Then the bird told his mistress to call her brother, and said: "There
is the king; let us invite him to dinner on Sunday. Shall we not?"
"Yes, yes," they said. So the king was invited and accepted, and on
Sunday the bird had a grand dinner prepared and the king came. When he
saw the young people near, he clapped his hands and said: "They must
be my children."
He went over the palace and was astonished at its richness. Then they
went to dinner, and while they were eating the king said: "Bird, every
one is talking; you alone are silent."
"Ah! your Majesty, I am ill; but next Sunday I shall be well and able
to talk, and will come and dine at your palace with this lady and this
gentleman."
The next Sunday the bird directed his mistress and her brother to put
on their finest clothes; so they dressed in royal style and took the
bird with them. The king showed them through his palace and treated
them with the greatest ceremony; the aunts were nearly dead with fear.
When they had seated themselves at the table, the king said: "Come,
bird, you promised me you would speak; have you nothing to say?" Then
the bird began and related all that had happened from the time the
king had listened at the door until his poor wife had been sent to the
tread-mill; then the bird added: "These are your children, and your
wife was sent to the tread-mill, and is dying."
[Illustration: The King Begs Pardon]
When the king heard all this, he hastened to embrace his children, and
then went to find his poor wife, who was reduced to skin and bones and
was at the point of death. He knelt before her and begged her pardon,
and then summoned her sisters and the nurse, and when they were in his
presence he said to the bird: "Bird, you who have told me everything,
now pronounce their sentence." Then the bird sentenced the nurse to be
thrown out of the window, and the sisters to be cast into a cauldron
of boiling oil. This was at once done. The king was never tired of
embracing his wife. Then the bird departed and the king and his wife
and children lived together in peace.
[Illustration: The Girl and the Frog]
THE LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS
There was once a man who had a son named Jack, who was very simple in
mind and backward in his thought. So his father sent him away to
school so that he might learn something; and after a year he came back
from school.
"Well, Jack," said his father, "what have you learnt at school?"
And Jack said, "I know what dogs mean when they bark."
"That's not much," said his father. "You must go to school again."
So he sent him to school for another year, and when he came back he
asked him what he had learnt.
"Well, father," said the boy, "when frogs croak I know what they
mean."
"You must learn more than that," said the father, and sent him once
more to school.
And when he returned, after another year, he asked him once more what
he had learnt.
"I know all the birds say when they twitter and chirp, caw and coo,
gobble and cluck."
"Well I must say," said the father, "that does not seem much for three
years' schooling. But let us see if you have learnt your lessons
properly. What does that bird say just above our heads in the tree
there?"
Jack listened for some time but did not say anything.
"Well, Jack, what is it?" asked his father.
"I don't like to say, father."
"I don't believe you know or else you would say. Whatever it is I
shall not mind."
Then the boy said, "The bird kept on saying as clear as could be, 'the
time is not so far away when Jack's father will offer him water on
bended knees for him to wash his hands; and his mother shall offer him
a towel to wipe them with.'"
Thereupon the father grew very angry at Jack and his love for him
changed to hatred, and one day he spoke to a robber and promised him
much money if he would take Jack away into the forest and kill him
there and bring back his heart to show that he had done what he had
promised. But instead of doing this the robber told Jack all about it
and advised him to flee away, while the robber took back to Jack's
father the heart of a deer saying that it was Jack's. Then Jack
travelled on and on till one night he stopped at a castle on the way;
and while they were all supping together in the castle hall the dogs
in the court-yard began barking and baying. And Jack went up to the
lord of the castle and said, "There will be an attack upon the castle
to-night."
"How do you know that?" asked the lord.
"The dogs say so," said Jack.
At that the lord and his men laughed, but never-the-less put an extra
guard around the castle that night, and, sure enough, the attack was
made, which was easily beaten off because the men were prepared. So
the lord gave Jack a great reward for warning him, and he went on his
way with a fellow traveller who had heard him warn the lord.
Soon afterwards they arrived at another castle in which the lord's
daughter was lying sick unto death; and a great reward had been
offered to him that should cure her. Now Jack had been listening to
the frogs as they were croaking in the moat which surrounded the
castle. So Jack went to the lord of the castle and said, "I know what
ails your daughter."
