Once upon a time there lived a poor man and his wife who had only one
child, and this Boy, as it happened, was born with a deformed head,
which projected in front and behind, and gave him a very ugly
appearance. The parents, although much grieved at their son’s
deformity, were, nevertheless, very fond of him and brought him up very
carefully. Every day, when he grew big enough, he used to drive the
cows out to pasture, and all day long he sat about on the hillsides
watching the cattle graze. And so he passed his life very happily
until, when he reached the age of fifteen, he began to think he should
like to marry a wife as other young men did, but he feared that owing
to his deformity no girl would ever look at him.
One day it chanced that he drove his cows to graze on the rich pasture
on the edge of a small lake, and as he was sitting near the shore of
the lake all of a sudden he saw a large white Drake descend from the
sky, and light upon the surface of the water. As soon as it was seated
upon the water it swam round the lake three times to the right and then
three times to the left, and having done so it flew away again and
disappeared into the sky.
The Boy watched the behaviour of this Drake with some interest. He had
never before seen so large and beautiful a bird, nor one that behaved
so strangely. So next day he again sat down in the same place, and kept
a sharp look-out for the bird. At the same hour as on the previous day
the Drake again appeared in the sky, and descending upon the lake,
acted in precisely the same manner as before. And it continued to do so
for several days, the Boy always watching its behaviour with increased
interest.
At last he determined that he would try to catch this Drake for
himself, so he wove himself a long rope of yaks’ hair, big enough to
completely encircle the lake, and he laid this upon the shore in a loop
extending right round the lake; and at short intervals along the rope
he fastened loops made of the finest horse hair, the loose ends of
which he left floating in the water.
Next day the Drake came as usual and began to swim round the lake to
the right. It had not gone very far when it put its foot into one of
the loops and was caught. The Boy at once ran down to the shore of the
lake, and taking the Drake in his hands, he tied its wings and legs
together, and set it down on the grass beside him.
“Now,” thought he to himself, “what shall I do with this fine white
Drake? I will take him home and kill him, and he will make a nice
dinner for father and mother and me.”
Just as he was thinking this, to his intense surprise, the Drake spoke
to him as follows:
“I beg of you not to kill me, my good boy,” said he, “for you must know
I am not in reality a Drake as I appear to be, but I am a fairy King
just come from the region of the gods. It is my habit every day to
descend to this lake in the form of a white Drake, and to amuse myself
by swimming round and round. If you will now consent to let me go I
will reward you liberally. You shall have gold and silver and jewels
and coral, as much as you wish, and sumptuous food every day for the
rest of your life.”
On hearing this the Boy laughed, and replied:
“You should not tell me such stories as these. How am I to know that
you are really a fairy? It seems to me that all you are in a position
to give me is your feathers.”
“I hope you will not disbelieve my word,” replied the Drake very
earnestly; “I assure you I can do all this, and even more, if you will
release me.”
“Well,” said the Boy, “if that is really so I will make a bargain with
you. I do not care at all for your gold or your jewels, but what I
really want is a wife. If you can promise to supply me with a wife I
will let you go.”
“Well,” said the Drake, “that, too, can be arranged. I have three
daughters living in my kingdom in the skies, and I will give you as
wife any one of them whom you desire. Would you prefer the eldest, or
the youngest, or the middle one?”
The Boy was greatly pleased on hearing this offer of the Drake’s, and
he thought to himself:
“I will not take the eldest girl, for fear she should be too old, nor
the youngest, for fear she should be too young. I will select the
middle one.”
So he told the Drake that he would like his middle daughter.
“Very well,” said the Drake, “I will arrange the matter accordingly,
and I will meet you here to-morrow with my middle daughter. But there
is one condition which always attaches to the marriage of a mortal with
a fairy, and that is that she can only live with you for nine years. At
the conclusion of that time she is bound to return to her home in the
heavens.”
The Boy agreed to this condition, and when all the details had been
satisfactorily arranged he cut the cords which bound the Drake and let
him go. The bird spread his wings and flew up into the sky; and after
circling for a few minutes he flew straight upwards and disappeared
from sight, whilst the Boy went home to his father and mother.
