“Wonderful girdle, for my safety, and not for my pleasure, let me find
myself on the water.”
There was a murmuring in the air, and a great change took place. A
magnificent lake—long, wide, and deep—appeared in the middle of the
plain, and in it swam fish with golden scales and eyes of pearls. In the
middle of the lake, in a silver skiff, was a man whom the soldiers
recognised as the fool. For a time they looked on in wonder, and then
they set off to tell the king all about it. When the king heard of such
a girdle he longed to have it. He took counsel with his officer, and
then sent off a whole battalion of soldiers to take the fool prisoner.
This time they tried to catch him while he was asleep. Just as they were
about to lay hands on him, however, the fool turned his hat, and said—
“Hat that shoots, to please me, strike those who trouble me.”
At that instant a hundred bullets whistled in the air. The place rang
with the noise of guns, and the air was filled with smoke. Some of the
soldiers fell dead on the ground, others ran off to hide themselves in
the woods, and some went to tell the king.
The king was dreadfully angry to think that he could not get the better
of the fool. He had desired to have the cloth, to have the stick, to
have the girdle, but what were any of these things to the wonderful
six-cornered hat which, of its own accord, fired and shot down its
opponents as well as if it had been a battery of cannon!
Having considered for some time, he thought it would, perhaps, be best
to try persuasion. So he sent to the lad’s mother, and said to her—
“Tell your son, the fool, that I and my lovely daughter salute him, and
we beg of him to come to the palace and show us all the wonderful things
we are told he possesses. If he is willing to make me a present of them
I will give him half my kingdom, and will name him as my successor in
the throne. My daughter also will take him for her husband.”
The mother ran off to her son, and persuaded him to accept the king’s
invitation, and go to the palace with his wonderful treasures. The lad
fastened on his girdle, put on his hat, hid the cloth in his bosom, took
his stick in his hand, and set off to the Court. When he came there the
king was engaged, but the lad was received very politely by his
attendants. Music struck up as he came to the palace, the soldiers
presented arms, and altogether the lad was received very much better
than he could have expected. At length, when he was introduced into the
hall in which was the king, the lad took off his hat and bowed.
“What,” said he, “O king, do you desire? I have come to lay at the foot
of your throne the cloth, the girdle, the stick, and the hat. In return
for these presents I only ask that your royal favour may light on the
humblest of your subjects.”
“Tell me then, fool,” said the king, “how much money do you want for
those things?”
“Money,” replied the lad, “a fool like me does not want money. The king
promised my mother to give me half his kingdom, and his daughter in
marriage. I only ask so much!”
The king’s officer signed to the soldiers to come in. They laid hands on
the lad suddenly, dragged him out into the courtyard, and there, while
the drums beat and the trumpets sounded, they killed him and buried him.
As the soldiers pierced him to the heart, some drops of blood sprang
forth, and fell under the windows of the princess, who wept at the sight
and shed tears on the reddened earth. Wonderful to tell! from these
drops of blood there sprang up an apple-tree which grew till it reached
the windows of the princess’s apartments. When the princess laid her
hand on the boughs of the tree, an apple fell off into her bosom. The
princess took it up and played with it.
The next day, when night came on, all were asleep in the palace save the
guards, the king’s officer, and the princess. The guards were watching,
as usual, with their arms in their hands. The princess was playing with
the apple, and could not sleep. As for the king’s officer, soon after he
lay down he was roused by a terrible noise. The cudgel appeared before
him, and though he ran round and round his chamber, it pursued and beat
him, crying—
“You good-for-nothing fellow! Don’t be so envious and unjust. Don’t
return evil for good, and steal what belongs to others. Take that, and
that, and that!”
The officer called aloud and cried for mercy, but the stick still laid
on.
The princess, hearing some one groaning, began to weep, and then a
wonderful thing happened. Some of her tears fell on the apple. It grew,
changed its form, and, all of a sudden, there stood before her a fine
young man, the very same as had been slain under her window.
“Fair princess,” said he, “I salute you. The treachery of the king’s
officer caused my death, and your tears have recalled me to life again.
Your father promised to give you to me for my wife: what do you say?”
“If it is my father’s wish,” replied the princess, “I consent,” and she
gave him her hand.
The lad spoke some words and the doors opened of themselves. The
six-cornered hat came and placed itself on his head, the girdle came and
wound itself around his waist, the cloth hid itself in one of his
pockets, and the avenging cudgel placed itself in his hands.
When this had taken place the king came running in. How astonished was
he to see the fool alive, and there! The lad did not await for the king
to give vent to his rage, but said—
“Wonderful girdle, for my safety, and not for my pleasure, let me find
myself on the water.”
There was a murmuring in the air. A wonderful change took place. A
large, wide, and deep lake appeared in the middle of the palace grounds.
In the crystal waters played fish with golden scales and eyes of pearl.
Afar off on the water were the fool and the princess. The king came to
the side of the lake and beckoned the lad to him. He came, and with the
princess knelt at the king’s feet, and told him how they two were in
love with one another. The king gave them his blessing. The lake
disappeared, and the three returned to the palace, when the king,
calling his counsellors, told them all that had occurred. Then he named
the fool as his successor on the throne, gave him his daughter, and
threw his officer into prison.
In return, the lad gave the king the cloth, the stick, the girdle, and
the hat, telling him how to use them, and teaching him the magic words.
The next day the marriage took place, and, with his daughter, the king
gave the lad half of his dominions, and in the evening there was a royal
feast, so grand that the like was never before seen or heard of.
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