"What is it," asked the lord.
"She has dropped the holy wafer from her mouth and it has been
swallowed by one of the frogs in the moat."
"How do you know that?" said the lord.
"I heard the frogs say so."
At first the lord would not believe it; but in order to save his
daughter's life he got Jack to point out the frog who was boasting of
what he had swallowed, and, catching it, found what Jack had said was
true. The frog was caught and killed, the wafer got back, and the girl
recovered. So the lord gave Jack the reward which was promised, and he
went on further with his companion and with another guest of the
castle who had heard what Jack had said and done.
So Jack, with his two companions, travelled on towards Rome, the city
of cities where dwelt the Pope, in those days the head of all
Christendom. And as they were resting by the roadside Jack said to his
companions, "Who would have thought it? One of us is going to be the
Pope of Rome."
And his comrades asked him how he knew.
And he said, "The birds above in the tree have said so."
And his comrades at first laughed at him, but then remembered that
what he had said before of the barking of dogs and of the croaking of
frogs had turned out to be true.
[Illustration: The Pope is Elected]
Now when they arrived at Rome they found that the Pope had just died
and that they were about to select his successor. And it was decided
that all the people should pass under an arch whereon was a bell and
two doves, and he upon whose shoulders the doves should alight, and
for whom the bell should ring as he passed under the arch was to be
the next Pope. And when Jack and his companions came near the arch
they all remembered his prophecy and wondered which of the three
should receive the signs. And his first comrade passed under the arch
and nothing happened, and then the second and nothing happened, but
when Jack went through the doves descended and alighted upon his
shoulder and the bell began to toll. So Jack was made Pope of all
Christendom, and he took the name of Pope Sylvester.
After a while the new Pope went upon his travels and came to the town
where his father dwelt. And there was a great banquet held, to which
Jack's father and mother were invited at his request. And when they
came he ordered his servants to give to his father the basin of water,
and to his mother the towel, wherewith the Pope would wash his hands
after dinner. Now this was, in those days, a great honour, and people
wondered why Jack's father and mother should be so honoured. But after
Jack's father had offered him the basin of water, and his mother the
towel, Jack said to them, "Do you not know me, mother? Do you not know
me, father?" and made himself known to them and reminded his father of
what the bird had said. So he forgave his father and took him and his
mother to live with him ever afterwards.
[Illustration]
THE THREE SOLDIERS
Once upon a time three soldiers returned from the wars; one was a
sergeant, one was a corporal, and the third was a simple private. One
night they were caught in a forest and made a fire up to sleep by; and
the sergeant had to do sentry-go. While he was walking up and down an
old woman, bent double, came up to him and said:
"Please, sir, may I warm myself by your fire?"
"Why, certainly, mother, you are welcome to all the warmth you can
get."
So the old woman sat by the fire for a time, and when she had got
thoroughly warmed she said to the sergeant:
"Thank you, soldier; here is something for your trouble." And she
handed him a purse, which seemed to have nothing in it.
"Oh, thank you, marm," said the sergeant, "but I wouldn't deprive you
of it, especially as there is nothing in it."
"That may be so now," said the old woman, "but take it in your hand
and turn it upside-down, and while you hold it like that gold
pieces will come pouring out of it."
[Illustration: _The Magic Purse_]
He took it, and, sure enough, whenever he held it up out came the gold
pieces. So he thanked her very much, and off she went.
Next night the corporal had to play sentry, and the old woman came up
to him and asked to sit by the side of the fire.
"Certainly, marm," said he, "and welcome you are. I have known what it
is to shiver in my bones."
So the old woman sat by the fire for a time, and when she was leaving
gave the corporal a tablecloth.
Said he, "Thank you, marm, kindly, but we soldiers rarely use
tablecloths when we are eating our vittles."
"Yes, but this gives you vittles to eat," said the old woman.
"Whenever you put this over a table or on the ground and call out 'Be
covered!' the finest dinner you could eat at once comes upon it."
