be town-musician there. Come with me and engage yourself also as a
musician. I will play the lute, and you shall beat the kettledrum.”
The Hound agreed, and on they went.
Before long, they came to a Cat, sitting on the path, with a face like
three rainy days!
“Now then, old shaver, what has gone askew with you?” asked the Donkey.
“Who can be merry when his neck is in danger?” answered the Cat.
“Because I am now getting old, and my teeth are worn to stumps, and I
prefer to sit by the fire and spin, rather than hunt about after mice,
my mistress wants to drown me, so I have run away. But now good advice
is scarce. Where am I to go?”
“Come with us to Bremen. You understand night-music, so you can be a
town-musician.”
The Cat thought well of it, and went with them.
After this the three fugitives came to a farmyard, where the Cock was
sitting upon the gate, crowing with all his might.
“Your crow goes through and through one,” said the Donkey. “What is the
matter?”
“I have been foretelling fine weather, because it is the day on
which Our Lady washes the Christ-child’s little shirts, and wants to
dry them,” said the Cock. “But guests are coming for Sunday, so the
housewife has no pity, and has told the cook that she intends to eat me
in the soup to-morrow. This evening I am to have my head cut off. Now I
am crowing at full pitch while I can.”
“Ah, but Red-Comb,” said the Donkey, “you had better come away with
us. We are going to Bremen. You can find something better than death
everywhere. You have a good voice, and if we make music together, it
must have some quality!”
The Cock agreed to this plan, and all four went on together.
They could not, however, reach the city of Bremen in one day, and in
the evening they came to a forest where they meant to pass the night.
The Donkey and the Hound laid themselves down under a large tree. The
Cat and the Cock settled themselves in the branches; but the Cock flew
right to the top, where he was most safe.
Before he went to sleep, he looked round on all the four sides, and
thought he saw in the distance a little spark burning. So he called out
to his companions that there must be a house not far off, for he saw a
light.
The Donkey said, “If so, we had better get up and go on, for the
shelter here is bad.”
The Hound thought that a few bones with some meat would do him good too!
They made their way to the place where the light was, and soon saw
it shine brighter and grow larger, until they came to a well-lighted
robber’s house. The Donkey, as the biggest, went to the window and
looked in.
“What do you see, my Grey-Horse?” asked the Cock.
“What do I see?” answered the Donkey; “a table covered with good things
to eat and drink, and robbers sitting at it enjoying themselves.”
“That would be the sort of thing for us,” said the Cock.
“Yes, yes! ah, how I wish we were there!” said the Donkey.
Then the animals took counsel together as to how they could drive away
the robbers, and at last they thought of a plan. The Donkey was to
place himself with his forefeet upon the window-ledge, the Hound was
to jump on the Donkey’s back, the Cat was to climb upon the Hound, and
lastly the Cock was to fly up and perch upon the head of the Cat.
When this was done, at a given signal, they began to perform their
music together. The Donkey brayed, the Hound barked, the Cat mewed, and
the Cock crowed. Then they burst through the window into the room, so
that the glass clattered!
At this horrible din, the robbers sprang up, thinking no otherwise
than that a ghost had come in, and fled in a great fright out into the
forest.
The four companions now sat down at the table, well content with what
was left, and ate as if they were going to fast for a month.
As soon as the four minstrels had done, they put out the light, and
each sought for himself a sleeping-place according to his nature and
to what suited him. The Donkey laid himself down upon some straw in
the yard, the Hound behind the door, the Cat upon the hearth near the
warm ashes, and the Cock perched himself upon a beam of the roof. Being
tired with their long walk, they soon went to sleep.
When it was past midnight, the robbers saw from afar that the light was
no longer burning in their house, and all appeared quiet.
The captain said, “We ought not to have let ourselves be frightened out
of our wits;” and ordered one of them to go and examine the house.
The messenger finding all still, went into the kitchen to light a
candle, and, taking the glistening fiery eyes of the Cat for live
coals, he held a lucifer-match to them to light it. But the Cat did not
understand the joke, and flew in his face, spitting and scratching.
He was dreadfully frightened, and ran to the back door, but the Dog,
who lay there, sprang up and bit his leg.
