looking about her nor resting, and the seven years were almost past.
Then she rejoiced and thought that they would soon be delivered, and
yet they were so far from it!
Once when they were thus moving onwards, no little feather and no
drop of red blood fell, and when she raised her eyes the Dove had
disappeared. And as she thought to herself, “In this no man can help
me,” she climbed up to the Sun, and said to him, “You shine into every
crevice, and over every peak, have you not seen a white Dove flying?”
“No,” said the Sun, “I have seen none, but I present you with a casket.
Open it when you are in sorest need.”
Then she thanked the Sun, and went on until evening came and the Moon
appeared. She then asked her, “You shine the whole night through, and
on every field and forest, have you not seen a white Dove flying?”
“No,” said the Moon, “I have seen no Dove, but here I give you an egg.
Break it when you are in great need.”
She thanked the Moon, and went on until the Night Wind came up and blew
on her, then she said to it, “You blow over every tree and under every
leaf, have you not seen a white Dove flying?”
“No,” said the Night Wind, “I have seen none, but I will ask the three
other Winds; perhaps they have seen it.”
The East Wind and the West Wind came, and had seen nothing, but the
South Wind said, “I have seen the white Dove, it has flown to the Red
Sea, there it has become a Lion again, for the seven years are over.
The Lion is there fighting with a Dragon. The Dragon, however, is an
enchanted Princess.”
The Night Wind then said to her, “I will advise you. Go to the Red
Sea, on the right bank are some tall reeds, count them, break off the
eleventh, and strike the Dragon with it. Then the Lion will be able
to subdue it, and both then will regain their human form. After that,
look round and you will see the Griffin which is by the Red Sea. Swing
yourself with your beloved, on to his back, and the bird will carry you
over the sea to your own home.
“Here is a nut for you, when you are above the centre of the sea, let
the nut fall. It will immediately shoot up, and a tall nut-tree will
grow out of the water on which the Griffin may rest; for if he cannot
rest, he will not be strong enough to carry you across. If you forget
to throw down the nut, he will let you fall into the sea.”
Then she went thither, and found everything as the Night Wind had said.
She counted the reeds by the sea, and cut off the eleventh, struck the
Dragon with it, whereupon the Lion overcame it. Immediately both of
them regained their human shapes. But when the Princess, who had been
the Dragon, was delivered from enchantment, she took the youth by the
arm, seated herself on the Griffin, and carried him off with her.
There stood the poor maiden, who had wandered so far and was again
forsaken! She sat down and cried, but at last she took courage and
said, “Still I will go as far as the Wind blows and as long as the cock
crows, until I find him.”
She went forth by long, long roads, until at last she came to the
castle, where both of them were living together. There she heard that a
feast was to be held, in which they would celebrate their wedding, but
she said, “God still helps me,” and opened the casket that the Sun had
given her. A dress lay therein as brilliant as the sun itself.
So she took it out and put it on, and went up into the castle, and
every one, even the Bride, looked at her with astonishment. The
dress pleased the Bride so well that she thought it might do for her
wedding-dress, and asked if it was for sale?
“Not for money or land,” answered she, “but for flesh and blood.”
The Bride asked her what she meant by that, then she said, “Let me
sleep a night in the chamber where the Bridegroom sleeps.”
The Bride would not, yet wanted very much to have the dress. At last
she consented, but the page was to give the Prince a sleeping-draught.
When it was night, and the youth was already asleep, she was led into
the chamber. She seated herself on the bed and said, “I have followed
you for seven years. I have been to the Sun and the Moon, and the
Four Winds, and have inquired for you and have helped you against the
Dragon. Will you, then, forget me?”
But the Prince slept so soundly that it only seemed to him as if the
wind were whistling outside in the fir-trees. When therefore day broke,
she was led out again, and had to give up the golden dress. And as that
had been of no avail, she was sad, went out into a meadow, sat down
there, and wept.
While she was sitting there, she thought of the egg which the Moon had
given her. She opened it, and there came out a clucking hen with twelve
chickens all of gold. They ran about chirping, and crept again under
the old hen’s wings. Nothing more beautiful was ever seen in the world!
She arose, and drove them through the meadow. The Bride looked out of
the window, and the little chickens pleased her so that she came down
and asked if they were for sale.
