The Red Fairy Book

Part 3 out of 8

the buzzing was so loud that the King was afraid he should be
deafened by it. He asked the most distinguished-looking cockchafer
they met if he knew where they could find the King of the
Peacocks.

`Sire,' replied the cockchafer, `his kingdom is thirty thousand
leagues from this; you have come the longest way.'

`And how do you know that?' said the King.

`Oh!' said the cockchafer, `we all know you very well, since we
spend two or three months in your garden every year.'

Thereupon the King and the Prince made great friends with him,
and they all walked arm-in-arm and dined together, and afterwards
the cockchafer showed them all the curiosities of his strange country,
where the tiniest green leaf costs a gold piece and more. Then
they set out again to finish their journey, and this time, as they knew
the way, they were not long upon the road. It was easy to guess
that they had come to the right place, for they saw peacocks in
every tree, and their cries could be heard a long way off:

When they reached the city they found it full of men and women
who were dressed entirely in peacocks' feathers, which were evidently
thought prettier than anything else.

They soon met the King, who was driving about in a beautiful
little golden carriage which glittered with diamonds, and was drawn
at full speed by twelve peacocks. The King and the Prince were
delighted to see that the King of the Peacocks was as handsome as
possible. He had curly golden hair and was very pale, and he
wore a crown of peacocks' feathers.

When he saw Rosette's brothers he knew at once that they were
strangers, and stopping his carriage he sent for them to speak to
him. When they had greeted him they said:

`Sire, we have come from very far away to show you a beautiful
portrait.'

So saying they drew from their travelling bag the picture of
Rosette.

The King looked at it in silence a long time, but at last he said:

`I could not have believed that there was such a beautiful
Princess in the world!'

`Indeed, she is really a hundred times as pretty as that,' said
her brothers.

`I think you must be making fun of me,' replied the King of the
Peacocks.

`Sire,' said the Prince, `my brother is a King, like yourself. He
is called ``the King,'' I am called ``the Prince,'' and that is the
portrait of our sister, the Princess Rosette. We have come to ask
if you would like to marry her. She is as good as she is beautiful,
and we will give her a bushel of gold pieces for her dowry.'

`Oh! with all my heart,' replied the King, `and I will make her
very happy. She shall have whatever she likes, and I shall love
her dearly; only I warn you that if she is not as pretty as you have
told me, I will have your heads cut off.'

`Oh! certainly, we quite agree to that,' said the brothers in one
breath.

`Very well. Off with you into prison, and stay there until the
Princess arrives,' said the King of the Peacocks.

And the Princes were so sure that Rosette was far prettier than
her portrait that they went without a murmur. They were very
kindly treated, and that they might not feel dull the King came
often to see them. As for Rosette's portrait that was taken up to
the palace, and the King did nothing but gaze at it all day and all
night.

As the King and the Prince had to stay in prison, they sent a
letter to the Princess telling her to pack up all her treasures as
quickly as possible, and come to them, as the King of the Peacocks
was waiting to marry her; but they did not say that they were in
prison, for fear of making her uneasy.

When Rosette received the letter she was so delighted that she
ran about telling everyone that the King of the Peacocks was found,
and she was going to marry him.

Guns were fired, and fireworks let off. Everyone had as many
cakes and sweetmeats as he wanted. And for three days everybody
who came to see the Princess was presented with a slice of bread-
and-jam, a nightingale's egg, and some hippocras. After having
thus entertained her friends, she distributed her dolls among them,
and left her brother's kingdom to the care of the wisest old men of
the city, telling them to take charge of everything, not to spend any
money, but save it all up until the King should return, and above
all, not to forget to feed her peacock. Then she set out, only taking
with her her nurse, and the nurse's daughter, and the little green
dog Frisk.

They took a boat and put out to sea, carrying with them the
bushel of gold pieces, and enough dresses to last the Princess ten
years if she wore two every day, and they did nothing but laugh and
sing. The nurse asked the boatman:

`Can you take us, can you take us to the kingdom of the peacocks?'

But he answered:

`Oh no! oh no!'

Then she said:

`You must take us, you must take us.'

And he answered:

`Very soon, very soon.'

Then the nurse said:

`Will you take us? will you take us?'

And the boatman answered:

`Yes, yes.'

Then she whispered in his ear:

`Do you want to make your fortune?'

And he said:

`Certainly I do.'

`I can tell you how to get a bag of gold,' said she.

`I ask nothing better,' said the boatman.

`Well,' said the nurse, `to-night, when the Princess is asleep, you
must help me to throw her into the sea, and when she is drowned
I will put her beautiful clothes upon my daughter, and we will take
her to the King of the Peacocks, who will be only too glad to marry
her, and as your reward you shall have your boat full of diamonds.'

The boatman was very much surprised at this proposal, and
said:

`But what a pity to drown such a pretty Princess!'

However, at last the nurse persuaded him to help her, and when
the night came and the Princess was fast asleep as usual, with Frisk
curled up on his own cushion at the foot of her bed, the wicked nurse
fetched the boatman and her daughter, and between them they
picked up the Princess, feather bed, mattress, pillows, blankets and
all, and threw her into the sea, without even waking her. Now,
luckily, the Princess's bed was entirely stuffed with phoenix feathers,
which are very rare, and have the property of always floating upon
water, so Rosette went on swimming about as if she had been in a
boat. After a little while she began to feel very cold, and turned
round so often that she woke Frisk, who started up, and, having a
very good nose, smelt the soles and herrings so close to him that he
began to bark. He barked so long and so loud that he woke all the
other fish, who came swimming up round the Princess's bed, and
poking at it with their great heads. As for her, she said to herself:

`How our boat does rock upon the water! I am really glad
that I am not often as uncomfortable as I have been to-night.'

The wicked nurse and the boatman, who were by this time quite
a long way off, heard Frisk barking, and said to each other:

`That horrid little animal and his mistress are drinking our
health in sea-water now. Let us make haste to land, for we must
be quite near the city of the King of the Peacocks.'

The King had sent a hundred carriages to meet them, drawn by
every kind of strange animal. There were lions, bears, wolves, stags,
horses, buffaloes, eagles, and peacocks. The carriage intended for
the Princess Rosette had six blue monkeys, which could turn summer-
saults, and dance on a tight-rope, and do many other charming
tricks. Their, harness was all of crimson velvet with gold buckles,
and behind the carriage walked sixty beautiful ladies chosen by the
King to wait upon Rosette and amuse her.

The nurse had taken all the pains imaginable to deck out her
daughter. She put on her Rosette's prettiest frock, and covered her
with diamonds from head to foot. But she was so ugly that nothing
could make her look nice, and what was worse, she was sulky and
ill-tempered, and did nothing but grumble all the time.

When she stepped from the boat and the escort sent by the King
of the Peacocks caught sight of her, they were so surprised that they
could not say a single word.

`Now then, look alive,' cried the false Princess. `If you don't
bring me something to eat I will have all your heads cut off!'

Then they whispered one to another:

`Here's a pretty state of things! she is as wicked as she is ugly.
What a bride for our poor King! She certainly was not worth bringing
from the other end of the world!'

But she went on ordering them all about, and for no fault at all
would give slaps and pinches to everyone she could reach.

As the procession was so long it advanced but slowly, and the
nurse's daughter sat up in her carriage trying to look like a Queen.
But the peacocks, who were sitting upon every tree waiting to salute
her, and who had made up their minds to cry, `Long live our beautiful
Queen!' when they caught sight of the false bride could not
help crying instead:

`Oh! how ugly she is!'

Which offended her so much that she said to the guards:

`Make haste and kill all these insolent peacocks who have dared
to insult me.'

But the peacocks only flew away, laughing at her.

The rogue of a boatman, who noticed all this, said softly to the
nurse:

`This is a bad business for us, gossip; your daughter ought to
have been prettier.'

But she answered:

`Be quiet, stupid, or you will spoil everything.'

Now they told the King that the Princess was approaching.

`Well,' said he, `did her brothers tell me truly? Is she prettier
than her portrait?'

`Sire,' they answered, `if she were as pretty that would do very well.'

`That's true,' said the King; `I for one shall be quite satisfied if
she is. Let us go and meet her.' For they knew by the uproar that
she had arrived, but they could not tell what all the shouting was
about. The King thought he could hear the words:

`How ugly she is! How ugly she is!' and he fancied they must
refer to some dwarf the Princess was bringing with her. It never
occurred to him that they could apply to the bride herself.

The Princess Rosette's portrait was carried at the head of the
procession, and after it walked the King surrounded by his courtiers.
He was all impatience to see the lovely Princess, but when he
caught sight of the nurse's daughter he was furiously angry, and
would not advance another step. For she was really ugly enough
to have frightened anybody.

`What!' he cried, `have the two rascals who are my prisoners
dared to play me such a trick as this? Do they propose that I
shall marry this hideous creature? Let her be shut up in my great
tower, with her nurse and those who brought her here; and as for
them, I will have their heads cut off.'

Meanwhile the King and the Prince, who knew that their
sister must have arrived, had made themselves smart, and sat
expecting every minute to be summoned to greet her. So when the
gaoler came with soldiers, and carried them down into a black
dungeon which swarmed with toads and bats, and where they were up
to their necks in water, nobody could have been more surprised and
dismayed than they were.