Then, as he ran across the yard by the straw-heap, the Donkey gave him
a smart kick with his hind foot. The Cock, too, who had been awakened
by the noise, and had become lively, cried down from the beam:
“_Kicker-ee-ricker-ee-ree!_”
Then the robber ran back as fast as he could to his captain, and said,
“Ah, there is a horrible Witch sitting in the house, who spat on me
and scratched my face with her long claws. By the door stands a man
with a knife, who stabbed me in the leg. In the yard there lies a black
monster, who beat me with a wooden club. And above, upon the roof, sits
the judge, who called out:
“‘_Bring the rogue here to me!_’
so I got away as well as I could.”
After this the robbers did not trust themselves in the house again. But
it suited the four musicians of Bremen so well that they did not care
to leave it any more.
And the mouth of him who last told this story, is still warm.
[Illustration]
THE SIX SWANS
Once upon a time, a certain King was hunting in a great forest, and he
chased a wild beast so eagerly that none of his attendants could follow
him. When evening drew near, he stopped and looked around him, and saw
that he had lost his way. He sought a way out, but could find none.
Then he perceived an Old Woman with a head which nodded all the time,
who came toward him, but she was a Witch.
“Good woman,” said he to her, “can you not show me the way through the
forest?”
“Oh, yes, Lord King,” she answered, “that I certainly can, but on one
condition, and if you do not fulfill that, you will never get out of
the forest, and will die of hunger in it.”
“What kind of a condition is it?” asked the King.
“I have a daughter,” said the old woman, “who is as beautiful as any
one in the world, and well deserves to be your wife. If you will make
her your Queen, I will show you the way out of the forest.”
In the anguish of his heart the King consented, and the old woman led
him to her little hut, where her daughter was sitting by the fire. She
received the King as if she had been expecting him. He saw that she was
very beautiful, but still she did not please him, and he could not look
at her without secret horror.
After he had taken the maiden up on his horse, the old woman showed him
the way, and the King reached his royal palace again, where the wedding
was celebrated.
The King had already been married once, and had by his first wife,
seven children, six boys and a girl, whom he loved better than anything
else in the world. As he now feared that the new Queen might not treat
them well, and even do them some injury, he took them to a lonely
castle which stood in the midst of a forest. It lay concealed, and the
way was so difficult to find, that he himself would not have found it
at all, if a Wise Woman had not given him a ball of yarn with wonderful
properties. When he threw it down before him, it unrolled itself and
showed him his path.
The King, however, went so frequently to visit his dear children, that
the Queen noticed his absence. She was curious and wanted to know what
he did when he was alone in the forest. She gave a great deal of money
to his servants, and they betrayed the secret to her, and told her
likewise of the ball which alone could point out the way.
And now she knew no rest until she had learnt where the King kept the
ball of yarn. Then she made little shirts of white silk, and as she had
learnt the art of witchcraft from her mother, she sewed a charm inside
them. And one day, when the King had ridden forth to hunt, she took the
little shirts and went into the forest, and the ball showed her the
way.
The children, who saw from a distance that some one was approaching,
thought that their dear father was coming to them, and full of joy,
ran to meet him. Then she threw one of the little shirts over each of
them. And no sooner had the shirts touched their bodies than they were
changed into Swans, and flew away over the forest.
The Queen went home quite delighted, and thought she had got rid of all
the children, but the girl had not run out with her brothers, and the
Queen knew nothing about her.
Next day, the King went to visit his children, but found no one but the
little girl.
“Where are your brothers?” asked the King.
“Alas, dear Father,” she answered, “they have gone away and left me
alone!” and she told him that she had seen from her little window, how
her brothers had flown away over the forest in the shape of Swans. And
she showed him the feathers, which they had let fall in the courtyard,
and which she had picked up.
The King mourned, but he did not think that the Queen had done this
wicked deed. And as he feared that the girl also would be stolen from
him, he wanted to take her away. But she was afraid of the Queen,
and entreated the King to let her stay just one night more in the
forest-castle.
The poor girl thought, “I can no longer remain here. I will go and seek
my brothers.” And when night came, she ran away, and went straight into
the forest.
