I will tell you a story about the wren. There was once a farmer who was
seeking a servant, and the wren met him and said: "What are you
seeking?"
"I am seeking a servant," said the farmer to the wren.
"Will you take me?" said the wren.
"You, you poor creature, what good would you do?"
"Try me," said the wren.
So he engaged him, and the first work he set him to do was threshing in
the barn. The wren threshed (what did he thresh with? Why a flail to be
sure), and he knocked off one grain. A mouse came out and she eats that.
"I'll trouble you not to do that again," said the wren.
He struck again, and he struck off two grains. Out came the mouse and
she eats them. So they arranged a contest to see who was strongest, and
the wren brings his twelve birds, and the mouse her tribe.
"You have your tribe with you," said the wren.
"As well as yourself," said the mouse, and she struck out her leg
proudly. But the wren broke it with his flail, and there was a pitched
battle on a set day.
When every creature and bird was gathering to battle, the son of the
king of Tethertown said that he would go to see the battle, and that he
would bring sure word home to his father the king, who would be king of
the creatures this year. The battle was over before he arrived all but
one fight, between a great black raven and a snake. The snake was
twined about the raven's neck, and the raven held the snake's throat in
his beak, and it seemed as if the snake would get the victory over the
raven. When the king's son saw this he helped the raven, and with one
blow takes the head off the snake. When the raven had taken breath, and
saw that the snake was dead, he said, "For thy kindness to me this day,
I will give thee a sight. Come up now on the root of my two wings." The
king's son put his hands about the raven before his wings, and, before
he stopped, he took him over nine Bens, and nine Glens, and nine
Mountain Moors.
"Now," said the raven, "see you that house yonder? Go now to it. It is
a sister of mine that makes her dwelling in it; and I will go bail that
you are welcome. And if she asks you, Were you at the battle of the
birds? say you were. And if she asks, 'Did you see any one like me,'
say you did, but be sure that you meet me to-morrow morning here, in
this place." The king's son got good and right good treatment that
night. Meat of each meat, drink of each drink, warm water to his feet,
and a soft bed for his limbs.
On the next day the raven gave him the same sight over six Bens, and
six Glens, and six Mountain Moors. They saw a bothy far off, but,
though far off, they were soon there. He got good treatment this night,
as before--plenty of meat and drink, and warm water to his feet, and a
soft bed to his limbs--and on the next day it was the same thing, over
three Bens and three Glens, and three Mountain Moors.
On the third morning, instead of seeing the raven as at the other
times, who should meet him but the handsomest lad he ever saw, with
gold rings in his hair, with a bundle in his hand. The king's son asked
this lad if he had seen a big black raven.
Said the lad to him, "You will never see the raven again, for I am that
raven. I was put under spells by a bad druid; it was meeting you that
loosed me, and for that you shall get this bundle. Now," said the lad,
"you must turn back on the self-same steps, and lie a night in each
house as before; but you must not loose the bundle which I gave ye,
till in the place where you would most wish to dwell."
The king's son turned his back to the lad, and his face to his father's
house; and he got lodging from the raven's sisters, just as he got it
when going forward. When he was nearing his father's house he was going
through a close wood. It seemed to him that the bundle was growing
heavy, and he thought he would look what was in it.
When he loosed the bundle he was astonished. In a twinkling he sees the
very grandest place he ever saw. A great castle, and an orchard about
the castle, in which was every kind of fruit and herb. He stood full of
wonder and regret for having loosed the bundle--for it was not in his
power to put it back again--and he would have wished this pretty place
to be in the pretty little green hollow that was opposite his father's
house; but he looked up and saw a great giant coming towards him.
"Bad's the place where you have built the house, king's son," says the
giant.
"Yes, but it is not here I would wish it to be, though it happens to be
here by mishap," says the king's son.
"What's the reward for putting it back in the bundle as it was before?"
"What's the reward you would ask?" says the king's son.
"That you will give me the first son you have when he is seven years of
age," says the giant.
"If I have a son you shall have him," said the king's son.
In a twinkling the giant put each garden, and orchard, and castle in
the bundle as they were before.
"Now," says the giant, "take your own road, and I will take mine; but
mind your promise, and if you forget I will remember."
The king's son took to the road, and at the end of a few days he
reached the place he was fondest of. He loosed the bundle, and the
castle was just as it was before. And when he opened the castle door he
sees the handsomest maiden he ever cast eye upon.
"Advance, king's son," said the pretty maid; "everything is in order
for you, if you will marry me this very day."
"It's I that am willing," said the king's son. And on the same day they
married.
But at the end of a day and seven years, who should be seen coming to
the castle but the giant. The king's son was reminded of his promise to
the giant, and till now he had not told his promise to the queen.
"Leave the matter between me and the giant," says the queen.
"Turn out your son," says the giant; "mind your promise."
"You shall have him," says the king, "when his mother puts him in order
for his journey."
The queen dressed up the cook's son, and she gave him to the giant by
the hand. The giant went away with him; but he had not gone far when he
put a rod in the hand of the little laddie. The giant asked him--
"If thy father had that rod what would he do with it?"
"If my father had that rod he would beat the dogs and the cats, so that
they shouldn't be going near the king's meat," said the little laddie.
"Thou'rt the cook's son," said the giant. He catches him by the two
small ankles and knocks him against the stone that was beside him. The
giant turned back to the castle in rage and madness, and he said that
if they did not send out the king's son to him, the highest stone of
the castle would be the lowest.
Said the queen to the king, "We'll try it yet; the butler's son is of
the same age as our son."
She dressed up the butler's son, and she gives him to the giant by the
hand. The giant had not gone far when he put the rod in his hand.
"If thy father had that rod," says the giant, "what would he do with
it?"
"He would beat the dogs and the cats when they would be coming near the
king's bottles and glasses."
"Thou art the son of the butler," says the giant and dashed his brains
out too. The giant returned in a very great rage and anger. The earth
shook under the sole of his feet, and the castle shook and all that was
in it.
"OUT HERE WITH THY SON," says the giant, "or in a twinkling the stone
that is highest in the dwelling will be the lowest." So they had to
give the king's son to the giant.
When they were gone a little bit from the earth, the giant showed him
the rod that was in his hand and said: "What would thy father do with
this rod if he had it?"