Fairy Tales From all Nations Part 14

"I have such a beautiful shirt," said the prince, "that I should like to wear it on my bridal day, but there are spots of grease on it, and I would willingly have them washed out; I have in consequence resolved to wed none but her who is able to wash them out."

Truly, that was no such mighty matter, thought the women, and immediately set to work; and the princess with the long nose began to wash away as fast as she could. But the longer she washed, the larger and darker grew the spots.

"Oh! you do not know much about the matter," said the old sorceress, her mother: "give it to me."

But when she got hold of the shirt, it grew darker still, and the more she washed and rubbed, the larger grew the spots. Now the other witches of the establishment all tried their hands on the shirt, and the longer they washed the worse it grew, and at last the whole shirt looked as if it had been put up the chimney.

"Ah! you are all good for nothing," cried the prince; "there sits a poor beggar wrench under the windows; I'll lay any wager she knows more about washing than all of you put together. Come hither, wench!"

cried he; and when she came, he asked her:--

"Can you wash that shirt clean?"

"I don't know," said the maiden; "but I think I can."

So the maiden took the shirt, and under her hands it soon became as white as the falling snow.

"Ah, I will have thee for my bride!" cried the prince, and when the old sorceress heard that, she fell into such a tremendous rage, that it killed her; and I think that the princess with the long nose, and the whole pack of witches, must have expired also, for I have never heard of them since. Then the prince and his bride set free all the Christians who were confined in the castle; and they took as much gold and silver as they could carry away, and went far away from the castle that lies eastward of the Sun, and westward of the Moon. But how they contrived to get away, and whither they went, I do not know; if, however, they are what I take them for, they are at no very great distance from here.

THE LITTLE MAN IN GREY.

[Upper Lusatia.]

A miner, a blacksmith, and a nun were travelling together through the wide world. One day they were bewildered in a dark forest, and were so wearied with wandering that they thought themselves right fortunate when they saw, at a distance, a building wherein they hoped to find shelter. They went up to it, and found that it was an ancient castle, which, although half in ruins, still was in condition to afford a habitation for such distressed pilgrims as they. They resolved therefore to enter, and held a council how they might best establish themselves in it, and they very soon agreed that it would be best that one of them should always remain at home whilst the other two went out in search of provisions. They then cast lots who should first stay behind, and the lot fell on the nun.

So when the miner and the blacksmith were gone out into the forest, she prepared the food, and when noon arrived, and her companions did not return, she ate her share of the provisions. As soon as she had finished her meal a little man, clad in grey, came to the door, and shivering, said: "Oh, I am so cold!"

Then the nun said to him: "Come to the fire and warm thyself."

The little man did as the nun desired him, but presently after he exclaimed: "Oh, how hungry I am!"

Then the nun said to him: "There is food by the fire; eat some of it."

The little man fell upon the food, and in a very short time devoured it all. When the nun saw what he had done she was very angry, and scolded him for not having left any food for her companions. Upon this the little man flew into a great pa.s.sion, seized the nun, beat her, and threw her from one wall to the other. He then quitted the castle and went his way, leaving the nun on the floor. Towards evening the two companions returned home very hungry, and when they found no food they reproached the nun bitterly, and would not believe her when she told them what had happened.

The following day the miner proposed to keep watch in the castle, and said he would take good care that no one should have to go to bed fasting. So the two others went into the forest, and the miner looked after the cooking, ate his share, and put the rest by on the oven. The little grey clad man came as before, but how terrified was the miner when he perceived that this time the little man had two heads. He shivered as on the preceding day, saying: "Oh, how cold I am!"

Much frightened, the miner pointed to the hearth. Then the little man said: "Oh, how hungry I am!"

"There is food on the oven," said the miner; "eat some."

