Little Claus and Big Claus

'Little Claus and Big Claus' (Danish: Lille Claus og store Claus) is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, published in Danish in 1835 in the first instalment of his booklet Fairy Tales Told for Children. First Collection. (Danish title: Eventyr fortalte for børn. Første Samling.). In a village lived two men called Claus. In order to tell them apart, the one who owns only one horse is called Little Claus, and the other one, who owns four horses, is called Big Claus. Each week, Little Claus borrows the horses from Big Claus to plough his field. During this, he constantly calls them his five horses. Angry at this, as only one horse really belongs to Little Claus, Big Claus tells him to stop saying this. However, he does it again, so Big Claus kills his neighbour's only horse. Little Claus skins it, puts the horse into a sack and carries the sack with him to sell it.