The Fairy Ring
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Title: The Fairy Ring
Editor: Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
Nora Archibald Smith
Illustrator: E. MacKinstry
Release date: July 28, 2012 [eBook #40359]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40359
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FAIRY RING ***
FAIRY RING
KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN
NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH
_The Fairy Ring_
THE CHILDREN'S CRIMSON CLASSICS
EDITED BY KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN AND NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH
GOLDEN NUMBERS
A Book of Verse for Youth
THE POSY RING
A Book of Verse for Children
PINAFORE PALACE
A Book of Rhymes for Children
_Library of Fairy Literature_
THE FAIRY RING
MAGIC CASEMENTS
A Second Fairy Book
TALES OF LAUGHTER
A Third Fairy Book
TALES OF WONDER
A Fourth Fairy Book
THE TALKING BEASTS
Fables from Every Land
_OTHER VOLUMES TO FOLLOW_
[Illustration: LITTLE BROTHER AND SISTER]
CRIMSON CLASSICS
THE FAIRY RING
EDITED BY KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN and NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATED BY ELIZABETH MACKINSTRY
DOUBLEDAY, DORAN & COMPANY, INC.
GARDEN CITY 1934 NEW YORK
_Copyright, 1906, by_
MCCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO.
COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES
AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
_Messrs. McClure, Phillips & Company wish to make acknowledgment of
their indebtedness to the following publishers:_
_Little, Brown & Company, for permission to use "Blanche and Vermilion"
and "Prince Desire and Princess Mignonette" from Old-Fashioned Fairy
Tales;_
_A. Wessells Company, for permission to use the story of "The Clever
Prince" from Fairy Tales from Afar;_
_American Book Company, for permission to use "Drakesbill and His
Friends" from Fairy Tales and Fables;_
_University Publishing Company, for permission to use "The Troll's
Hammer" from Fairy Life;_
_Harper & Brothers, for permission to use "The Fair One with Golden
Locks," "The White Cat," "Prince Cherry," and "The Frog Prince" from
Miss Mulock's Fairy Book, and "Yvon and Finette," "The Twelve Months,"
and "The Story of Coquerico" from Laboulaye's Fairy Tales of all
Nations;_
_G. P. Putnam's Sons, for permission to use "History of Tom Thumb" and
"Tattercoats" from Joseph Jacobs's English Fairy Tales; "Munachar and
Manachar" from Joseph Jacobs's Celtic Fairy Tales; and "Master Tobacco,"
"Mother Roundabout's Daughter," and "The Sheep and the Pig" from
Dasent's Tales from the Field;_
_F. A. Stokes Company, for permission to use "Lars, My Lad," and
"Twigmuntus and Cowbelliantus" from Fairy Tales from the Swedish;_
_Longmans, Green & Company, for permission to use the following
stories: "The Yellow Dwarf," "The Many-Furred Creature," "Spindle,
Shuttle, and Needle," "Princess and the Glass Hill," "The Golden Crab,"
"The Magic Ring," "Snow-white and Rose-red," "Graciosa and Percinet,"
"The Iron Stove," "The Good Little Mouse," and "The Three Feathers" from
the Andrew Lang Fairy Books._
_We also wish to express our thanks to Mr. Seumas MacManus, for
permission to use "The Bee, the Harp, and the Bum-Clock," "The Long
Leather Bag," and "The Widow's Daughter" from his books, Donegal Fairy
Tales and In Chimney Corners, published by us._
_CONTENTS_
SCANDINAVIAN
PAGE
EAST O' THE SUN AND WEST O' THE MOON 3
THE GOLDEN LANTERN, GOLDEN GOAT, AND GOLDEN CLOAK 13
MOTHER ROUNDABOUT'S DAUGHTER 21
THE BEAR AND SKRATTEL 28
THE GOLDEN BIRD 37
THE DOLL IN THE GRASS 45
THE PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL 47
THE RAM AND THE PIG WHO WENT INTO THE WOODS
TO LIVE BY THEMSELVES 56
THE TROLL'S HAMMER 60
THE CLEVER PRINCE 65
"LARS, MY LAD!" 70
TWIGMUNTUS, COWBELLIANTUS, PERCHNOSIUS 85
ENGLISH
MASTER TOBACCO 89
THE HISTORY OF TOM THUMB 95
TATTERCOATS 101
HISTORY OF JACK THE GIANT-KILLER 104
FRENCH
YVON AND FINETTE 109
THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS 138
THE LITTLE GOOD MOUSE 148
THE STORY OF BLANCHE AND VERMILION 161
PRINCE DESIRE AND PRINCESS MIGNONETTA 165
THE YELLOW DWARF 171
GRACIOSA AND PERCINET 179
DRAK, THE FAIRY 197
DRAKESBILL AND HIS FRIENDS 202
RIQUET WITH THE TUFT 209
THE WHITE CAT 216
PRINCE CHERRY 229
THE TWELVE MONTHS 264
SPANISH
THE STORY OF COQUERICO 254
THE BIRD-CAGE MAKER 259
GAELIC
THE BEE, THE HARP, THE MOUSE, AND THE BUM-CLOCK 271
THE LONG LEATHER BAG 279
THE WIDOW'S DAUGHTER 288
MUNACHAR AND MANACHAR 292
GERMAN
THE WILD SWANS 238
THE ROAD TO FORTUNE 295
THE GOLDEN CRAB 301
THE TABLE, THE ASS, AND THE STICK 307
THE LITTLE BROTHER AND SISTER 318
THE OLD GRIFFIN 324
THE THREE FEATHERS 330
THE HOUSE IN THE WOOD 334
RAPUNZEL 339
THE QUEEN BEE 343
THE MANY-FURRED CREATURE 345
SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED 350
THE FROG PRINCE 357
THE GOOSE GIRL 361
BRIAR ROSE 367
THE IRON STOVE 370
RUMPEL-STILTS-KEN 376
FAITHFUL JOHN, THE KING'S SERVANT 379
SPINDLE, SHUTTLE, AND NEEDLE 386
RUSSIAN
THE MAGIC EGG 390
THE SPARROW AND THE BUSH 402
THE IRON WOLF 404
EAST INDIAN
THE GRATEFUL COBRA 408
THE MAGIC RING 413
TIT FOR TAT 426
THE BRAHMAN, THE TIGER, AND THE SIX JUDGES 427
MUCHIE LAL 431
THE VALIANT CHATTEEMAKER 439
_ILLUSTRATIONS_
LITTLE BROTHER AND SISTER _Frontispiece_
FACING
PAGE
THE LASSIE RIDING OVER THE SEA ON THE BACK OF
THE NORTH WIND 10
THE TROLL'S HUT, THE LANTERN, AND THE GOAT WITH
THE GOLDEN HORNS 14
"SHE SAID SHE WOULD SIT AND DRIVE IN A SILVER
SPOON" 46
JUST AS CINDERLAD TURNED HIS HORSE AROUND, THE
PRINCESS THREW THE GOLDEN APPLE 52
"AND WHEN HE SET HER DOWN HE GAVE HER A KISS" 90
TATTERCOATS FORGOT ALL HER TROUBLES AND FELL TO
DANCING 102
"THE GIANT AND THE CONJURER NOW KNEW THAT THEIR
WICKED COURSE WAS AT AN END" 108
"HE FLUNG HUGE MASSES OF ROCK AFTER THE VESSEL" 122
"SHE WORE THEM ALWAYS...LOOSE AND FLOWING" 138
"I FEEL AS IF I WERE THE DAUGHTER OF SOME GREAT
KING" 158
"HE WAS A WEEK TRYING TO TREAD ON THIS FATAL TAIL" 166
THE MERMAID TAKING THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MINES TO
THE STEEL CASTLE 178
"MICHEAL, PETRIFIED, STOOD MUTE, . . . CONTEMPLATING
WITH A FRIGHTENED AIR THIS INCONGRUOUS DANCE" 200
"ELIZA WENT, AND THE KING AND THE ARCHBISHOP FOLLOWED
HER" 252
"MARCH ROSE IN TURN, AND STIRRED THE FIRE WITH THE
STAFF, WHEN BEHOLD! . . . IT WAS SPRING" 266
"AN UGLY OLD WOMAN WITH THE MOST MONSTROUS NOSE EVER
BEHELD" 292
"IN THIS WAY THE FISHERMAN CARRIED HIM TO THE CASTLE" 304
"IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, WHEN GRIFFIN WAS SNORING
AWAY LUSTILY, JACK REACHED UP AND PULLED A
FEATHER OUT OF HIS TAIL" 328
"THEN DUMMLING'S LOVELY MAIDEN SPRANG LIGHTLY AND
GRACEFULLY THROUGH THE RING" 332
""WHAT ARE YOU STANDING THERE GAPING FOR?" SCREAMED
THE DWARF" 356
"FALADA, FALADA, THERE THOU HANGEST!" 364
"AT LAST HE REACHED THE TOWER . . . WHERE BRIER ROSE
WAS ASLEEP" 370
"JUST AS IT HAD COME TO THE END OF THE GOLDEN THREAD
IT REACHED THE KING'S SON" 388
"THE RANEE SAID, 'THIS IS A DEAR LITTLE GIRL'" 434
Throned on a grassy knoll, I watch
The elfin host come trooping by,
And hear the whir of fairy wings,
The goblin voices, shrill and high.
Behind them glides a magic train
Of Kings and Princes, armor-clad,
And serving as their squires bold
Boots, Ashiepattle, Cinderlad.
With silken rustle, flash of gem,
Queen and Czaritsa sweep along,
While red-capped Troll and rainbow Sprite
Peep out amid the enchanted throng.
_Ting-ling, ting-ling, how sweet the ring,
Like golden bells, of fairy laughter;
Rap-tap, rap-tap, how sharp the clap
Of fairy footfalls following after!_
Where witch-grass grows and fern-seed lies,
A Fairy Ring is dimly seen;
And there a glitt'ring host is met
To dance upon the moonlit green.
Riquet, the Tufted, lightly turns
The Fair One with the Golden Hair;
And Prince Desire and Mignonette
Form yet another graceful pair.
Tall as a tower stands Galifron;
The Desert Fay, with snakes bedight,
First pirouettes with him and then
With wee Tom Thumb, King Arthur's Knight.
_Ting-ling, ting-ling, how sweet the ring,
Like golden bells, of fairy laughter;
Rap-tap, rap-tap, how sharp the clap
Of fairy footfalls following after!_
Sweet, unseen harpers harp and sing,
Faint elfin horns the air repeat;
Rapunzel shakes her shining braids,
The White Cat trips with velvet feet.
Rose-red, Snow-white, the faithful Bear,
Cross hands with gallant Percinet;
While Tattercoats, in turn, salutes
Yvon, the Fearless, and Finette.
--But hark! the cock begins to crow;
The darkness turns to day, and, look!
The fairy dancers whirl within
The crimson covers of this book!
NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH
_INTRODUCTION_
_"THERE was once upon a time a king who had a garden; in that garden was
an apple tree, and on that apple tree grew a golden apple every year."_
_These stories are the golden apples that grew on the tree in the king's
garden; grew and grew and grew as the golden years went by; and being
apples of gold they could never wither nor shrink nor change, so that
they are as beautiful and precious for you to pluck to-day as when first
they ripened long, long ago._
_Perhaps you do not care for the sort of golden apples that grew in the
king's garden; perhaps you prefer plain russets or green pippins? Well,
these are not to be despised, for they also are wholesome food for
growing boys and girls; but unless you can taste the flavor and feel the
magic that lies in the golden apples of the king's garden you will lose
one of the joys of youth._
_No one can help respecting apples (or stories) that gleam as brightly
to-day as they did hundreds and thousands of years ago, when first the
tiny blossoms ripened into precious fruit._
_"Should you ask me whence these stories,
Whence these legends and traditions
With the odors of the forest,
With the dew and damp of meadows?"--_
_I can say only that the people were telling fairy tales in Egypt, in
Joseph's time, more than three thousand years ago; and that grand old
Homer told them in the famous "Odyssey," with its witches and giants,
its cap of darkness, and shoes of swiftness. Old nurses and village
crones have repeated them by the fireside and in the chimney corner;
shepherds and cowherds have recounted them by the brookside, until the
children of the world have all learned them by heart, bequeathing them,
generation after generation, as a priceless legacy to their own
children. Nor must you fancy that they have been told in your own tongue
only. Long, long before the art of printing was known, men and women of
all nations recited these and similar tales to one another, never
thinking that the day would come when they would be regarded as the
peculiar property of youth and childhood. There is not a country in
Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, or the islands of the sea where fairy
stories of one sort or another have not been current since the dawn of
speech; and to make this Fairy Ring of sixty-odd tales the editors have
read and sifted as many hundreds. You will miss Cinderella, Red Riding
Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Toads and Diamonds, Puss in Boots,
Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast, and other favorites, but these have
been omitted because they can be easily found in half a dozen volumes
already on your shelves, and we preferred to give you in their stead
stories less well known and hackneyed._
_The so-called Household Tales, such as Drakesbill, The Little Good
Mouse, and The Grateful Cobra go back to the times when men thought of
animals as their friends and brothers, and in the fireside stories of
that period the central figures were often wise and powerful beasts,
beasts that had language, assumed human form, and protected as well as
served mankind. Frogs, fishes, birds, wolves, cobras, cats, one and all
win our sympathy, admiration, and respect as we read of their deeds of
prowess, their sagacious counsel, their superhuman power of overcoming
obstacles and rescuing from danger or death the golden-haired princess,
the unhappy queen mother, or the intrepid but unfortunate prince._
_The giants and ogres and witches in the fairy stories need not greatly
affright even the youngest readers. For the most part they overreach
themselves in ill-doing and are quite at the mercy (as they properly
should be) of the brave and virtuous knight or the clever little
princess._
_If you chance to be an elder brother or sister it may surprise and
distress you to find that all the grace, courage, wit, and beauty, as
well as most of the good fortune, are vested in the youngest member of
the household. The fairy-tale family has customs of its own when it
comes to the distribution of vices and virtues, and the elder sons and
daughters are likely to be haughty, selfish, and cruel, while the
younger ones are as enchantingly beautiful as they are marvelously
amiable. The malevolent stepmother still further complicates the
domestic situation, and she is so wicked and malicious that if it were
not for the dear and delightful one in your own household, or the
equally lovable one next door, you might think stepmothers worse than
ogres or witches. I cannot account for this prejudice, except that
perhaps the ideal of mother love and mother goodness has always been so
high in the world that the slightest deviation from it has been held up
to scorn. As for the superhuman youngest son and daughter, perhaps they
are used only to show us that the least and humblest things and persons
are capable of becoming the mightiest and most powerful._
_Wiseacres (and people who have no love for golden apples) say that in
many of these tales "The greater the rogue the better his fortune"; but
the Grimm brothers, most famous and most faithful of fairy-tale
collectors, reply that the right user of these narratives "will find no
evil therein, but, as an old proverb has it, merely a witness of his own
heart. Children point at the stars without fear, while others, as the
popular superstition goes, thereby offend the angels."_
_The moment you have plucked a golden apple from the magic tree in the
king's garden (which phrase, being interpreted, means whenever you begin
one of the tales in this book) you will say farewell to time and space
as readily as if you had put on a wishing cap, or a pair of seven league
boots, or had blown an elfin pipe to call the fairy host. It matters not
when anything happened. It is "Once upon a time," or "A long time ago."
As to just where, that is quite as uncertain and unimportant, for we all
feel familiar with the fairy-tale landscape, which has delightful
features all its own, and easily recognizable. The house is always in
the heart of a deep, deep wood like the one "amidst the forest darkly
green" where Snowwhite lived with the dwarfs. You know the Well at the
World's End whence arose the Frog Prince; the Glass Mountain that
Cinderlad climbed, first in his copper, then in his silver, then in his
golden armor; the enchanted castle where the White Cat dwelt; the sea
over which Faithful John sailed with the Princess of the Golden Roof._
_In the story of The Spindle, the Shuttle, and the Needle, the prince
has just galloped past the cottage in the wood where the maiden is
turning her wheel, when the spindle leaps out of her hand to follow him
on his way--leaps and dances and pursues him along the woodland path,
the golden thread dragging behind. Then the prince turns (fairy princes
always turn at the right time), sees the magic spindle, and, led by the
shimmering thread, finds his way back to the lovely princess, the
sweetest, loveliest, thriftiest, most bewitching little princess in the
whole world, and a princess he might never have found had it not been
for the kind offices of the spindle, shuttle, and needle._
_This book is the magic spindle; the stories that were golden apples
have melted into a golden thread, a train of bright images that will
lead you into a radiant country where no one ever grows old; where, when
the prince finds and loves the princess, he marries her and they are
happy ever after; where the obstacles of life melt under the touch of
comprehending kindness; where menacing clouds of misfortune are blown
away by gay good will; and where wicked little trolls are invariably
defeated by wise simpletons._
_We feel that we can do anything when we journey in this enchanting
country. Come, then, let us mount and be off; we can ride fast and far,
for imagination is the gayest and fleetest of steeds. Let us climb the
gilded linden tree and capture the Golden Bird. Let us plunge into the
heart of the Briar Wood where the Rose o' the World lies sleeping. Let
us break the spell that holds all her court in drowsy slumber, and
then, coming out into the sunshine, mount and ride again into the
forest. As we pass the Fairy Tree on the edge of the glade we will pluck
a Merry Leaf, for this, when tucked away in belt or pouch, will give us
a glad heart and a laughing eye all the day long. We shall meet ogres,
no doubt, and the more the merrier, for, like Finette, we have but to
cry "Abracadabra!" to defeat not ogres only, but wicked bailiffs,
stewards, seneschals, witch hags, and even the impossibly vicious
stepmother! Cormoran and Blunderbore will quail before us, for our magic
weapons, like those of Cornish Jack, will be all-powerful. Then, flushed
with triumph we will mount the back of the North Wind and search for the
castle that lies East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon. Daylight will
fade, the stars come out, the fire burn low on the hearth, playmates'
voices sound unheeded. We shall still sit in the corner of the window
seat with the red-covered volume on our knees; for hours ago the magic
spindle wrought its spell, and we have been following the golden thread
that leads from this work-a-day world into fairyland._
_KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN_
_East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon_
ONCE on a time there was a poor husbandman who had so many children that
he hadn't much of either food or clothing to give them. Pretty children
they all were, but the prettiest was the youngest daughter, who was so
lovely that there was no end to all her loveliness.
So one day--'twas on a Thursday evening, late at the fall of the year,
the weather was so wild and rough outside, and it was so cruelly dark,
and rain fell and wind blew till the walls of the cottage shook
again--there they all sat round the fire, busy with this thing and that.
But just then, all at once, something gave three taps on the windowpane.
Then the father went out to see what was the matter, and when he got out
of doors, what should he see but a great big white bear!
"Good evening to you," said the White Bear.
"The same to you," said the man.
"Will you give me your youngest daughter? If you will, I'll make you as
rich as you are now poor," said the Bear.
Well, the man would not be at all sorry to be rich, but still he thought
he must have a bit of a talk with his daughter first, so he went in and
told them how there was a great white bear waiting outside, who had
given his word to make them rich if he could only have the youngest
daughter.
The lassie said "No" outright. Nothing could get her to say anything
else. So the man went out and settled it with the White Bear that he
should come again the next Thursday evening and get an answer.
Meantime, he talked his daughter over, and kept on telling her of all
the riches they would get, and how well off she would be herself; and
so at last she thought better of it, and washed and mended her rags,
made herself as smart as she could, and was ready to start.
Next Thursday evening came the White Bear to fetch her, and she got upon
his back with her bundle, and off they went.
So, when they had gone a bit of the way, the White Bear said:
"Are you afraid?"
No, she wasn't.
"Well, mind and hold tight to my shaggy coat, and then there's nothing
to fear," said the White Bear.
So she rode a long, long way, until they came to a very steep hill.
There, on the face of it, the White Bear gave a knock, and a door
opened, and they came into a castle where there were many rooms, all lit
up, rooms gleaming with silver and gold, and there, too, was a table
ready laid, and it was all as grand as grand could be.