The Drake flew far up into the blue sky until he arrived at the country
of the gods, where he changed at once into the form and raiment of the
King of the Fairies. Seating himself upon his throne, he summoned his
three daughters before him and informed them of what had occurred; and
he gave orders to his middle daughter to prepare herself forthwith to
go and marry a mortal. The girl wept bitterly on hearing this, but
nevertheless she prepared to carry out her father’s orders, and got
ready a large stock of beautiful clothes and much gold and silver and
jewels to take with her.
Next day, at the appointed hour, the Boy went down to the lake as
usual, and seated himself in his usual place; and not long afterwards
he saw the white Drake and a white Duck flying towards him from the
sky. They descended swiftly until they touched the ground, where they
were at once transformed into the Fairy King and his beautiful
daughter. The boy was overcome with joy when he saw the lovely wife
that had been brought to him; but the girl was horrified at his ugly
appearance, and begged her father to take her back to her abode in the
skies. The Fairy King, however, insisted upon her carrying out her
share of the bargain, so leaving his daughter with the Boy, he again
turned himself into a Drake and, flying up into the sky, he disappeared
from view.
The Boy now led his bride home to his father and mother, and next day
the marriage was duly completed. The Fairy wife, by means of her magic,
was able to erect a magnificent palace, and to furnish it in the most
luxurious manner with everything necessary for comfort; and she
supplied, moreover, horses and servants, and everything else that a
married couple could desire. So the two took up their abode in this
fine house and, together with the old father and mother, they lived
there happily for several years; and as time passed away the fairy wife
became accustomed to her husband’s forbidding appearance, and year by
year became more and more attached to him.
So the time slipped by and at last the nine years of the Fairy wife’s
abode upon earth came to an end. The young Man, however, had become so
accustomed to her presence that he could hardly believe that the Fairy
King’s words would come true and that he should really be deprived of
his wife when the appointed time arrived. So on the last night of the
ninth year he went to bed as usual in his magnificent chamber, clothed
in rich silks, and surrounded by all the evidences of wealth and
luxury.
He slept soundly all night, and when he awoke in the morning and sat up
and looked about him, what was his astonishment and horror to discover
that, instead of lying upon his fine couch in his magnificent palace,
with troops of servants ready to wait upon him, he was reposing upon
the bare ground under the open sky, on a bleak hillside near to the
spot where he had first conversed with the Fairy King. His palace, his
servants, his horses, his furniture, and, worst of all, his beautiful
wife, had all disappeared utterly and completely, and nothing remained
of them but a memory. Half distracted with grief and chagrin, the young
Man ran frantically across the country, thinking to find some trace of
his lost happiness.
For some days he wandered on and on, scarcely conscious of what he was
doing, and at length, having passed beyond the part of the country
which he knew, he arrived one day about noon on the shores of a vast
expanse of water which stretched before him as far as he could see. By
the side of this lake there arose a jagged cliff, and about half-way up
the cliff on a broad ledge he noticed an immense nest, in which
appeared some young birds of unusual size. At first he was unable to
detect what sort of birds these were, but after examining them
attentively for some time he saw that they were three young Gryphons,
whose parents apparently had gone off in search of food.
As he stood upon the beach watching the young birds they suddenly began
to manifest every sign of terror and confusion, chattering and
squealing wildly to one another, and flapping their puny wings; and on
turning towards the lake in order to ascertain what was the cause of
their alarm, he perceived an immense Dragon—whose head, at the end of
its long neck, towered high above the water—making its way rapidly
across the lake, with the evident intention of devouring the young
Gryphons. The young Man, who was of a courageous and kindly
disposition, determined to save the young Gryphons from the maw of this
monster; so, drawing his sword, he waited till the Dragon had set foot
upon dry land, and then, attacking him fiercely, he engaged
single-handed in a desperate conflict. For some time the issue was
doubtful, but the young man at length succeeded with one well-delivered
blow in severing the Dragon’s head from its neck, and the monster fell
dead upon the beach.