She walked the whole night long, and next day also without stopping,
until she could go no farther for weariness. Then she saw a forest-hut,
and went into it, and found a room with six little beds. She did not
venture to get into any of them, but crept under one, and lay down
on the hard ground, to pass the night there. Just before sunset she
heard a rustling, and saw six Swans come flying in at the window.
They alighted on the ground and blew at each other, and blew all the
feathers off, and their swan’s skins stripped off like a shirt.
Then the maiden looked at them and recognized her brothers. She
rejoiced and crept forth from beneath the bed. The brothers were not
less delighted to see their little sister, but their joy was short.
“Here can you not abide,” they said to her. “This is a shelter for
robbers. If they come home and find you, they will kill you.”
“But can you not protect me?” asked the little sister.
“No,” they replied, “only for one quarter of an hour each evening, can
we lay aside our swan’s skins and have our human form. After that, we
are once more turned into Swans.”
The little sister wept, and said, “Can you not be set free?”
“Alas, no,” they answered, “the conditions are too hard! For six years
you may neither speak nor laugh, and in that time you must sew together
six little shirts of Star-Flowers for us. And if one single word falls
from your lips, all your work will be lost.”
And when the brothers had said this, the quarter of an hour was over,
and they flew out of the window again as Swans.
[Illustration: THE PRINCESS WENT OUT AND GATHERED STAR-FLOWERS]
The maiden, however, resolved to deliver her brothers, even if it
should cost her her life. She left the hut, went into the midst of the
forest, seated herself on a tree, and there passed the night. Next
morning, she went out and gathered Star-Flowers and began to sew.
She could not speak to any one, and she had no wish to laugh. She sat
there and looked at nothing but her work.
When she had spent a long time there, it came to pass that the King of
the country was hunting in the forest, and his huntsmen came to the
tree on which the maiden was sitting.
They called to her, and said, “Who are you?” But she made no answer.
“Come down to us,” said they. “We will not do you any harm.”
She only shook her head. As they pressed her further with questions,
she threw her golden necklace down to them, and thought to content them
with that. They, however, did not cease, and then she threw her girdle
down to them, and as this also was to no use, her garters, and little
by little everything which she had on that she could do without, until
she had nothing left but her shift. The huntsmen, however, did not let
themselves be turned aside by that, but climbed the tree and fetched
the maiden down and led her before the King.
The King asked, “Who are you? What are you doing on the tree?”
But she did not answer. He put the question in every language that he
knew, but she remained as mute as a fish. As she was so beautiful, the
King’s heart was touched, and he was smitten with a great love for her.
He put his mantle on her, took her before him on his horse, and carried
her to his castle.
Then he caused her to be dressed in rich garments, and she shone in her
beauty like bright daylight, but no word could be drawn from her. He
placed her by his side at table, and her modest bearing and courtesy
pleased him so much, that he said, “She is the one whom I wish to
marry, and no other woman in the world.” And a few days after, he
united himself to her.
The King, however, had a wicked mother, who was dissatisfied with his
marriage and spoke ill of the young Queen. “Who knows,” said she, “from
whence comes the creature, who can’t speak? She is not worthy of a
King!”
After a year had passed, when the Queen brought her first child into
the world, the old woman took it away from her and smeared her mouth
with blood as she slept. Then she went to the King and accused the
Queen of being a man-eater. The King would not believe it, and would
not suffer any one to do her injury. She, however, sat continually
sewing at the shirts, and cared for nothing else.
The next time, when she again bore a beautiful boy, the false old
woman used the same treachery, but the King could not bring himself to
believe her words. He said, “She is too pious and good to do anything
of that kind. If she were not dumb, and could defend herself, her
innocence would come to light.”
But when the old woman stole away the newly-born child for the third
time, and accused the Queen, who did not utter one word of defense, the
King could do no otherwise than deliver her over to justice; and she
was sentenced to be burned.
When the day came for the sentence to be executed, it was the last day
of the six years during which she was not to speak or laugh, and she
had delivered her dear brothers from the power of the enchantment. The
six shirts were ready, only the left sleeve of the sixth was wanting.
When, therefore, she was led to the stake, she laid the shirts on her
arm. And when she stood on high and the fire was just going to be
lighted, she looked around and six Swans came flying through the air
toward her. Then she saw that her deliverance was near, and her heart
leapt with joy.