Then the White Bear gave her a silver bell, and when she wanted anything
she had only to ring it and she would get it at once.
Well, after she had eaten and drunk, and evening wore on, she got sleepy
after her journey, and thought she would like to go to bed. So she rang
the bell, and she had scarce taken hold of it before she came into a
chamber where there was a bed made, as fair and white as anyone could
wish to sleep in, with silken pillows and curtains and gold fringe.
She slept quite soundly until morning; then she found her breakfast
waiting in a pretty room. When she had eaten it, the girl made up her
mind to take a walk around, in order to find out if there were any other
people there besides herself.
But she saw nobody but an old woman, whom she took to be a witch, and as
the dame beckoned to her, the girl went at once.
"Little girl," said the Witch, "if you'll promise not to say a word to
anybody, I'll tell you the secret about this place."
Of course, the girl promised at once, so the old dame said:
"In this house there lives a White Bear, but you must know that he is
only a White Bear in the daytime. Every night he throws off his beast
shape and becomes a man, for he is under the spell of a wicked fairy.
Now, be sure and not mention this to anybody, or misfortune will come,"
and with these words she disappeared.
So things went on happily for some time, but at last the girl began to
grow sad and sorrowful, for she went about all day alone, and she longed
to go home to see her father and mother and brothers and sisters.
"Well, well," said the Bear, "perhaps there's a cure for all this
sorrow. But you must promise me one thing. When you go home, you mustn't
talk about me, except when they are all present, or, if you do, you will
bring bad luck to both of us."
So one Sunday the White Bear came and said now they would set off to see
her father and mother.
Well, off they started, she sitting on his back, and they went far and
long. At last they came to a grand house, and there her brothers and
sisters were running about out of doors at play, and everything was so
pretty 'twas a joy to see.
"This is where your father and mother live now," said the White Bear;
"but don't forget what I told you, or you'll make us both unlucky."
No--bless her!--she'd not forget, and when they reached the house the
White Bear turned right about and left her.
Then, when she went in to see her father and mother, there was such joy
there was no end to it. None of them could thank her enough for all the
good fortune she had brought them.
They had everything they wished, as fine as could be, and they all
wanted to know how she got on and where she lived.
Well, she said it was very good to live where she did, and she had all
she wished. What she said besides I don't know, but I don't believe any
of them had the right end of the stick, or that they got much out of
her.
But after dinner her sister called her outside the room, and asked all
manner of questions about the White Bear--whether he was cross, and
whether she ever set eyes on him, and such like--and the end of it all
was that she told her sister the story of how the White Bear was under a
spell.
But the other girl wouldn't listen to the story, for she said it
couldn't be true, and this made the youngest daughter very angry.
In the evening the White Bear came and fetched her away, and when they
had gone a bit of the way he asked her whether she had done as he had
told her and refused to speak about him.
Then she confessed that she had spoken a few words to her sister about
him, and the Bear was very angry, for he said she would surely bring bad
luck to them both.
When they reached home, she remembered how her sister had refused to
believe the story about the White Bear, so in the night, when she knew
that the Bear was fast asleep, she stole out of bed, lighted her candle,
and crept into his room. Yes, there he lay fast asleep, but instead of
being a White Bear, he was the handsomest Prince you ever saw. She gave
such a start that she dropped three spots of hot tallow from the candle
on to his pillow, so she ran off in a great fright.
Next morning the White Bear said to her: "I fear you have found out my
secret, for I saw the drops of tallow on my pillow this morning, and now
I know that you spoke to your sister about me. If you had only kept
quiet for a whole year, then I should have become a man for always, and
I should have made you my wife at once. But now all ties are snapped
between us, and I must go away to a big castle which stands East o' the
sun and West o' the moon, and there, too, lives a Princess with a nose
three ells long, and she's the wife I must have now."
The girl wept, and took it ill, but there was no help for it, go he
must.
Then she asked if she mightn't go with him.
No! she mightn't.
"Tell me the way, then," she said, "and I'll search you out; that,
surely, I may get leave to do."
Yes; she might do that, but there was no way to the place. It lay East
o' the sun and West o' the moon, and thither she'd never find her way.
So next morning, when she woke, both Prince and castle were gone, and
there she lay on a little green patch, in the midst of the thick, gloomy
wood, and by her side lay the same bundle of rags that she had brought
with her from her old home.
So when she had rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and wept till she was
tired, she set out on her way and walked many, many days, till she came
to a lofty crag. Under it sat an old hag, who played with a golden
apple, which she tossed about. The lassie asked her if she knew the way
to the Prince who lived in the castle that lay East o' the sun and West
o' the moon, and who was to marry a Princess with a nose three ells
long.
"How did you come to know about him?" said the old hag; "but maybe you
are the lassie who ought to have had him?"
Yes, she was.
"So, so, it's you, is it?" said the old hag. "Well, all I know about him
is that he lives in the castle that lies East o' the sun and West o' the
moon, and thither you'll come, late or never; but still you may have the
loan of my horse, and on him you can ride to my next neighbor. Maybe
she'll be able to tell you what you want to know; and when you get
there, just give the horse a switch under the left ear, and beg him to
be off home; and stay, you may take this golden apple with you."
So she got upon the horse and rode a long, long time, till she came to
another crag, under which sat another old hag, with a golden
carding-comb in her hand. The lassie asked her if she knew the way to
the castle that lay East o' the sun and West o' the moon, and she
answered, like the first old hag, that she knew nothing about it, except
that it was East o' the sun and West o' the moon.
"And thither you'll come, late or never; but you shall have the loan of
my horse to go to my next neighbor; maybe she'll tell you all about it;
and when you get there, just switch the horse under the left ear and beg
him to be off home."
And this old hag gave her the golden carding-comb; it might be she'd
find some use for it, she said. So the lassie got up on the horse and
rode far, far away, and had a weary time; and so at last she came to
another great crag, under which sat another old hag, spinning with a
golden spinning wheel. The lassie asked her, too, if she knew the way to
the Prince and where the castle was that lay East o' the sun and West o'
the moon. So it was the same thing over again.
"Maybe it's you who ought to have had the Prince?" said the old hag.
Yes, it was.
But, she, too, didn't know the way a bit better than the other two. East
o' the sun and West o' the moon she knew it was; that was all.
"And thither you'll come, late or never; but I'll lend you my horse, and
then I think you'd best ride to the East Wind and ask him; maybe he
knows those parts and can blow you thither. But when you get to him, you
need only give the horse a switch under the left ear, and he'll trot
home of himself."
And so, too, she gave the lassie the golden spinning wheel.
"Maybe you'll find a use for it," said the old hag.
Then on she rode a great many weary days before she got to the East
Wind's house; but at last she did reach it, and then she asked the East
Wind if he could tell her the way to the Prince who dwelt East o' the
sun and West o' the moon. Yes, the East Wind had often heard about them,
both the Prince and the castle, but he couldn't tell her the way, for
he'd never blown so far.
"But, if you will, I'll go with you to my brother, the West Wind; maybe
he's been there, for he's much stronger. So, if you will just jump on my
back, I'll carry you thither."
Yes, she got on his back, and I should just think they went swiftly
along.
So, when they reached there, they went into the West Wind's house, and
the East Wind said the lassie he had brought was the one that ought to
have married the Prince who lived in the castle East o' the sun and West
o' the moon, and that she had set out to seek him. He then said how he
had come with her, and would be glad to know if the West Wind knew how
to get to the castle.
"Nay," said the West Wind, "for I've never blown so far; but, if you
will, I'll go with you to our brother, the South Wind, for he's much
stronger than either of us, and he has flapped his wings both far and
wide. Maybe he'll tell you; so you can get on my back and I'll carry you
to him."
Yes, she got on his back, and so they traveled to the South Wind, and
they weren't so very long on the way, I should think.
When they reached there, the West Wind asked him if he could tell them
the way to the castle that lay East o' the sun and West o' the moon, for
this was the lassie who ought to have married the Prince who lived
there.
"You don't say so! That's she, is it?" said the South Wind. "Well, I've
blustered about in most places in my time, but so far I have never
blown; but, if you will, I'll take you to my brother, the North Wind; he
is the oldest and strongest of all of us. If he doesn't know where to
find the place, you will never find anybody to tell you where it is. You
can get on my back and I'll carry you thither."
Yes, she got on his back, and away he went from his house at a very high
rate, and this time, too, she wasn't long on her way.
When they got to the North Wind's house, he was so wild and cross that
the puffs came from quite a long way off.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" he roared out to them, in such a voice that it made
them both shiver.
"Well," said the South Wind, "you needn't talk like that, for here I am,
your brother, the South Wind, and here is the lassie who ought to have
had the Prince who dwells at the castle that lies East o' the sun and
West o' the moon, and now she wants to know if you were ever there, and
can tell her the way, for she would be so glad to find it again."
[Illustration: THE LASSIE RIDING OVER THE SEA ON THE BACK OF THE NORTH
WIND]
"YES! I KNOW WELL ENOUGH WHERE IT IS," said the North Wind. "Once in my
life I blew an aspen leaf there, but I was so tired that I couldn't blow
another puff for days after. But if you really wish to go there, and
aren't afraid to trust yourself to me, I'll take you on my back and blow
you thither."
Yes! with all her heart. She must and would get thither, if it were
possible in any way; and as for fear, however madly he went, she
wouldn't be at all afraid.
"Very well, then," said the North Wind. "But you must sleep here
to-night, for we must have the whole day before us if we are to get
thither at all."
Early next morning the North Wind woke her, and puffed himself up, and
blew himself out, and made himself so stout and big 'twas fearful to
look at him; so off they went, up through the air, as if they would
never stop till they came to the world's end.
Down below there was such a storm, it threw down long tracts of wood and
many houses, and when it swept over the great sea, ships foundered by
hundreds.
So they tore on and on--nobody can believe how far they went--and all
the while they still went over the sea, and the North Wind got more and
more weary, and so out of breath he could scarce get out a puff. His
wings drooped and drooped, till at last he sank so low that the crests
of the waves dashed over his heels.
"Are you afraid?" asked the North Wind.
No, she wasn't.
But they weren't very far from land, and the North Wind had still so
much strength in him that he managed to throw her upon the shore under
the windows of the castle which lay East o' the sun and West o' the
moon; but then he was so weak and worn out that he had to stay there and
rest for many days before he was fit to return home.
Next morning the lassie sat down under the castle window and began to
play with the golden apple; and the first person she saw was Long-nose,
who was to marry the Prince.
"What do you want for your golden apple, lassie?" said Long-nose; and
she threw up the window.
"It's not for sale, for gold or money," said the lassie.
"If it's not for sale for gold or money, what is it that you will sell
it for?" said the Princess. "You may name your own price for it."
"Well, if you will let me speak a few words alone with the Prince who
lives in the castle, I will give you the apple," she answered.
Yes, she might; that could be done. So the Princess got the golden
apple, and the lassie was shown into the Prince's room. But when she got
inside she found that the Prince was fast asleep, and although she shook
him and called him loudly, it was no use, for she couldn't wake him, so
she had to go away again.
Next day she sat down under the castle window again, and began to card
with her golden carding-comb; and the same thing happened. The Princess
asked what she wanted for it; and she said it wasn't for sale for either
gold or money, but that if she might have a few words alone with the
Prince, the Princess should have the comb.
So she was taken up to the Prince's room, and again she found him fast
asleep; and although she wept and shook him for quite a long time she
couldn't get life into him.
So the next morning the lassie sat down under the castle window and
began to spin with her golden spinning wheel; and that, too, the
Princess with the long nose wanted to have.
So she threw up the window and asked what the lassie wanted for it; and
the girl said, as she had said twice before, that if she might have a
few words alone with the Prince the Princess might have the wheel, and
welcome.
Yes, she might do that; and the lassie was shown again into the Prince's
room. This time he was wide awake, and he was very pleased indeed to see
her.
"Ah!" said the Prince, "you've just come in the nick of time, for
to-morrow is to be our wedding day; but now I won't have Long-nose, and
you are the bride for me. I'll just say that I want to find out what my
wife is fit for, and then I'll beg her to wash the pillow slip which has
on it the three spots of tallow. She will be sure to say 'Yes'; but when
she tries to get out the spots she'll soon find that it is not possible,
for she is a troll, like all the rest of her family, and it is not
possible for a troll to get rid of the marks. Then I'll say that I won't
have any other bride than she who can wash out the spots of tallow, and
I'll call you in to do it."
The wedding was to take place next day, so just before the ceremony the
Prince said:
"First of all, I'd just like to see what my bride is fit for."
"Yes," said the mother, "I'm quite willing."
"Well, I have a pillow slip which, somehow or other, has got some spots
of grease on it, and I have sworn never to take any bride but the woman
who is able to wash them out for me. If she can't do that, she is not
worth having."
Well, that was no great thing, they said, so they agreed; and she with
the long nose began to wash away as hard as ever she could; but the more
she rubbed and scrubbed the bigger the spots grew.
"Ah!" said the old hag, her mother, "you can't wash; let me try."
But she hadn't long taken the job in hand before it got far worse than
ever; and with all her rubbing, wringing, and scrubbing, the spots grew
bigger and blacker and darker and uglier.
Then all the other trolls began to wash; but the longer it lasted the
blacker and uglier it grew, until at last it looked as though it had
been up the chimney.
"Ah!" said the Prince, "you are none of you worth a straw; you can't
wash. Why, there outside sits a beggar lassie, and I'll be bound she
knows how to wash better than the whole lot of you."
So he shouted to the lassie to come in, and in she came.
"Can you wash this clean, lassie?" said he.
"I don't know, but I think I can."
And almost before she had taken it and dipped it in the water, it was
white as driven snow, and whiter still.
"Yes, you are the lassie for me," said the Prince.
At that the old hag flew in such a rage that she burst on the spot, and
the Princess with the long nose after her; and then the whole pack of
trolls did the same.
As for the Prince and Princess, they had a grand wedding, and lived
happily at the castle East o' the sun and West o' the moon until the end
of their days.
_The Golden Lantern, Golden Goat, and Golden Cloak_
THERE was once a poor widow who had three sons. The two elder went out
to work for their living and while at home they were of little use, as
they seldom did as their mother wished, whatever she might say to them.
But the youngest lad always remained at home, and helped the old widow
in her daily occupations. Hence he was much beloved by his mother, but
disliked by his brothers, who in mockery gave him the nickname of
_Pinkel_.
One day the old widow said to her sons: "You must all go abroad in the
world, and seek your fortunes while you can. I am no longer able to feed
you here at home, now that you are grown up." The lads answered that
they wished for nothing better, since it was contrary to their mother's
will that they should remain at home. They then prepared for their
departure, and set out on their journey; but, after wandering about from
place to place, were unable to procure any employment.
After journeying thus for a long time, they came, late one evening, to a
vast lake. Far out in the water there was an island, on which there
appeared a strong light, as of fire. The lads stopped on shore observing
the wondrous light, and thence concluded that there must be human beings
in the place. As it was now dark, and the brothers knew not where to
find a shelter for the night, they resolved on taking a boat that lay
among the reeds, and rowing over to the island to beg a lodging. With
this view they placed themselves in the boat and rowed across. On
approaching the island they perceived a little hut standing at the
water's edge; on reaching which they discovered that the bright light
that shone over the neighborhood proceeded from a golden lantern that
stood at the door of the hut. In the yard without, a large goat was
wandering about, with golden horns, to which small bells were fastened,
that gave forth a pleasing sound whenever the animal moved. The brothers
wondered much at all this, but most of all at the old crone, who with
her daughter inhabited the hut. The crone was both old and ugly, but was
sumptuously clad in a pelisse or cloak, worked so artificially with
golden threads that it glittered like burnished gold in every hem. The
lads saw now very clearly that they had come to no ordinary human being,
but to a troll.
[Illustration: THE TROLL'S HUT, THE LANTERN, AND THE GOAT WITH THE
GOLDEN HORNS]
After some deliberation the brothers entered, and saw the crone standing
by the fireplace, and stirring with a ladle in a large pot that was
boiling on the hearth. They told their story and prayed to be allowed to
pass the night there; but the crone answered _No!_ at the same time
directing them to a royal palace, which lay on the other side of the
lake. While speaking she kept looking intently on the youngest boy, as
he was standing and casting his eyes over everything in the hut. The
crone said to him: "What is thy name, my boy?" The lad answered smartly:
"I am called Pinkel." The Troll then said: "Thy brothers can go their
way, but thou shalt stay here; for thou appearest to me very crafty, and
my mind tells me that I have no good to expect from thee if thou
shouldst stay long at the King's palace." Pinkel now humbly begged to be
allowed to accompany his brothers, and promised never to cause the crone
harm or annoyance. At length he also had leave to depart; after which
the brothers hastened to the boat, not a little glad that all three had
escaped so well in this adventure.
Toward the morning they arrived at a royal palace, larger and more
magnificent than anything they had ever seen before. They entered and
begged for employment. The eldest two were received as helpers in the
royal stables, and the youngest was taken as page to the King's young
son; and, being a sprightly, intelligent lad, he soon won the good will
of everyone, and rose from day to day in the King's favor. At this his
brothers were sorely nettled, not enduring that he should be preferred
to themselves. At length they consulted together how they might compass
the fall of their young brother, in the belief that afterwards they
should prosper better than before.
They therefore presented themselves one day before the King, and gave
him an exaggerated account of the beautiful lantern that shed light over
both land and water, adding that it ill beseemed a king to lack so
precious a jewel. On hearing this the King's attention was excited, and
he asked: "Where is this lantern to be found, and who can procure it for
me?" The brothers answered: "No one can do that unless it be our brother
Pinkel. He knows best where the lantern is to be found." The King was
now filled with a desire to obtain the golden lantern about which he had
heard tell, and commanded the youth to be called. When Pinkel came, the
King said: "If thou canst procure me the golden lantern that shines over
land and water I will make thee the chief man in my whole court." The
youth promised to do his best to execute his lord's behest, and the King
praised him for his willingness; but the brothers rejoiced at heart; for
they well knew it was a perilous undertaking, which could hardly
terminate favorably.
Pinkel now prepared a little boat, and, unaccompanied by anyone, rowed
over to the island inhabited by the Troll-crone. When he arrived it was
already evening, and the crone was busied in boiling porridge for
supper, as was her custom. The youth creeping softly up to the roof
cast from time to time a handful of salt through the chimney, so that it
fell down into the pot that was boiling on the hearth. When the porridge
was ready, and the crone had begun to eat, she could not conceive what
had made it so salt and bitter. She was out of humor, and chided her
daughter, thinking that she had put too much salt into the porridge; but
let her dilute the porridge as she might, it could not be eaten, so salt
and bitter was it. She then ordered her daughter to go to the well, that
was just at the foot of the hill, and fetch water, in order to prepare
fresh porridge. The maiden answered: "How can I go to the well? It is so
dark out of doors that I cannot find the way over the hill." "Then take
my gold lantern," said the crone, peevishly. The girl took the beautiful
gold lantern accordingly, and hastened away to fetch the water. But as
she stooped to lift the pail, Pinkel, who was on the watch, seized her
by the feet, and cast her headlong into the water. He then took the
golden lantern, and betook himself in all haste to his boat.
In the meantime the crone was wondering why her daughter stayed out so
long, and, at the same moment, chancing to look through the window she
saw the light gleaming far out on the water. At this sight she was
sorely vexed, and hurrying down to the shore, cried aloud: "Is that
thou, Pinkel?" The youth answered: "Yes, dear mother, it is I." The
Troll continued: "Art thou not a great knave?" The lad answered: "Yes,
dear mother, I am so." The crone now began to lament and complain,
saying: "Ah! what a fool was I to let thee go from me; I might have been
sure thou wouldst play me some trick. If thou ever comest hither again,
thou shalt not escape." And so the matter rested for that time.
Pinkel now returned to the King's palace, and became the chief person at
court, as the King had promised. But when the brothers were informed
what complete success he had had in his adventure, they became yet more
envious and embittered than before, and often consulted together how
they might accomplish the fall of their young brother, and gain the
King's favor for themselves.