Scarcely had the Dragon breathed its last when the air was darkened by
the wings of some great creature passing overhead, and, looking up, he
observed, flying just above him, the forms of the two parent Gryphons
now returning to their nest. As soon as they had arrived the young
Gryphons proceeded to relate to them at full length the terrible danger
they had just escaped, and the gallant conduct of the young Man in
slaying their would-be destroyer. The parent Gryphons were very pleased
when they heard this story, and, looking towards the young Man with
some curiosity, they began to remark upon his appearance.
“Have you ever, Mother Gryphon,” asked the male bird, “seen any
creature of that description before?”
“No, Father Gryphon, I never have,” she replied; “but it seems to be
both brave and well-intentioned. I observe, moreover, that it has
neither beak nor claws, so I propose that we invite it into the nest,
and receive it hospitably in return for a good service which it has
rendered to our children.”
Father Gryphon agreed to this proposal, and he at once flew down to the
beach, and addressing the young Man he invited him to enter the nest.
The youth accepted the invitation, and having explained that he was
unable to fly, he mounted upon the Gryphon’s back and was speedily
carried up the cliff, and deposited with the young Gryphons in the
nest. After making a good dinner off the food which the parent Gryphons
had just provided for their young ones, the young Man related to the
family all his various adventures since the time when he had first made
the acquaintance of the Fairy King.
“Yours,” said Father Gryphon, “is a very sad story, and in my opinion
you have not been treated at all well; but if you desire it, I may
perhaps be of some assistance to you. What I propose is that you should
mount upon my back, and I will then carry you through the air to the
kingdom of the gods, where you can represent your case to the King of
the Fairies in person, and where you will, at any rate, have the
opportunity of persuading your wife to accompany you back to earth.”
The young Man gladly assented to this proposition, and mounted on the
Gryphon’s back; and the great bird, spreading his wings, soared upwards
straight into the blue sky, carrying the youth with him. Up and up they
flew, whilst the earth seemed to recede into the distance and to grow
smaller and smaller, until at length it disappeared from view
altogether. Still they flew on until, towards nightfall, they arrived
at the country of the gods. The Gryphon, with the young Man upon his
back, flew straight in through the great golden gates, and deposited
the youth in the centre of a vast courtyard round which were sitting
numbers of gods, fairies and other denizens of the sky.
When the gods saw that a human being had been deposited in their midst
they rose in great wrath, and began bitterly to reproach the Gryphon
for what he had done.
“How is it,” said they, “that you have dared, unordered, to bring into
our presence an inhabitant of the human world? Do you not know that
human beings are of a coarser essence than ourselves and are repugnant
and abhorrent to us? How dare you so defile the sacred country of the
gods?”
But the Gryphon was not at all frightened at their anger, and he
answered them boldly and firmly:
“This young man,” said he, “is a valiant and kind-hearted youth. He
saved my young ones from destruction by attacking, single-handed, and
killing a Dragon who was on the point of devouring them. He then
related to me his story of how, after nine years of happiness, he was
deprived by the King of the Fairies of his wife, his house, his wealth,
and everything which he had possessed. I consider, therefore, that he
has been treated in a shameful and unjustifiable manner, and so I have
brought him here to plead his cause in person and to claim redress.”
While this conversation was in progress the young man’s Fairy wife had
been hiding in a corner, too nervous to show herself before her husband
and all the assembly of the gods. But she could now contain herself no
longer, and, rushing forward, she threw herself into her husband’s
arms, crying out that she loved him and would return with him to earth.
When her father heard this he did not know how to act, but it was
decided that a conclave should be held, and the matter debated at
length. So the celestial powers met together in a great council, and,
having discussed the matter in all its bearings, they decided that, as
the Fairy Princess desired to return to earth of her own free will,
they would not stand in her way; but that if she did so, she must take
the consequence of her own action, and that as the result of mating
with an unclean creature like a human being she must herself become
mortal and lose her Fairy nature.
On hearing this decision the girl joyfully agreed. So she and her
husband mounted together upon the broad back of the Gryphon, and the
great beast, spreading his wings, sailed through the golden gates of
the palace and swept downwards through the blue heavens to the earth
below. He soon deposited the youth and his wife on the ground near
their old home, where he bade them farewell and returned to his own
nest. And henceforward, although the Fairy had lost her magic powers,
the two lived happily together, and grew to a good old age in
prosperous and comfortable circumstances.
STORY No. XVI.