`This is a dismal kind of wedding,' they said; `what can have
happened that we should be treated like this? They must mean to
kill us.'

And this idea annoyed them very much. Three days passed
before they heard any news, and then the King of the Peacocks came
and berated them through a hole in the wall.

`You have called yourselves King and Prince,' he cried, `to try
and make me marry your sister, but you are nothing but beggars,
not worth the water you drink. I mean to make short work with
you, and the sword is being sharpened that will cut off your heads!'

`King of the Peacocks,' answered the King angrily, `you had
better take care what you are about. I am as good a King as yourself,
and have a splendid kingdom and robes and crowns, and
plenty of good red gold to do what I like with. You are pleased to
jest about having our heads cut off; perhaps you think we have stolen
something from you?'

At first the King of the Peacocks was taken aback by this bold
speech, and had half a mind to send them all away together; but
his Prime Minister declared that it would never do to let such a
trick as that pass unpunished, everybody would laugh at him; so the
accusation was drawn up against them, that they were impostors,
and that they had promised the King a beautiful Princess in marriage
who, when she arrived, proved to be an ugly peasant girl.

This accusation was read to the prisoners, who cried out that
they had spoken the truth, that their sister was indeed a Princess
more beautiful than the day, and that there was some mystery
about all this which they could not fathom. Therefore they
demanded seven days in which to prove their innocence, The King
of the Peacocks was so angry that he would hardly even grant them
this favour, but at last he was persuaded to do so.

While all this was going on at court, let us see what had been
happening to the real Princess. When the day broke she and Frisk
were equally astonished at finding themselves alone upon the sea,
with no boat and no one to help them. The Princess cried and
cried, until even the fishes were sorry for her.

`Alas!' she said, `the King of the Peacocks must have ordered
me to be thrown into the sea because he had changed his mind
and did not want to marry me. But how strange of him, when I
should have loved him so much, and we should have been so happy
together!'

And then she cried harder than ever, for she could not help still
loving him. So for two days they floated up and down the sea, wet
and shivering with the cold, and so hungry that when the Princess
saw some oysters she caught them, and she and Frisk both ate some,
though they didn't like them at all. When night came the Princess
was so frightened that she said to Frisk:

`Oh! Do please keep on barking for fear the soles should come
and eat us up!'

Now it happened that they had floated close in to the shore,
where a poor old man lived all alone in a little cottage. When he
heard Frisk's barking he thought to himself:

`There must have been a shipwreck!' (for no dogs ever passed
that way by any chance), and he went out to see if he could be of
any use. He soon saw the Princess and Frisk floating up and
down, and Rosette, stretching out her hands to him, cried:

`Oh! Good old man, do save me, or I shall die of cold and
hunger!'

When he heard her cry out so piteously he was very sorry for
her, and ran back into his house to fetch a long boat-hook. Then he
waded into the water up to his chin, and after being nearly drowned
once or twice he at last succeeded in getting hold of the Princess's
bed and dragging it on shore.

Rosette and Frisk were joyful enough to find themselves once
more on dry land, and the Princess thanked the old man heartily;
then, wrapping herself up in her blankets, she daintily picked her way
up to the cottage on her little bare feet. There the old man lighted
a fire of straw, and then drew from an old box his wife's dress and
shoes, which the Princess put on, and thus roughly clad looked as
charming as possible, and Frisk danced his very best to amuse her.

The old man saw that Rosette must be some great lady, for her
bed coverings were all of satin and gold. He begged that she
would tell him all her history, as she might safely trust him. The
Princess told him everything, weeping bitterly again at the thought
that it was by the King's orders that she had been thrown overboard.

`And now, my daughter, what is to be done?' said the old man.
`You are a great Princess, accustomed to fare daintily, and I have
nothing to offer you but black bread and radishes, which will not
suit you at all. Shall I go and tell the King of the Peacocks that
you are here? If he sees you he will certainly wish to marry you.'

`Oh no!' cried Rosette, `he must be wicked, since he tried to
drown me. Don't let us tell him, but if you have a little basket
give it to me.'

The old man gave her a basket, and tying it round Frisk's neck
she said to him: `Go and find out the best cooking-pot in the town
and bring the contents to me.'

Away went Frisk, and as there was no better dinner cooking in
all the town than the King's, he adroitly took the cover off the pot
and brought all it contained to the Princess, who said:

`Now go back to the pantry, and bring the best of everything you
find there.'

So Frisk went back and filled his basket with white bread, and
red wine, and every kind of sweetmeat, until it was almost too
heavy for him to carry.

When the King of the Peacocks wanted his dinner there was
nothing in the pot and nothing in the pantry. All the courtiers
looked at one another in dismay, and the King was terribly cross.

`Oh well! `he said, `if there is no dinner I cannot dine, but
take care that plenty of things are roasted for supper.'

When evening came the Princess said to Frisk:

`Go into the town and find out the best kitchen, and bring me
all the nicest morsels that are being roasted upon the spit.'

Frisk did as he was told, and as he knew of no better kitchen
than the King's, he went in softly, and when the cook's back was
turned took everything that was upon the spit, As it happened it
was all done to a turn, and looked so good that it made him hungry
only to see it. He carried his basket to the Princess, who at once
sent him back to the pantry to bring all the tarts and sugar plums
that had been prepared for the King's supper.

The King, as he had had no dinner, was very hungry and
wanted his supper early, but when he asked for it, lo and behold it
was all gone, and he had to go to bed half-starved and in a terrible
temper. The next day the same thing happened, and the next, so that
for three days the King got nothing at all to eat, because just when
the dinner or the supper was ready to be served it mysteriously
disappeared. At last the Prime Minister began to be afraid that
the King would be starved to death, so he resolved to hide himself
in some dark corner of the kitchen, and never take his eyes off the
cooking-pot. His surprise was great when he presently saw a little
green dog with one ear slip softly into the kitchen, uncover the
pot, transfer all its contents to his basket, and run off. The Prime
Minister followed hastily, and tracked him all through the town to
the cottage of the good old man; then he ran back to the King and
told him that he had found out where all his dinners and suppers
went. The King, who was very much astonished, said he should
like to go and see for himself. So he set out, accompanied by the
Prime Minister and a guard of archers, and arrived just in time to
find the old man and the Princess finishing his dinner.

The King ordered that they should be seized and bound with
ropes, and Frisk also.

When they were brought back to the palace some one told the
King, who said:

`To-day is the last day of the respite granted to those impostors;
they shall have their heads cut off at the same time as these
stealers of my dinner.' Then the old man went down on his knees
before the King and begged for time to tell him everything. While
he spoke the King for the first time looked attentively at the
Princess, because he was sorry to see how she cried, and when he
heard the old man saying that her name was Rosette, and that she
had been treacherously thrown into the sea, he turned head over
heels three times without stopping, in spite of being quite weak from
hunger, and ran to embrace her, and untied the ropes which bound
her with his own hands, declaring that he loved her with all his heart.

Messengers were sent to bring the Princes out of prison, and
they came very sadly, believing that they were to be executed at
once: the nurse and her daughter and the boatman were brought
also. As soon as they came in Rosette ran to embrace her brothers,
while the traitors threw themselves down before her and begged for
mercy. The King and the Princess were so happy that they freely
forgave them, and as for the good old man he was splendidly rewarded,
and spent the rest of his days in the palace. The King of the
Peacocks made ample amends to the King and Prince for the way
in which they had been treated, and did everything in his power to
show how sorry he was.

The nurse restored to Rosette all her dresses and jewels, and the
bushel of gold pieces; the wedding was held at once, and they all
lived happily ever after--even to Frisk, who enjoyed the greatest
luxury, and never had anything worse than the wing of a partridge
for dinner all the rest of his life.[7]

[7] Madame d'Aulnoy.

THE ENCHANTED PIG

ONCE upon a time there lived a King who had three daughters.
Now it happened that he had to go out to battle, so he called
his daughters and said to them:

`My dear children, I am obliged to go to the wars. The enemy
is approaching us with a large army. It is a great grief to me to
leave you all. During my absence take care of yourselves and be
good girls; behave well and look after everything in the house.
You may walk in the garden, and you may go into all the rooms
in the palace, except the room at the back in the right-hand
corner; into that you must not enter, for harm would befall you.'

`You may keep your mind easy, father,' they replied. `We
have never been disobedient to you. Go in peace, and may heaven
give you a glorious victory!'

When everything was ready for his departure, the King gave
them the keys of all the rooms and reminded them once more of
what he had said. His daughters kissed his hands with tears in
their eyes, and wished him prosperity, and he gave the eldest the
keys.

Now when the girls found themselves alone they felt so sad and
dull that they did not know what to do. So, to pass the time, they
decided to work for part of the day, to read for part of the day, and
to enjoy themselves in the garden for part of the day. As long as
they did this all went well with them. But this happy state of
things did not last long. Every day they grew more and more
curious, and you will see what the end of that was.

`Sisters,' said the eldest Princess, `all day long we sew, spin, and
read. We have been several days quite alone, and there is no
corner of the garden that we have not explored. We have been
in all the rooms of our father's palace, and have admired the rich
and beautiful furniture: why should not we go into the room that
our father forbad us to enter?'

Sister,' said the youngest, `I cannot think how you can tempt
us to break our father's command. When he told us not to go into
that room he must have known what he was saying, and have had
a good reason for saying it.'

