Once upon a time a poor scholar going to town chanced to come across the
body of a man which had been cast by some one under the walls of the
town near to the gate. The scholar had very little money in his pocket,
but for all that he willingly paid for the body to be buried in a
Christian manner, so that it might be protected from insult. Having seen
to this, he said a few prayers over the grave, and then continued his
journey.
It chanced that one day, as he passed through an oak-wood, he felt
tired, and laid himself down to sleep under one of the trees. When he
awoke, how astonished was he to find that his pockets were all full of
gold! He called down blessings on the head of whoever it was that had
done him this good turn, and went on. At length he came to the bank of a
wide river too deep for him to ford. Seeing the money he had with him,
two boatmen offered to row him across. He entered the boat, and the men
rowed till they came to the middle of the river, when they set upon him,
robbed him of his gold, and then threw him into the water.
Almost insensible he was carried away by the stream, but as he was
floating along he found a log of wood beside him. He clung to it, and,
keeping himself afloat by means of it, managed to scramble to shore. The
log, however, was not really what it seemed to be. It was the spirit of
the dead man whom the poor scholar had buried, and now, when he was on
shore, the spirit spoke to him, and said—
“I am the spirit of him whose corpse you honoured with burial. I am
grateful for what you did, and in return I will teach you three things:
how to change yourself into a crow, a hare, and a roebuck.”
Having acquired these strange powers, the poor man went on his way. In
time he came to the court of a mighty king, in whose service he entered
as an archer. Now this king was the father of a beautiful princess who
lived alone in a castle on a solitary island. The walls of the castle
were of copper, and in it was a sword of such an extraordinary kind that
one could, by waving it in the air, cut down a whole army at one sweep.
It was natural that the sword should be coveted by very many, but no one
durst venture upon the island to endeavour to obtain it.
Now at the time that the poor scholar came to the court, the king was
sore troubled by his enemies, who were invading his dominions. He had
great need of the sword, but how could he get it? He determined to see
whether there was any among his subjects who would dare to go to the
island, and so he caused a proclamation to be published to the effect
that if any one would bring him the magical sword he should receive his
daughter in marriage and succeed him on the throne.
For a while no one came forward, but at last the scholar determined to
make the attempt. Every one was astonished at his audacity, but he
boldly went to the king and begged him to give him a letter that he
might deliver to the princess asking her to give the sword to him. The
king wrote the letter and gave it to the man, who at once set out,
making his way through the forest. Unknown to him he was followed at a
little distance by another of the king’s archers who had determined to
go after him and see how he sped. To travel the quicker, the archer
assumed the shapes of a hare and a roebuck, as was suited to the ground
over which he had to pass, and at last he came to the sea-shore. He then
took the shape of a crow, and, flying over the waves as quickly as his
wings would bear him, he at length came to the island on which was the
castle.
He landed, and, making his way to the castle, entered and delivered the
king’s letter to the princess, begging her at the same time to let him
have the victorious sword. The beautiful princess, who had lived so long
without looking upon a stranger, scanned the archer closely, and fell in
love with him. She inquired of him how it was that he had had the
courage to undertake a task from which others drew back, and to come to
the castle which had not been visited by man for so many years, and the
archer told her all about himself and the wonderful powers he possessed.
The princess, asking him to give her proof that what he said was true,
and desiring him to change himself into the various forms, the archer
immediately did as she desired, and a handsome roebuck gambolled and
played around her. As the princess stroked it she plucked a tuft of hair
out of the animal’s coat, but the archer did not notice it. Next he
changed himself into a crow, and flew about the room. The princess laid
her hand upon the bird, and, while she stroked it, contrived to pluck
some feathers out of its wing without the archer noticing it. He last of
all changed himself into a hare, and again the princess plucked a tuft
of hair out of his coat unobserved.
Then the princess wrote a letter to her father, delivered the sword to
the archer, and dismissed him.
Taking the form of a crow, the man flew over the sea, and, having
reached the shore, he changed himself to a roebuck, and ran till he came
to the forest. Then he changed himself into a hare, and began to make
his way as fast as possible through the forest depths. Now, the archer
who had followed him had seen all that he had done till he came to the
sea-shore to fly over to the castle. There the man had stopped awaiting
the other’s return. He saw him come back in the shape of a crow, change
himself into a roebuck, and again into a hare. As the hare was making
its way through the forest the archer bent his bow, and discharged an
arrow so well aimed that the hare at once fell dead to the ground. The
archer came up to it, took the letter and the sword, and set out to the
palace. When he arrived there he gave the king the sword, and demanded
the promised reward.
The king was delighted to find himself in possession of the sword which
would destroy all his enemies. He confirmed his promise of the reward,
leaped into the saddle, and set off to the place where the hostile army
was encamped. Scarcely had he come near enough to distinguish the flags
of the enemy in the distance than he brandished the sword. At every
stroke fresh foes fell to the ground, and at last the few of them that
were left fled from the field stricken with terror at their comrades’
mysterious fate. The king collected together the booty he found in the
enemy’s camp, and, returning home, sent to his daughter to tell her to
come to his court so that he might give her to the archer.
Meanwhile the poor fellow who had been slain while he was travelling as
a hare lay dead in the forest under an oak-tree. All of a sudden,
however, he came to life again, and, looking around him, he saw the
spirit of the dead man, whose body he had buried, standing near him. The
spirit told him that it had witnessed what had befallen him, and had by
the power it possessed called him back to life.
“The wedding of the princess,” it said to the man, “is to be celebrated
to-morrow, and if you would keep her you must go as fast as you can to
the palace. She will know you as soon as she sees you, and you will also
be recognised by the archer who so wickedly slew you.”
So the young man lost no time, but went on to the palace. When he came
to the court he found all the guests already assembled. He entered the
room, and no sooner had the princess cast a glance on him than she knew
it was he, and was beside herself with joy. As for the treacherous
archer, he turned pale when he saw the man, whom he thought he had
murdered, alive and well.
Then the man told all the company everything that had happened, and how
the archer had slain and robbed him. The tale was so wonderful that the
guests could scarcely credit it, so the man changed himself into a
roebuck to show them that what he had said was true. Then the princess
put her hand in her pocket and took out of it a tuft of hair which was
found to exactly fit a bare place on the roebuck’s coat. The man changed
himself into a hare, and the princess again produced a piece of a hare’s
coat which exactly fitted a bare spot in the animal’s skin. Lastly he
changed himself into a crow, and the princess producing the feathers she
had formerly plucked out of the bird, it was found that they were
missing in its plumage.
When the king saw all this he required no further proof of the man’s
story, and he ordered that the treacherous archer should be at once led
forth and put to death by being torn to pieces by four wild horses.
Within the palace all was joy and festivity. The archer married the
princess, and they wanted nothing, for the wish of their hearts was
obtained.
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Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to Her Majesty,
_at the Edinburgh University Press_.
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