Both brothers went, therefore, a second time before the King, and began
relating at full length about the beautiful goat that had horns of the
purest gold, from which little gold bells were suspended, which gave
forth a pleasing sound whenever the animal moved. They added that it ill
became so rich a king to lack so costly a treasure. On hearing their
story, the King was greatly excited, and said: "Where is this goat to be
found, and who can procure it for me?" The brothers answered: "That no
one can do, unless it be our brother Pinkel; for he knows best where the
goat is to be found." The King then felt a strong desire to possess the
goat with the golden horns, and therefore commanded the youth to appear
before him. When Pinkel came, the King said: "Thy brothers have been
telling me of a beautiful goat with horns of the purest gold, and little
bells fastened to the horns, which ring whenever the animal moves. Now
it is my will that thou go and procure for me this goat. If thou art
successful I will make thee lord over a third part of my kingdom." The
youth having listened to this speech, promised to execute his lord's
commission, if only fortune would befriend him. The King then praised
his readiness, and the brothers were glad at heart, believing that
Pinkel would not escape this time so well as the first.
Pinkel now made the necessary preparations and rowed to the island where
the Troll-wife dwelt. When he reached it, evening was already advanced,
and it was dark, so that no one could be aware of his coming, the golden
lantern being no longer there, but shedding its light in the royal
palace. The youth now deliberated with himself how to get the golden
goat; but the task was no easy one; for the animal lay every night in
the crone's hut. At length it occurred to his mind that there was one
method which might probably prove successful, though, nevertheless,
sufficiently difficult to carry into effect.
At night, when it was time for the crone and her daughter to go to bed,
the girl went as usual to bolt the door. But Pinkel was just outside on
the watch, and had placed a piece of wood behind the door, so that it
would not shut close. The girl stood for a long time trying to lock it,
but to no purpose. On perceiving this the crone thought there was
something out of order, and called out that the door might very well
remain unlocked for the night; as soon as it was daylight they could
ascertain what was wanting. The girl then left the door ajar and laid
herself down to sleep. When the night was a little more advanced, and
the crone and her daughter were snug in deep repose, the youth stole
softly into the hut, and approached the goat where he lay stretched out
on the hearth. Pinkel now stuffed wool into all the golden bells, lest
their sound might betray him; then seizing the goat, he bore it off to
his boat. When he had reached the middle of the lake, he took the wool
out of the goat's ears, and the animal moved so that the bells rang
aloud. At the sound the crone awoke, ran down to the water, and cried in
an angry tone: "Is that thou, Pinkel?" The youth answered: "Yes, dear
mother, it is." The crone said: "Hast thou stolen my golden goat?" The
youth answered: "Yes, dear mother, I have." The Troll continued: "Art
thou not a big knave?" Pinkel returned for answer: "Yes, I am so, dear
mother." Now the beldam began to whine and complain, saying: "Ah! what a
simpleton was I for letting thee slip away from me. I well knew thou
wouldst play me some trick. But if thou comest hither ever again, thou
shalt never go hence."
Pinkel now returned to the King's court and obtained the government of a
third part of the kingdom, as the King had promised. But when the
brothers heard how the enterprise had succeeded, and also saw the
beautiful lantern and the goat with golden horns, which were regarded by
everyone as great wonders, they became still more hostile and embittered
than ever. They could think of nothing but how they might accomplish his
destruction.
They went, therefore, one day again before the king, to whom they gave a
most elaborate description of the Troll-crone's fur cloak that shone
like the brightest gold and was worked with golden threads in every
seam. The brothers said it was more befitting a queen than a Troll to
possess such a treasure, and added that that alone was wanting to the
King's good fortune. When the King heard all this he became very
thoughtful, and said: "Where is this cloak to be found, and who can
procure it for me?" The brothers answered: "No one can do that except
our brother Pinkel; for he knows best where the golden cloak is to be
found." The King was thereupon seized with an ardent longing to possess
the golden cloak, and commanded the youth to be called before him. When
Pinkel came, the King said: "I have long been aware that thou hast an
affection for my young daughter; and thy brothers have been telling me
of a beautiful fur cloak which shines with the reddest gold in every
seam. It is, therefore, my will that thou go and procure for me this
cloak. If thou art successful, thou shalt be my son-in-law, and after me
shalt inherit the kingdom." When the youth heard this he was glad beyond
measure, and promised either to win the young maiden or perish in the
attempt. The King thereupon praised his readiness; but the brothers were
delighted in their false hearts, and trusted that the enterprise would
prove their brother's destruction.
Pinkel then betook himself to his boat and crossed over to the island
inhabited by the Troll-crone. On the way he anxiously deliberated with
himself how he might get possession of the crone's golden cloak; but it
appeared to him not very likely that his undertaking would prove
successful, seeing that the Troll always wore the cloak upon her. So
after having concerted divers plans, one more hazardous than another, it
occurred to him that he would try one method which might perhaps
succeed, although it was bold and rash.
In pursuance of his scheme he bound a bag under his clothes, and walked
with trembling step and humble demeanor into the beldam's hut. On
perceiving him, the Troll cast on him a savage glance, and said:
"Pinkel, is that thou?" The youth answered: "Yes, dear mother, it is."
The crone was overjoyed, and said: "Although thou art come voluntarily
into my power, thou canst not surely hope to escape again from here,
after having played me so many tricks." She then took a large knife and
prepared to make an end of poor Pinkel; but the youth, seeing her
design, appeared sorely terrified, and said: "If I must needs die, I
think I might be allowed to choose the manner of my death. I would
rather eat myself to death with milk porridge, than be killed with a
knife." The crone thought to herself that the youth had made a bad
choice, and therefore promised to comply with his wish. She then set a
huge pot on the fire, in which she put a large quantity of porridge.
When the mess was ready, she placed it before Pinkel that he might eat,
who for every spoonful of porridge that he put into his mouth, poured
two into the bag that was tied under his clothes. At length the crone
began to wonder how Pinkel could contrive to swallow such a quantity;
but just at the same moment the youth, making a show of being sick to
death, sank down from his seat as if he were dead, and unobserved cut a
hole in the bag, so that the porridge ran over the floor.
The crone, thinking that Pinkel had burst with the quantity of porridge
he had eaten, was not a little glad, clapped her hands together, and ran
off to look for her daughter, who was gone to the well. But as the
weather was wet and stormy, she first took off her beautiful fur cloak
and laid it aside in the hut. Before she could have proceeded far, the
youth came to life again, and springing up like lightning seized on the
golden cloak, and ran off at the top of his speed.
Shortly after, the crone perceived Pinkel as he was rowing in his little
boat. On seeing him alive again, and observing the golden cloak
glittering on the surface of the water, she was angry beyond all
conception, and ran far out on the strand, crying: "Is that thou,
Pinkel?" The youth answered: "Yes, it is I, dear mother." The crone
said: "Hast thou taken my beautiful golden cloak?" Pinkel responded:
"Yes, dear mother, I have." The Troll continued: "Art thou not a great
knave?" The youth replied: "Yes, I am so, dear mother." The old witch
was now almost beside herself, and began to whine and lament, and said:
"Ah! how silly was it of me to let thee slip away. I was well assured
thou wouldst play me many wicked tricks." They then parted from each
other.
The Troll-wife now returned to her hut, and Pinkel crossed the water,
and arrived safely at the King's palace; there he delivered the golden
cloak, of which everyone said that a more sumptuous garment was never
seen nor heard of. The King honorably kept his word with the youth, and
gave him his young daughter to wife. Pinkel afterwards lived happy and
content to the end of his days; but his brothers were and continued to
be helpers in the stable as long as they lived.
_Mother Roundabout's Daughter_
ONCE on a time there was a goody who had a son, and he was so lazy and
slow he would never turn his hand to anything that was useful; but
singing and dancing he was very fond of; and so he danced and sang as
long as it was day, and sometimes even some way on in the night. The
longer this lasted, the harder it was for the goody; the boy grew, and
meat he must have without stint, and more and more was spent in clothing
as he grew bigger and bigger, and it was soon worn out, I should think;
for he danced and sprang about both in wood and field.
At last the goody thought it too bad; so she told the lad that now he
must begin to turn his hand to work and live steadily, or else there was
nothing before both of them but starving to death. But that the lad had
no mind to do. He said he would far rather woo Mother Roundabout's
daughter; for if he could only get her, he would be able to live well
and softly all his days, and sing and dance, and never do one stroke of
work.
When his mother heard this she, too, thought it would be a very fine
thing; and so she fitted out the lad as well as she could, that he might
look tidy when he reached Mother Roundabout's house; and so he set off
on his way.
Now when he got out of doors the sun shone warm and bright; but it had
rained the night before, so that the ways were soft and miry and all the
bog holes stood full of water. The lad took a short cut to Mother
Roundabout's, and he sang and jumped, as was ever his wont; but just as
he sprang and leaped he came to a bog hole, and over it lay a little
bridge, and from the bridge he had to make a spring across a hole on to
a tuft of grass, that he might not dirty his shoes. But _plump_, it went
all at once, and just as he put his foot on the tuft it gave way under
him, and there was no stopping till he found himself in a nasty, deep,
dark hole. At first he could see nothing, but when he had been there a
while he had a glimpse of a rat, that came wiggle-waggle up to him with
a bunch of keys at the tip of her tail.
"What! you here, my boy?" said the rat. "Thank you kindly for coming to
me. I have waited long for you. You come, of course, to woo me, and you
are eager at it, I can very well see; but you must have patience yet a
while, for I shall have a great dower. I am not ready for my wedding
just yet, but I'll do my best that it shall be as soon as ever I can."
When she had said that, she brought out ever so many eggshells, with all
sorts of bits and scraps, such as rats are wont to eat, and set them
before him, and said:
"Now, you must sit down and eat; I am sure you must be both tired and
hungry."
But the lad thought he had no liking for such food.
"If I were only well away from this, above ground again," he thought to
himself, but he said nothing out loud.
"Now, I dare say you'd be glad to go home again," said the rat. "I know
your heart is set on this wedding, and I'll make all the haste I can;
and you must take with you this linen thread, and when you get up above
you must not look round, but go straight home, and on the way you must
mind and say nothing but
'Short before, and long back,
Short before, and long back';"
and as she said this she put the linen thread into his hand.
"Heaven be praised!" said the lad, when he got above ground. "Thither
I'll never come again, if I can help it."
But he still had the thread in his hand, and he sprang and sang as he
was wont; but even though he thought no more of the rat hole, he had got
his tongue into the tune, and so he sang,
"Short before, and long back,
Short before, and long back."
So when he got back home into the porch he turned round, and there lay
many, many hundred ells of the whitest linen, so fine that the handiest
weaving girl could not have woven it finer.
"Mother! mother! come out," he cried and roared.
Out came the goody in a bustle, and asked whatever was the matter; but
when she saw the linen woof, which stretched as far back as she could
see and a bit besides, she couldn't believe her eyes, till the lad told
her how it had all happened. And when she had heard it, and tried the
woof between her fingers, she grew so glad that she, too, began to dance
and sing.
So she took the linen and cut it out, and sewed shirts out of it both
for herself and her son, and the rest she took into the town and sold,
and got money for it. And now they both lived well and happily a while;
but when the money was all gone, the goody had no more food in the
house, and so she told her son he really must now begin to go to work,
and live like the rest of the world, else there was nothing for it but
starving for them both.
But the lad had more mind to go to Mother Roundabout and woo her
daughter. Well, the goody thought that a very fine thing, for now he had
good clothes on his back, and he was not such a bad-looking fellow
either. So she made him smart, and fitted him out as well as she could;
and he took out his new shoes and brushed them till they were as bright
as glass, and when he had done that, off he went.
But all happened just as it did before. When he got out of doors the sun
shone warm and bright; but it had rained overnight, so that it was soft
and miry, and all the bog holes were full of water. The lad took the
short cut to Mother Roundabout, and he sang and sprang as he was ever
wont. Now he took another way than the one he went before; but just as
he leaped and jumped, he got upon the bridge over the moor again, and
from it he had to jump over a bog hole on to a turf that he might not
soil his shoes. But _plump_ it went, and down it went under him, and
there was no stopping till he found himself in a nasty, deep, dark hole.
At first he could see nothing; but when he had been there a while he
caught a glimpse of a rat with a bunch of keys at the tip of her tail,
who came wiggle-waggle up to him.
"What! you here, my boy?" said the rat. "That was nice of you to wish to
see me so soon again. You are very eager, that I can see; but you really
must wait a while, for there is still something wanting to my dower,
though the next time you come, it shall be all right."
When she had said this she set before him all kinds of scraps and bits
in eggshells, such as rats eat and like; but the lad thought it all
looked like meat that had been already eaten once, and he wasn't hungry,
he said; and all the time he thought, "If I could only once get above
ground, well out of this hole." But he said nothing out loud.
So after a while the rat said:
"I dare say now you would be glad to get home again; but I'll hasten on
the wedding as fast as ever I can. And now you must take with you this
thread of wool; and when you come above ground you must not look round,
but go straight home, and all the way you must mind and say nothing but
'Short before, and long back,
Short before, and long back';"
and as she said that she gave him a thread of wool in his hand.
"Heaven be praised!" said the lad, "that I got away. Thither I'll never
go again, if I can help it"; and so he sang and jumped as he was wont.
As for the rat hole, he thought no more about it; but as he had got his
tongue into tune he sang,
"Short before, and long back,
Short before, and long back";
and so he kept on the whole way home.
When he had got into the yard at home again he turned and looked behind
him, and there lay the finest cloth, more than many hundred ells; aye,
almost above half a mile long, and so fine that no town dandy could have
had finer cloth to his coat.
"Mother! mother! come out!" cried the lad.
So the goody came out of doors, and clapped her hands, and was almost
ready to swoon for joy when she saw all that lovely cloth; and then he
had to tell her how he had got it, and how it had all happened from
first to last. Then they had a fine time of it, you may fancy. The lad
got new clothes of the finest sort, and the goody went off to the town
and sold the cloth by little and little, and made heaps of money. Then
she decked out her cottage, and looked as smart in her old days as
though she had been born a lady. So they lived well and happily; but at
last that money came to an end too, and so the day came when the goody
had no more food in the house, and then she told her son he really must
turn his hand to work, and live like the rest of the world, else there
was nothing but starvation staring both of them in the face.
But the lad thought it far better to go to Mother Roundabout and woo her
daughter. This time the goody thought so too, and said not a word
against it; for now he had new clothes of the finest kind, and he looked
so well, she thought it quite out of the question that anyone could say
"No" to so smart a lad. So she smartened him up, and made him as tidy as
she could; and he himself brought out his new shoes, and rubbed them
till they shone so he could see his face in them, and when he had done
that, off he went.
This time he did not take the short cut, but made a great bend, for down
to the rats he would not go if he could help it, he was so tired of all
that wiggle-waggle and that everlasting bridal gossip. As for the
weather and the ways, they were just as they had been twice before. The
sun shone, so that it was dazzling on the pools and bog holes, and the
lad sang and sprang as he was wont; but just as he sang and jumped,
before he knew where he was, he was on the very same bridge across the
bog again. So he tried to jump from the bridge over a bog hole on to a
tuft that he might not dirty his bright shoes. _Plump_ it went, and it
gave way with him, and there was no stopping till he was down in the
same nasty, deep, dark hole again. At first he was glad, for he could
see nothing; but when he had been there a while he had a glimpse of the
ugly rat, and loath he was to see her with the bunch of keys at the end
of her tail.
"Good day, my boy!" said the rat; "you are heartily welcome again, for I
see you can't bear to be any longer without me. Thank you, thank you
kindly; but now everything is ready for the wedding, and we shall set
off to church at once."
"Something dreadful is going to happen," thought the lad, but he said
nothing out loud.
Then the rat whistled, and there came swarming out such a lot of small
rats and mice of all the holes and crannies, and six big rats came
harnessed to a frying pan; two mice got up behind as footmen, and two
got up before and drove; some, too, got into the pan, and the rat with
the bunch of keys at her tail took her seat among them. Then she said to
the lad:
"The road is a little narrow here, so you must be good enough to walk by
the side of the carriage, my darling boy, till it gets broader, and then
you shall have leave to sit up in the carriage alongside of me."
"Very fine that will be, I dare say," thought the lad. "If I were only
well above ground, I'd run away from the whole pack of you." That was
what he thought, but he said nothing out loud.
So he followed them as well as he could; sometimes he had to creep on
all fours, and sometimes he had to stoop and bend his back as well, for
the road was low and narrow in places; but when it got broader he went
on in front, and looked about him how he might best give them the slip
and run away. But as he went forward he heard a clear, sweet voice
behind him, which said:
"Now the road is good. Come, my dear, and get up into the carriage."
The lad turned round in a trice, and had near lost both nose and ears.
There stood the grandest carriage, with six white horses to it, and in
the carriage sat a maiden as bright and lovely as the sun, and round her
sat others who were as pretty and soft as stars. They were a princess
and her playfellows, who had been bewitched all together. But now they
were free because he had come down to them, and never said a word
against them.
"Come now," said the princess. So the lad stepped up into the carriage,
and they drove to church; and when they drove from church again the
princess said: "Now we will drive first to my house, and then we'll send
to fetch your mother."
"That is all very well," thought the lad, for he still said nothing,
even now; but, for all that, he thought it would be better to go home to
his mother than down into that nasty rat hole. But just as he thought
that, they came to a grand castle; into it they turned, and there they
were to dwell. And so a grand carriage with six horses was sent to fetch
the goody, and when it came back they set to work at the wedding feast.
It lasted fourteen days, and maybe they are still at it. So let us all
make haste; perhaps we, too, may come in time to drink the bridegroom's
health and dance with the bride.
_The Bear and Skrattel_
ONE Christmas Day, the King of Norway sat in the great hall of his
palace, holding a feast. "Here's a health," said he, "to our brother the
King of Denmark! What present shall we send our royal brother as a
pledge of our good will, this Christmas-time?" "Send him, please your
majesty," said the Norseman Gunter, who was the King's chief huntsman,
"one of our fine white bears, that his liegemen may show their little
ones what sort of kittens we play with." "Well said, Gunter!" cried the
King; "but how shall we find a bear that will travel so long a journey
willingly, and will know how to behave himself to our worthy brother
when he reaches him?" "Please your majesty," said Gunter, "I have a
glorious fellow, as white as snow, that I caught when he was a cub; he
will follow me wherever I go, play with my children, stand on his hind
legs, and behave himself as well as any gentleman ought to do. He is at
your service, and I will myself take him wherever you choose."
So the King was well pleased, and ordered Gunter to set off at once with
master Bruin: "Start with the morning's dawn," said he, "and make the
best of your way."
The Norseman went home to his house in the forest; and early next
morning he waked master Bruin, put the King's collar round his neck, and
away they went over rocks and valleys, lakes and seas, the nearest road
to the court of the King of Denmark. When they arrived there, the King
was away on a journey, and Gunter and his fellow-traveler set out to
follow. It was bright weather, the sun shone, and the birds sang, as
they journeyed merrily on, day after day, over hill and over dale, till
they came within a day's journey of where the King was.
All that afternoon they traveled through a gloomy, dark forest; but
toward evening the wind began to whistle through the trees, and the
clouds began to gather and threaten a stormy night. The road, too, was
very rough, and it was not easy to tell which was more tired, Bruin or
his master. What made the matter worse was that they had found no inn
that day by the roadside, and their provisions had fallen short, so that
they had no very pleasant prospect before them for the night. "A pretty
affair this!" said Gunter. "I am likely to be charmingly off here in the
woods, with an empty stomach, a damp bed, and a bear for my bedfellow."
While the Norseman was turning this over in his mind, the wind blew
harder and harder, and the clouds grew darker and darker: the bear shook
his ears, and his master looked at his wits' end, when to his great joy
a woodman came whistling along out of the woods, by the side of his
horse dragging a load of fagots. As soon as he came up Gunter stopped
him, and begged hard for a night's lodging for himself and his
countryman.