`Surely the sky won't fall about our heads if we DO go in,' said
the second Princess. `Dragons and such like monsters that would
devour us will not be hidden in the room. And how will our father
ever find out that we have gone in?'

While they were speaking thus, encouraging each other, they
had reached the room; the eldest fitted the key into the lock, and
snap! the door stood open.

The three girls entered, and what do you think they saw?

The room was quite empty, and without any ornament, but in
the middle stood a large table, with a gorgeous cloth, and on it lay
a big open book.

Now the Princesses were curious to know what was written in
the book, especially the eldest, and this is what she read:

`The eldest daughter of this King will marry a prince from the
East.'

Then the second girl stepped forward, and turning over the page
she read:

`The second daughter of this King will marry a prince from the
West.'

The girls were delighted, and laughed and teased each other.

But the youngest Princess did not want to go near the table or
to open the book. Her elder sisters however left her no peace, and
will she, nill she, they dragged her up to the table, and in fear and
trembling she turned over the page and read:

`The youngest daughter of this King will be married to a pig from
the North.'

Now if a thunderbolt had fallen upon her from heaven it would
not have frightened her more.

She almost died of misery, and if her sisters had not held her
up, she would have sunk to the ground and cut her head open.

When she came out of the fainting fit into which she had
fallen in her terror, her sisters tried to comfort her, saying:

`How can you believe such nonsense? When did it ever happen
that a king's daughter married a pig?'

`What a baby you are!' said the other sister; `has not our
father enough soldiers to protect you, even if the disgusting creature
did come to woo you?'

The youngest Princess would fain have let herself be convinced
by her sisters' words, and have believed what they said, but her heart
was heavy. Her thoughts kept turning to the book, in which stood
written that great happiness waited her sisters, but that a fate was
in store for her such as had never before been known in the world.

Besides, the thought weighed on her heart that she had been
guilty of disobeying her father. She began to get quite ill, and in
a few days she was so changed that it was difficult to recognise her;
formerly she had been rosy and merry, now she was pale and
nothing gave her any pleasure. She gave up playing with her sisters
in the garden, ceased to gather flowers to put in her hair, and never
sang when they sat together at their spinning and sewing.

In the meantime the King won a great victory, and having
completely defeated and driven off the enemy, he hurried home to his
daughters, to whom his thoughts had constantly turned. Everyone
went out to meet him with cymbals and fifes and drums, and there
was great rejoicing over his victorious return. The King's first act
on reaching home was to thank Heaven for the victory he had gained
over the enemies who had risen against him. He then entered his
palace, and the three Princesses stepped forward to meet him. His
joy was great when he saw that they were all well, for the youngest
did her best not to appear sad.

In spite of this, however, it was not long before the King noticed
that his third daughter was getting very thin and sad-looking. And
all of a sudden he felt as if a hot iron were entering his soul, for it
flashed through his mind that she had disobeyed his word. He felt
sure he was right; but to be quite certain he called his daughters to
him, questioned them, and ordered them to speak the truth. They
confessed everything, but took good care not to say which had led
the other two into temptation.

The King was so distressed when he heard it that he was almost
overcome by grief. But he took heart and tried to comfort his
daughters, who looked frightened to death. He saw that what had
happened had happened, and that a thousand words would not alter
matters by a hair's-breadth.

Well, these events had almost been forgotten when one fine day
a prince from the East appeared at the Court and asked the King for
the hand of his eldest daughter. The King gladly gave his consent.
A great wedding banquet was prepared, and after three days of
feasting the happy pair were accompanied to the frontier with
much ceremony and rejoicing.

After some time the same thing befell the second daughter, who
was wooed and won by a prince from the West.

Now when the young Princess saw that everything fell out
exactly as had been written in the book, she grew very sad. She
refused to eat, and would not put on her fine clothes nor go out
walking, and declared that she would rather die than become a
laughing-stock to the world. But the King would not allow her to
do anything so wrong, and he comforted her in all possible ways.

So the time passed, till lo and behold! one fine day an enormous
pig from the North walked into the palace, and going straight
up to the King said, `Hail! oh King. May your life be as prosperous
and bright as sunrise on a clear day!'

`I am glad to see you well, friend,' answered the King, `but
what wind has brought you hither?'

`I come a-wooing,' replied the Pig.

Now the King was astonished to hear so fine a speech from a Pig,
and at once it occurred to him that something strange was the
matter. He would gladly have turned the Pig's thoughts in another
direction, as he did not wish to give him the Princess for a wife; but
when he heard that the Court and the whole street were full of all
the pigs in the world he saw that there was no escape, and that he
must give his consent. The Pig was not satisfied with mere promises,
but insisted that the wedding should take place within a
week, and would not go away till the King had sworn a royal oath
upon it.

The King then sent for his daughter, and advised her to submit
to fate, as there was nothing else to be done. And he added:

`My child, the words and whole behaviour of this Pig are quite
unlike those of other pigs. I do not myself believe that he always
was a pig. Depend upon it some magic or witchcraft has been at
work. Obey him, and do everything that he wishes, and I feel sure
that Heaven will shortly send you release.'

`If you wish me to do this, dear father, I will do it,' replied the
girl.

In the meantime the wedding-day drew near. After the marriage,
the Pig and his bride set out for his home in one of the royal
carriages. On the way they passed a great bog, and the Pig ordered
the carriage to stop, and got out and rolled about in the mire till
he was covered with mud from head to foot; then he got back
into the carriage and told his wife to kiss him. What was the
poor girl to do? She bethought herself of her father's words, and,
pulling out her pocket handkerchief, she gently wiped the Pig's
snout and kissed it.

By the time they reached the Pig's dwelling, which stood in a
thick wood, it was quite dark. They sat down quietly for a little, as
they were tired after their drive; then they had supper together, and
lay down to rest. During the night the Princess noticed that the Pig
had changed into a man. She was not a little surprised, but
remembering her father's words, she took courage, determined to
wait and see what would happen.

And now she noticed that every night the Pig became a man,
and every morning he was changed into a Pig before she awoke.
This happened several nights running, and the Princess could not
understand it at all. Clearly her husband must be bewitched. In
time she grew quite fond of him, he was so kind and gentle.

One fine day as she was sitting alone she saw an old witch go past.
She felt quite excited, as it was so long since she had seen a human
being, and she called out to the old woman to come and talk to her.
Among other things the witch told her that she understood all
magic arts, and that she could foretell the future, and knew the
healing powers of herbs and plants.

`I shall be grateful to you all my life, old dame,' said the
Princess, `if you will tell me what is the matter with my husband.
Why is he a Pig by day and a human being by night?'

`I was just going to tell you that one thing, my dear, to show
you what a good fortune-teller I am. If you like, I will give you a
herb to break the spell.'

`If you will only give it to me,' said the Princess, `I will give
you anything you choose to ask for, for I cannot bear to see him in
this state.'

`Here, then, my dear child,' said the witch, `take this thread,
but do not let him know about it, for if he did it would lose its
healing power. At night, when he is asleep, you must get up very
quietly, and fasten the thread round his left foot as firmly as
possible; and you will see in the morning he will not have changed
back into a Pig, but will still be a man. I do not want any reward.
I shall be sufficiently repaid by knowing that you are happy. It
almost breaks my heart to think of all you have suffered, and I only
wish I had known it sooner, as I should have come to your rescue
at once.'

When the old witch had gone away the Princess hid the thread
very carefully, and at night she got up quietly, and with a beating
heart she bound the thread round her husband's foot. Just as she
was pulling the knot tight there was a crack, and the thread broke,
for it was rotten.

Her husband awoke with a start, and said to her, `Unhappy
woman, what have you done? Three days more and this unholy
spell would have fallen from me, and now, who knows how long I
may have to go about in this disgusting shape? I must leave you
at once, and we shall not meet again until you have worn out three
pairs of iron shoes and blunted a steel staff in your search for me.'
So saying he disappeared.

Now, when the Princess was left alone she began to weep and
moan in a way that was pitiful to hear; but when she saw that
her tears and groans did her no good, she got up, determined to go
wherever fate should lead her.

On reaching a town, the first thing she did was to order three
pairs of iron sandals and a steel staff, and having made these
preparations for her journey, she set out in search of her husband. On
and on she wandered over nine seas and across nine continents;
through forests with trees whose stems were as thick as beer-
barrels; stumbling and knocking herself against the fallen branches,
then picking herself up and going on; the boughs of the trees hit
her face, and the shrubs tore her hands, but on she went, and never
looked back. At last, wearied with her long journey and worn out
and overcome with sorrow, but still with hope at her heart, she
reached a house.

Now who do you think lived there? The Moon.

The Princess knocked at the door, and begged to be let in that
she might rest a little. The mother of the Moon, when she saw her
sad plight, felt a great pity for her, and took her in and nursed and
tended her. And while she was here the Princess had a little
baby.

One day the mother of the Moon asked her:

`How was it possible for you, a mortal, to get hither to the
house of the Moon?'

Then the poor Princess told her all that happened to her, and
added `I shall always be thankful to Heaven for leading me
hither, and grateful to you that you took pity on me and on my
baby, and did not leave us to die. Now I beg one last favour of
you; can your daughter, the Moon, tell me where my husband is?'