“Not for money or land, but for flesh and blood. Let me sleep again in
the chamber where the Bridegroom sleeps.”
The Bride said, “Yes,” intending to cheat her as on the former evening.
But when the Prince went to bed he asked the page what the murmuring
and rustling in the night had been. On this the page told all; that he
had been forced to give him a sleeping-draught, because a poor girl had
slept secretly in the chamber, and that he was to give him another that
night.
The Prince said, “Pour out the draught by the bedside.”
At night, she was again led in, and when she began to relate how ill
all had fared with her, he immediately recognized his beloved wife by
her voice, sprang up and cried, “Now I really am released! I have been
as it were in a dream, for the strange Princess has bewitched me so
that I have been compelled to forget you! But God has delivered me from
the spell at the right time.”
Then they both left the castle secretly in the night, for they feared
the father of the Princess, who was a sorcerer. They seated themselves
on the Griffin which bore them across the Red Sea. When they were in
the midst of it, she let fall the nut. Immediately a tall nut-tree grew
up, whereon the bird rested, and then carried them home, where they
found their child, who had grown tall and beautiful.
And they lived thenceforth happily until their death.
[Illustration]
DOCTOR KNOWALL
There was once on a time, a poor peasant called Crab, who drove two
oxen with a load of wood to town, and sold it to a doctor for two
dollars.
When the money was being counted out to him, it so happened that the
doctor was sitting at table, and when the peasant saw how daintily he
ate and drank, his heart desired what he saw, and he would willingly
have been a doctor. So he remained standing a while, and at length
inquired if he, too, could not be a doctor.
“Oh, yes,” said the doctor, “that is soon managed.”
“What must I do?” asked the peasant.
“In the first place, buy yourself an A B C book of the kind which has
a cock on the frontispiece. In the second, turn your cart and your two
oxen into money, and get yourself some clothes, and whatsoever else
pertains to medicine. Thirdly, have a sign painted with the words, ‘I
am Doctor Knowall,’ and have that nailed up above your house-door.”
The peasant did everything that he had been told to do. When he had
doctored people a while, but not long, a rich and great lord had some
money stolen. Then he was told about Doctor Knowall who lived in such
and such a village, and must know what had become of the money. So the
lord had the horses put in his carriage, drove out to the village, and
asked Crab if he were Doctor Knowall?
Yes, he was, he said.
Then he was to go with him and bring back the stolen money.
“Oh, yes, but Grethe, my wife, must go too.”
The lord was willing, and let both of them have a seat in the carriage.
They all drove away together. When they came to the nobleman’s castle,
the table was spread, and Crab was told to sit down and eat.
“Yes, but my wife, Grethe, too,” said he, and he seated himself with
her at the table.
And when the first servant came with a dish of delicate fare, the
peasant nudged his wife, and said, “Grethe, that was the first,”
meaning that was the servant who brought the first dish.
The servant, however, thought he intended by that to say, “That is the
first thief,” and as he actually was so, he was terrified, and said to
his comrade outside, “The doctor knows all! we shall fare badly; he
said I was the first.”
The second did not want to go in at all, but was obliged to. So when he
went in, the peasant nudged his wife, and said, “Grethe, that is the
second.” This servant was so frightened, that he got out.
With the third, it did not fare any better, for the peasant said again,
“Grethe, that is the third.”
The fourth had to carry in a covered dish. In it were crabs.
[Illustration: THE FIRST SERVANT CAME WITH A DISH OF DELICATE FARE]
The lord told the doctor that he must show his skill by guessing what
was under the cover. The doctor looked at the dish, had no idea what
was in it, and cried out, “Alas! poor Crab!”
When the lord heard that, he cried, “There! he knows who has the money!”
At this, the servants were terribly anxious. They winked at the doctor
to come out to them. When he went out, they all four confessed that
they had stolen the money, and that they were willing to restore it.
They led him to the spot where it was hidden.
Thus the lord got back his wealth, and Doctor Knowall received a large
reward and became a famous man.
[Illustration]
THE BLUE LIGHT
There was once on a time, a soldier who for many years had served the
King faithfully. But when the war came to an end he could serve no
longer because of the many wounds which he had received.
The King said to him, “You may return to your home, I need you no
longer. You will not receive any more money, for only he receives wages
who renders me service for them.”