The woodman seemed hearty and good-natured enough, and was quite ready
to find shelter for the huntsman; but as to the bear, he had never seen
such a beast before in his life, and would have nothing to do with him
on any terms. The huntsman begged hard for his friend, and told how he
was bringing him as a present to the King of Denmark; and how he was the
most good-natured, best-behaved animal in the world, though he must
allow that he was by no means one of the handsomest.
The woodman, however, was not to be moved. His wife, he was sure, would
not like such a guest, and who could say what he might take it into his
head to do? Besides, he should lose his dog and his cat, his ducks and
his geese; for they would all run away for fright, whether the bear was
disposed to be friends with them or not.
"Good night, master huntsman!" said he; "if you and old shaggy-back
there cannot part, I am afraid you must e'en stay where you are, though
you will have a sad night of it, no doubt." Then he cracked his whip,
whistled up his horse, and set off once more on his way homeward.
The huntsman grumbled, and Bruin grunted, as they followed slowly after;
when to their great joy they saw the woodman, before he had gone many
yards, pull up his horse once more and turn round. "Stay, stay!" said
he; "I think I can tell you of a better plan than sleeping in a ditch. I
know where you may find shelter, if you will run the risk of a little
trouble from an unlucky imp that has taken up its abode in my old house
down the hill yonder. You must know, friend, that till last winter I
lived in yon snug little house that you will see at the foot of the hill
if you come this way. Everything went smoothly on with us till one
unlucky night, when the storm blew as it seems likely to do to-night,
some spiteful guest took it into his head to pay us a visit; and there
have ever since been such noises, clattering, and scampering up stairs
and down, from midnight till the cock crows in the morning, that at last
we were fairly driven out of house and home. What he is like no one
knows; for we never saw him or anything belonging to him, except a
little crooked high-heeled shoe, that he left one night in the pantry.
But though we have not seen him, we know he has a hand or a paw as heavy
as lead; for when it pleases him to lay it upon anyone, down he goes as
if the blacksmith's hammer had hit him. There is no end of his monkey
tricks. If the linen is hung out to dry, he cuts the line. If he wants a
cup of ale, he leaves the tap running. If the fowls are shut up, he lets
them loose. He puts the pig into the garden, rides upon the cows, and
turns the horses into the hay yard; and several times he nearly burned
the house down, by leaving a candle alight among the fagots. And then he
is sometimes so nimble and active that when he is once in motion,
nothing stands still around him, Dishes and plates--pots and pans--dance
about, clattering, making the most horrible music, and breaking each
other to pieces; and sometimes, when the whim takes him, the chairs and
tables seem as if they were alive, and dancing a hornpipe, or playing
battledore and shuttlecock together. Even the stones and beams of the
house seem rattling against one another; and it is of no use putting
things in order, for the first freak the imp took would turn everything
upside down again.
"My wife and I bore such a lodger as long as we could, but at length we
were fairly beaten; and as he seemed to have taken up his abode in the
house, we thought it best to give up to him what he wanted; and the
little rascal knew what we were about when we were moving, and seemed
afraid we should not go soon enough. So he helped us off; for on the
morning we were to start, as we were going to put our goods upon the
wagon, there it stood before the door ready loaded; and when we started
we heard a loud laugh, and a little sharp voice cried out of the window,
'Good-by, neighbors!' So now he has our old house all to himself to play
his gambols in, whenever he likes to sleep within doors; and we have
built ourselves a snug cottage on the other side of the hill, where we
live as well as we can, though we have no great room to make merry in.
Now if you, and your ugly friend there, like to run the hazard of taking
up your quarters in the elf's house, pray do! Yonder is the road. He may
not be at home to-night."
"We will try our luck," said Gunter. "Anything is better to my mind than
sleeping out of doors such a night as this. Your troublesome neighbor
will perhaps think so, too, and we may have to fight for our lodging;
but never mind, Bruin is rather an awkward hand to quarrel with, and the
goblin may perhaps find a worse welcome from him than your house dog
could give him. He will at any rate let him know what a bear's hug is;
for I dare say he has not been far enough north to know much about it
yet."
Then the woodman gave Gunter a fagot to make his fire with, and wished
him a good night. He and the bear soon found their way to the deserted
house, and no one being at home they walked into the kitchen and made a
capital fire.
"Lack-a-day!" said the Norseman; "I forgot one thing--I ought to have
asked that good man for some supper; I have nothing left but some dry
bread. However, this is better than sleeping in the woods. We must make
the most of what we have, keep ourselves warm, and get to bed as soon as
we can." So after eating up all their crusts, and drinking some water
from the well close by, the huntsman wrapped himself up close in his
cloak, and lay down in the snuggest corner he could find. Bruin rolled
himself up in the corner of the wide fireplace, and both were fast
asleep, the fire out, and everything quiet within doors long before
midnight.
Just as the clock struck twelve the storm began to get louder--the wind
blew--a slight noise within the room wakened the huntsman, and all on a
sudden in popped a little ugly skrattel, scarce three spans high, with a
hump on his back, a face like a dried pippin, a nose like a ripe
mulberry, and an eye that had lost its neighbor. He had high-heeled
shoes and a pointed red cap; and came dragging after him a nice fat kid,
ready skinned and fit for roasting. "A rough night this," grumbled the
goblin to himself; "but, thanks to that booby woodman, I've a house to
myself. And now for a hot supper and a glass of good ale till the cock
crows."
No sooner said than done. The skrattel busied himself about, here and
there; presently the fire blazed up, the kid was put on the spit and
turned merrily round. A keg of ale made its appearance from a closet,
the cloth was laid, and the kid was soon dished up for eating. Then the
little imp, in the joy of his heart, rubbed his hands, tossed up his red
cap, danced before the hearth, and sang his song:
"Oh! 'tis weary enough abroad to ride,
In the shivery midnight blast;
And 'tis dreary enough alone to bide,
Hungry and cold,
On the wintry wold,
Where the drifting snow falls fast.
"But 'tis cheery enough to revel by night,
In the crackling fagot's light;
'Tis merry enough to have and to hold
The savory roast,
And the nut-brown toast,
With jolly good ale and old."
The huntsman lay snug all this time, sometimes quaking, in dread of
getting into trouble, and sometimes licking his lips at the savory
supper before him, and half in the mind to fight for it with the imp.
However, he kept himself quiet in his corner; till all of a sudden the
little man's eye wandered from his cheering ale cup to Bruin's carcass,
as he lay rolled up like a ball fast asleep in the chimney corner.
The imp turned round sharp in an instant, and crept softly nearer and
nearer to where Bruin lay, looking at him very closely, and not able to
make out what in the world he was. "One of the family, I suppose!" said
he to himself. But just then Bruin gave his ears a shake, and showed a
little of his shaggy muzzle. "Oh, ho!" said the imp, "that's all, is it?
But what a large one! Where could he come from, and how came he here?
What shall I do? Shall I let him alone or drive him out? Perhaps he may
do me some mischief, and I am not afraid of mice or rats. So here goes!
I have driven all the rest of the live stock out of the house, and why
should I be afraid of sending this brute after them?"
With that the elf walked softly to the corner of the room, and taking up
the spit, stole back on tiptoe till he got quite close to the bear; then
raising up his weapon, down came a rattling thump across Bruin's mazard,
that sounded as hollow as a drum. The bear raised himself slowly up,
snorted, shook his head, then scratched it, opened first one eye, then
the other, took a turn across the room, and grinned at his enemy; who,
somewhat alarmed, ran back a few paces and stood with the spit in his
hand, foreseeing a rough attack. And it soon came, for the bear, rearing
himself up, walked leisurely forward, and putting out one of his paws
caught hold of the spit, jerked it out of the goblin's hand, and sent it
spinning to the other end of the kitchen.
And now began a fierce battle. This way and that way flew tables and
chairs, pots and pans. The elf was one moment on the bear's back,
lugging his ears and pommeling him with blows that might have felled an
ox. In the next, the bear would throw him up in the air, and treat him
as he came down with a hug that would make the little imp squall. Then
up he would jump upon one of the beams out of Bruin's reach, and soon,
watching his chance, would be down astride upon his back.
Meantime Gunter had become sadly frightened, and seeing the oven door
open, crept in for shelter from the fray, and lay there quaking for
fear. The struggle went on thus a long time, without its seeming at all
clear who would get the better--biting, scratching, hugging, clawing,
roaring, and growling, till the whole house rang. The elf, however,
seemed to grow weaker and weaker. The rivals stood for a moment as if to
get breath, and the bear was getting ready for a fierce attack when, all
in a moment, the skrattel dashed his red cap right in his eye, and while
Bruin was smarting with the blow and trying to recover his sight, darted
to the door, and was out of sight in a moment, though the wind blew, the
rain pattered, and the storm raged in a merciless manner.
"Well done! Bravo, Bruin!" cried the huntsman, as he crawled out of the
oven and ran and bolted the door. "Thou hast combed his locks rarely;
and as for thine own ears, they are rather the worse for pulling. But
come, let us make the best of the good cheer our friend has left us!" So
saying, they fell to and ate a hearty supper. The huntsman, wishing the
skrattel a good night and pleasant dreams in a cup of his sparkling ale,
laid himself down and slept till morning; and Bruin tried to do the
same, as well as his aching bones would let him.
In the morning the huntsman made ready to set out on his way, and had
not got far from the door before he met the woodman, who was eager to
hear how he had passed the night. Then Gunter told him how he had been
awakened, what sort of creature the elf was, and how he and Bruin had
fought it out. "Let us hope," said he, "you will now be well rid of the
gentleman. I suspect he will not come where he is likely to get any more
of Bruin's hugs; and thus you will be well paid for your entertainment
of us, which, to tell the truth, was none of the best, for if your ugly
little tenant had not brought his supper with him, we should have had
but empty stomachs this morning."
The huntsman and his fellow-traveler journeyed on, and let us hope they
reached the King of Denmark safe and sound; but, to tell the truth, I
know nothing more of that part of the story.
The woodman, meantime, went to his work, and did not fail to watch at
night to see whether the skrattel came, or whether he was thoroughly
frightened out of his old haunt by the bear, or whatever he might take
the beast to be that had handled him as he never was handled before. But
three nights passed over, and no traces being seen or heard of him, the
woodman began to think of moving back to his old house.
On the fourth day he was out at his work in the forest, and as he was
taking shelter under a tree from a cold storm of sleet and rain that
passed over, he heard a little cracked voice singing, or rather croaking
in a mournful tone. So he crept along quietly, and peeped over some
bushes, and there sat the very same figure that the huntsman had
described to him. The goblin was sitting without any hat or cap on his
head, with a woe-begone face, and with his jacket torn into shreds, and
his leg scratched and smeared with blood, as if he had been creeping
through a bramble bush. The woodman listened quietly to his song, and it
ran as before:
"Oh! 'tis weary enough abroad to ride,
In the shivery midnight blast;
And 'tis dreary enough alone to bide,
Hungry and cold,
On the wintry wold,
Where the drifting snow falls fast."
"Sing us the other verse, man!" cried the woodman, for he could not help
cracking a joke on his old enemy, who he saw was sadly in the dumps at
the loss of his good cheer and the shelter against the bad weather. But
the instant his voice was heard the little imp jumped up, stamped with
rage, and was out of sight in the twinkling of an eye.
The woodman finished his work and was going home in the evening,
whistling by his horse's side, when all of a sudden he saw, standing on
a high bank by the wayside, the very same little imp, looking as grim
and sulky as before. "Hark ye, bumpkin?" cried the skrattel; "canst thou
hear, fellow? Is thy great cat alive, and at home still?" "My cat?" said
the woodman. "Thy great white cat, man!" thundered out the little imp.
"Oh, my cat!" said the woodman, at last recollecting himself. "Oh, yes,
to be sure! alive and well, I thank you; very happy, I'm sure, to see
you and all friends whenever you will do us the favor to call. And hark
ye, friend! as you seem to be so fond of my great cat, you may like to
know that she had five kittens last night." "Five kittens?" muttered the
elf. "Yes," replied the woodman, "five of the most beautiful white kits
you ever saw--so like the old cat, it would do your heart good to see
the whole family--such soft, gentle paws--such delicate whiskers--such
pretty little mouths!" "Five kittens?" muttered, or rather shrieked out,
the imp again. "Yes, to be sure!" said the woodman; "five kittens! Do
look in to-night, about twelve o'clock--the time, you know, that you
used to come and see us. The old cat will be so glad to show them to
you, and we shall be so happy to see you once more. But where can you
have been all this time?"
"I come? Not I, indeed!" shrieked the skrattel. "What do I want with the
little wretches? Did not I see the mother once? Keep your kittens to
yourself. I must be off--this is no place for me. Five kittens! So there
are six of them now! Good-by to you, you'll see me no more; so bad luck
to your ugly cat and your beggarly house!" "And bad luck to you, Mr.
Crookback!" cried the woodman, as he threw him the red cap he had left
behind in his battle with Bruin. "Keep clear of my cat, and let us hear
no more of your pranks, and be hanged to you!"
So now that he knew his troublesome guest had taken his leave, the
woodman soon moved back all his goods, and his wife and children into
their snug old house. And there they lived happily, for the elf never
came to see them any more; and the woodman every day after dinner drank,
"Long life to the King of Norway," for sending the cat that cleared his
house of vermin.
_The Golden Bird_
THERE was once upon a time a king who had a garden; in that garden there
was an apple tree, and on that apple tree there grew a golden apple
every year; but when the time came to pluck the apple it was gone, and
no one knew who took it or what became of it; but gone it was.
The King had three sons, and one day he told them that he who could
bring him the apple or get hold of the thief, should have the kingdom
after him, no matter whether he was the eldest, the second, or the
youngest son.
The eldest set out first and sat down under the tree to keep watch for
the thief. Soon after dark a golden bird came flying, and the light from
it was so strong and dazzling that it could be seen a long way off. When
the Prince saw the bird and the dazzling light he became so frightened
that he dared not stay any longer, but rushed indoors as fast as he
could.
Next morning the apple was gone; the Prince had then, however, recovered
his courage and began to get ready for his journey and wanted to set off
to find the bird. The King fitted him out in grand style and spared
neither money nor fine raiment. When the Prince had gone a bit on the
way he became hungry, opened his scrip and sat down to his breakfast by
the roadside. A fox then came out of the wood and sat down and looked at
him.
"Do give me a little to eat," said the fox.
"I'll give you some powder and shot," said the Prince; "my food I shall
want myself; nobody can tell how far and how long I may have to travel,"
said he.
"Just so," said the fox, and so he went back into the wood again.
When the Prince had finished his meal and rested awhile he set out on
his way again. After a long time he came to a big city, and in that city
there was an inn, where there was always joy and never any sorrow; he
thought that would be a nice place to stop at, and so he remained. And
there was such dancing and drinking and joy and merrymaking that he
forgot the bird and his father and his journey and the whole kingdom.
Away he was and away he stopped.
The next year the second prince was to watch for the thief in the
garden; he also sat down under the tree when the apple began to ripen.
But one night, all of a sudden, the golden bird came flying, shining
like the sun, and the Prince became so afraid that he took to his heels
and ran indoors as fast as he could.
In the morning the apple was gone, but the Prince had then recovered his
courage and wanted to set out and find the bird. He began to get ready
and the King fitted him out in grand style and spared neither money nor
fine raiment. But the same thing happened to him as to his brother; when
he had got a bit on the way he became hungry, opened his scrip and sat
down to his breakfast by the roadside. A fox then came out from the pine
wood and sat down and looked at him.
"Do give me a little to eat," said the fox.
"I'll give you some powder and shot," said the Prince; "my food I shall
want myself; nobody can tell how far and how long I may have to travel,"
said he.
"Just so," said the fox, and so he went back into the wood again.
When the Prince had finished his meal and rested awhile, he set out on
his way again. After a long time he came to the same city and the same
inn, where there was always joy and never any sorrow; and there he also
thought it would be nice to stop, and the first he met was his brother,
and so he remained. The brother had been leading a gay and reckless life
and had scarcely any clothes left on his back; but now he began afresh,
and there was such dancing and drinking and joy and merriment that the
second prince also forgot the bird and his father and his journey and
the whole kingdom. Away he was and away he stopped.
When the time came for the apple to ripen again the youngest prince was
to go into the garden and watch for the thief. He took a companion with
him who was to help him up into the tree, and to pass away the time so
that he should not fall asleep. All of a sudden they saw a bright light,
as if from the sun; every feather of the bird could be seen long before
it came to the tree. The Prince climbed up into the tree and at the same
time the golden bird swooped down and took the apple; the Prince tried
to seize the bird, but he only caught a feather out of its tail.
So he went to the King's bedroom, and as he came in with the feather, it
became as light as day.
He also wanted to try if he could find his brothers and catch the bird,
for he had been so near to it that he had got a feather from its tail
and would know it again anywhere, he said.
Well, the King went and pondered long whether he should let him go, for
he thought the youngest would not fare any better than the two eldest,
who ought to have more knowledge of the world, and he was afraid he
should lose him also. But the Prince begged so earnestly that at last he
got permission to go.
He then began to get ready and the King fitted him out in grand style,
both with clothes and money, and so he set off.
When he had traveled for some time he became hungry and took his scrip
and sat down to have his breakfast, but just as he was in the midst of
it a fox came out of the wood and sat down close by his side and looked
at him.
"Do give me a little to eat," said the fox.
"I shall want the food myself," said the Prince, "for I cannot tell how
far I shall have to travel, but I have enough to give you a little."
When the fox had got the piece of meat he asked the Prince where he was
going.
Yes, that he would tell him.
"If you will listen to me, I will help you, and you will have good
luck," said the fox.
The Prince promised he would, and so they set off together. They
traveled a while till they came to the same city and the same inn, where
there was always joy, but no sorrow.
"I must keep outside here; the dogs are rather a nuisance," said the
fox, and so he told the Prince where his brothers were to be found and
what they were doing; "and if you go in there you will not get any
further either," said he.
The Prince promised he would not go in there, and gave him his hand on
it, and so each went his way. But when the Prince came to the inn and
heard the noise and merriment going on he felt he must go in; there was
no help for it, and when he met his brothers there was such rejoicing
that he forgot both the fox and the journey and the bird and his father.
But when he had been there awhile the fox came--he had ventured into the
city after all--and opened the door a little and made a sign to the
Prince, saying that now they must be off. So the Prince bethought
himself, and they went their way.
When they had traveled awhile they saw a big mountain far away. The fox
said:
"Three hundred miles at the back of that mountain there is a gilded
linden tree with golden leaves, and in that tree sits the golden bird
from which you took the feather."
Thither they traveled together. When the Prince was going to catch the
bird the fox gave him some bright feathers which he was to wave in his
hands, and so attract the bird, which would then fly down and sit on his
hand.
But the fox said he must not touch the linden tree, for inside it was a
big troll who owned it, and if the Prince touched only the smallest
twig the troll would come out and kill him on the spot.
No, he would not touch it, said the Prince; but when he had got the bird
on his hand he thought he must have a twig of the tree; there was no
help for it, it was so bright and beautiful. So he took a tiny little
sprig, but the same moment the troll came out.
"Who is that stealing my tree and my bird?" roared the troll, and he was
so angry that he spurted sparks of fire.
"Thieves believe that all men steal," said the Prince; "but only those
get hanged who do not steal properly," said he.
The troll said that made no difference, and was going to kill him, but
the Prince begged him to spare his life.
"Well," said the troll, "if you can bring me back the horse which my
nearest neighbor has taken from me you will get off with your life."
"Where shall I find it, then?" said the Prince.
"Oh, he lives three hundred miles at the back of that big blue mountain
against the horizon yonder," said the troll.
The Prince promised he would do his best. But when he came back to the
fox he found him in rather a bad temper.
"Now you have got yourself into trouble," said the fox; "if you had
listened to me we could have been on our way home by this time," said
he.
So they had to make a fresh start, for the Prince had pledged his word,
and his life depended on his finding the horse.
At last they got there, but as the Prince was going to take the horse
the fox said:
"When you come into the stable you will find all sorts of bridles
hanging on the wall, both of gold and silver; you must not touch them,
for then the troll will come and kill you; you must take the ugliest and
shabbiest you see."