`She cannot tell you that, my child,' replied the goddess, `but,
if you will travel towards the East until you reach the dwelling of
the Sun, he may be able to tell you something.'

Then she gave the Princess a roast chicken to eat, and warned
her to be very careful not to lose any of the bones, because they
might be of great use to her.

When the Princess had thanked her once more for her hospitality
and for her good advice, and had thrown away one pair of
shoes that were worn out, and had put on a second pair, she tied up
the chicken bones in a bundle, and taking her baby in her arms and
her staff in her hand, she set out once more on her wanderings.

On and on and on she went across bare sandy deserts, where the
roads were so heavy that for every two steps that she took forwards
she fell back one; but she struggled on till she had passed these
dreary plains; next she crossed high rocky mountains, jumping
from crag to crag and from peak to peak. Sometimes she would
rest for a little on a mountain, and then start afresh always
farther and farther on. She had to cross swamps and to scale
mountain peaks covered with flints, so that her feet and knees and
elbows were all torn and bleeding, and sometimes she came to a
precipice across which she could not jump, and she had to crawl
round on hands and knees, helping herself along with her staff.
At length, wearied to death, she reached the palace in which the
Sun lived. She knocked and begged for admission. The mother of
the Sun opened the door, and was astonished at beholding a mortal
from the distant earthly shores, and wept with pity when she
heard of all she had suffered. Then, having promised to ask her
son about the Princess's husband, she hid her in the cellar, so that
the Sun might notice nothing on his return home, for he was always
in a bad temper when he came in at night. The next day the
Princess feared that things would not go well with her, for the
Sun had noticed that some one from the other world had been
in the palace. But his mother had soothed him with soft words,
assuring him that this was not so. So the Princess took heart
when she saw how kindly she was treated, and asked:

`But how in the world is it possible for the Sun to be angry?
He is so beautiful and so good to mortals.'

`This is how it happens,' replied the Sun's mother. `In the morning when]
he stands at the gates of paradise he is happy, and smiles on the whole
world, but during the day he gets cross, because he sees all the evil
deeds of men, and that is why his heat becomes so scorching; but
in the evening he is both sad and angry, for he stands at the gates
of death; that is his usual course. From there he comes back here.'

She then told the Princess that she had asked about her hus-
band, but that her son had replied that he knew nothing about him,
and that her only hope was to go and inquire of the Wind.

Before the Princess left the mother of the Sun gave her a roast
chicken to eat, and advised her to take great care of the bones,
which she did, wrapping them up in a bundle. She then threw
away her second pair of shoes, which were quite worn out, and with
her child on her arm and her staff in her hand, she set forth on
her way to the Wind.

In these wanderings she met with even greater difficulties than
before, for she came upon one mountain of flints after another, out
of which tongues of fire would flame up; she passed through woods
which had never been trodden by human foot, and had to cross
fields of ice and avalanches of snow. The poor woman nearly
died of these hardships, but she kept a brave heart, and at length
she reached an enormous cave in the side of a mountain. This
was where the Wind lived. There was a little door in the railing
in front of the cave, and here the Princess knocked and begged for
admission. The mother of the Wind had pity on her and took her
in, that she might rest a little. Here too she was hidden away, so
that the Wind might not notice her.

The next morning the mother of the Wind told her that her
husband was living in a thick wood, so thick that no axe had been able
to cut a way through it; here he had built himself a sort of house
by placing trunks of trees together and fastening them with withes
and here he lived alone, shunning human kind.

After the mother of the Wind had given the Princess a chicken
to eat, and had warned her to take care of the bones, she advised
her to go by the Milky Way, which at night lies across the sky, and
to wander on till she reached her goal.

Having thanked the old woman with tears in her eyes for her
hospitality, and for the good news she had given her, the Princess
set out on her journey and rested neither night nor day, so great
was her longing to see her husband again. On and on she walked
until her last pair of shoes fell in pieces. So she threw them away
and went on with bare feet, not heeding the bogs nor the thorns
that wounded her, nor the stones that bruised her. At last she
reached a beautiful green meadow on the edge of a wood. Her
heart was cheered by the sight of the flowers and the soft cool
grass, and she sat down and rested for a little. But hearing the
birds chirping to their mates among the trees made her think with
longing of her husband, and she wept bitterly, and taking her child
in her arms, and her bundle of chicken bones on her shoulder, she
entered the wood.

For three days and three nights she struggled through it, but
could find nothing. She was quite worn out with weariness and
hunger, and even her staff was no further help to her, for in her
many wanderings it had become quite blunted. She almost gave
up in despair, but made one last great effort, and suddenly in a
thicket she came upon the sort of house that the mother of the
Wind had described. It had no windows, and the door was up
in the roof. Round the house she went, in search of steps, but
could find none. What was she to do? How was she to get in?
She thought and thought, and tried in vain to climb up to the
door. Then suddenly she be-thought her of the chicken bones
that she had dragged all that weary way, and she said to
herself: `They would not all have told me to take such good care
of these bones if they had not had some good reason for doing
so. Perhaps now, in my hour of need, they may be of use to me.'

So she took the bones out of her bundle, and having thought
for a moment, she placed the two ends together. To her surprise
they stuck tight; then she added the other bones, till she had two
long poles the height of the house; these she placed against the wall,
at a distance of a yard from one another. Across them she placed
the other bones, piece by piece, like the steps of a ladder. As soon
as one step was finished she stood upon it and made the next one,
and then the next, till she was close to the door. But just as she got
near the top she noticed that there were no bones left for the last
rung of the ladder. What was she to do? Without that last step
the whole ladder was useless. She must have lost one of the bones.
Then suddenly an idea came to her. Taking a knife she chopped
off her little finger, and placing it on the last step, it stuck as the
bones had done. The ladder was complete, and with her child on
her arm she entered the door of the house. Here she found everything
in perfect order. Having taken some food, she laid the child
down to sleep in a trough that was on the floor, and sat down
herself to rest.

When her husband, the Pig, came back to his house, he was
startled by what he saw. At first he could not believe his eyes,
and stared at the ladder of bones, and at the little finger on the top
of it. He felt that some fresh magic must be at work, and in his
terror he almost turned away from the house; but then a better
idea came to him, and he changed himself into a dove, so that no
witchcraft could have power over him, and flew into the room
without touching the ladder. Here he found a woman rocking a
child. At the sight of her, looking so changed by all that she had
suffered for his sake, his heart was moved by such love and longing
and by so great a pity that he suddenly became a man.

The Princess stood up when she saw him. and her heart beat
with fear, for she did not know him. But when he had told her
who he was, in her great joy she forgot all her sufferings, and they
seemed as nothing to her. He was a very handsome man, as
straight as a fir tree. They sat down together and she told
him all her adventures, and he wept with pity at the tale. And
then he told her his own history.

`I am a King's son. Once when my father was fighting against
some dragons, who were the scourge of our country, I slew the
youngest dragon. His mother, who was a witch, cast a spell over me
and changed me into a Pig. It was she who in the disguise of an
old woman gave you the thread to bind round my foot. So that
instead of the three days that had to run before the spell was broken,
I was forced to remain a Pig for three more years. Now that we
have suffered for each other, and have found each other again, let
us forget the past.'

And in their joy they kissed one another.

Next morning they set out early to return to his father's
kingdom. Great was the rejoicing of all the people when they saw him
and his wife; his father and his mother embraced them both, and
there was feasting in the palace for three days and three nights.

Then they set out to see her father. The old King nearly went
out of his mind with joy at beholding his daughter again. When
she had told him all her adventures, he said to her:

`Did not I tell you that I was quite sure that that creature who
wooed and won you as his wife had not been born a Pig? You see,
my child, how wise you were in doing what I told you.'

And as the King was old and had no heirs, he put them on the
throne in his place. And they ruled as only kings rule who have
suffered many things. And if they are not dead they are still living
and ruling happily.[8]

[8] Rumanische Marchen ubersetzt von Nite Kremnitz.

THE NORKA

ONCE upon a time there lived a King and Queen. They had three
sons, two of them with their wits about them, but the third a
simpleton. Now the King had a deer park in which were quantities
of wild animals of different kinds. Into that park there used to
come a huge beast--Norka was its name--and do fearful mischief,
devouring some of the animals every night. The King did all he
could, but he was unable to destroy it. So at last he called his
sons together and said, `Whoever will destroy the Norka, to him
will I give the half of my kingdom.'

Well, the eldest son undertook the task. As soon as it was night,
he took his weapons and set out. But before he reached the park,
he went into a traktir (or tavern), and there he spent the whole
night in revelry. When he came to his senses it was too late; the
day had already dawned. He felt himself disgraced in the eyes of
his father, but there was no help for it. The next day the second
son went, and did just the same. Their father scolded them both
soundly, and there was an end of it.

Well, on the third day the youngest son undertook the task.
They all laughed him to scorn, because he was so stupid, feeling
sure he wouldn't do anything. But he took his arms, and went
straight into the park, and sat down on the grass in such a position
that the moment he went asleep his weapons would prick him, and
he would awake.

