a tale taken from the Brothers Grimm
There was a poor old woman whose son wanted to travel about and see the world.
"With what?" she said. "There's no money or food to spare around here."
"Oh, I won't need much," he told her. And down the road he went repeating "Not much, not much, not much."
He passed some fishermen about to throw their nets in the river.
"Good morning, not much, not much," he said.
"What did you say?" The fishermen were spooked with his words. And when they pulled in their nets there was not much in the way of fish. So they caught hold of the boy and thrashed him with stick. "That will teach you what to say."
"But what should I say?" the boy asked.
"Just say, 'catch a lot, catch a lot.'"
So he went down the road saying "Catch a lot, catch a lot." And he passed the city gallows where an executioner had just hanged a criminal. "Good morning, catch a lot, catch a lot."
"What?" said the executioner, "do you think the world needs more criminals?" He caught the boy and thrashed him.
"But what should I say?"
"May God comfort the poor soul," said the executioner.
So the boy went out of town saying "May God comfort the poor soul, may God comfort the poor soul." And he passed by a ditch with a dead horse and there was a knacker skinning the carcass. "Good day, may God comfort the poor soul."
"What did you say?" said the knacker, and he hit the boy between the eyes with his skinning hook. "That will put sense in your head."
But it knocked the boy out. When he came to he asked, "What should I say?"
"Stay in the ditch, you carcass."
So he tramped on saying "Stay in the ditch, you carcass, stay in the ditch you carcass." And a wagon came past him carrying a load of people. "Good day, stay in the ditch, you carcass." The wagon fell right off into the ditch. Then the driver went after the boy with his whip, and gave him such a lashing that the boy hobbled home and never again left his mother.