Yes, the Prince promised he would; but when he came into the stable he
thought it was quite unreasonable not to take a fine bridle, for there
were plenty of them, and so he took the brightest he could find. It was
as bright as gold, but just then the troll came and was so angry that
sparks flew from him.
"Who is that stealing my horse and my bridle?" he shrieked.
"Thieves believe that all men steal," said the Prince; "but only those
get hanged who do not steal properly," said he.
"Well, that makes no difference. I'll kill you on the spot," shouted the
troll.
But the Prince begged him to spare his life.
"Well," said the troll, "if you can bring me back the fair damsel which
my nearest neighbor has taken from me I will spare you."
"Whereabouts does he live, then?" asked the Prince.
"Oh, he lives three hundred miles at the back of that big blue mountain
against the horizon yonder," said the troll.
The Prince promised he would fetch the damsel, and was allowed to go,
and so he escaped with his life.
But when he came out you may imagine how angry the fox was.
"Now you've got yourself into trouble again," said he; "if you had
listened to me we could have been on our way home long ago. I almost
think I will not go with you any further."
But the Prince begged and prayed and promised he would never do anything
else but what the fox told him, if he would only remain with him. At
last the fox gave in, and they became firm friends again; so they set
off once more and came at last to where the fair damsel was.
"Well," said the fox, "I have your promise, but I dare not let you in to
the troll, after all; this time I must go myself." So he went in, and
after a while he came out with the damsel, and so they went back the
same way they had come.
When they got to the troll who had the horse they took both the horse
and the brightest bridle; and when they got to the troll who had the
linden tree and the bird, they took both the tree and the bird and
started off with them.
When they had got a bit on the way they came to a field of rye, and the
fox then said:
"I hear a thundering noise; you had better go on ahead; I will remain
here awhile," he said. He then plaited himself a gown of rye straw, in
which he looked like a preacher. All at once the three trolls came
rushing along, hoping to overtake the Prince.
"Have you seen anyone passing here with a fair damsel, a horse with a
golden bridle, a golden bird, and a gilded linden tree?" they shouted to
the fox as he stood there preaching.
"Well, I've heard from my grandmother's grandmother that something of
the kind passed this way, but that was in the good old times, when my
grandmother's grandmother baked halfpenny cakes and gave back the
halfpenny."
Then all the trolls burst out laughing: "Ha, ha, ha!" they laughed and
held on to one another.
"If we have slept so long we may as well turn our noses homeward, and go
to sleep again," they said, and so they went back the way they came.
The fox then set off after the Prince, but when they came to the city
where the inn and his brothers were, he said:
"I dare not go through the town on account of the dogs; I must go my own
way just above here, but you must take good care your brothers do not
get hold of you."
But when the Prince came into the city he thought it would be too bad if
he did not look in upon his brothers and have a word with them, and so
he tarried there for a while.
When the brothers saw him they came out and took the damsel, and the
horse, and the bird, and the linden tree, and everything from him, and
they put him in a barrel, and threw him into the sea; and so they set
off home to the King's palace, with the damsel, and the horse, and the
bird, and the linden tree, and everything. But the damsel would not
speak, and she became pale and wretched to look upon; the horse got so
thin and miserable that it could hardly hang together; the bird became
silent and shone no more, and the linden tree withered.
In the meantime the fox was sneaking about outside the city where the
inn and the merriment were, and was waiting for the Prince and the
damsel, and wondering why they did not return.
He went hither and thither, waiting and watching for them, and at last
he came down to the shore, and when he saw the barrel, which was lying
out at sea drifting, he shouted: "Why are you drifting about there, you
empty barrel?"
"Oh, it is I," said the Prince in the barrel.
The fox then swam out to sea as fast as he could, got hold of the
barrel, and towed it to land; then he began to gnaw the hoops, and when
he had got some off the barrel, he said to the Prince: "Stamp and kick."
The Prince stamped and kicked till all the staves flew about, and out he
jumped from the barrel.
So they went together to the King's palace, and when they got there the
damsel regained her beauty and began to talk, the horse became so fat
and sleek that every hair glistened; the light shone from the bird and
it began to sing; the linden tree began to blossom and its leaves to
sparkle, and the damsel said, "He is the one who has saved us."
They planted the linden tree in the garden, and the youngest prince was
to marry the princess, for such the damsel really was; but the two
eldest brothers were put each in a barrel and rolled down a high
mountain.
Then they began to prepare for the wedding, but the fox first asked the
Prince to put him on the block and cut his head off, and although the
Prince both prayed and cried, there was no help for it; he would have
to do it. But as he cut the head off, the fox turned into a handsome
prince, and he was the brother of the princess, whom they had rescued
from the troll.
So the wedding came off and everything was so grand and splendid, that
the news of the festivities reached all the way here.
_The Doll in the Grass_
ONCE upon a time there was a King who had twelve sons. When they were
grown up he told them they must go out into the world and find
themselves wives, who must all be able to spin and weave and make a
shirt in one day, else he would not have them for daughters-in-law. He
gave each of his sons a horse and a new suit of armor, and so they set
out in the world to look for wives.
When they had traveled a bit on the way they said they would not take
Ashiepattle with them, for he was good for nothing. Ashiepattle must
stop behind; there was no help for it. He did not know what he should do
or which way he should turn; he became so sad that he got off the horse
and sat down on the grass and began to cry.
When he had sat a while, one of the tussocks among the grass began to
move, and out of it came a small white figure; as it came nearer
Ashiepattle saw that it was a beautiful little girl, but she was so
tiny, so very, very tiny.
She went up to him and asked him if he would come below and pay a visit
to the doll in the grass.
Yes, that he would; and so he did. When he came down below, the doll in
the grass was sitting in a chair, dressed very finely and looking still
more beautiful. She asked Ashiepattle where he was going and what was
his errand.
He told her they were twelve brothers, and that the King had given them
each a horse and a suit of armor, and told them to go out in the world
and find themselves wives, but they must all be able to spin and weave
and make a shirt in a day.
[Illustration: "SHE SAID SHE WOULD SIT AND DRIVE IN A SILVER SPOON"]
"If you can do that and will become my wife, I will not travel any
farther," said Ashiepattle to the doll in the grass.
Yes, that she would, and she set to work at once to get the shirt spun,
woven, and made; but it was so tiny, so very, very tiny, no bigger
than--so!
Ashiepattle then returned home, taking the shirt with him; but when he
brought it out he felt very shy because it was so small. But the King
said he could have her for all that, and you can imagine how happy and
joyful Ashiepattle became.
The road did not seem long to him as he set out to fetch his little
sweetheart. When he came to the doll in the grass he wanted her to sit
with him on his horse; but no, that she wouldn't; she said she would sit
and drive in a silver spoon, and she had two small white horses which
would draw her. So they set out, he on his horse and she in the silver
spoon; and the horses which drew her were two small white mice.
Ashiepattle always kept to one side of the road, for he was so afraid he
should ride over her; she was so very, very tiny.
When they had traveled a bit on the way they came to a large lake; there
Ashiepattle's horse took fright and shied over to the other side of the
road, and upset the spoon, so that the doll in the grass fell into the
water. Ashiepattle became very sad, for he did not know how he should
get her out again; but after a while a merman brought her up. But now
she had become just as big as any other grown-up being and was much more
beautiful than she was before. So he placed her in front of him on the
horse and rode home.
When Ashiepattle got there all his brothers had also returned, each with
a sweetheart; but they were so ugly and ill-favored and bad-tempered
that they had come to blows with their sweethearts on their way home. On
their heads they had hats which were painted with tar and soot, and this
had run from their hats down their faces, so that they were still uglier
and more ill-favored to behold.
When the brothers saw Ashiepattle's sweetheart they all became
envious of him, but the King was so pleased with Ashiepattle and his
sweetheart that he drove all the others away, and so Ashiepattle was
married to the doll in the grass; and afterwards they lived happy and
comfortable for a long, long while; and if they are not dead, they must
be still alive.
_The Princess on the Glass Hill_
ONCE upon a time there was a man who had a meadow which lay on the side
of a mountain, and in the meadow there was a barn in which he stored
hay. But there had not been much hay in the barn for the last two years,
for every St. John's eve, when the grass was in the height of its vigor,
it was all eaten clean up, just as if a whole flock of sheep had gnawed
it down to the ground during the night. This happened once and it
happened twice, but then the man got tired of losing his crop, and said
to his sons--he had three of them, and the third was called
Cinderlad--that one of them must go and sleep in the barn on St. John's
night, for it was absurd to let the grass be eaten up again, blade and
stalk, as it had been the last two years, and the one who went to watch
must keep a sharp lookout, the man said.
The eldest was quite willing to go to the meadow. He would watch the
grass, he said, and he would do it so well that neither man nor beast,
nor even the devil himself, should have any of it. So when evening came
he went to the barn and lay down to sleep; but when night was drawing
near there was such a rumbling and such an earthquake that the walls and
roof shook again, and the lad jumped up and took to his heels as fast as
he could, and never even looked back, and the barn remained empty that
year just as it had been for the last two.
Next St. John's eve the man again said he could not go on in this way
losing all the grass in the outlying field year after year, and that one
of his sons must just go there and watch it, and watch well, too. So
the next oldest son was willing to show what he could do. He went to the
barn and lay down to sleep, as his brother had done; but when night was
drawing near there was a great rumbling, and then an earthquake, which
was even worse than that on the former St. John's night; and when the
youth heard it he was terrified, and went off, running as if for a
wager.
The year after it was Cinderlad's turn, but when he made ready to go the
others laughed at him and mocked him. "Well, you are just the right one
to watch the hay, you who have never learned anything but how to sit
among the ashes and bake yourself!" said they. Cinderlad did not trouble
himself about what they said, but when evening drew near rambled away to
the outlying field. When he got there he went into the barn and lay
down, but in about an hour's time the rumbling and creaking began, and
it was frightful to hear it. "Well, if it gets no worse than that I can
manage to stand it," thought Cinderlad. In a little time the creaking
began again, and the earth quaked so that all the hay flew about the
boy. "Oh! if it gets no worse than that I can manage to stand it,"
thought Cinderlad. But then came a third rumbling and a third
earthquake, so violent that the boy thought the walls and roof had
fallen down; but when that was over everything suddenly grew as still as
death around him. "I am pretty sure that it will come again," thought
Cinderlad; but no, it did not. Everything was quiet and everything
stayed quiet, and when he had lain still a short time he heard something
that sounded as if a horse were standing chewing just outside the barn
door. He stole away to the door, which was ajar, to see what was there,
and a horse was standing eating. It was so big and fat and fine a horse
that Cinderlad had never seen one like it before, and a saddle and
bridle lay upon it, and a complete suit of armor for a knight, and
everything was of copper and so bright that it shone again. "Ha! ha! it
is thou who eatest up our hay, then," thought the boy; "but I will stop
that." So he made haste and took out his steel for striking fire and
threw it over the horse, and then it had no power to stir from the
spot, and became so tame that the boy could do what he liked with it. So
he mounted it and rode away to a place which no one knew of but himself,
and there he tied it up. When he went home again his brothers laughed
and asked how he had got on.
"You didn't lie long in the barn, if even you have been so far as the
field!" said they.
"I lay in the barn till the sun rose, but I saw nothing and heard
nothing, not I," said the boy. "Heaven knows what there was to make you
two so frightened."
"Well, we shall soon see whether you have watched the meadow or not,"
answered the brothers; but when they got there the grass was all
standing just as long and as thick as it had been the night before.
The next St. John's eve it was the same thing once again. Neither of the
two brothers dared to go to the outlying field to watch the crop, but
Cinderlad went, and everything happened exactly the same as on the
previous St. John's eve. First there was a rumbling and an earthquake,
and then there was another, and then a third; but all three earthquakes
were much, very much more violent than they had been the year before.
Then everything became still as death again, and the boy heard something
chewing outside the barn door, so he stole as softly as he could to the
door, which was slightly ajar, and again there was a horse standing
close by the wall of the house, eating and chewing, and it was far
larger and fatter than the first horse, and it had a saddle on its back,
and a bridle was on it, too, and a full suit of armor for a knight, all
of bright silver, and as beautiful as anyone could wish to see. "Ho!
ho!" thought the boy, "is it thou who eatest up our hay in the night?
But I will put a stop to that." So he took out his steel for striking
fire and threw it over the horse's mane, and the beast stood there as
quiet as a lamb. Then the boy rode this horse, too, away to the place
where he kept the other, and then went home again.
"I suppose you will tell us that you have watched well again this time,"
said the brothers.
"Well, so I have," said Cinderlad. So they went there again, and there
the grass was, standing as high and as thick as it had been before; but
that did not make them any kinder to Cinderlad.
When the third St. John's night came, neither of the two elder brothers
dared to lie in the outlying barn to watch the grass, for they had been
so heartily frightened the night that they had slept there that they
could not get over it; but Cinderlad dared to go, and everything
happened just the same as on the two former nights. There were three
earthquakes, each worse than the other, and the last flung the boy from
one wall of the barn to the other, but then everything suddenly became
still as death. When he had lain quietly a short time he heard something
chewing outside the barn door. Then he once more stole to the door,
which was slightly ajar, and behold! a horse was standing just outside
it, which was much larger and fatter than the two others he had caught.
"Ho! ho! it is thou, then, who art eating up our hay this time," thought
the boy; "but I will put a stop to that." So he pulled out his steel for
striking fire and threw it over the horse, and it stood as still as if
it had been nailed to the field, and the boy could do just what he liked
with it. Then he mounted it and rode away to the place where he had the
two others, and then he went home again. Then the two brothers mocked
him just as they had done before, and told him that they could see that
he must have watched the grass very carefully that night, for he looked
just as if he were walking in his sleep; but Cinderlad did not trouble
himself about that, but just bade them go to the field and see. They did
go, and this time, too, the grass was standing, looking as fine and as
thick as ever.
The King of the country in which Cinderlad's father dwelt had a daughter
whom he would give to no one who could not ride up to the top of the
glass hill, for there was a high, high hill of glass, slippery as ice,
and it was close to the King's palace. Upon the very top of this the
King's daughter was to sit with three golden apples in her lap, and the
man who could ride up and take the three golden apples should marry her
and have half the kingdom. The King had this proclaimed in every church
in the whole kingdom, and in many other kingdoms, too. The Princess was
very beautiful, and all who saw her fell violently in love with her,
even in spite of themselves. So it is needless to say that all the
princes and knights were eager to win her and half the kingdom besides,
and that for this cause they came riding thither from the very end of
the world, dressed so splendidly that their raiments gleamed in the
sunshine, and riding on horses which seemed to dance as they went, and
there was not one of these princes who did not think that he was sure to
win the Princess.
When the day appointed by the King had come, there was such a host of
knights and princes under the glass hill that they seemed to swarm, and
everyone who could walk or even creep was there, too, to see who won the
King's daughter. Cinderlad's two brothers were there, but they would not
hear of letting him go with them, for he was so dirty and black with
sleeping and grubbing among the ashes that they said everyone would
laugh at them if they were seen in the company of such an oaf.
"Well, then, I will go all alone by myself," said Cinderlad.
When the two brothers got to the glass hill all the princes and knights
were trying to ride up it, and their horses were in a foam; but it was
all in vain, for no sooner did the horses set foot upon the hill than
down they slipped, and there was not one which could get even so much as
a couple of yards up. Nor was that strange, for the hill was as smooth
as glass windowpanes and as steep as the side of a house. But they were
all eager to win the King's daughter and half the kingdom, so they rode
and they slipped, and thus it went on. At length all the horses were so
tired that they could do no more and so hot that the foam dropped from
them, and the riders were forced to give up the attempt.
The King was just thinking that he would cause it to be proclaimed that
the riding should begin afresh on the following day, when perhaps it
might go better, when suddenly a knight came riding up on so fine a
horse that no one had ever seen the like of it before, and the knight
had armor of copper, and his bridle was of copper, too, and all his
accouterments were so bright that they shone again. The other knights
all called out to him that he might just as well spare himself the
trouble of trying to ride up the glass hill, for it was of no use to
try; but he did not heed them, and rode straight off to it and went up
as if it were nothing at all. Thus he rode for a long way--it may have
been a third part of the way up--but when he had got so far he turned
his horse round and rode down again. But the Princess thought that she
had never yet seen so handsome a knight, and while he was riding up she
was sitting thinking, "Oh, how I hope he may be able to come up to the
top!" And when she saw that he was turning his horse back she threw one
of the golden apples down after him, and it rolled into his shoe. But
when he had come down from off the hill he rode away, and that so fast
that no one knew what had become of him.
[Illustration: JUST AS CINDERLAD TURNED HIS HORSE AROUND, THE PRINCESS
THREW THE GOLDEN APPLE]
So all the princes and knights were bidden to present themselves before
the King that night, so that he who had ridden so far up the glass hill
might show the golden apple which the king's daughter had thrown down.
But no one had anything to show. One knight presented himself after the
other, and none could show the apple.
At night, too, Cinderlad's brothers came home again and had a long story
to tell about the riding up the glass hill. At first, they said, there
was not one who was able to get even so much as one step up, but then
came a knight who had armor of copper and a bridle of copper, and his
armor and trappings were so bright that they shone to a great distance,
and it was something like a sight to see him riding. He rode one third
of the way up the glass hill, and he could easily have ridden the whole
of it if he had liked; but he had turned back, for he had made up his
mind that that was enough for once. "Oh! I should have liked to see him
too, that I should," said Cinderlad, who was as usual sitting by the
chimney among the cinders. "You, indeed!" said the brothers. "You
look as if you were fit to be among such great lords, dirty creature
that you are to sit there!"
Next day the brothers were for setting out again, and this time, too,
Cinderlad begged them to let him go with them and see who rode; but no,
they said he was not fit to do that, for he was much too ugly and dirty.
"Well, well, then I will go all alone by myself," said Cinderlad. So the
brothers went to the glass hill, and all the princes and knights began
to ride again, and this time they had taken care to rough the shoes of
their horses; but that did not help them. They rode and they slipped as
they had done the day before, and not one of them could even get so far
as a yard up the hill. When they had tired out their horses, so that
they could do no more, they again had to stop altogether. But just as
the King was thinking that it would be well to proclaim that the riding
should take place next day for the last time, so that they might have
one more chance, he suddenly bethought himself that it would be well to
wait a little longer to see if the knight in copper armor would come on
this day too. But nothing was to be seen of him.
Just as they were still looking for him, however, came a knight riding
on a steed that was much, much finer than that which the knight in
copper armor had ridden, and this knight had silver armor and a silver
saddle and bridle, and all were so bright that they shone and glistened
when he was a long way off. Again the other knights called to him, and
said that he might just as well give up the attempt to ride up the glass
hill, for it was useless to try; but the knight paid no heed to that,
but rode straight away to the glass hill, and went still farther up than
the knight in copper armor had gone; but when he had ridden two thirds
of the way up he turned his horse round and rode down again. The
Princess liked this knight still better than she had liked the other,
and sat longing that he might be able to get up above, and when she saw
him turning back she threw the second apple after him, and it rolled
into his shoe, and as soon as he had got down the glass hill he rode
away so fast that no one could see what had become of him.
In the evening, when everyone was to appear before the King and
Princess, in order that he who had the golden apple might show it, one
knight went in after the other, but none of them had a golden apple to
show.
At night the two brothers went home as they had done the night before,
and told how things had gone, and how everyone had ridden, but no-one
had been able to get up the hill. "But last of all," they said, "came
one in silver armor, and he had a silver bridle on his horse and a
silver saddle, and oh, but he could ride! He took his horse two thirds
of the way up the hill, but then he turned back. He was a fine fellow,"
said the brothers, "and the Princess threw the second golden apple to
him!"
"Oh, how I should have liked to see him too!" said Cinderlad.
"Oh, indeed! He was a little brighter than the ashes that you sit
grubbing among, you dirty, black creature!" said the brothers.