Then the little man fell to with both his heads, and soon ate it all up, and licked the plates clean. When the miner reproached him for eating all up, he got for his pains just the same treatment as the nun. The little man beat him black and blue, and flung him against the walls till they cracked; the poor miner lost both sight and hearing, and at last the little man left him lying there, and went his way.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

When the blacksmith and the nun returned hungry in the evening, and found no supper, the blacksmith fell into a great rage with the miner, and declared that when his turn should come next day to watch, the castle, no one should want a supper. The next day, at meal time, the little man appeared again but this time he had three heads. He complained of cold, and was bidden by the blacksmith to sit by the hearth. When he said he was hungry, the blacksmith gave him a portion of the food. The little man soon dispatched that, and looked greedily round with his six eyes, asking for more food, and when the blacksmith hesitated to give it him, he tried to treat him as he had done the nun and the miner; the blacksmith, however, was no coward, and seizing a great smith's hammer, he rushed on the little man, and struck off two of his heads, so that he made off as fast as he could with his remaining head. But the blacksmith chased him through the forest along many a pathway, till at last he suddenly disappeared through an iron door. The blacksmith was thus obliged to give up the pursuit, but promised himself not to rest until, with the aid of his two companions, he should have brought the matter to a satisfactory conclusion.

Meantime the nun and the miner had returned home. The smith set their supper before them as he had undertaken to do, and then related his adventure, showing them the two heads he had cut off, with their staring glazed eyes. They then all three resolved to free themselves altogether, if possible, from the little grey man, and the very next day they set to work. They searched a long time before they could find the iron door through which he had disappeared the preceding day, and great toil did it cost them before they were able to break it open.

They then found themselves in a great vaulted chamber wherein sat a beautiful maiden at a table, working. She started up, and threw herself at their feet, thanking them as her deliverers, and told them that she was the daughter of a king, and had been confined there by a powerful sorcerer. Yesterday afternoon she had suddenly felt that the spell was loosened, and from that moment she had hourly expected her freedom, but that besides herself there was the daughter of another king confined in the same place. They then went in search of the other king's daughter and set her at liberty also. She thanked them joyfully in like manner, and said that she also had felt since yesterday afternoon that the spell was unbound. The two royal maidens now informed their liberators that in concealed caves of the castle great treasures were h.o.a.rded, which were guarded by a terrible dog. They went in search of them and at length came upon the dog, whom the blacksmith slew with his hammer, although he endeavoured to defend himself.

The treasure consisted of whole tons of gold and silver, and a handsome young man sat beside them as if to guard them. He came to meet them and thanked them for setting him free. He was the son of a king, but had been transformed by a sorcerer into the three-headed little man and banished to that castle. By the loss of two of his heads the spell was taken off the two royal maidens, and when the blacksmith slew the terrible dog he himself was delivered from it. For that service the whole of the treasure should be theirs.

The treasure was then divided, and it was a long time before they could complete the distribution. The two princesses, however, out of grat.i.tude to their deliverers, married the miner and the blacksmith, and the handsome prince married the nun; and so they pa.s.sed the rest of their lives in peace and joy.

RED, WHITE, AND BLACK.

[Normandy.]

The eldest son of a mighty monarch was once walking alone in a field, which, as it was the depth of winter, happened to be covered with snow. He perceived a raven flying by, and shot him. The bird fell dead on the ground and the snow was sprinkled with his blood. The glossy black of his plumage, the dazzling white of the snow, and the red blood, formed a combination of colours which delighted the eyes of the prince. The impression did not pa.s.s away from his memory; the colours seemed perpetually to float before his eyes, and at length he conceived in his heart an intense desire to possess a wife who should be as rosy as that blood, as white as that snow, and have hair as black as the plumage of that raven.

One day as he sat profoundly musing on the object of his desires, a voice said to him:--"My prince, go travel into Marvel-land, and there in the centre of an immense forest you will find an apple-tree, bearing larger and fairer fruit than you have ever yet beheld; pluck three of the apples, but forbear to open them until you shall be again at home; they will present you with a bride exactly such as you covet."

Marvel-land was very remote from the prince's home, and very difficult of access, but nothing could deter him from undertaking the journey.