The Swans swept toward her and sank down so that she could throw the
shirts over them. And as they were touched by them, their swan’s skins
fell off, and her brothers stood in their own form before her, vigorous
and handsome. The youngest lacked only his left arm, and had in its
place a swan’s wing on his shoulder.
They embraced and kissed each other, and the Queen went to the King,
who was greatly moved, and she began to speak, and said, “Dearest
Husband, now I may speak and declare to you that I am innocent, and
falsely accused.” And she told him of the treachery of the old woman
who had taken away her three children, and hidden them.
To the great joy of the King, they were brought back. And as a
punishment, the wicked woman was bound to the stake and burned to ashes.
But the King and the Queen, with their six brothers, lived many years
in happiness and peace.
[Illustration]
THE POOR MILLER’S BOY AND THE CAT
In a certain mill, lived an old miller who had neither wife nor child.
Three apprentices served under him.
As they had been with him several years, he one day said to them, “I
am old, and want to sit in the chimney-corner. Go out, and whichsoever
of you brings me the best horse, to him will I give the mill. And in
return for it, he shall take care of me till my death.”
The third of the boys was, however, the drudge, who was looked on as
foolish by the others. They begrudged the mill to him, and afterward he
would not have it.
Then all three went out together, and when they came to the village,
the two said to stupid Hans, “You may just as well stay here; as long
as you live you will never get a horse.”
Hans, however, went with them, and when it was night they came to a
cave in which they lay down to sleep. The two sharp ones waited until
Hans had fallen asleep, then they got up, and went away leaving him
where he was. They thought they had done a very clever thing, but it
was certain to turn out ill for them.
When the sun arose, and Hans woke up, he was lying in a deep cavern. He
looked around on every side and exclaimed, “Oh, alas! where am I?”
Then he got up and clambered out of the cave, into the forest, thinking:
“Here I am quite alone and deserted, how shall I obtain a horse now?”
Whilst he was thus walking full of thought, he met a small Tabby-Cat
which said quite kindly, “Hans, where are you going?”
“Alas, you cannot help me.”
“I well know your desire,” said the Cat. “You wish to have a beautiful
horse. Come with me, and be my faithful servant for seven years, and
then I will give you a horse more beautiful than any you have ever seen
in your whole life.”
“Well, this is a wonderful Cat!” thought Hans, “but I am determined to
see if she is telling the truth.”
So she took him with her into her enchanted castle, where there were
nothing but cats who were her servants. They leapt nimbly upstairs and
downstairs, and were merry and happy.
In the evening when they sat down to dinner, three of them had to make
music. One played the bassoon, the other the fiddle, and the third put
the trumpet to his lips, and blew out his cheeks as much as he possibly
could.
When they had dined, the table was carried away, and the Cat said,
“Now, Hans, come and dance with me.”
“No,” said he, “I won’t dance with a pussy cat. I have never done that
yet.”
“Then take him to bed,” said she to the cats.
So one of them lighted him to his bedroom, one pulled his shoes off,
one his stockings, and at last one of them blew out the candle.
Next morning they returned and helped him out of bed, one put his
stockings on for him, one tied his garters, one brought his shoes, one
washed him, and one dried his face with her tail.
“That feels very soft!” said Hans.
He, however, had to serve the Cat, and chop some wood every day. And
to do that, he had an axe of silver, while the wedge and saw were of
silver and the mallet of copper. So he chopped the wood small.
He stayed there in the house and had good meat and drink, but never saw
any one but the Tabby-Cat and her servants.
Once she said to him, “Go and mow my meadow, and dry the grass,” and
gave him a scythe of silver, and a whetstone of gold, but bade him
deliver them up again carefully.
So Hans went thither, and did what he was bidden, and when he had
finished the work, he carried the scythe, whetstone, and hay to the
house, and asked if it was not yet time for her to give him his reward.
“No,” said the Cat, “you must first do something more for me of the
same kind. There is timber of silver, carpenter’s axe, square, and
everything that is needful, all of silver, with these build me a small
house.”
Then Hans built the small house, and said that he had now done
everything, and still he had no horse.
Nevertheless, the seven years had gone by with him as if they were six
months. The Cat asked him if he would like to see her horses?