On the third day everything went just as on the former days. Cinderlad
wanted to go with them to look at the riding, but the two brothers would
not have him in their company, and when they got to the glass hill there
was no one who could ride even so far as a yard up it, and everyone
waited for the knight in silver armor, but he was neither to be seen nor
heard of. At last, after a long time, came a knight riding upon a horse
that was such a fine one its equal had never yet been seen. The knight
had golden armor and the horse a golden saddle and bridle, and these
were all so bright that they shone and dazzled everyone, even while the
knight was still at a great distance. The other princes and knights were
not able even to call to tell him how useless it was to try to ascend
the hill, so amazed were they at the sight of his magnificence. He rode
straight away to the glass hill, and galloped up it as if it were no
hill at all, so that the Princess had not even time to wish that he
might get up the whole way. As soon as he had ridden to the top he took
the third golden apple from the lap of the Princess, and then turned his
horse about and rode down again, and vanished from their sight before
anyone was able to say a word to him.
When the two brothers came home again at night they had much to tell of
how the riding had gone off that day, and at last they told about the
knight in the golden armor too. "He was a fine fellow, that was! Such
another splendid knight is not to be found on earth!" said the brothers.
"Oh, how I should have liked to see him too!" said Cinderlad.
"Well, he shone nearly as brightly as the coal-heaps that thou art
always lying raking among, dirty black creature that thou art!" said the
brothers.
Next day all the knights and princes were to appear before the King and
the Princess--it had been too late for them to do it the night
before--in order that he who had the golden apple might produce it. They
all went in turn, first princes and then knights, but none of them had a
golden apple.
"But somebody must have it," said the King, "for with our own eyes we
all saw a man ride up and take it." So he commanded that everyone in the
kingdom should come to the palace and see if he could show the apple.
And one after the other they all came, but no one had the golden apple,
and after a long, long time Cinderlad's two brothers came likewise. They
were the last of all, so the King inquired of them if there was no one
else in the kingdom left to come.
"Oh, yes, we have a brother," said the two, "but he never got the golden
apple! He never left the cinder-heap on any of the three days."
"Never mind that," said the King. "As everyone else has come to the
palace, let him come too."
So Cinderlad was forced to go to the King's palace.
"Hast thou the golden apple?" asked the King.
"Yes, here is the first, and here is the second, and here is the third
too," said Cinderlad, and he took all the three apples out of his
pocket, and with that threw off his sooty rags and appeared there
before them in his bright golden armor, which gleamed as he stood.
"Thou shalt have my daughter and the half of my kingdom, and thou hast
well earned both!" said the King. So there was a wedding, and Cinderlad
got the King's daughter, and everyone made merry at the wedding, for all
of them could make merry, though they could not ride up the glass hill,
and if they have not left off their merry-making they must be at it
still.
_The Ram and the Pig who went into the Woods to Live by Themselves_
THERE was once upon a time a ram, who was being fattened up for killing.
He had therefore plenty to eat, and he soon became round and fat with
all the good things he got. One day the dairymaid came and gave him some
more food.
"You must eat, Ram," she said; "you'll not be long here now, for
to-morrow we are going to kill you."
"There's an old saying that no one should sneer at old women's advice,
and that advice and physic can be had for everything except death,"
thought the Ram to himself; "but perhaps I might manage to escape it
this time."
And so he went on eating till he was full, and when he was quite
satisfied he ran his horns against the door, burst it open, and set off
to the neighboring farm. There he made straight for the pigsty, to look
for a pig with whom he had struck up an acquaintance on the common,
since when they had always been good friends and got on well together.
"Good day, and thanks for your kindness last time we met," said the Ram
to the Pig.
"Good day, and thanks to you," said the Pig.
"Do you know why they make you so comfortable, and why they feed you and
look after you so well?" said the Ram.
"No," said the Pig.
"There are many mouths to feed on this farm, you must know," said the
Ram; "they are going to kill you and eat you."
"Are they?" said the Pig. "Well, much good may it do them!"
"If you are of the same mind as I, we will go into the woods and build a
house and live by ourselves; there is nothing like having a home of your
own, you know," said the Ram.
Yes, the Pig was quite willing. "It's nice to be in fine company," said
he, and off they started.
When they had got a bit on the way they met a goose.
"Good day, my good people, and thanks for your kindness last time we
met," said the Goose. "Where are you off to?"
"Good day, and thanks to you," said the Ram. "We had it altogether too
comfortable at our place, so we are off to the woods to live by
ourselves. In your own house you are your own master, you know," said
he.
"Well, I'm very comfortable where I am," said the Goose; "but why
shouldn't I join you? Good company makes the day shorter," said she.
"But neither hut nor house can be built by gabbling and quacking," said
the Pig. "What do you think you can do?"
"Good counsel and skill may do as much as a giant's will," said the
Goose. "I can pluck moss and stuff it into the crevices, so that the
house will be warm and comfortable."
Well, she might come with them, thought the Pig, for he liked the place
to be warm and cozy.
When they had gone a bit on the way--the Goose was not getting along
very fast--they met a hare, who came scampering out of the wood.
"Good day, my good people, and thanks for your kindness the last time we
met," said the Hare. "How far are you going to-day?" said he.
"Good day, and thanks to you," said the Ram; "we had it altogether too
comfortable at our place, so we are off to the woods to build a house
and live by ourselves. When you have tried both East and West, you'll
find that a home of your own is, after all, the best," said he.
"Well, I have, of course, a home in every bush," said the Hare; "but I
have often said to myself in the winter that if I lived till the summer
I would build a house, so I have a good mind to go with you and build
one after all," said he.
"Well, if the worst comes to the worst, we might take you with us to
frighten the dogs away," said the Pig, "for you couldn't help us to
build the house, I should say."
"There is always something for willing hands to do in this world," said
the Hare. "I have teeth to gnaw pegs with, and I have paws to knock them
into the walls, so I'll do very well for a carpenter; for 'good tools
make good work,' as the man said, when he skinned his mare with an
auger," said the Hare.
Well, he might come along with them and help to build the house; there
could be no harm in that.
When they had got a bit farther on the way they met a cock.
"Good day, my good people, and thanks for your kindness last time we
met," said the Cock; "where are you all going to-day?" he said.
"Good day, and thanks to you," said the Ram; "we had it altogether too
comfortable at our place, so we are off to the woods to build a house
and live by ourselves. 'For unless at home you bake, you'll lose both
fuel and cake,'" said he.
"Well, I am comfortable enough where I am," said the Cock, "but it's
better to have your own roost than to sit on a stranger's perch and
crow; and that cock is best off who has a home of his own," said he. "If
I could join such fine company as yours, I, too, would like to go to the
woods and build a house."
"Well, flapping and crowing is all very well for noise, but it won't cut
joists," said the Pig. "You can't help us to build a house," he said.
"It is not well to live in a house where there is neither dog nor cock,"
said the Cock; "I am early to rise and early to crow."
"Yes, 'early to rise makes one wealthy and wise,' so let him come with
us!" said the Pig. (He was always the heaviest sleeper.) "Sleep is a big
thief, and steals half one's life," he said.
So they all set off to the woods and built the house. The Pig felled the
trees and the Ram dragged them home; the Hare was the carpenter, and
gnawed pegs and hammered them into walls and roof; the Goose plucked
moss and stuffed it into the crevices between the logs; the Cock crew
and took care that they did not oversleep themselves in the mornings,
and when the house was ready and the roof covered with birch bark and
thatched with turf, they could at least live by themselves, and they
were all both happy and contented.
"It's pleasant to travel both East and West, but home is, after all, the
best," said the Ram.
But a bit farther into the wood two wolves had their lair, and when they
saw that a new house had been built hard by they wanted to know what
sort of folks they had got for neighbors. For they thought, "a good
neighbor is better than a brother in a foreign land, and it is better to
live among good neighbors than to be known far and wide."
So one of them made it his business to call there and ask for a light
for his pipe. The moment he came inside the door the Ram rushed at him,
and gave him such a butt with his horns that the wolf fell on his head
into the hearth; the Pig snapped and bit, the Goose nipped and pecked,
the Cock flew up on a rafter and began to crow and cackle, and the Hare
became so frightened that he scampered and jumped around, both high and
low, and knocked and scrambled about from one corner of the room to the
other.
At last the Wolf managed to get out of the house.
"Well, to know one's neighbors is to add to one's wisdom," said the Wolf
who was waiting outside; "I suppose you had a grand reception, since you
stayed so long. But what about the light? I don't see either pipe or
smoke," said he.
"Yes, that was a nice light I got, and a nice lot of people they were,"
said he who had been inside. "Such treatment I never met with before,
but 'as you make your bed so you must lie,' and 'an unexpected guest
must put up with what he gets,'" said the Wolf. "No sooner was I inside
the door than the shoemaker threw his last at me, and I fell on my head
in the middle of the forge; there sat two smiths, blowing bellows and
pinching and snipping bits of flesh off me with red-hot tongs and
pincers; the hunter rushed about the room looking for his gun, but, as
luck would have it, he couldn't find it. And up on the rafters sat some
one beating his arms about and shouting: 'Let's hook him! let's hook
him! Sling him up! sling him up!' and if he had only got hold of me I
should never have come out alive."
_The Troll's Hammer_
WHEN a great famine prevails in a country even the rich suffer. Hard,
indeed, must the lot of the poor peasant be at such a time.
During a famine a poor peasant, unable to support all his family, told
his eldest son, Niels, that he would have to go out in the world and
provide for himself.
Niels left home and went out to seek his fortune. As the evening of the
first day drew on, he found himself in a dense forest, and fearing lest
the wild beasts might do him harm during the night, he climbed into a
tree. Hardly had he reached his perch, when he saw a little man running
toward the tree. He was hunchbacked, and had crooked legs, a long beard,
and wore on his head a red cap. He was pursued by a wolf, which attacked
him just under the tree in which Niels was sitting. The little man began
to scream; he bit and scratched, and defended himself as well as he
could. But the wolf was the stronger, and would have torn the little
fellow to pieces if Niels had not sprung down from the tree. As soon as
the wolf saw that he had two to contend with, he fled back into the
forest.
The troll then said to Niels:
"Thou hast preserved my life and done me a good service; in return I
will also give thee something that will be of use. See! here is a hammer
with which thou shalt be able to do smith's work that no one shall be
able to equal." When the troll had spoken these words, he sank into the
ground and disappeared.
The next day the boy wandered on until he came to the neighborhood of
the royal palace, and here he engaged himself to a smith.
Now it just happened that a few days before a thief had broken into the
King's treasury and stolen a large bag of money. All the smiths in the
city were therefore sent for to the palace, and the King promised that
he who could make the best lock should be appointed court locksmith, and
have a handsome reward into the bargain. The lock had to be finished in
eight days, and so constructed that it could not be picked by anyone.
When the smith, with whom Niels lived, returned home and related this,
the boy thought he should like to try whether his hammer really
possessed those qualities which the troll had said. He therefore begged
his master to allow him to make a lock, and promised that it should be
finished by the appointed time. Although the smith had no great opinion
of the boy's abilities, he permitted the trial.
Niels then requested a separate workshop, locked himself in, and began
hammering the iron. One day went, and then another, and the master began
to be curious; but Niels let no one come into his shop, and the smith
was obliged to remain outside, and peep through the keyhole. The work,
however, succeeded far better than the boy himself had expected; and,
without his really knowing how it came to pass, the lock was finished on
the evening of the third day.
The following morning he went down to his master and asked for some
money. "Yesterday I worked hard," said Niels, "and to-day I will enjoy
myself."
He went out of the city, and did not return to the workshop till late in
the evening. The next day and the next he did the same, and so through
the rest of the week.
His master was very angry at this, and threatened to turn him away
unless he finished his work at the appointed time. But Niels told him to
rest easy, and engaged that his lock should be the best.
When the day arrived, Niels brought his work forth, and carried it up to
the palace. His lock was so ingenious and so delicately made, that it
far excelled all the others. Niels's master was acknowledged as the most
skillful, and he received the promised office and reward.
The smith was delighted, but he took good care not to confess to anyone
who it was that had made the curious lock. He received one job after
another from the King, and let Niels do them all.
In the meantime the report spread from place to place of the wonderful
lock the King had got for his treasury. Travelers came from a distance
to see it, and a foreign King came among them. When he had examined the
work a long time he said that the man who had made such a lock deserved
to be honored and respected.
"But however good a smith he may be," added the foreign King, "I have
his master at home."
He continued boasting in this manner, till at length the two kings made
a wager as to which smith could execute the most skillful piece of
workmanship. The smiths were sent for, and the two kings determined that
each smith should make a knife.
The smith related to Niels what had passed, and desired him to try
whether he could make as good a knife as the lock he had made. Niels
promised to do so, although his last work had not brought him much. The
smith was in truth a mean man, and treated Niels so niggardly that
sometimes he had not enough to eat and drink.
One day, as he was out buying steel to make the knife, he met a man from
his own village, and, in the course of conversation, Niels learned that
his father was in great want and misery. Then he asked his master for
some money, but this was the answer: "You shall not have a shilling
until you have made the knife."
Thereupon Niels shut himself up in the workshop for a whole day, and, as
on the former occasion, the knife was made without his knowing how it
had happened.
When the day arrived on which the work was to be exhibited, Niels
dressed himself in his best clothes, and went with his master up to the
palace where the two kings were expecting them.
The strange smith first showed his knife. It was so beautiful, and so
curiously wrought, that it was a pleasure to look at; it was, moreover,
so sharp and well-tempered that it would cut through a millstone as
easily as through a cheese. Niels's knife, on the contrary, looked very
poor and common.
The King already began to think he had lost his wager, and spoke harshly
to the master-smith, when his boy begged leave to examine the stranger's
knife a little more closely.
After having looked at it for some time, he said: "This is a beautiful
piece of workmanship which you have made, and shame on those who would
say otherwise; but my master is, nevertheless, your superior, as you
shall soon experience."
Saying this, he took the stranger's knife and split it lengthwise from
point to handle with his own knife as easily as one splits a twig of
willow. The kings could scarcely believe their eyes, and the consequence
was that Niels's master was declared the victor.
When Niels asked for payment, the master refused to give him anything,
although knowing full well that the poor boy only wanted the money to
help his father. Upon this Niels grew angry, went to the King, and told
who it was that had made both the lock and the knife. The master was
then called, but he denied everything, and accused Niels of being an
idle boy, whom he had taken into service out of charity and compassion.
"We shall soon find out the truth of this story," said the King, who
sided with the master. "Since thou sayest it is thou who hast made this
wonderful knife, and thy master says it is he who has done it, I will
adjudge each of you to make a sword for me within eight days. He who can
make the most perfect one shall be my master-smith; but he who loses
shall forfeit his life."
Niels was well satisfied with this agreement. He went home, packed up
all his things, and bade his master farewell. The smith would gladly
have made all good again, but Neils appeared not to understand him, and
went his way. He engaged with another master, and began cheerfully to
work on the sword.
When the appointed day arrived, both Niels and his former master met at
the palace, and the master produced a sword of the most beautiful
workmanship that anyone could wish to see. It was inlaid with gold and
set with precious stones. The King was greatly delighted with it.
"Now, little Niels," said he, "what dost thou say to this sword?"
"It is not so badly made as one might expect from such a bungler," said
the boy.
"Canst thou show anything like it?" asked the King.
"I believe I can," answered Niels.
"Well, where is thy sword?" said the King.
"In my waistcoat pocket," replied Niels.
Hereupon there was a general laugh which was increased when they saw the
boy take a little packet out of his waistcoat pocket. Niels opened the
paper in which the blade was rolled up like a watch-spring. "Here is my
work," said he. "Will you just cut the thread, master?"
The smith did it willingly, and in a moment the blade straightened out
and struck him in the face.
Niels took out of his other pocket a hilt of gold and screwed it fast to
the blade; then he presented the sword to the King; and all present were
obliged to confess that they never before had seen such matchless
workmanship.
Niels was declared the victor, and the master was obliged to
acknowledge that the boy had made both the lock and the knife.
The King in his indignation would have had the master put to death if
the boy had not begged for mercy on the culprit.
Niels received a handsome reward from the King, and from that day all
the work from the palace was intrusted to him. He took his old father to
reside with him, and lived in comfort and happiness till his death.
_The Clever Prince_
ONCE upon a time there was a youthful Prince who was so wonderfully
handsome that no one had ever seen his like; and he knew this, and was
very glad of it. And everybody said that he was as clever as he was
handsome, and that no one could be compared to him. Of this he was quite
convinced, and he made a solemn vow that he would never take any woman
to wife unless she was as handsome and nearly as clever as he was
himself. If he could find such a paragon he would marry her. There were
many beautiful maidens in the land, but they were not the cleverest.
There were also many maidens who were clever enough, but they were not
the fairest. This much is certain, the Prince found no girl who combined
in her person half enough good looks and wit to suit him. He was now of
an age when he and his father the King, and their faithful subjects,
were all of opinion that he ought to get married; but, as we have seen,
because of the vow he had made, there was not a maiden in the land to
whom he could pay his addresses.
So he determined to journey to other countries, and to travel
_incognito_ and unattended. He wanted to see things for himself, and to
have no one with him who could reveal anything about him. He traveled
far and wide, from one land to another, but it fared with him abroad as
it had fared with him at home; he could find no girl beautiful or
clever enough for him, much less could he find one who could lay claim
to the possession of both these attributes. So once more he felt his
quest for a worthy bride had proved vain, and turned his face homeward.
One day he was riding through a wood. He rode and rode, still he could
not get to the end of the forest. Noonday came, and the evening came,
and still he was in the wood, and still could see no way out of it. He
had completely lost his way; he had no idea where he was, nor where he
was going, nor where he should find shelter for the night and food and
rest for himself and his horse. And they were both tired out. At last he
saw a small cloud of blue smoke rising amid the green trees, and riding
toward it he soon came to a little cottage, very poor and mean-looking.
But he was glad enough, for here at least he should find somebody. He
got off his horse and knocked at the door. A poor old man opened it, and
a poor old woman also came forward. They appeared very much astonished
to see such a fine, handsome young knight. The Prince, after wishing
them good evening, said that he had lost his way, and that he had been
riding through the wood all day long without coming to a dwelling of any
kind, and now he begged them to give him shelter for the night. At first
they said they were not the sort of people to receive such grand
gentlefolk. It was easy to see they wanted to get rid of him; but when
he told them that neither he nor his horse could hold out any longer, so
greatly did they need rest and a night's lodging, the old couple had not
the heart to refuse, so they agreed to take him in if he would put up
with what they could offer him. His first care was for his horse. Stable
there was none, but there was a bit of a shed for the old people's cow.
As it was summer time the cow was out to grass, so the Prince put his
horse up in the shed, and gave him a drink of water and a bundle of hay,
to the great content of the poor, tired beast. Then he went into the
cottage, which consisted of one little room, which was both dark and
low. He sat down on a wooden bench and began to talk to the old people.
Did they live here all alone in the wild wood? Yes, the old folk said,
they did. There was nobody else in the house, and there was no other
house for miles and miles around. They got on as best they could, and
managed to make a living out of their goat and their cow.
Then the Prince had his supper, the best the house could afford--a crust
of dry bread and a bowl of milk. The old folk then fetched a wisp of
straw and spread it out on the floor, intending to lie upon it--they had
but one bed, and they meant to give it up to their grand guest. But the
Prince would not hear of such a thing; they should sleep in their own
bed, and he would lie on the bundle of straw that was spread upon the
floor. So it was arranged as he wished, and they all three retired to
rest. It was quite a different sort of couch from the one he was
accustomed to, but he was thoroughly tired out, so he soon fell asleep,
and he dreamt of all the beautiful maidens who were not clever enough,
and of all the clever maidens who were not beautiful enough, and so he
slept sweetly till the day began to dawn.
Then he awoke, and stiff enough he was in all his limbs from lying on so
hard a bed; twist and turn as he might, he could not get to sleep again.
Presently he heard something stirring in the little loft overhead. It
might be rats or mice, or perhaps a cat. Yes, it was certainly a cat.