"If that is so," said the corporal, "I'll take it and thank you
kindly." And with that the old woman departed, and the corporal woke
up his comrades and called out: "Tablecloth be covered!" And, sure
enough, the finest dinner you could imagine appeared upon the cloth.
Next night the private marched up and down doing sentry-go, when the
old woman appeared again and asked to sit by the fire.
"Surely," said the private, "you're as welcome as my own mother would
be."
And after she had sat some time by the fire she got up and said:
"Thank you kindly, sir; I hope this will pay you for your trouble."
And she gave him a whistle.
"And what's this for?" said the private. "I can't play on the
whistle."
"But you can blow it," said she, "and whenever you blow it out will
come a regiment of armed men that will do whatever you tell them."
And with that the old woman departed, and they never saw her more.
So the three soldiers travelled on till they came to a city where
there was a princess, who was so proud of her card playing that she
had agreed to marry any one who could beat her at cards. Now the
sergeant was also very proud of his card playing, and he thought he
would try his luck with the princess. So when he went up to the palace
he offered to play a game with her, but she said to him:
"What are your stakes? If I lose I have to marry you. But if you lose
what do you lose?"
So the sergeant said: "I'll stake my purse."
"Why, what's a purse with nothing in it!" said the princess.
"There may be nothing in it now," said the sergeant, "but see here,"
and he turned the purse upside-down and put his hand under it, and it
kept on dropping gold pieces into his hand as long as he held it
upside-down.
So the princess agreed to play for the purse. But she had arranged a
mirror at the back of his head in which she could see all his cards.
And so she won easily, and he had to give up the purse.
But this princess was so charming that the sergeant had fallen in love
with her, and when he went back to his comrades he asked the corporal
to lend him his tablecloth. And he went back to the princess and said
to her:
"Will you play me for this tablecloth?"
And she said: "It may be a very beautiful tablecloth but it isn't
quite equal to me."
Then he laid it on a table and said, "Cloth, cover thyself." And there
was a most delicious dinner spread upon it.
But, as the princess knew she would be able to beat him, she agreed to
play him for the tablecloth, and, sure enough, by means of the mirror,
she won the tablecloth from him.
The same thing happened when he borrowed the whistle from the private
and tried his luck with the princess again. But this time he watched
what she was doing, and knew that she had cheated him though he dared
not say so. He lost again and went back to his comrades and asked them
to forgive him, but he could not help it as the princess had cheated
him. So his friends forgave him, and they all went their various
ways.
Now the sergeant wandered along, and wandered along, and wandered
along, till he came to the bank of a stream on which there grew fig
trees, white and black. And he gathered some of these figs from the
different trees, and sat down by the bank to eat them. And he ate a
black fig, and then, feeling thirsty, went down to the stream to drink
some of the water, and as he looked in he found that he had two horns
on the side of his head just like a goat, instead of two ears. He
didn't know what to do; but as he was still hungry he ate one of the
white figs; and when he went to drink again he found the horns had
disappeared. So then he knew that the black figs brought the horns and
the white figs took them away. So he gathered some more of them and
went back to the palace of the princess, and sent her up some of the
black figs as a present from an admirer.
And after a while there was a rumour spread around the city that the
princess had horns in her head, and would give anything to any one who
could remove them.
So the sergeant went up to the palace and presented himself before the
princess and said to her:
"I can remove your horns, but I want my purse, and my tablecloth, and
my whistle back."
Then she ordered them to be brought and promised to give them back to
him as soon as the horns were removed.
So he gave her a white fig, and as soon as she had eaten it the horns
disappeared; and he took up the purse, the tablecloth, and the
whistle. Then he said to her:
[Illustration: The Princess Finds Horns on her Head]
"Now, will you marry me?"
"No," she replied, "why should I?"
"Because you didn't win these fairly."
"That may be, or that may not be, but I see no reason why I should
marry you."
Thereupon he blew his whistle, and the palace was filled with a
regiment of soldiers. And the sergeant said:
"If you do not marry me these men shall seize your father and I will
seize his throne."
So the princess married him, and he sent for the corporal and the
private and made them rich and prosperous, and they all lived fairly
happily together.