“Yes,” said Hans.
Then she opened the door of the small house. And when she had opened
it, there stood twelve horses,--such horses, so bright and shining,
that his heart rejoiced at the sight of them.
And now she gave him to eat and to drink, and said, “Go home. I will
not give you your horse to take away with you. But in three days’ time,
I will follow you and bring it.”
So Hans set out, and she showed him the way to the mill. She had,
however, never once given him a new coat, and he had been obliged to
keep on his dirty old smock-frock, which he had brought with him, and
which during the seven years had everywhere become too small for him.
When he reached home, the two other apprentices were there again, and
each of them certainly had brought a horse with him. But one of them
was blind and the other lame. They asked Hans where his horse was.
“It will follow me in three days’ time.”
Then they laughed and said, “Indeed, stupid Hans! where will you get a
horse? It will be a fine one!”
Hans went into the parlor, but the miller said he should not sit down
to table for he was so ragged and torn, that they would all be ashamed
of him if any one came in. So they gave him a mouthful of food outside.
At night, when they went to rest, the two others would not let him have
a bed, and at last he was forced to creep into the goose-house, and lie
down on a little hard straw.
In the morning, when he awoke, the three days had passed, and a coach
came with six horses and they shone so bright that it was delightful to
see them!--and a servant brought a seventh as well, which was for the
poor miller’s boy.
And a magnificent Princess alighted from the coach, and went into the
mill. And this Princess was the little Tabby-Cat whom poor Hans had
served for seven years.
She asked the miller where the miller’s boy and drudge was.
Then the miller said, “We will not have him here in the mill, he is so
ragged. He is lying in the goose-house.”
Then the King’s Daughter said that they were to fetch him immediately.
So they brought him; and he had to hold his little smock together to
cover himself.
Her servants unpacked splendid garments, and washed him and dressed
him. And when it was done, no King could have looked more handsome.
Then the Princess desired to see the horses, which the other
apprentices had brought home with them. One of them was blind and the
other lame. So she ordered her servants to bring the seventh horse.
When the miller saw it, he said such a horse as that had never before
entered his yard.
“And that is for the third miller’s boy,” said she.
“Then he must have the mill,” said the miller.
But the Princess said that the horse was for himself, and that he was
to keep his mill as well. Then she took her faithful Hans, set him in
the coach, and drove away with him.
They first drove to the little house, which he had built with the
silver tools. Behold! it was a great castle! Everything inside it was
of silver and gold!
Then she married him; and he was rich, so rich that he had enough for
all the rest of his life.
After this, let no one say that any one who is silly can never become a
person of importance.
[Illustration]
LITTLE RED-CAP
Once upon a time, there was a sweet little girl, who was loved by every
one who looked at her, and most of all by her Grandmother. There was
nothing that she would not have given the child!
Once she gave her a little cap of red velvet, which suited her so well
that she would not wear anything else. So she was always called Little
Red-Cap.
One day, her Mother said to her, “Come, Little Red-Cap, here is a piece
of cake and a bottle of wine. Take them to your Grandmother. She is ill
and weak, and they will do her good. Set out before it gets hot. Walk
nicely and quietly. Do not run off the path, or you may fall and break
the bottle; then your Grandmother will get nothing! When you go into
her room, don’t forget to say ‘Good morning,’ and don’t stop to peep
into every corner, before you do it.”
“I’ll take great care,” said Little Red-Cap to her Mother, and gave her
hand on it.
The Grandmother lived in the wood, half an hour’s distance from the
village, and just as Little Red-Cap entered the wood, a Wolf met her.
Red-Cap did not know what a wicked creature he was, and was not at all
afraid of him.
“Good-day, Little Red-Cap,” said he.
“Thank you kindly, Wolf.”
“Whither away so early, Little Red-Cap?”
“To my Grandmother’s.”
“What have you got in your apron?”
“Cake and wine. Yesterday was baking-day, so poor sick Grandmother is
to have something good, to make her stronger.”
“Where does your Grandmother live, Little Red-Cap?”
“A good quarter of an hour farther on in the wood. Her house stands
under the three large oak-trees; the nut-trees are just below. You
surely must know it,” replied Little Red-Cap.