But a little while after he heard a whirring sound, exactly like a
spinning wheel. Then he heard singing. That could not be the cat, nor
was it the song of the birds out in the wood; no, it was a woman's sweet
voice keeping time with the whirring of the wheel. So sweet a song he
had never heard before. He sprang to his feet, rubbed his eyes, pricked
up his ears, and at the same moment the old folk got up too. The Prince
at once asked them who it was up there in the loft that had begun
spinning and singing at break of day. All was quite quiet again overhead
now, and the old people persisted, as they had done the previous night,
that there was no one in the house but themselves.
"Nay," said the Prince, "it is no use trying to make me believe that. I
prefer believing what I have heard with my own ears. And you may as well
tell me the plain truth, for I am determined to learn it, one way or
another."
So then the old man made a clean breast of it. The Prince was quite
right, there was somebody else in the house--it was their daughter, in
her little room up in the loft. They were so afraid lest some one should
see her and want to take her away from them; for, indeed, they would
miss her sadly, old and feeble as they were; she earned a few pence by
her spinning and weaving. Who else was there to take care of them? Soon
they would be no longer able to look after themselves.
Well, the Prince said he had heard her, and now he wanted to see her. He
was no man-eater, nor woman-eater either, so far as he knew; therefore
they might surely let him see the maiden. So the old man had to go and
call her, and she came running down, tripping along, clad in mean
attire, so blithe and fresh and fair. When she saw the handsome young
man, she blushed rosy red, and the Prince was thunderstruck as he looked
on her. Never had he seen anything half so lovely as she was! He was
utterly at a loss what to say or do. In all his travels he had seen no
one to be compared with her. This poor peasant's daughter was far more
beautiful than all the princesses and grand ladies he had ever met at
home or abroad. He could not picture to himself anything more lovely.
But a poor beggar-maid, such as she was, he might not even dream of
making his wife. So he turned resolutely away, and at once bestirred
himself, getting his horse ready to start, and would not so much as
allow himself to look at her again. But when he was in the saddle, just
setting off, as he nodded good-by to the old folk, to whom he had given
a broad gold piece for his night's lodging, and who now were bowing and
scraping before him, he could not help giving a side glance to where she
stood gazing at him with lovely, wondering eyes. And now, of course, he
was obliged to lift his hat and bow "farewell"; and as she returned his
greeting with downcast eyes, and bowed and blushing face, the Prince
felt as if his heart were in his mouth. The lovely eyes looked up once
more as he galloped off, and they followed him till he was out of sight.
And not only did they follow him thus far, but long after he had left
both house and wood far behind those beautiful eyes still haunted him.
And as he rode along he said to himself:
"Yes, she is beautiful, and more than beautiful enough for me; but I
also vowed that she whom I marry must be as clever, or nearly as clever,
as I am, and that, of course, she cannot be."
He marked well where the little cottage stood, and soon he reached a
road he knew well, for the wild wood lay on the very border of his own
land. He rode straight home to his father's castle, and told him he had
not yet found anyone who could be considered his equal.
The old King was much vexed on hearing this, but he was so certain of
his son's exceeding cleverness that he had no doubt matters were exactly
as the Prince represented. He had but one wish, to see his son married
before closing his eyes forever, and he had such faith in his son that
he knew the Prince's choice of a wife would be a wise one.
So now the Prince was at home once more, surrounded by all the good
things imaginable, and yet he knew not one moment's content. Dainty food
failed to tempt his appetite, no sweet sleep came to him on his downy
couch. His thoughts were always with the fair young maiden who dwelt in
the wild wood. He thought of her early and late, and whether he would or
not.
At last he said to himself: "There must be an end of this."
He called to mind his vow that the loveliest and cleverest girl should
be his bride, and so in order to be rid of all thought of her he
determined to convince himself that although the peasant's daughter
might be beautiful enough, yet she was far from being clever enough for
him. So he wrote a letter to her, enclosing two skeins of silk, and
bidding her weave for him with them a pair of bed curtains. He sent off
a royal courier at once, bidding him bring back an immediate answer. The
messenger returned the same evening with a letter from the woodland
maiden, and in the letter lay two tiny splinters of wood. The maiden had
written that if out of these bits of wood he would make her a loom she
would weave him the curtains he had ordered.
After this the Prince could no longer doubt that she was quite as clever
as he was, and now he felt bound to perform the vow that he had made,
which was just what he most wished to do. So he rode forth with all his
royal train to the cottage in the wild wood; and he told the old people
that he had come to woo their daughter for his bride--if she were
willing. And she was willing. The old folk were very down-hearted at
parting from their child, but they did not wish to stand in the way of
her happiness, so they gave their consent. Then the court ladies clad
the bride in scarlet and silk attire, and adorned her with gold and
jewels. And she had ladies-in-waiting and coaches and carriages and all
sorts of splendor, and the wedding was celebrated with joy and great
magnificence.
"_Lars, my Lad!_"
THERE was once a Prince or a Duke, or something of that sort, but at any
rate he belonged to a very grand family, and he would not stop at home.
So he traveled all over the world, and wherever he went he was well
liked, and was received in the best and gayest families, for he had no
end of money. He made friends and acquaintances, as you may imagine,
wherever he went, for he who has a well-filled trough is sure to fall in
with pigs who want to have their fill. But he went on spending his money
until he came to want, and at last his purse became so empty that he had
not even a farthing left. And now there was an end to all his friends as
well, for they behaved like the pigs; when the trough was empty and he
had no more to give them, they began to grunt and grin, and then they
ran away in all directions. There he stood alone with a long face.
Everybody had been so willing to help him to get rid of his money, but
nobody would help him without it; and so there was nothing for it but to
trudge home and beg for crusts on the way.
So late one evening he came to a great forest. He did not know where he
should find a shelter for the night, but he went on looking and
searching till he caught sight of an old tumble-down hut, which stood in
the middle of some bushes. It was not exactly good enough for such a
fine cavalier, but when you cannot get what you want you must take what
you can get. And, since there was no help for it, he went into the hut.
Not a living soul was to be seen; there was not even a stool to sit
upon, but alongside the wall stood a big chest. What could there be
inside that chest? If only there were some bits of moldy bread in it!
How nice they would taste! For, you must know, he had not had a single
bit of food the whole day, and he was so hungry and his stomach so empty
that it groaned with pain. He lifted the lid. But inside the chest there
was another chest, and inside that chest there was another; and so it
went on, each one smaller than the other, until they became quite tiny
boxes. The more there were the harder he worked away, for there must be
something very fine inside, he thought, since it was so well hidden.
At last he came to a tiny, little box, and in this box lay a bit of
paper--and that was all he got for his trouble! It was very annoying, of
course, but then he discovered there was something written on the paper,
and when he looked at it he was just able to spell it out, although at
first it looked somewhat difficult.
"Lars, my lad!"
As he pronounced these words something answered right in his ear:
"What are master's orders?"
He looked round, but he saw nobody. This was very funny, he thought, and
so he read out the words once more:
"Lars, my lad!"
And the answer came as before:
"What are master's orders?"
But he did not see anybody this time either.
"If there is anybody about who hears what I say, then be kind enough to
bring me something to eat," he said. And the next moment there stood a
table laid out with all the best things one could think of. He set to
work to eat and drink, and had a proper meal. He had never enjoyed
himself so much in all his life, he thought.
When he had eaten all he could get down, he began to feel sleepy, and so
he took out the paper again:
"Lars, my lad!"
"What are master's orders?"
"Well, you have given me food and drink, and now you must get me a bed
to sleep in as well. But I want a really fine bed," he said, for you
must know he was a little more bold now that his hunger was stayed.
Well, there it stood, a bed so fine and dainty that even the King
himself might covet it. Now this was all very well in its way, but when
once you are well off you wish for still more, and he had no sooner got
into bed than he began to think that the room was altogether too
wretched for such a grand bed. So he took out the paper again:
"Lars, my lad!"
"What are master's orders?"
"Since you are able to get me such food and such a bed here in the midst
of the wild forest, I suppose you can manage to get me a better room,
for you see I am accustomed to sleep in a palace, with golden mirrors
and draped walls and ornaments and comforts of all kinds," he said.
Well, he had no sooner spoken the words than he found himself lying in
the grandest chamber anybody had ever seen.
Now he was comfortable, he thought, and felt quite satisfied as he
turned his face to the wall and closed his eyes.
But that was not all the grandeur; for when he woke up in the morning
and looked round, he saw it was a big palace he had been sleeping in.
One room led into the other, and wherever he went the place was full of
all sorts of finery and luxuries, both on the walls and on the ceilings,
and they glittered so much when the sun shone on them that he had to
shade his eyes with his hand, so strong was the glare of gold and silver
wherever he turned. He then happened to look out of the window. Good
gracious! How grand it was! There was something else than pine forests
and juniper bushes to look at, for there was the finest garden anyone
could wish for, with splendid trees and roses of all kinds. But he could
not see a single human being, or even a cat; and that, you know, was
rather lonely, for otherwise he had everything so grand and had been set
up as his own master again.
So he took out the bit of paper:
"Lars, my lad!"
"What are master's orders?"
"Well, now you have given me food and bed and a palace to live in, I
intend to remain here, for I like the place," he said, "yet I don't like
to live quite by myself. I must have both lads and lasses whom I may
order about to wait upon me," he said.
And there they were. There came servants and stewards and scullery maids
and chambermaids of all sorts, and some came bowing and some curtseying.
So now the Duke thought he was really satisfied.
But now it happened that there was a large palace on the other side of
the forest, and there the King lived who owned the forest, and the
great, big fields around it. As he was walking up and down in his room
he happened to look out through the window and saw the new palace, where
the golden weathercocks were swinging to and fro on the roof in the
sunlight, dazzling his eyes.
"This is very strange," he thought; and so he called his courtiers. They
came rushing in, and began bowing and scraping.
"Do you see the palace over there?" said the King.
They opened their eyes and began to stare.
Yes, of course, they saw it.
"Who is it that has dared to build such a palace on my grounds?" said
the King.
They bowed, and they scraped with their feet, but they did not know
anything about it.
The King then called his generals and captains.
They came, stood at attention and presented arms.
"Be gone, soldiers and troopers," said the King, "and pull down the
palace over there, and hang him who has built it; and don't lose any
time about it!"
Well, they set off in great haste to arm themselves, and away they went.
The drummers beat the skins of their drums, and the trumpeters blew
their trumpets, and the other musicians played and blew as best they
could, so that the Duke heard them long before he could see them. But he
had heard that kind of noise before, and knew what it meant, so he took
out his scrap of paper:
"Lars, my lad!"
"What are master's orders?"
"There are soldiers coming here," he said, "and now you must provide me
with soldiers and horses, that I may have double as many as those over
in the wood, and with sabers and pistols, and guns and cannons with all
that belongs to them; but be quick about it."
And no time was lost; for when the Duke looked out, he saw an immense
number of soldiers, who were drawn up around the palace.
When the King's men arrived, they came to a sudden halt and dared not
advance. But the Duke was not afraid; he went straight up to the Colonel
of the King's soldiers and asked him what he wanted.
The Colonel told him his errand.
"It's of no use," said the Duke. "You see how many men I have; and if
the King will listen to me, we shall become good friends, and I will
help him against his enemies, and in such a way that it will be heard
of far and wide," he said.
The Colonel was of the same opinion, and the Duke then invited him and
all his soldiers inside the palace, and the men had more than one glass
to drink and plenty of everything to eat as well.
But while they were eating and drinking they began talking; and the Duke
then got to hear that the King had a daughter who was his only child,
and was so wonderfully fair and beautiful that no one had ever seen her
like before. And the more the King's soldiers ate and drank the more
they thought she would suit the Duke for a wife.
And they went on talking so long that the Duke at last began to be of
the same opinion. "The worst of it," said the soldiers, "is that she is
just as proud as she is beautiful, and will never look at a man."
But the Duke laughed at this. "If that's all," said the Duke, "there's
sure to be a remedy for that complaint."
When the soldiers had eaten and drunk as much as they could find room
for, they shouted "Hurrah!" so that it echoed among the hills, and then
they set out homeward. But, as you may imagine, they did not walk
exactly in parade order, for they were rather unsteady about the knees,
and many of them did not carry their guns in regulation manner. The Duke
asked them to greet the King from him. He would call on him the
following day, he said.
When the Duke was alone again, he began to think of the Princess, and to
wonder if she were as beautiful and fair as they had made her out to be.
He would like to make sure of it; and as so many strange things had
happened that day it might not be impossible to find that out as well,
he thought.
"Lars, my lad!"
"What are master's orders?"
"Well, now you must bring me the King's daughter as soon as she has gone
to sleep," he said; "but she must not be awakened either on the way here
or back. Do you hear that?" he said. And before long the Princess was
lying on the bed. She slept so soundly and looked so wonderfully
beautiful as she lay there. Yes, she was as sweet as sugar, I can tell
you.
The Duke walked round about her, but she was just as beautiful from
whatever point of view he looked at her.
The more he looked the more he liked her.
"Lars, my lad!"
"What are master's orders?"
"You must now carry the Princess home," he said, "for now I know how she
looks, and to-morrow I will ask for her hand," he said.
Next morning the King looked out of the window. "I suppose I shall not
be troubled with the sight of that palace any more," he thought. But,
zounds! There it stood just as on the day before, and the sun shone so
brightly on the roof, and the weathercocks dazzled his eyes.
He now became furious, and called all his men.
They came quicker than usual.
The courtiers bowed and scraped, and the soldiers stood at attention and
presented arms.
"Do you see the palace there?" screamed the King.
They stretched their necks, and stared and gaped.
Yes, of course, that they did.
"Have I not ordered you to pull down the palace and hang the builder?"
he said.
Yes, they could not deny that; but then the Colonel himself stepped
forward and reported what had happened and how many soldiers the Duke
had, and how wonderfully grand the palace was.
And next he told him what the Duke had said, and how he had asked him to
give his greetings to the King, and all that sort of thing.
The King felt quite confused, and had to put his crown on the table and
scratch his head. He could not understand all this, although he was a
king; for he could take his oath it had all been built in a single
night; and if the Duke were not the evil one himself, he must in any
case have done it by magic.
While he sat there pondering, the Princess came into the room.
"Good morning to you, father!" she said. "Just fancy, I had such a
strange and beautiful dream last night!" she said.
"What did you dream then, my girl?" said the King.
"I dreamed I was in the new palace over yonder, and that I saw a Duke
there, so fine and handsome that I could never have imagined the like;
and now I want to get married, father," she said.
"Do you want to get married?--you, who never cared to look at a man!
That's very strange!" said the King.
"That may be," said the Princess; "but it's different now, and I want to
get married, and it's the Duke I want," she said.
The King was quite beside himself, so frightened did he become of the
Duke.
But all of a sudden he heard a terrible noise of drums and trumpets and
instruments of all kinds; and then came a message that the Duke had just
arrived with a large company, all of whom were so grandly dressed that
gold and silver glistened in every fold. The King put on his crown and
his coronation robes, and then went out on the steps to receive them.
And the Princess was not slow to follow him.
The Duke bowed most graciously, and the King of course did likewise, and
when they had talked awhile about their affairs and their grandeur they
became the best of friends. A great banquet was then prepared, and the
Duke was placed next to the Princess at the table. What they talked
about is not easy to tell, but the Duke spoke so well for himself that
the Princess could not very well say "No" to anything he said, and then
he went up to the King and asked for her hand. The King could not
exactly say "No" either, for he could very well see that the Duke was a
person with whom it was best to be on friendly terms; but give his
sanction there and then, he could not very well do that either. He
wanted to see the Duke's palace first, and find out about the state of
affairs over there, as you may understand.
So it was arranged that he should visit the Duke and take the Princess
with him to see his palace; and with this they parted company.
When the Duke returned home, Lars became busier than ever, for there was
so much to attend to. But he set to work and strove hard; and when the
King and his daughter arrived everything was so magnificent and splendid
that no words can describe it. They went through all the rooms and
looked about, and they found everything as it should be, and even still
more splendid, thought the King, and so he was quite pleased.
The wedding then took place, and that in grand style; and on the Duke's
arrival home with his bride he, too, gave a great feast, and then there
was an end to the festivities.
Some time passed by, and one evening the Duke heard these words:
"Are you satisfied now?"
It was Lars, as you may guess, but the Duke could not see him.
"Well, I ought to be," said the Duke. "You have provided me with
everything I have," he said.
"Yes, but what have I got in return?" asked Lars.
"Nothing," said the Duke; "but, bless me, what could I have given you,
who are not of flesh and blood, and whom I cannot see either?" he said.
"But if there is anything I can do for you, tell me what it is, and I
shall do it."
"Well, I should like to ask you for that little scrap of paper which you
found in the chest," said Lars.
"Nothing else?" said the Duke. "If such a trifle can help you, I can
easily do without it, for now I begin to know the words by heart," he
said.
Lars thanked the Duke, and asked him to put the paper on the chair in
front of the bed when he retired to rest, and he would be sure to fetch
it during the night.
The Duke did as he was told; and so he and the Princess lay down and
went to sleep.
But early in the morning the Duke awoke and felt so cold that his teeth
chattered, and when he had got his eyes quite open he found he was quite
naked and had not even as much as a thread on his back; and instead of
the grand bed and the beautiful bedroom, and the magnificent palace, he
lay on the big chest in the old tumble-down hut.
He began to shout:
"Lars, my lad!" But he got no answer. He shouted once more:
"Lars, my lad!" But he got no answer this time either. So he shouted all
he could:
"Lars, my lad!" But it was all in vain.
Now he began to understand how matters stood. When Lars had got the
scrap of paper he was freed from service at the same time, and now he
had taken everything with him, But there was no help for it. There stood
the Duke in the old hut quite naked; and as for the Princess she was not
much better off, although she had her clothes on, for she had got them
from her father, so Lars had no power over them.
The Duke had now to tell the Princess everything, and ask her to leave
him. He would have to manage as best he could, he said. But she would
not hear of it. She well remembered what the parson had said when he
married them, and she would never, never leave him, she said.
In the meantime the King in his palace had also awakened, and when he
looked out of the window he did not see any sign whatever of the other
palace where his daughter and son-in-law lived. He became uneasy, as you
may imagine, and called his courtiers.
They came in, and began to bow and scrape.
"Do you see the palace over yonder behind the forest?" he asked.
They stretched their necks and stared with all their might.
No, they did not see it.
"Where has it gone to, then?" asked the King.
Well, really they did not know.
It was not long before the King set out with all his court through the
forest; and when he arrived at the place where the palace with the
beautiful gardens should have been, he could not see anything but
heather and juniper bushes and firs. But then he discovered the old
tumble-down hut, which stood there among the bushes. He entered the hut
and--mercy on us!--what a sight met his eyes! There stood his
son-in-law, quite naked, and his daughter, who had not very many clothes
on either, and who was crying and moaning.
"Dear, dear! what does all this mean?" said the King; but he did not get
any answer, for the Duke would rather have died than tell him.
The King did his utmost to get him to speak; but in spite of all the
King's promises and threats the Duke remained obstinate and would not
utter a word.
The King then became angry--and no wonder, for now he could see that
this grand Duke was not what he pretended to be, and so he ordered the
Duke to be hanged, and that without any loss of time. The Princess
begged and prayed for mercy; but neither prayers nor tears were of any
help now; for an impostor he was, and as an impostor he should die, said
the King.
And so it had to be. They erected a gallows, and placed the rope round
the Duke's neck. But while they were getting the gallows ready, the
Princess got hold of the hangman, and gave both him and his assistant
some money, that they should so manage the hanging of the Duke that he
should not lose his life, and in the night they were to cut him down, so
that he and the Princess might then flee the country. And that's how the
matter was arranged.
In the meantime they had strung up the Duke, and the King and his court
and all the people went their way.
The Duke was now in great straits. He had, however, plenty of time to
reflect how foolish he had been in not saving some of the crumbs when he
was living in plenty, and how unpardonably stupid he had been in letting
Lars have the scrap of paper. This vexed him more than all. If only he
had it again, he thought, they should see he had been gaining some sense
in return for all he had lost. But it is of little use snarling if you
haven't got any teeth. "Ah, well, well!" he sighed, and so he dangled
his legs, which was really all he could do.