Presently the midnight hour sounded. The earth began to
shake, and the Norka came rushing up, and burst right through
the fence into the park, so huge was it. The Prince pulled himself
together, leapt to his feet, crossed himself, and went straight at the
beast. It fled back, and the Prince ran after it. But he soon saw
that he couldn't catch it on foot, so he hastened to the stable, laid
his hands on the best horse there, and set off in pursuit. Presently
he came up with the beast, and they began a fight. They fought
and fought; the Prince gave the beast three wounds. At last they
were both utterly exhausted, so they lay down to take a short rest.
But the moment the Prince closed his eyes, up jumped the beast
and took to flight. The Prince's horse awoke him; up he jumped
in a moment, and set off again in pursuit, caught up the beast, and
again began fighting with it. Again the Prince gave the beast
three wounds, and then he and the beast lay down again to rest.
Thereupon away fled the beast as before. The Prince caught it up,
and again gave it three wounds. But all of a sudden, just as the
Prince began chasing it for the fourth time, the beast fled to a great
white stone, tilted it up, and escaped into the other world, crying
out to the Prince: `Then only will you overcome me, when you
enter here.'

The Prince went home, told his father all that had happened,
and asked him to have a leather rope plaited, long enough to reach
to the other world. His father ordered this to be done. When the
rope was made, the Prince called for his brothers, and he and they,
having taken servants with them, and everything that was needed
for a whole year, set out for the place where the beast had disappeared
under the stone. When they got there, they built a palace
on the spot, and lived in it for some time. But when everything
was ready, the youngest brother said to the others: `Now, brothers,
who is going to lift this stone?'

Neither of them could so much as stir it, but as soon as he
touched it, away it flew to a distance, though it was ever so big--
big as a hill. And when he had flung the stone aside, he spoke a
second time to his brothers, saying:

`Who is going into the other world, to overcome the Norka?'

Neither of them offered to do so. Then he laughed at them for
being such cowards, and said:

`Well, brothers, farewell! Lower me into the other world, and
don't go away from here, but as soon as the cord is jerked, pull it
up.'

His brothers lowered him accordingly, and when he had
reached the other world, underneath the earth, he went on his way.
He walked and walked. Presently he espied a horse with rich
trappings, and it said to him:

`Hail, Prince Ivan! Long have I awaited thee!'

He mounted the horse and rode on--rode and rode, until he saw
standing before him a palace made of copper. He entered the
courtyard, tied up his horse, and went indoors. In one of the rooms
a dinner was laid out. He sat down and dined, and then went into
a bedroom. There he found a bed, on which he lay down to rest.
Presently there came in a lady, more beautiful than can be imagined
anywhere but in a fairy tale, who said:

`Thou who art in my house, name thyself! If thou art an old
man, thou shalt be my father; if a middle-aged man, my brother;
but if a young man, thou shalt be my husband dear. And if thou
art a woman, and an old one, thou shalt be my grandmother; if
middle-aged, my mother; and if a girl, thou shalt be my own
sister.'

Thereupon he came forth. And when she saw him she was
delighted with him, and said:

`Wherefore, O Prince Ivan--my husband dear shalt thou be!--
wherefore hast thou come hither?'

Then he told her all that had happened, and she said:

`That beast which thou wishest to overcome is my brother.
He is staying just now with my second sister, who lives not far from
here in a silver palace. I bound up three of the wounds which thou
didst give him.'

Well, after this they drank, and enjoyed themselves, and held
sweet converse together, and then the Prince took leave of her, and
went on to the second sister, the one who lived in the silver palace,
and with her also he stayed awhile. She told him that her brother
Norka was then at her youngest sister's. So he went on to the
youngest sister, who lived in a golden palace. She told him that
her brother was at that time asleep on the blue sea, and she gave
him a sword of steel and a draught of the Water of Strength, and
she told him to cut off her brother's head at a single stroke. And
when he had heard these things, he went his way.

And when the Prince came to the blue sea, he looked--there
slept the Norka on a stone in the middle of the sea; and when it
snored, the water was agitated for seven miles around. The Prince
crossed himself, went up to it, and smote it on the head with his
sword. The head jumped off, saying the while, `Well, I'm done
for now!' and rolled far away into the sea.

After killing the beast, the Prince went back again, picking up
all the three sisters by the way, with the intention of taking them
out into the upper world: for they all loved him and would not be
separated from him. Each of them turned her palace into an egg
--for they were all enchantresses--and they taught him how to
turn the eggs into palaces, and back again, and they handed over
the eggs to him. And then they all went to the place from which
they had to be hoisted into the upper world. And when they came
to where the rope was, the Prince took hold of it and made the
maidens fast to it. Then he jerked away at the rope and his
brothers began to haul it up. And when they had hauled it up,
and had set eyes on the wondrous maidens, they went aside and
said: `Let's lower the rope, pull our brother part of the way up,
and then cut the rope. Perhaps he'll be killed; but then if he isn't,
he'll never give us these beauties as wives.'

So when they had agreed on this, they lowered the rope. But
their brother was no fool; he guessed what they were at, so he
fastened the rope to a stone, and then gave it a pull. His brothers
hoisted the stone to a great height, and then cut the rope. Down
fell the stone and broke in pieces; the Prince poured forth tears
and went away. Well, he walked and walked. Presently a storm
arose; the lightning flashed, the thunder roared, the rain fell in
torrents. He went up to a tree in order to take shelter under it,
and on that tree he saw some young birds which were being
thoroughly drenched. So he took off his coat and covered them
over with it, and he himself sat down under the tree. Presently
there came flying a bird--such a big one that the light was blotted
out by it. It had been dark there before, but now it became darker
still. Now this was the mother of those small birds which the
Prince had covered up. And when the bird had come flying up,
she perceived that her little ones were covered over, and she said,
`Who has wrapped up my nestlings?' and presently, seeing the
Prince, she added: `Didst thou do that? Thanks! In return, ask
of me anything thou desirest. I will do anything for thee.'

`Then carry me into the other world,' he replied.

`Make me a large vessel with a partition in the middle,' she
said; `catch all sorts of game, and put them into one half of it,
and into the other half pour water; so that there may be meat and
drink for me.'

All this the Prince did. Then the bird--having taken the
vessel on her back, with the Prince sitting in the middle of it--
began to fly. And after flying some distance she brought him to
his journey's end, took leave of him, and flew away back. But he
went to the house of a certain tailor, and engaged himself as his
servant. So much the worse for wear was he, so thoroughly had he
altered in appearance, that nobody would have suspected him of
being a Prince.

Having entered into the service of this master, the Prince began
to ask what was going on in that country. And his master replied:
`Our two Princes--for the third one has disappeared--have brought
away brides from the other world, and want to marry them, but
those brides refuse. For they insist on having all their wedding-
clothes made for them first, exactly like those which they used to
have in the other world, and that without being measured for them.
The King has called all the workmen together, but not one of them
will undertake to do it.'

The Prince, having heard all this, said, `Go to the King, master,
and tell him that you will provide everything that's in your line.'

`However can I undertake to make clothes of that sort? I work
for quite common folks,' says his master.

`Go along, master! I will answer for everything,' says the
Prince.

So the tailor went. The King was delighted that at least one
good workman had been found, and gave him as much money as
ever he wanted. When his tailor had settled everything, he went
home. And the Prince said to him:

`Now then, pray to God, and lie down to sleep; to-morrow all
will be ready.' And the tailor followed his lad's advice, and went
to bed.

Midnight sounded. The Prince arose, went out of the city into
the fields, took out of his pocket the eggs which the maidens had
given him, and, as they had taught him, turned them into three
palaces. Into each of these he entered, took the maidens' robes,
went out again, turned the palaces back into eggs, and went home.
And when he got there he hung up the robes on the wall, and lay
down to sleep.

Early in the morning his master awoke, and behold! there
hung such robes as he had never seen before, all shining with gold
and silver and precious stones. He was delighted, and he seized
them and carried them off to the King. When the Princesses saw
that the clothes were those which had been theirs in the other
world, they guessed that Prince Ivan was in this world, so they
exchanged glances with each other, but they held their peace.
And the master, having handed over the clothes, went home, but
he no longer found his dear journeyman there. For the Prince had
gone to a shoemaker's, and him too he sent to work for the King;
and in the same way he went the round of all the artificers, and
they all proffered him thanks, inasmuch as through him they were
enriched by the King.

By the time the princely workman had gone the round of all
the artificers, the Princesses had received what they had asked for;
all their clothes were just like what they had been in the other
world. Then they wept bitterly because the Prince had not come,
and it was impossible for them to hold out any longer; it was
necessary that they should be married. But when they were ready
for the wedding, the youngest bride said to the King:

`Allow me, my father, to go and give alms to the beggars.'

He gave her leave, and she went and began bestowing alms
upon them, and examining them closely. And when she had
come to one of them, and was going to give him some money, she
caught sight of the ring which she had given to the Prince in the
other world, and her sisters' rings too--for it really was he. So
she seized him by the hand, and brought him into the hall, and
said to the King:

`Here is he who brought us out of the other world. His
brothers forbade us to say that he was alive, threatening to slay us
if we did.'

Then the King was wroth with those sons, and punished them
as he thought best. And afterwards three weddings were celebrated.

THE WONDERFUL BIRCH

ONCE upon a time there were a man and a woman, who had an
only daughter. Now it happened that one of their sheep went
astray, and they set out to look for it, and searched and searched,
each in n different part of the wood. Then the good wife met a
witch, who said to her:

`If you spit, you miserable creature, if you spit into the sheath
of my knife, or if you run between my legs, I shall change you into
a black sheep.'