Then the soldier did not know how to earn a living, went away greatly
troubled, and walked the whole day, until in the evening he entered a
forest. When darkness came on, he saw a light, which he went toward,
and came to a house wherein lived a Witch.
“Do give me one night’s lodging, and a little to eat and drink,” said
he to her, “or I shall starve.”
“Oho!” she answered, “who gives anything to a runaway soldier? Yet will
I be compassionate, and take you in, if you will do what I wish.”
“What do you wish?” said the soldier.
“That you should dig all round my garden for me, to-morrow.”
The soldier consented, and next day labored with all his strength, but
could not finish it by the evening.
“I see well enough,” said the Witch, “that you can do no more to-day.
But I will keep you yet another night, in payment for which you must
to-morrow chop me a load of wood, and make it small.”
The soldier spent the whole day in doing it, and in the evening the
Witch proposed that he should stay one night more. “To-morrow, you
shall do me a very trifling piece of work. Behind my house, there is an
old, dry well, into which my light has fallen. It burns blue, and never
goes out, and you shall bring it up again for me.”
Next day, the Old Woman took him to the well, and let him down in a
basket. He found the Blue Light, and made her a signal to draw him
up again. She did draw him up, but when he came near the edge, she
stretched down her hand and wanted to take the Blue Light away from him.
“No,” said he, perceiving her evil intention, “I will not give you the
light, until I am standing with both feet upon the ground.”
The Witch fell into a passion, let him down again into the well, and
went away.
The poor soldier fell without injury on the moist ground, and the
Blue Light went on burning. But of what use was that to him? He
saw very well that he could not escape death. He sat for a while
very sorrowfully, then suddenly he felt in his pocket and found his
pipe, which was still half full of tobacco. “This shall be my last
pleasure,” thought he, pulled it out, lit it at the Blue Light and
began to smoke.
When the smoke had circled about the cavern, suddenly a little Black
Man stood before him, and said, “Master, what are your commands?”
“What commands have I to give you?” replied the soldier, quite
astonished.
“I must do everything you bid me,” said the Little Man.
“Good,” said the soldier; “then in the first place help me out of this
well.”
The Little Man took him by the hand, and led him through an underground
passage, but the soldier did not forget to take the Blue Light with
him. On the way the Little Man showed him treasures hidden there, and
the soldier took as much gold as he could carry.
When he was above, he said to the Little Man, “Now go and bind the old
Witch, and carry her before the judge.”
In a short time she, with frightful cries, came riding by, as swift
as the wind, on a wild tom-cat, nor was it long after that before the
Little Man reappeared. “It is all done,” said he, “and the Witch is
already hanging on the gallows. What further commands has my lord?”
inquired the Little Man.
“At this moment, none,” answered the soldier; “you may return home.
Only be at hand immediately, if I summon you.”
“Nothing more is needed than that you should light your pipe at the
Blue Light, and I will appear before you at once.” Thereupon he
vanished from sight.
The soldier returned to the town from which he had come. He went to the
best inn, ordered himself handsome clothes, and then bade the landlord
furnish him a room as magnificent as possible.
When it was ready and the soldier had taken possession of it, he
summoned the Little Black Man and said, “I have served the King
faithfully, but he has dismissed me, and left me to hunger, and now I
want to punish him.”
“What am I to do?” asked the Little Man.
“Late at night, when the King’s Daughter is in bed, bring her here in
her sleep; she shall do servant’s work for me.”
The Little Man said, “That is an easy thing for me to do, but a very
dangerous thing for you, for if it is discovered, you will fare ill.”
When twelve o’clock had struck, the door sprang open, and the Little
Man carried in the Princess.
“Aha! are you there?” cried the soldier, “get to your work at once!
Fetch the broom and sweep the chamber.”
When she had done this, he ordered her to come to his chair. Then he
stretched out his feet and said, “Pull off my boots for me,” and made
her pick them up again, and clean and brighten them.
She, however, did everything he bade her, without opposition, silently
and with half-shut eyes. When the first cock crowed, the Little Man
carried her back to the royal Palace, and laid her in her bed.