He started forthwith, travelled over land and sea, and searched the forest with the utmost diligence, till at length he found the tree. He broke off three fine apples, and as, in the first transports of his joy, he could not resist the curiosity which urged him, he opened one of them on the spot. A lovely maiden came out of it so enchantingly fair, and so exactly corresponding to the image he had formed, that he was lost in admiration. But the maiden, so far from being well disposed towards him, gazed on him with looks of scorn, and bitterly reproaching him for having carried her off, vanished from his sight.

This great disappointment might naturally have reduced him to despair; but as he was of a disposition to be easily consoled, he soon comforted himself with the trust that the two remaining apples would give him compensation for his loss. Full of this sweet hope, he resolved not to open them until he should reach his own country. But even the saddest experience does not always suffice to enable us to resist temptation. The prince's impatience was stronger than his reason, and a second time he yielded to his desire of opening one of the remaining apples.

He was at that time on the sea, and as there is very little amus.e.m.e.nt to be had during a voyage on that element, perhaps very few persons would have acted otherwise than he did. He persuaded himself that if he caused the whole of the deck to be covered with an awning, the fair one could not escape him. He therefore opened the second apple, and as before, a maiden of unequalled beauty stood before him; she manifested the same displeasure as the former one, and notwithstanding the precautions he had taken, disappeared in like manner. But even these two experiences barely sufficed to render the prince prudent.

At length however he reached his native country, and on opening the remaining apple, a third maiden as lovely as the others, but far more gentle, appeared. He immediately married her, and they were the happiest couple in the world.

After a time he was obliged to go out to war against a neighbouring potentate, and thus to quit his beloved. The queen-mother, in whose power the young bride now found herself, had never approved the marriage. She caused her daughter-in-law to be murdered in a barbarous manner, flung the corpse into the moat that surrounded the castle, and to complete her guilty deed, she subst.i.tuted for the unhappy queen a person who was entirely devoted to herself.

When the prince returned he was greatly astonished to find a wife so different from the one he had left. But the queen his mother a.s.sured him confidently that the person she presented to him was his wife. She did not attempt to deny the great alteration in her appearance, but she ascribed the transformation to the effect of magic.

In truth, the mode by which the prince had obtained his wife did give some appearance of probability to the queen's a.s.sertion, and at all events, whether from softness of disposition, or absence of distrust, the prince believed what he was told. But all was unavailing to make him forget his first pa.s.sion. Night and day he mused upon the past, and would pa.s.s whole hours leaning against the window of his palace.

One day as he was thus musing in deep melancholy, he perceived in the castle moat a fish whose shining scales were red, white, and black. He was so struck by the sight that he never withdrew his eyes from the fish. The old queen, who considered this extraordinary attention to the fish as a consequence of his early pa.s.sion, resolved to destroy every object that might tend to recall it to his memory. She therefore commanded the false princess to feign the most vehement longing to eat the very fish which had so attracted her husband's attention. He could not deny a request which in the opinion of all others was so innocent.

The fish was caught, served at the table of the supposed princess, and the prince relapsed into his usual melancholy.

Not very long after he was comforted by the appearance of a tree which was red, white, and black. The tree was of an unknown genus, no one had planted it, nor sown any seed; it had suddenly grown up on the spot where the scales of the fish had been thrown away.

This fair tree gave the prince great pleasure and the queen equal displeasure; she at once resolved on its destruction in spite of the sad prince's remonstrances. It was uprooted and burnt; but from its ashes suddenly arose a magnificent palace constructed of red rubies, white pearls, and black ebony. The three colours which the prince so loved, produced now an enchanting effect. Long did he endeavour in vain to enter that fair palace; the gates remained fast closed, and at last he contented himself with incessantly contemplating it, and pa.s.sed day after day in this occupation which recalled to him the object of his wishes.

His constancy was at last rewarded; the gates flew open; he entered the palace, and after traversing numerous apartments, he found in a small chamber his first wife whom he had so tenderly loved, and whose memory was so dear to him. She reproached him for having by his yielding disposition caused her so much suffering, but at the same time testified the vivid joy which she felt as she perceived that he was so deserving of the forgiveness she bestowed on him.

The happiness of the re-united pair was not again disturbed, and they lived together perfectly satisfied with their destiny.