The woman neither spat, nor did she run between her legs, but
yet the witch changed her into a sheep. Then she made herself
look exactly like the woman, and called out to the good man:

`Ho, old man, halloa! I have found the sheep already!'

The man thought the witch was really his wife, and he did
not know that his wife was the sheep; so he went home with her,
glad at heart because his sheep was found. When they were safe
at home the witch said to the man:

`Look here, old man, we must really kill that sheep lest it run
away to the wood again.'

The man, who was a peaceable quiet sort of fellow, made no
objections, but simply said:

`Good, let us do so.'

The daughter, however, had overheard their talk, and she ran
to the flock and lamented aloud:

`Oh, dear little mother, they are going to slaughter you!'

`Well, then, if they do slaughter me,' was the black sheep's
answer, `eat you neither the meat nor the broth that is made of
me, but gather all my bones, and bury them by the edge of the
field.'

Shortly after this they took the black sheep from the flock and
slaughtered it. The witch made pease-soup of it, and set it before
the daughter. But the girl remembered her mother's warning.
She did not touch the soup, but she carried the bones to the edge
of the field and buried them there; and there sprang up on the
spot a birch tree--a very lovely birch tree.

Some time had passed away--who can tell how long they might
have been living there?--when the witch, to whom a child had been
born in the meantime, began to take an ill-will to the man's
daughter, and to torment her in all sorts of ways.

Now it happened that a great festival was to be held at the
palace, and the King had commanded that all the people should be
invited, and that this proclamation should be made:

`Come, people all!
Poor and wretched, one and all!
Blind and crippled though ye be,
Mount your steeds or come by sea.'

And so they drove into the King's feast all the outcasts, and the
maimed, and the halt, and the blind. In the good man's house, too,
preparations were made to go to the palace. The witch said to the man:

`Go you on in front, old man, with our youngest; I will give
the elder girl work to keep her from being dull in our absence.'

So the man took the child and set out. But the witch kindled
a fire on the hearth, threw a potful of barleycorns among the
cinders, and said to the girl:

`If you have not picked the barley out of the ashes, and put it
all back in the pot before nightfall, I shall eat you up!'

Then she hastened after the others, and the poor girl stayed at
home and wept. She tried to be sure to pick up the grains of
barley, but she soon saw how useless her labour was; and so she
went in her sore trouble to the birch tree on her mother's grave,
and cried and cried, because her mother lay dead beneath the sod
and could help her no longer. In the midst of her grief she
suddenly heard her mother's voice speak from the grave, and say to
her:

`Why do you weep, little daughter?'

`The witch has scattered barleycorns on the hearth, and bid
me pick them out of the ashes,' said the girl; `that is why I weep,
dear little mother.'

`Do not weep,' said her mother consolingly. `Break off one of
my branches, and strike the hearth with it crosswise, and all will
be put right.'
The girl did so. She struck the hearth with the birchen branch,
and lo! the barleycorns flew into the pot, and the hearth was clean.
Then she went back to the birch tree and laid the branch upon the
grave. Then her mother bade her bathe on one side of the stem,
dry herself on another, and dress on the third. When the girl had
done all that, she had grown so lovely that no one on earth could rival
her. Splendid clothing was given to her, and a horse, with hair
partly of gold, partly of silver, and partly of something more precious
still. The girl sprang into the saddle, and rode as swift as an arrow
to the palace. As she turned into the courtyard of the castle the
King's son came out to meet her, tied her steed to a pillar, and led
her in. He never left her side as they passed through the castle
rooms; and all the people gazed at her, and wondered who the
lovely maiden was, and from what castle she came; but no one
knew her--no one knew anything about her. At the banquet the
Prince invited her to sit next him in the place of honour; but the
witch's daughter gnawed the bones under the table. The Prince
did not see her, and thinking it was a dog, he gave her such a push
with his foot that her arm was broken. Are you not sorry for the
witch's daughter? It was not her fault that her mother was a witch.

Towards evening the good man's daughter thought it was time
to go home; but as she went, her ring caught on the latch of the
door, for the King's son had had it smeared with tar. She did not
take time to pull it off, but, hastily unfastening her horse from the
pillar, she rode away beyond the castle walls as swift as an arrow.
Arrived at home, she took off her clothes by the birch tree, left her
horse standing there, and hastened to her place behind the stove.
In a short time the man and the woman came home again too, and
the witch said to the girl:

`Ah! you poor thing, there you are to be sure! You don't
know what fine times we have had at the palace! The King's son
carried my daughter about, but the poor thing fell and broke her
arm.'

The girl knew well how matters really stood, but she pretended
to know nothing about it, and sat dumb behind the stove.

The next day they were invited again to the King's banquet.

`Hey! old man,' said the witch, `get on your clothes as quick
as you can; we are bidden to the feast. Take you the child; I will
give the other one work, lest she weary.'

She kindled the fire, threw a potful of hemp seed among the
ashes, and said to the girl:

`If you do not get this sorted, and all the seed back into the pot,
I shall kill you!'

The girl wept bitterly; then she went to the birch tree, washed
herself on one side of it and dried herself on the other; and this
time still finer clothes were given to her, and a very beautiful
steed. She broke off a branch of the birch tree, struck the hearth
with it, so that the seeds flew into the pot, and then hastened to the
castle.

Again the King's son came out to meet her, tied her horse to a
pillar, and led her into the banqueting hall. At the feast the girl sat
next him in the place of honour, as she had done the day before.
But the witch's daughter gnawed bones under the table, and the
Prince gave her a push by mistake, which broke her leg--he had
never noticed her crawling about among the people's feet. She
was VERY unlucky!

The good man's daughter hastened home again betimes, but the
King's son had smeared the door-posts with tar, and the girl's
golden circlet stuck to it. She had not time to look for it, but
sprang to the saddle and rode like an arrow to the birch tree.
There she left her horse and her fine clothes, and said to her
mother:

`I have lost my circlet at the castle; the door-post was tarred,
and it stuck fast.'

`And even had you lost two of them,' answered her mother, `I
would give you finer ones.'

Then the girl hastened home, and when her father came home
from the feast with the witch, she was in her usual place behind
the stove. Then the witch said to her:

`You poor thing! what is there to see here compared with what
WE have seen at the palace? The King's son carried my daughter
from one room to another; he let her fall, 'tis true, and my child's
foot was broken.'

The man's daughter held her peace all the time, and busied
herself about the hearth.

The night passed, and when the day began to dawn, the witch
awakened her husband, crying:

`Hi! get up, old man! We are bidden to the royal banquet.'

So the old man got up. Then the witch gave him the child,
saying:

`Take you the little one; I will give the other girl work to do,
else she will weary at home alone.'

She did as usual. This time it was a dish of milk she poured
upon the ashes, saying:

`If you do not get all the milk into the dish again before I come
home, you will suffer for it.'

How frightened the girl was this time! She ran to the birch
tree, and by its magic power her task was accomplished; and then
she rode away to the palace as before. When she got to the courtyard
she found the Prince waiting for her. He led her into the
hall, where she was highly honoured; but the witch's daughter
sucked the bones under the table, and crouching at the people's feet
she got an eye knocked out, poor thing! Now no one knew any
more than before about the good man's daughter, no one knew
whence she came; but the Prince had had the threshold smeared
with tar, and as she fled her gold slippers stuck to it. She reached
the birch tree, and laying aside her finery, she said:

`Alas I dear little mother, I have lost my gold slippers!'

`Let them be,' was her mother's reply; `if you need them I
shall give you finer ones.'

Scarcely was she in her usual place behind the stove when her
father came home with the witch. Immediately the witch began
to mock her, saying:

`Ah! you poor thing, there is nothing for you to see here, and
WE--ah: what great things we have seen at the palace! My little
girl was carried about again, but had the ill-luck to fall and get her
eye knocked out. You stupid thing, you, what do you know about
anything?'

`Yes, indeed, what can I know?' replied the girl; `I had
enough to do to get the hearth clean.'

Now the Prince had kept all the things the girl had lost, and he
soon set about finding the owner of them. For this purpose a great
banquet was given on the fourth day, and all the people were
invited to the palace. The witch got ready to go too. She tied a
wooden beetle on where her child's foot should have been, a log of
wood instead of an arm, and stuck a bit of dirt in the empty socket
for an eye, and took the child with her to the castle. When all the
people were gathered together, the King's son stepped in among
the crowd and cried:

`The maiden whose finger this ring slips over, whose head this
golden hoop encircles, and whose foot this shoe fits, shall be my
bride.'

What a great trying on there was now among them all! The
things would fit no one, however.

`The cinder wench is not here,' said the Prince at last; `go and
fetch her, and let her try on the things.'

So the girl was fetched, and the Prince was just going to hand
the ornaments to her, when the witch held him back, saying:

`Don't give them to her; she soils everything with cinders;
give them to my daughter rather.'

Well, then the Prince gave the witch's daughter the ring, and
the woman filed and pared away at her daughter's finger till the
ring fitted. It was the same with the circlet and the shoes of gold.
The witch would not allow them to be handed to the cinder wench;
she worked at her own daughter's head and feet till she got the
things forced on. What was to be done now? The Prince had to
take the witch's daughter for his bride whether he would or no; he
sneaked away to her father's house with her, however, for he was
ashamed to hold the wedding festivities at the palace with so strange
a bride. Some days passed, and at last he had to take his bride
home to the palace, and he got ready to do so. Just as they were
taking leave, the kitchen wench sprang down from her place by the
stove, on the pretext of fetching something from the cowhouse, and
in going by she whispered in the Prince's ear as he stood in the
yard:

`Alas! dear Prince, do not rob me of my silver and my gold.'