Next morning, when the Princess arose, she went to her father, and told
him that she had had a very strange dream. “I was carried through the
streets with the rapidity of lightning,” said she, “and taken into a
soldier’s room, and I had to wait upon him like a servant, sweep his
room, clean his boots, and do all kinds of menial work. It was only a
dream, and yet I am just as tired as if I really had done everything.”
“The dream may have been true,” said the King. “I will give you a piece
of advice. Fill your pocket full of peas, and make a small hole in it,
and then if you are carried away again, they will fall out and leave a
track in the streets.”
But unseen by the King, the Little Man was standing beside him when
he said that, and heard all. At night, when the sleeping Princess was
again carried through the streets, some peas certainly did fall out of
her pocket, but they made no track, for the crafty Little Man had just
before scattered peas in every other street. And again the Princess was
compelled to do servant’s work until cock-crow.
Next morning, the King sent his people out to seek the track, but
it was all in vain, for in every street poor children were sitting,
picking up peas, and saying, “It must have rained peas, last night.”
“We must think of something else,” said the King; “keep your shoes on
when you go to bed, and before you come back from the place where you
are taken, hide one of them there. I will soon find it.”
The Little Black Man heard this plot, and at night when the soldier
again ordered him to bring the Princess, revealed it to him, and told
him that he knew of no way to overcome this stratagem, and that if the
shoe were found in the soldier’s house it would go badly with him.
“Do what I bid you,” replied the soldier. And again this third night,
the Princess was obliged to work like a servant, but before she went
away, she hid her shoe under the bed.
Next morning, the King had the entire town searched for his daughter’s
shoe. It was found at the soldier’s, and the soldier himself, who at
the entreaty of the Little Man, had gone outside the city-gate, was
soon brought back, and thrown into prison.
In his flight he had forgotten the most valuable things he had, the
Blue Light and the gold, and had only one ducat in his pocket. And now
loaded with chains, he was standing at the window of his dungeon, when
he chanced to see one of his comrades passing by.
The soldier tapped at the pane of glass, and when this man came up,
said to him, “Be so kind as to fetch me the small bundle I have left
lying in the inn, and I will give you a ducat for doing it.”
His comrade ran thither and brought him what he wanted. As soon as the
soldier was alone again, he lighted his pipe and summoned the Little
Black Man.
“Have no fear,” said the latter to his master. “Go wheresoever they
take you, and let them do what they will, only take the Blue Light with
you.”
Next day the soldier was tried, and though he had done nothing wicked,
the judge condemned him to death. When he was led forth to die, he
begged a last favor of the King.
“What is it?” asked the King.
“That I may smoke one more pipe on my way.”
“You may smoke three,” answered the King, “but do not imagine that I
will spare your life.”
Then the soldier pulled out his pipe and lighted it at the Blue Light.
And as soon as a few wreaths of smoke had ascended the Little Man was
there with a small cudgel in his hand, and said, “What does my lord
command?”
“Strike down to earth that false judge there, and his constable, and
spare not the King who has treated me so ill.”
Then the Little Man fell on them like lightning, darting this way and
that, and whosoever was so much as touched by his cudgel fell to earth,
and did not venture to stir again. The King was terrified; he threw
himself on the soldier’s mercy, and begged merely to be allowed to
live. He gave him his kingdom for his own, and the Princess to wife.
[Illustration]
THE SPINDLE, THE SHUTTLE, AND THE NEEDLE
There was once a girl whose father and mother died while she was still
a little child. All alone, in a small house at the end of the village,
dwelt her godmother, who supported herself by spinning, weaving, and
sewing. The old woman took the forlorn child to live with her, kept her
to her work, and educated her in all that is good.
When the girl was fifteen, the old woman became ill, called the child
to her bedside, and said, “Dear Daughter, I feel my end drawing near.
I leave you the little house, which will protect you from wind and
weather, and my spindle, shuttle, and needle, with which you can earn
your bread.”
Then she laid her hands on the girl’s head, blessed her, and said,
“Only preserve the love of God in your heart, and all will go well with
you.”
Thereupon she closed her eyes, and when she was laid in the earth, the
maiden followed the coffin, weeping bitterly, and paid her the last
mark of respect.
And now the maiden lived quite alone in the little house, and was
industrious, and span, wove, and sewed, and the blessing of the good
old woman was on all that she did. It seemed as if the flax in the room
increased of its own accord, and whenever she wove a piece of cloth
or carpet, or had made a shirt, she at once found a buyer who paid
her amply for it. So that she was in want of nothing, and even had
something to share with others.