The day passed slowly and tediously for him, and he was not at all
displeased when he saw the sun setting behind the forest. But just
before it disappeared he heard a fearful shouting, and when he looked
down the hill, he saw seven cartloads of worn-out shoes, and on the top
of the hindmost cart he saw a little old man in gray clothes and with a
red pointed cap on his head. His face was like that of the worst
scarecrow, and the rest of him was not very handsome either.
He drove straight up to the gallows, and when he arrived right under it
he stopped and looked up at the Duke, and then burst out laughing, the
ugly old fellow!
"How stupid you were!" he said; "but what should the fool do with his
stupidity if he did not make use of it?" And then he laughed again.
"Yes, there you are hanging now, and here am I carting away all the
shoes I have worn out for your whims. I wonder if you can read what is
written on this bit of paper, and if you recognize it?" he said with an
ugly laugh, holding up the paper before the Duke's eyes.
But all who hang are not dead, and this time it was Lars who was
befooled.
The Duke made a clutch, and snatched the paper from him.
"Lars, my lad!"
"What are master's orders?"
"Well, you must cut me down from the gallows and put the palace and all
the rest in its place again, exactly as it was before, and when the
night has set in you must bring back the Princess."
All went merrily as in a dance, and before long everything was in its
place, just as it was when Lars took himself off.
When the King awoke the next morning he looked out of the window, as was
his custom, and there stood the palace again, with the weathercocks
glittering so beautifully in the sunshine. He called his courtiers, and
they came and began to bow and scrape.
They stretched their necks as far as they could, and stared and gaped.
"Do you see the palace over there?" said the King.
Yes, of course, they did.
The King then sent for the Princess, but she was not to be found. He
then went out to see if his son-in-law was still hanging on the gallows,
but neither son-in-law nor gallows was to be seen.
He had to lift off his crown and scratch his head. But that did not
improve matters; he could not make head or tail of either one thing or
the other. He set off at once with all his court through the forest, and
when he came to the place where the palace should stand, there it stood
sure enough. The gardens and the roses were exactly as they used to be,
and the Duke's people were to be seen everywhere among the trees. His
son-in-law and his daughter received him on the steps, dressed in their
finest clothes.
"Well, I never saw the like of this," said the King to himself; he could
scarcely believe his own eyes, so wonderful did it all seem to him.
"God's peace be with you, father, and welcome here!" said the Duke.
The King stood staring at him.
"Are you my son-in-law?" he asked.
"Well, I suppose I am," said the Duke. "Who else should I be?"
"Did I not order you to be hanged yesterday like any common thief?" said
the King.
"I think you must have been bewitched on the way," said the Duke, with a
laugh. "Do you think I am the man to let myself be hanged? Or is there
anyone here who dares to believe it?" he said, and looked so fiercely at
the courtiers that they felt as if they were being pierced through and
through.
They bowed and scraped and cringed before him.
Who could believe such a thing? Was it at all likely?
"Well, if there is anyone who dares to say the King could have wished me
such evil, let him speak out," said the Duke, and fixed his eyes upon
them still more fiercely than before.
They went on bowing and scraping and cringing.
How could anyone dare to say such a thing? No, they had more sense than
that, they should hope.
The King did not know what to believe, for when he looked at the Duke he
thought he never could have wished him such evil; but still he was not
quite convinced.
"Did I not come here yesterday, and was not the whole palace gone, and
was there not an old hut in its place? And did not I go into that hut,
and did not you stand stark naked right before my eyes?" he asked.
"I wonder the King can talk so," said the Duke. "I think the trolls must
have bewitched your eyes in the forest and made you quite crazy; or what
do you think?" he said, and turned round to the courtiers.
They bowed and bowed till their backs were bent double, and agreed with
everything he said, there could be no mistake about that. The King
rubbed his eyes, and looked round about him.
"I suppose it is as you say, then," he said to the Duke, "and it is well
I have got back my proper sight and have come to my senses again. For it
would have been a sin and a shame if I had let you be hanged," he said;
and so he was happy again, and nobody thought any more about the
matter.
"Once bitten, twice shy," as the proverb says; and the Duke now took
upon himself to manage and look after most of his affairs, so that it
was seldom Lars had to wear out his shoes. The King soon gave the Duke
half the kingdom into the bargain; so he had now plenty to do, and
people said they would have to search a long time to find his equal in
wise and just ruling.
Then one day Lars came to the Duke, looking very little better than the
first time he had seen him; but he was, of course, more humble, and did
not dare to giggle and make grimaces.
"You do not want my help any longer, now," he said; "for although I did
wear out my shoes at first, I am now unable to wear out a single pair,
and my feet will soon be covered all over with moss. So I thought I
might now get my leave of absence," he said.
The Duke quite agreed with him. "I have tried to spare you, and I almost
think I could do without you," he said. "But the palace and all the rest
I do not want to lose, for such a clever builder as you I shall never
get again; nor do I ever want to adorn the gallows again, as you can
well understand; so I cannot give you back the paper on any account," he
said.
"Well, as long as you have got it, I need not fear," said Lars; "but if
anybody else should get hold of it there will be nothing but running and
trudging about again, and that's what I want to avoid; for when one has
been tramping about for a thousand years, as I have done, one begins to
get tired of it," he said.
But they went on talking, and at last they agreed that the Duke should
put the paper in the box, and then bury it seven ells under the ground,
under a stone fixed in the earth. They then gave mutual thanks for the
time they had spent in each other's company, and so they parted.
The Duke carried out his part of the agreement, for he was not likely
to want to change it. He lived happy and contented with the Princess,
and they had both sons and daughters. When the King died, he got the
whole of the kingdom, and you may guess he was none the worse off for
that; and there no doubt he still lives and reigns, if he is not dead.
But as for that box with the scrap of paper in it, there are many who
are still running about looking for it.
_Twigmuntus, Cowbelliantus, Perchnosius_
ONCE upon a time there was a king who was so very learned that no parson
in the whole world could surpass him; in fact, he was so learned that
ordinary folks could hardly understand what he said, nor could he
understand them either. But in order to have some one to talk with he
procured seven wise professors, who were not quite so learned as
himself, but who were just able to interpret his learned sayings so that
people could apprehend them, and who could twist and turn about the talk
of ordinary folk so that it became sufficiently learned and complicated
for the King to understand it.
The King had no son, but he had a daughter, and in order that she should
be happily married, and the country governed according to the
fundamental principles of his learning, he issued an edict that he who
was so learned as to put the King and his professors to silence should
have his daughter and half the kingdom there and then. But anyone who
attempted the task and did not succeed should lose his head for having
dared to exchange words with the King.
That was no joke; but the Princess was so fair and beautiful that it was
no joke to gaze at her either. And the King did not keep her caged up,
for anyone who wished could see her.
There came princes and counts and barons and parsons and doctors and
learned persons from all quarters of the world; and no sooner did they
see the Princess than they one and all wanted to try their luck. But,
however learned they were, their learning never proved sufficient, and
everyone of them lost his head.
Over in a corner of the kingdom there lived a farmer who had a son. This
lad was not stupid; he was quick of apprehension and sharp-witted, and
he was not afraid of anything.
When the King's edict came to this out-of-the-way place, and the parson
had read it from the pulpit, the lad wanted to try his luck. "He who
nothing risks, nothing wins," thought the lad; and so he went to the
parson and told him that if he would give him lessons in the evenings,
he would work for this worship in the daytime, but he wanted to become
so learned that he could try a bout with the King and his professors.
"Whoever means to compete with them must be able to do something more
than munch bread," said the parson.
"That may be," said the lad; "but I'll try my luck."
The parson thought, of course, that he was mad; but when he could get
such a clever hand to work for him only for his keep, he thought he
could not very well say no; and so the lad got what he wanted.
He worked for the parson in the daytime, and the parson read with him in
the evening; and in this way they went on for some time, but at last the
lad grew tired of his books.
"I am not going to sit here and read and grind away, and lose what few
wits I have," he said; "and it won't be of much help either, for if you
are lucky things will come right of themselves, and if you are not lucky
you'll never make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."
And with this he pitched the books on the shelf and went his way.
All at once he came to a large forest, where the trees and the bushes
were so thick that it was with difficulty he could get along. While he
was thus pushing his way through, he began wondering what he should say
when he came to the king's palace, and how best he could make use of the
learning he had picked up from the parson. All of a sudden the twig of
a tree struck him across his mouth, so that his teeth rattled.
"That is Twigmuntus," he said.
A little while after he came to a meadow where a cow was standing
bellowing so furiously that it almost deafened him.
"That is Cowbelliantus," he said.
He then came to a river; but as there was neither bridge nor planks
across it, he had to put his clothes on his head and swim across.
While he was swimming a perch came and bit him on the nose.
"That is Perchnosius," he said.
At last he came to the King's palace, where things did not look at all
pleasant, for there were men's heads stuck on long stakes round about,
and they grinned so horribly that they were enough to frighten anyone
out of his wits. But the lad was not easily frightened.
"God's peace!" he said, and raised his cap. "There you stick and grin at
me; but who knows if I may not be keeping you company before the day is
over, and be grinning with you at others? But if I happen to be alive,
you shall not stick there any longer gaping at people," he said.
So he went up to the palace and knocked at the gate.
The guard came out and asked what he wanted.
"I have come to try my luck with the Princess," said the lad.
"You?" said the guard, "well, you're a likely one, you are! Have you
lost your senses? There have been princes and counts and barons and
parsons and doctors and learned persons here, and all of them have had
to pay with their heads for that pleasure; and yet you think you'll
succeed!" he said.
"I should say it is no concern of yours," said the lad; "just open the
gate, and you'll see one who's not afraid of anything."
But the guard would not let him in.
"Do as I tell you," said the lad, "or there'll be a fine to-do!"
But the guard would not.
The lad then seized him by the collar and flung him against the wall so
that it creaked; and then he walked straight in to the King, who sat in
his parlor with his seven professors about him. Their faces were long
and thin, and they looked like puny, sickly persons about to die. They
were sitting with their heads on one side, meditating and staring at the
floor.
Then one of them, who looked up, asked the lad in ordinary language:
"Who are you?"
"A suitor," said the lad.
"Do you want to try for the Princess's hand?"
"Well, that's about it!" said the lad.
"Have you lost your wits? There have been princes and counts and barons
and parsons and doctors and learned persons here, and all of them have
gone headless away; so you had better turn about and get away while your
head is on your shoulders," he said.
"Don't trouble yourself on that account, but rather think of the head on
your own shoulders," said the lad. "You look after yours, and I'll take
care of mine! So just begin and let me hear how much wit you have got,
for I don't think you look so very clever," he said.
The first professor then began a long harangue of gibberish; and when he
had finished the second went on; and then the third; and in this way
they continued till at length it was the turn of the seventh. The lad
did not understand a single word of it all, but he didn't lose courage
for all that. He only nodded his approval to all of it.
When the last had finished his harangue he asked:
"Can you reply to that?"
"That's easy enough," said the lad. "Why, when I was in my cradle and in
my go-cart I could twist my mouth about and prate and jabber like you,"
he said. "But since you are so terribly learned, I'll put a question to
you, and that shall not be a long one:
"Twigmuntus, Cowbelliantus, Perchnosius? Can you give me an answer to
that?"
And now you should have seen how they stretched their necks and
strained their ears. They put on their spectacles and began to look into
their books and turn over the leaves.
But while they were searching and meditating, the lad put his hands in
his trousers pockets, and looked so frank and fearless that they could
not help admiring him, and wondering that one who was so young could be
so learned and yet look just like other people.
"Well, how are you getting on?" said the lad. "Cannot all your learning
help you to open your mouths, so that I can have an answer to my
question?" he said.
Then they began to ponder and meditate, and then they glanced at the
ceiling, and then they stared at the walls, and then they fixed their
eyes upon the floor. But they could not give him any answer, nor could
the King himself, although he was much more learned than all the others
together. They had to give it up, and the lad got the Princess and half
the kingdom. This he ruled in his own way, and if it did not fare
better, it did not fare worse for him than for the King with all his
fundamental principles.
_Master Tobacco_
ONCE upon a time there was a poor woman who went about begging with her
son; for at home she had neither a morsel to eat nor a stick to burn.
First she tried the country, and went from parish to parish; but it was
poor work, and so she came into the town. There she went about from
house to house for a while, and at last she came to the Lord Mayor. He
was both open-hearted and open-handed, and he was married to the
daughter of the richest merchant in the town, and they had one little
daughter. As they had no more children, you may fancy she was sugar and
spice and all that's nice, and in a word there was nothing too good for
her. This little girl soon came to know the beggar boy as he went about
with his mother; and as the Lord Mayor was a wise man, as soon as he
saw what friends the two were, he took the boy into his house that he
might be his daughter's playmate. Yes, they played and read and went to
school together, and never had so much as one quarrel.
[Illustration: "AND WHEN HE SET HER DOWN HE GAVE HER A KISS"]
One day the Lady Mayoress stood at the window, and watched the children
as they were trudging off to school. There had been a shower of rain,
and the street was flooded, and she saw how the boy first carried the
basket with their dinner over the stream, and then he went back and
lifted the little girl over, and when he set her down he gave her a
kiss.
When the Lady Mayoress saw this, she got very angry. "To think of such a
ragamuffin kissing our daughter--we who are the best people in the
place!" That was what she said. Her husband did his best to stop her
tongue. "No one knew," he said, "how children would turn out in life, or
what might befall his own. The boy was a clever, handy lad, and often
and often a great tree sprang from a slender plant."
But no! it was all the same, whatever he said and whichever way he put
it. The Lady Mayoress held her own, and said beggars on horseback always
rode their cattle to death, and that no one had ever heard of a silk
purse being made out of a sow's ear; adding, that a penny would never
turn into a shilling, even though it glittered like a guinea. The end of
it all was that the poor lad was turned out of the house, and had to
pack up his rags and be off.
When the Lord Mayor saw there was no help for it, he sent him away with
a trader who had come thither with a ship, and he was to be cabin boy on
board her. He told his wife he had sold the boy for a roll of tobacco.
But before he went the Lord Mayor's daughter broke her ring into two
bits and gave the boy one bit, that it might be a token to know him by
if they ever met again; and so the ship sailed away, and the lad came to
a town, far, far off in the world, and to that town a priest had just
come who was so good a preacher that everyone went to church to hear
him, and the crew of the ship went with the rest the Sunday after to
hear the sermon. As for the lad, he was left behind to mind the ship and
to cook the dinner. So while he was hard at work he heard some one
calling out across the water on an island. So he took the boat and rowed
across, and there he saw an old hag, who called and roared.
"Aye," she said, "you have come at last! Here have I stood a hundred
years calling and bawling, and thinking how I should ever get over this
water; but no one has ever heard or heeded but you, and you shall be
well paid if you will put me over to the other side."
So the lad had to row her to her sister's house, who lived on a hill on
the other side close by; and when they got there, she told him to beg
for the old tablecloth which lay on the dresser. Yes! he would beg for
it; and when the old witch who lived there knew that he had helped her
sister over the water, she said he might have whatever he chose to ask.
"Oh," said the boy, "then I won't have anything else than that old
tablecloth on the dresser yonder."
"Oh," said the old witch, "that you never asked out of your own wits."
"Now I must be off," said the lad, "to cook the Sunday dinner for the
church-goers."
"Never mind that," said the first old hag; "it will cook itself while
you are away. Stop with me, and I will pay you better still. Here have I
stood and called and bawled for a hundred years, but no one has ever
heeded me but you."
The end was he had to go with her to another sister, and when he got
there the old hag said he was to be sure and ask for the old sword,
which was such that he could put it into his pocket and it became a
knife, and when he drew it out it was a long sword again. One edge was
black and the other white, and if he smote with the black edge
everything fell dead, and if with the white everything came to life
again. So when they came over, and the second old witch heard how he had
helped her sister across, she said he might have anything he chose to
ask for her fare.
"Oh," said the lad, "then I will have nothing else but that old sword
which hangs up over the cupboard."
"That you never asked out of your own wits," said the old witch; but for
all that he got the sword.
Then the old hag said again: "Come on with me to my third sister. Here
have I stood and called and bawled for a hundred years, and no one has
heeded me but you. Come on to my third sister, and you shall have better
pay still."
So he went with her, and on the way she told him he was to ask for the
old hymn book; and that was such a book that when anyone was sick and
the nurse sang one of the hymns, the sickness passed away, and they were
well again. Well! when they got across, and the third old witch heard he
had helped her sister across, she said he was to have whatever he chose
to ask for his fare.
"Oh," said the lad, "then I won't have anything else but granny's old
hymn book."
"That," said the old hag, "you never asked out of your own wits."
When he got back to the ship the crew were still at church, so he tried
his tablecloth, and spread just a little bit of it out, for he wanted to
see what good it was before he laid it on the table. Yes! in a trice it
was covered with good food and strong drink, enough and to spare. So he
just took a little snack, and then he gave the ship's dog as much as it
could eat.
When the church-goers came on board, the captain said: "Wherever did you
get all that food for the dog? Why, he's as round as a sausage, and as
lazy as a snail."
"Oh, if you must know," said the lad, "I gave him the bones."
"Good boy," said the captain, "to think of the dog."
So he spread out the cloth, and at once the whole table was covered all
over with such brave meat and drink as they had never before seen in all
their born days.
Now when the boy was again alone with the dog, he wanted to try the
sword, so he smote at the dog with the black edge, and it fell dead on
the deck; but when he turned the blade and smote with the white edge
the dog came to life again and wagged his tail and fawned on his
playmate. But the book--that he could not get tried just then.
Then they sailed well and far till a storm overtook them which lasted
many days, so they lay to and drove till they were quite out of their
course, and could not tell where they were. At last the wind fell, and
then they came to a country far, far off that none of them knew; but
they could easily see there was great grief there, as well there might
be, for the King's daughter was a leper. The King came down to the
shore, and asked was there anyone on board who could cure her and make
her well again.
"No, there was not." That was what they all said who were on deck.
"Is there no one else on board the ship than those I see?" asked the
King.
"Yes; there's a little beggar boy."
"Well," said the King, "let him come on deck."
So when he came and heard what the King wanted, he said he thought he
might cure her; and then the captain got so wroth and mad with rage that
he ran round and round like a squirrel in a cage, for he thought the boy
was only putting himself forward to do something in which he was sure to
fail, and he told the King not to listen to such childish chatter.
But the King only said that wit came as children grew, and that there
was the making of a man in every bairn. The boy had said he could do it,
and he might as well try. After all, there were many who had tried and
failed before him. So he took him home to his daughter, and the lad sang
a hymn once. Then the Princess could lift her arm. Once again he sang
it, and she could sit up in bed. And when he had sung it thrice, the
King's daughter was as well as you and I are.
The King was so glad he wanted to give him half his kingdom and the
princess to wife.
"Yes," said the lad, "land and power are fine things to have half of,"
and was very grateful; "but as for the Princess, he was betrothed to
another," he said, "and he could not take her to wife."
So he stayed there awhile and got half the kingdom; and when he had not
been very long there, war broke out, and the lad went out to battle with
the rest, and you may fancy he did not spare the black edge of his
sword. The enemy's soldiers fell before him like flies, and the King won
the day. But when they had conquered, he turned the white edge, and they
all rose up alive and became the King's soldiers, who had granted them
their lives. But then there were so many of them that they were badly
off for food, though the King wished to send them away full, both of
meat and drink. So the lad had to bring out his tablecloth, and then
there was not a man that lacked anything.
Now when he had lived a little longer with the King, he began to long to
see the Lord Mayor's daughter. So he fitted out four ships of war and
set sail; and when he came off the town where the Lord Mayor lived, he
fired off his cannon like thunder, till half the panes of glass in the
town were shivered. On board those ships everything was as grand as in a
King's palace; and as for himself, he had gold on every seam of his
coat, so fine he was. It was not long before the Lord Mayor came down to
the shore and asked if the foreign lord would not be so good as to come
up and dine with him. "Yes, he would go," he said; and so he went up to
the Mansion House where the Lord Mayor lived, and there he took his seat
between the Lady Mayoress and her daughter.
So as they sat there in the greatest state, and ate and drank and were
merry, he threw t
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