Thereupon the King's son recognised the cinder wench; so he
took both the girls with him, and set out. After they had gone some
little way they came to the bank of a river, and the Prince threw
the witch's daughter across to serve as a bridge, and so got over
with the cinder wench. There lay the witch's daughter then, like a
bridge over the river, and could not stir, though her heart was
consumed with grief. No help was near, so she cried at last in her
anguish:

`May there grow a golden hemlock out of my body! perhaps
my mother will know me by that token.'

Scarcely had she spoken when a golden hemlock sprang up from
her, and stood upon the bridge.

Now, as soon as the Prince had got rid of the witch's daughter
he greeted the cinder wench as his bride, and they wandered together
to the birch tree which grew upon the mother's grave. There they
received all sorts of treasures and riches, three sacks full of gold,
and as much silver, and a splendid steed, which bore them home to
the palace. There they lived a long time together, and the young
wife bore a son to the Prince. Immediately word was brought to
the witch that her daughter had borne a son--for they all believed
the young King's wife to be the witch's daughter.

`So, so,' said the witch to herself; `I had better away with my
gift for the infant, then.'

And so saying she set out. Thus it happened that she came to
the bank of the river, and there she saw the beautiful golden
hemlock growing in the middle of the bridge, and when she began to
cut it down to take to her grandchild, she heard a voice moaning:

`Alas! dear mother, do not cut me so!'

`Are you here?' demanded the witch.

`Indeed I am, dear little mother,' answered the daughter
`They threw me across the river to make a bridge of me.'

In a moment the witch had the bridge shivered to atoms, and
then she hastened away to the palace. Stepping up to the young
Queen's bed, she began to try her magic arts upon her, saying:

`Spit, you wretch, on the blade of my knife; bewitch my knife's
blade for me, and I shall change you into a reindeer of the forest.'

`Are you there again to bring trouble upon me?' said the young
woman.

She neither spat nor did anything else, but still the witch
changed her into a reindeer, and smuggled her own daughter into
her place as the Prince's wife. But now the child grew restless
and cried, because it missed its mother's care. They took it to the
court, and tried to pacify it in every conceivable way, but its crying
never ceased.

`What makes the child so restless?' asked the Prince, and he
went to a wise widow woman to ask her advice.

`Ay, ay, your own wife is not at home,' said the widow woman;
`she is living like a reindeer in the wood; you have the witch's
daughter for a wife now, and the witch herself for a mother-in-
law.'

`Is there any way of getting my own wife back from the wood
again?' asked the Prince.

`Give me the child,' answered the widow woman. `I'll take it
with me to-morrow when I go to drive the cows to the wood. I'll
make a rustling among the birch leaves and a trembling among
the aspens--perhaps the boy will grow quiet when he hears it.'

`Yes, take the child away, take it to the wood with you to quiet
it,' said the Prince, and led the widow woman into the castle.

`How now? you are going to send the child away to the wood?'
said the witch in a suspicious tone, and tried to interfere.

But the King's son stood firm by what he had commanded, and
said:

`Carry the child about the wood; perhaps that will pacify it.'

So the widow woman took the child to the wood. She came to
the edge of a marsh, and seeing a herd of reindeer there, she began
all at once to sing--

`Little Bright-eyes, little Redskin,
Come nurse the child you bore!
That bloodthirsty monster,
That man-eater grim,
Shall nurse him, shall tend him no more.
They may threaten and force as they will,
He turns from her, shrinks from her still,'

and immediately the reindeer drew near, and nursed and tended
the child the whole day long; but at nightfall it had to follow the
herd, and said to the widow woman:

`Bring me the child to-morrow, and again the following day;
after that I must wander with the herd far away to other lands.'

The following morning the widow woman went back to the
castle to fetch the child. The witch interfered, of course, but the
Prince said:

`Take it, and carry it about in the open air; the boy is quieter
at night, to be sure, when he has been in the wood all day.'

So the widow took the child in her arms, and carried it to the
marsh in the forest. There she sang as on the preceding day--

`Little Bright-eyes, little Redskin,
Come nurse the child you bore!
That bloodthirsty monster,
That man-eater grim,
Shall nurse him, shall tend him no more.
They may threaten and force as they will,
He turns from her, shrinks from her still,'

and immediately the reindeer left the herd and came to the child,
and tended it as on the day before. And so it was that the child
throve, till not a finer boy was to be seen anywhere. But the
King's son had been pondering over all these things, and he said to
the widow woman:

`Is there no way of changing the reindeer into a human being
again?'

`I don't rightly know,' was her answer. `Come to the wood with
me, however; when the woman puts off her reindeer skin I shall
comb her head for her; whilst I am doing so you must burn the skin.'

Thereupon they both went to the wood with the child; scarcely
were they there when the reindeer appeared and nursed the child
as before. Then the widow woman said to the reindeer:

`Since you are going far away to-morrow, and I shall not see
you again, let me comb your head for the last time, as a
remembrance of you.'

Good; the young woman stript off the reindeer skin, and let
the widow woman do as she wished. In the meantime the King's
son threw the reindeer skin into the fire unobserved.

`What smells of singeing here?' asked the young woman, and
looking round she saw her own husband. `Woe is me! you have
burnt my skin. Why did you do that?'

`To give you back your human form again.'

`Alack-a-day! I have nothing to cover me now, poor creature
that I am!' cried the young woman, and transformed herself first
into a distaff, then into a wooden beetle, then into a spindle, and
into all imaginable shapes. But all these shapes the King's son
went on destroying till she stood before him in human form again.

Alas! wherefore take me home with you again,' cried the young
woman, `since the witch is sure to eat me up?'

`She will not eat you up,' answered her husband; and they
started for home with the child.

But when the witch wife saw them she ran away with her
daughter, and if she has not stopped she is running still, though at
a great age. And the Prince, and his wife, and the baby lived
happy ever afterwards.[9]

[9] From the Russo-Karelian.

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

JACK SELLS THE COW

ONCE upon a time there was a poor widow who lived in a little
cottage with her only son Jack.

Jack was a giddy, thoughtless boy, but very kind-hearted and
affectionate. There had been a hard winter, and after it the poor
woman had suffered from fever and ague. Jack did no work as yet,
and by degrees they grew dreadfully poor. The widow saw that
there was no means of keeping Jack and herself from starvation
but by selling her cow; so one morning she said to her son, `I am
too weak to go myself, Jack, so you must take the cow to market
for me, and sell her.'

Jack liked going to market to sell the cow very much; but as
he was on the way, he met a butcher who had some beautiful
beans in his hand. Jack stopped to look at them, and the butcher
told the boy that they were of great value, and persuaded the silly
lad to sell the cow for these beans.

When he brought them home to his mother instead of the money
she expected for her nice cow, she was very vexed and shed many
tears, scolding Jack for his folly. He was very sorry, and mother
and son went to bed very sadly that night; their last hope seemed
gone.

At daybreak Jack rose and went out into the garden.

`At least,' he thought, `I will sow the wonderful beans. Mother
says that they are just common scarlet-runners, and nothing else;
but I may as well sow them.'

So he took a piece of stick, and made some holes in the ground,
and put in the beans.

That day they had very little dinner, and went sadly to bed,
knowing that for the next day there would be none and Jack,
unable to sleep from grief and vexation, got up at day-dawn and
went out into the garden.

What was his amazement to find that the beans had grown up
in the night, and climbed up and up till they covered the high cliff
that sheltered the cottage, and disappeared above it! The stalks
had twined and twisted themselves together till they formed quite
a ladder.

`It would be easy to climb it,' thought Jack.

And, having thought of the experiment, he at once resolved to
carry it out, for Jack was a good climber. However, after his late
mistake about the cow, he thought he had better consult his mother
first.

WONDERFUL GROWTH OF THE BEANSTALK

So Jack called his mother, and they both gazed in silent wonder
at the Beanstalk, which was not only of great height, but was thick
enough to bear Jack's weight.

`I wonder where it ends,' said Jack to his mother; `I think I
will climb up and see.'

His mother wished him not to venture up this strange ladder,
but Jack coaxed her to give her consent to the attempt, for he was
certain there must be something wonderful in the Beanstalk; so at
last she yielded to his wishes.

Jack instantly began to climb, and went up and up on the ladder-
like bean till everything he had left behind him--the cottage, the
village, and even the tall church tower--looked quite little, and still
he could not see the top of the Beanstalk.

Jack felt a little tired, and thought for a moment that he would
go back again; but he was a very persevering boy, and he knew
that the way to succeed in anything is not to give up. So after
resting for a moment he went on.

After climbing higher and higher, till he grew afraid to look
down for fear he should be giddy, Jack at last reached the top of
the Beanstalk, and found himself in a beautiful country, finely
wooded, with beautiful meadows covered with sheep. A crystal
stream ran through the pastures; not far from the place where he
had got off the Beanstalk stood a fine, strong castle.