About this time, the Son of the King was traveling about the country
looking for a Bride. He was not to choose a poor one, and did not
want to have a rich one. So he said, “She shall be my wife who is the
poorest, and at the same time the richest.”
When he came to the village where the maiden dwelt, he inquired, as he
did wherever he went, who was the richest and also the poorest girl in
the place? They first named the richest; the poorest, they said, was
the girl who lived in the small house quite at the end of the village.
The rich girl was sitting in all her splendor before the door of her
house, and when the Prince approached her, she got up, went to meet
him, and made him a low curtsey. He looked at her, said nothing, and
rode on.
When he came to the house of the poor girl, she was not standing at
the door, but sitting in her little room. He stopped his horse, and
saw, through the window on which the bright sun was shining, the girl
sitting at her spinning-wheel, busily spinning. She looked up, and when
she saw that the Prince was gazing in, blushed all over her face, let
her eyes fall, and went on spinning. I do not know whether, just at
that moment, the thread was quite even; but she went on spinning until
the King’s Son had ridden away again.
Then she stepped to the window, opened it, and said, “It is so warm in
this room!” but she still looked after him as long as she could see the
white feathers in his hat. Then she sat down to work again in her own
room and went on with her spinning. And a saying which the old woman
had often repeated when she was sitting at her work, came into her
mind, and she sang these words to herself:
“_Spindle, my Spindle, haste, haste thee away,
Here to my house bring the wooer, I pray._”
And what do you think happened? The spindle sprang out of her hand in
an instant, and out of the door. And when, in her astonishment, she got
up and looked after it, she saw that it was dancing out merrily into
the open country, and drawing a shining golden thread after it. Before
long, it had entirely vanished from her sight.
As she had now no spindle, the girl took the weaver’s shuttle in her
hand, sat down to her loom, and began to weave.
The spindle, however, danced continually onward, and just as the thread
came to an end, reached the Prince.
“What do I see?” he cried; “the spindle certainly wants to show me the
way!” He turned his horse about, and rode back with the golden thread.
The girl was, however, sitting at her work singing:
“_Shuttle, my Shuttle, weave well this day,
And guide the wooer to me, I pray._”
Immediately the shuttle sprang out of her hand and out by the door.
Before the threshold, however, it began to weave a carpet which was
more beautiful than the eyes of man had ever yet beheld. Lilies and
roses blossomed on both sides of it. And on a golden ground in the
centre green branches ascended, under which bounded hares and rabbits.
Stags and deer stretched their heads in between them. Brightly-colored
birds were sitting in the branches above. They lacked nothing but the
gift of song. The shuttle leapt hither and thither, and everything
seemed to grow of its own accord.
As the shuttle had run away, the girl sat down to sew. She held the
needle in her hand and sang:
“_Needle, my Needle, sharp-pointed and fine,
Prepare for a wooer this house of mine._”
Then the needle leapt out of her fingers, and flew everywhere about
the room as quick as lightning. It was just as if invisible spirits
were working. They covered tables and benches with green cloth in an
instant, and the chairs with velvet, and hung the windows with silken
curtains.
Hardly had the needle put in the last stitch, than the maiden saw
through the window the white feathers of the Prince, whom the spindle
had brought thither by the golden thread. He alighted, stepped over the
carpet into the house, and when he entered the room, there stood the
maiden in her poor garments, but she shone out from them like a rose
surrounded by leaves.
“You are the poorest and also the richest,” said he to her. “Come with
me, you shall be my Bride.”
She did not speak, but she gave him her hand. Then he kissed her, and
led her forth, lifted her on to his horse, and took her to the royal
castle, where the wedding was solemnized with great rejoicings.
The spindle, shuttle, and needle were preserved in the
treasure-chamber, and held in great honor.
[Illustration]
THE THREE LUCK-CHILDREN
A father once called his three sons before him. He gave to the first a
cock, to the second a scythe, and to the third a cat.
“I am old,” said he, “my death is nigh, and I have wished to take
thought for you before my end. Money I have not, and what I now give
you seems of little worth. But all depends on your making a sensible
use of it. Only seek out a country where such things are still unknown,
and your fortune is made.”