[Illustration: The Unicorn]
A DOZEN AT A BLOW
A little tailor was sitting cross-legged at his bench and was
stitching away as busy as could be when a woman came up the street
calling out: "Home-made jam, home-made jam!"
So the tailor called out to her: "Come here, my good woman, and give
me a quarter of a pound."
And when she had poured it out for him he spread it on some bread and
butter and laid it aside for his lunch. But, in the summer-time, the
flies commenced to collect around the bread and jam.
When the tailor noticed this, he raised his leather strap and brought
it down upon the crowd of flies and killed twelve of them
straightway. He was mighty proud of that. So he made himself a
shoulder-sash, on which he stitched the letters: A Dozen at One Blow.
When he looked down upon this he thought to himself: "A man who could
do such things ought not to stay at home; he ought to go out to
conquer the world."
So he put into his wallet the cream cheese that he had bought that day
and a favourite blackbird that used to hop about his shop, and went
out to seek his fortune.
He hadn't gone far when he met a giant, and went up to him and said:
"Well, comrade, how goes it with you?"
"Comrade," sneered the giant, "a pretty comrade you would make for
me."
"Look at this," said the tailor pointing to his sash.
And when the giant read, "A Dozen at a Blow," he thought to himself:
"This little fellow is no fool of a fighter if what he says is true.
But let's test him."
So the giant said to the tailor: "If what you've got there is true, we
may well be comrades. But let's see if you can do what I can do."
And he bent down in the road and took up a large stone and pressed it
with his hand till it all crushed up and water commenced to pour out
from it.
"Can you do that?" said the giant.
The tailor also bent down in the road, but took out from his wallet
the piece of cheese and pretended to pick it up.
When he took it in his hand he pressed and pressed till the cream
poured forth from it.
The giant said: "Well, you can do that fairly well. Let's see if you
can throw."
He took another stone and threw it till it went right across the river
by which they were standing.
So the little tailor took his blackbird in his hand and pretended to
throw it, and of course when it felt itself in the air it flew away
and disappeared.
The giant said: "That wasn't a bad throw. You may as well come home
and stop with us giants, and we'll do great things together."
As they went along the giant said: "We want some twigs for our night
fires. You may as well help me carry some home." And he pointed to a
tree that had fallen by the wayside and said: "Help me carry that,
will you?"
So the tailor said, "Why certainly," and went to the top of the tree,
and said: "I'll carry these branches which are the heavier; you carry
the trunk which has no branches."
And when the giant got the trunk on his shoulders the tailor seated
himself on one of the branches and let the giant carry him along.
After a time the giant got tired and said: "Ho there, wait a minute,
I'm going to drop the tree and rest awhile."
So the tailor jumped down and caught the tree around the branches
again and said: "Well, you are easily tired."
At last they got to the giant's castle and there the giant spoke to
his brothers and told them what a brave and powerful fellow this
little tailor was. They spoke together and determined to get rid of
him lest he might do them some harm. But they determined to kill him
in the night because he was so strong and might kill twelve of them at
a blow.
But the tailor saw them whispering together, and guessing that
something was wrong went out into the yard and got a big bladder which
he filled with blood and put it in the bed which the giants pointed
out to him.
Then he crept under it, and during the night they brought their big
clubs and hit the bed over and over again till the blood spurted out
onto their faces.
Then they thought the tailor was dead and went back to sleep.
But in the morning there was the tailor as large as life. And they
were so surprised to see him that they asked him if he had not felt
anything during the night.
"Oh, I don't know, there seemed to be plenty of fleas in that bed,"
said the tailor. "I do not think I would care to sleep there again."
And with that he took his leave of the giants and went on his way.
After a time he came to the King's court and fell asleep under a tree.
And some of the courtiers passing by saw written upon his sash, "A
Dozen at One Blow."
They went and told the King who said: "Why, he's just the man for us;
he will be able to destroy the wild boar and the unicorn that are
ravaging our kingdom. Bring him to us."
So they woke up the little tailor and brought him to the King, who
said to him: "There is a wild boar ravaging our kingdom. You are so
powerful that you will easily be able to capture it."
"What shall I get if I do?" asked the little tailor.
"Well, I have promised to give my daughter's hand and half the kingdom
to the man who can do it, and other things."