Jack wondered very much that he had never heard of or seen
this castle before; but when he reflected on the subject, he saw that
it was as much separated from the village by the perpendicular
rock on which it stood as if it were in another land.

While Jack was standing looking at the castle, a very strange-
looking woman came out of the wood, and advanced towards him.

She wore a pointed cap of quilted red satin turned up with
ermine, her hair streamed loose over her shoulders, and she walked
with a staff. Jack took off his cap and made her a bow.

`If you please, ma'am,' said he, `is this your house?'

`No,' said the old lady. `Listen, and I will tell you the story of
that castle.

`Once upon a time there was a noble knight, who lived in this
castle, which is on the borders of Fairyland. He had a fair and
beloved wife and several lovely children: and as his neighbours, the
little people, were very friendly towards him, they bestowed on him
many excellent and precious gifts.

`Rumour whispered of these treasures; and a monstrous giant,
who lived at no great distance, and who was a very wicked being,
resolved to obtain possession of them.

`So he bribed a false servant to let him inside the castle, when
the knight was in bed and asleep, and he killed him as he lay. Then
he went to the part of the castle which was the nursery, and also
killed all the poor little ones he found there.

`Happily for her, the lady was not to be found. She had gone
with her infant son, who was only two or three months old, to visit
her old nurse, who lived in the valley; and she had been detained
all night there by a storm.

`The next morning, as soon as it was light, one of the servants
at the castle, who had managed to escape, came to tell the poor
lady of the sad fate of her husband and her pretty babes. She
could scarcely believe him at first, and was eager at once to go back
and share the fate of her dear ones; but the old nurse, with many
tears, besought her to remember that she had still a child, and that
it was her duty to preserve her life for the sake of the poor innocent.

`The lady yielded to this reasoning, and consented to remain at
her nurse's house as the best place of concealment; for the servant
told her that the giant had vowed, if he could find her, he would
kill both her and her baby. Years rolled on. The old nurse died,
leaving her cottage and the few articles of furniture it contained to
her poor lady, who dwelt in it, working as a peasant for her daily
bread. Her spinning-wheel and the milk of a cow, which she had
purchased with the little money she had with her, sufficed for the
scanty subsistence of herself and her little son. There was a nice
little garden attached to the cottage, in which they cultivated peas,
beans, and cabbages, and the lady was not ashamed to go out at
harvest time, and glean in the fields to supply her little son's wants.

`Jack, that poor lady is your mother. This castle was once your
father's, and must again be yours.'

Jack uttered a cry of surprise.

`My mother! oh, madam, what ought I to do? My poor
father! My dear mother!'

`Your duty requires you to win it back for your mother. But
the task is a very difficult one, and full of peril, Jack. Have you
courage to undertake it?'

`I fear nothing when I am doing right,' said Jack.

`Then,' said the lady in the red cap, `you are one of those who
slay giants. You must get into the castle, and if possible possess
yourself of a hen that lays golden eggs, and a harp that talks.
Remember, all the giant possesses is really yours.' As she ceased
speaking, the lady of the red hat suddenly disappeared, and of course
Jack knew she was a fairy.

Jack determined at once to attempt the adventure; so he
advanced, and blew the horn which hung at the castle portal. The
door was opened in a minute or two by a frightful giantess, with
one great eye in the middle of her forehead.

As soon as Jack saw her he turned to run away, but she caught
him, and dragged him into the castle.

`Ho, ho!' she laughed terribly. `You didn't expect to see me
here, that is clear! No, I shan't let you go again. I am weary of
my life. I am so overworked, and I don't see why I should not
have a page as well as other ladies. And you shall be my boy. You
shall clean the knives, and black the boots, and make the fires, and
help me generally when the giant is out. When he is at home I
must hide you, for he has eaten up all my pages hitherto, and you
would be a dainty morsel, my little lad.'

While she spoke she dragged Jack right into the castle. The
poor boy was very much frightened, as I am sure you and I
would have been in his place. But he remembered that fear
disgraces a man; so he struggled to be brave and make the best of
things.

`I am quite ready to help you, and do all I can to serve you,
madam,' he said, `only I beg you will be good enough to hide me
from your husband, for I should not like to be eaten at all.'

`That's a good boy,' said the Giantess, nodding her head; `it is
lucky for you that you did not scream out when you saw me, as
the other boys who have been here did, for if you had done so my
husband would have awakened and have eaten you, as he did them,
for breakfast. Come here, child; go into my wardrobe: he never
ventures to open THAT; you will be safe there.'

And she opened a huge wardrobe which stood in the great hall,
and shut him into it. But the keyhole was so large that it ad-
mitted plenty of air, and he could see everything that took place
through it. By-and-by he heard a heavy tramp on the stairs, like
the lumbering along of a great cannon, and then a voice like thunder
cried out;

`Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum,
I smell the breath of an Englishman.
Let him be alive or let him be dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread.'

`Wife,' cried the Giant, `there is a man in the castle. Let me
have him for breakfast.'

`You are grown old and stupid,' cried the lady in her loud
tones. `It is only a nice fresh steak off an elephant, that I have
cooked for you, which you smell. There, sit down and make a
good breakfast.'

And she placed a huge dish before him of savoury steaming
meat, which greatly pleased him, and made him forget his idea of
an Englishman being in the castle. When he had breakfasted he
went out for a walk; and then the Giantess opened the door, and
made Jack come out to help her. He helped her all day. She
fed him well, and when evening came put him back in the wardrobe.

THE HEN THAT LAYS GOLDEN EGGS.

The Giant came in to supper. Jack watched him through the
keyhole, and was amazed to see him pick a wolf's bone, and put
half a fowl at a time into his capacious mouth.

When the supper was ended he bade his wife bring him his hen
that laid the golden eggs.

`It lays as well as it did when it belonged to that paltry knight,'
he said; `indeed I think the eggs are heavier than ever.'

The Giantess went away, and soon returned with a little brown
hen, which she placed on the table before her husband. `And now,
my dear,' she said, `I am going for a walk, if you don't want me
any longer.'

`Go,' said the Giant; `I shall be glad to have a nap by-and-by.'

Then he took up the brown hen and said to her:

`Lay!' And she instantly laid a golden egg.

`Lay!' said the Giant again. And she laid another.

`Lay!' he repeated the third time. And again a golden egg lay
on the table.

Now Jack was sure this hen was that of which the fairy had
spoken.

By-and-by the Giant put the hen down on the floor, and soon
after went fast asleep, snoring so loud that it sounded like thunder.

Directly Jack perceived that the Giant was fast asleep, he
pushed open the door of the wardrobe and crept out; very softly he
stole across the room, and, picking up the hen, made haste to quit
the apartment. He knew the way to the kitchen, the door of
which he found was left ajar; he opened it, shut and locked it after
him, and flew back to the Beanstalk, which he descended as fast
as his feet would move.

When his mother saw him enter the house she wept for joy, for
she had feared that the fairies had carried him away, or that the
Giant had found him. But Jack put the brown hen down before
her, and told her how he had been in the Giant's castle, and all his
adventures. She was very glad to see the hen, which would make
them rich once more.

THE MONEY BAGS.

Jack made another journey up the Beanstalk to the Giant's
castle one day while his mother had gone to market; but first
he dyed his hair and disguised himself. The old woman did not
know him again, and dragged him in as she had done before, to
help her to do the work; but she heard her husband coming, and hid
him in the wardrobe, not thinking that it was the same boy who had
stolen the hen. She bade him stay quite still there, or the Giant
would eat him.

Then the Giant came in saying:

`Fe, fa, fi-fo-fum,
I smell the breath of an Englishman.
Let him be alive or let him be dead,
I'll grind his bones to make my bread.'

`Nonsense!' said the wife, `it is only a roasted bullock that I
thought would be a tit-bit for your supper; sit down and I will
bring it up at once.' The Giant sat down, and soon his wife
brought up a roasted bullock on a large dish, and they began their
supper. Jack was amazed to see them pick the bones of the bullock
as if it had been a lark. As soon as they had finished their
meal, the Giantess rose and said:

`Now, my dear, with your leave I am going up to my room to
finish the story I am reading. If you want me call for me.'

`First,' answered the Giant, `bring me my money bags, that I
may count my golden pieces before I sleep.' The Giantess obeyed.
She went and soon returned with two large bags over her shoulders,
which she put down by her husband.

`There,' she said; `that is all that is left of the knight's money.
When you have spent it you must go and take another baron's
castle.'

`That he shan't, if I can help it,' thought Jack.

The Giant, when his wife was gone, took out heaps and heaps of
golden pieces, and counted them, and put them in piles, till he was
tired of the amusement. Then he swept them all back into their
bags, and leaning back in his chair fell fast asleep, snoring so loud
that no other sound was audible.

Jack stole softly out of the wardrobe, and taking up the bags of
money (which were his very own, because the Giant had stolen
them from his father), he ran off, and with great difficulty descending
the Beanstalk, laid the bags of gold on his mother's table. She
had just returned from town, and was crying at not finding Jack.

`There, mother, I have brought you the gold that my father
lost.'

`Oh, Jack! you are a very good boy, but I wish you would not
risk your precious life in the Giant's castle. Tell me how you
came to go there again.'

And Jack told her all about it.

Jack's mother was very glad to get the money, but she did not
like him to run any risk for her.

But after a time Jack made up his mind to go again to the
Giant's castle.

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