfair to own the dough alone.”

The fishermen were also happy. True, the dough was not enough. Bread and fish had to be added to the dough. But still, the dough was a good help in the household. Only a few poor people did not have the means to buy dough. One of them, having heard a lot of speeches that “eternal bread” should be common property, decided to put it into practice by putting his hand into a jar of dough that happened to be standing in an open closet, but was caught on the spot, beaten by the owner, a wealthy fisherman and put on trial for theft. To his surprise, all the fishermen who bought the dough were extremely outraged by his act. He tried to justify himself by repeating their own words about the common property. But he failed to convince anyone.

“When the dough is distributed,” they answered him, “then it will be common property. But you want to get by force and for free what we paid money for? Do you know what money means to us? It’s the hard work of a fisherman, full of dangers. You did not steal the dough, but our labor.”

And the thief was condemned with all the severity of the law. However, in the verdict, the village judges did not write what kind of dough he stole. The fishermen still kept the secret of “eternal bread” within their village. They wanted to live better than neighboring villages. Moreover, they hoped that the professor would soon give them all enough dough. And they hid from Breuer the purchase of bread from Hans. However, the professor soon became aware of everything. And not only him.