"What other things?" said the little tailor.
"Oh, it will be time to learn that when you have caught the boar."
Then the little tailor went out to the wood where the boar was last
seen, and when he came near him he ran away, and ran away, and ran
away, till at last he came to a little chapel in the wood into which
he ran, and the boar at his heels. He climbed up to a high window and
got outside the chapel, and then rushed around to the door and closed
and locked it.
Then he went back to the King and said to him: "I have your wild boar
for you in the chapel in the woods. Send some of your men to kill him,
or do what you like with him."
"How did you manage to get him there?" said the King.
"Oh, I caught him by the bristles and threw him in there as I thought
you wanted to have him safe and sound. What's the next thing I must
do?"
"Well," said the King, "there's a unicorn in this country killing
everyone that he meets. I do not want him slain; I want him caught and
brought to me."
So the little tailor said, "Give me a rope and a hatchet and I will
see what I can do."
So he went with the rope and hatchet to the wood, where the unicorn
had been seen. And when he came towards it he dodged it, and he dodged
it, till at last he dodged behind a big tree, till the unicorn, in
trying to pierce, ran his horn into the tree where it stuck fast.
Then the little tailor came forth and tied the rope around the
unicorn's neck, and dug out the horn with his hatchet, and dragged the
unicorn to the King.
"What's the next thing?" said the little tailor.
"Well, there is only one thing more. There are two giants who are
destroying everybody they meet. Get rid of them, and my daughter and
the half of my kingdom shall be yours."
Then the little tailor went to seek the giants and found them sleeping
under some trees in the woods. He filled his box with stones, climbed
up a tree overlooking the giants, and when he had hidden himself in
the branches he threw a stone at the chest of one of the giants who
woke up and said to his brother giant, "What are you doing there?"
And the other giant woke up and said, "I have done nothing."
"Well, don't do it again," said the other giant, and laid down to
sleep again.
Then the tailor threw a stone at the other giant and hit him a whack
on the chin. That giant rose up and said to his fellow giant, "What do
you do that for?"
"Do what?"
"Hit me on the chin."
"I didn't."
"You did."
"I didn't."
"You did."
"Well, take that for not doing it."
And with that the other giant hit him a rousing blow on the head. With
that they commenced fighting and tore up the trees and hit one another
till at last one of them was killed, and the other one was so badly
injured that the tailor had no difficulty in killing him with his
hatchet.
Then he went back to the King and said: "I have got rid of your
giants for you; send your men and bury them in the forest. They tore
up the trees and tried to kill me with them but I was too much for
them. Now for the Princess."
Well, the King had nothing more to say, and gave him his daughter in
marriage and half the kingdom to rule.
But shortly after they were married the Princess heard the tailor
saying in his sleep: "Fix that button better; baste that side gore;
don't drop your stitches like that."
And then she knew she had married a tailor. And she went to her father
weeping bitterly and complained.
"Well, my dear," he said, "I promised, and he certainly showed himself
a great hero. But I will try and get rid of him for you. To-night I
will send into your bedroom a number of soldiers that shall slay him
even if he can kill a dozen at a blow."
So that night the little tailor noticed there was something wrong and
heard the soldiers moving about near the bedroom. So he pretended to
fall asleep and called out in his sleep: "I have killed a dozen at a
blow; I have slain two giants; I have caught a wild boar by his
bristles, and captured a unicorn alive. Show me the man that I need
fear."
And when the soldiers heard that they said to the Princess that the
job was too much for them, and went away.
And the Princess thought better of it, and was proud of her little
hero, and they lived happily ever afterwards.
[Illustration: The Earl of Cattenborough will be Pleased to Partake of
a Potato]
THE EARL OF CATTENBOROUGH
Once upon a time there was a miller who had three sons, Charles, Sam,
and John. And every night when the servant went to bed he used to call
out:
"Good-night, Missus; good-night, Master; Good-night, Charles, Sam,
John."
Now after a time the miller's wife died, and, soon after, the miller,
leaving only the mill, the donkey, and the cat. And Charles, as the
eldest, took the mill, and Sam took the donkey and went off with it,
and John was left with only the cat.