her bag well filled, on a journey to see the world. On she went over
hill and dale, and through village and town, till one day she met
Falsehood. "Good day, countrywoman," said Truth; "where are you bound
for? Where do you intend going?" "I'm going to travel all over the
world," said Falsehood. "That's right," said Truth; "and as I'm bound in
the same direction let's travel together." "All right," replied
Falsehood; "but you know that fellow-travellers must live in harmony, so
let's divide our provisions and finish yours first." Truth handed over
her provisions, upon which the two lived till every morsel was consumed;
then it was Falsehood's turn to provide. "Let me gouge out one of your
eyes," said Falsehood to Truth, "and then I'll let you have some food."
Poor Truth couldn't help herself; for she was very hungry and didn't
know what to do. So she had one of her eyes gouged out, and she got some
food. Next time she wanted food she had the other eye gouged out, and
then both her arms cut off. After all this Falsehood told her to go
away. Truth implored not to be left thus helpless in the wilds, and
asked that she might be taken to the gate of the next town and left
there to get her living by begging. Falsehood led her, not to where she
wanted to go, but near a pair of gallows and left her there. Truth was
very much surprised that she heard no one pass, and thought that all the
folks in that town must be dead. As she was thus reasoning with herself
and trembling with fear she fell asleep. When she awoke she heard some
people talking above her head, and soon discovered that they were
devils. The eldest of them said to the rest, "Tell me what you have
heard and what you have been doing." One said, "I have to-day killed a
learned physician, who has discovered a medicine with which he cured all
crippled, maimed, or blind." "Well, you're a smart fellow!" said the old
devil; "what may the medicine be?" "It consists simply of this," replied
the other, "that to-night is Friday night, and there will be a new moon:
the cripples have to roll about and the blind to wash their eyes in the
dew that has fallen during the night; the cripples will be healed of
their infirmities and the blind will see." "That is very good," said the
old devil. "And now what have you done, and what do you know?" he asked
the others.
"I," said another, "have just finished a little job of mine; I have cut
off the water-supply and will thus kill the whole of the population of
the country-town not far from here." "What is your secret?" asked the
old devil. "It is this," replied he; "I have placed a stone on the
spring which is situated at the eastern corner of the town at a depth of
three fathoms. By this means the spring will be blocked up, and not one
drop of water will flow; as for me I can go everywhere without fear,
because no one will ever find out my secret, and all will happen just as
I planned it."
The poor crippled Truth listened attentively to all these things.
Several other devils spoke; but poor Truth either did not understand
them or did not listen to what they said, as it did not concern her.
Having finished all, the devils disappeared as the cock crew announcing
the break of day.
Truth thought she would try the remedies she had heard, and at night
rolled about on the dewy ground, when to her great relief her arms grew
again. Wishing to be completely cured, she groped about and plucked
every weed she could find, and rubbed the dew into the cavities of her
eyes. As day broke she saw light once more. She then gave hearty thanks
to the God of Truth that he had not left her, his faithful follower, to
perish. Being hungry she set off in search of food. So she hurried off
to the nearest town, not only for food, but also because she remembered
what she had heard the devils say about cutting off the water supply.
She hurried on, so as not to be longer than she could help in giving
them her aid in their distress. She soon got there, and found every one
in mourning. Off she went straight to the king, and told him all she
knew; he was delighted when he was told that the thirst of the people
might be quenched. She also told the king how she had been maimed and
blinded, and the king believed all she said. They commenced at once with
great energy to dig up the stone that blocked the spring. The work was
soon done; the stone reached, lifted out, and the spring flowed once
more. The king was full of joy and so was the whole town, and there were
great festivities and a general holiday was held. The king would not
allow Truth to leave, but gave her all she needed, and treated her as
his most confidential friend, placing her in a position of great wealth
and happiness. In the meantime Falsehood's provisions came to an end,
and she was obliged to beg for food. As only very few houses gave her
anything she was almost starving when she met her old travelling
companion again. She cried to Truth for a piece of bread. "Yes, you can
have it," said Truth, "but you must have an eye gouged out;" and
Falsehood was in such a fix that she had either to submit or starve.
Then the other eye was taken out, and after that her arms were cut off,
in exchange for dry crusts of bread. Nor could she help it, for no one
else would give her anything.
Having lost her eyes and her arms she asked Truth to lead her under the
same gallows as she had been led to. At night the devils came; and, as
the eldest began questioning the others as to what they had been doing
and what they knew, one of them proposed that search be made, just to
see whether there were any listeners to their conversation, as some one
must have been eaves-dropping the other night, else it would never have
been found out how the springs of the town were plugged up. To this they
all agreed, and search was made; and soon they found Falsehood, whom
they instantly tore to pieces, coiled up her bowels into knots, burnt
her, and dispersed her ashes to the winds. But even her dust was so
malignant that it was carried all over the world; and that is the reason
that wherever men exist there Falsehood must be.
THE HUNTING PRINCES.
Once there was a king whose only thought and only pleasure was hunting;
he brought up his sons to the same ideas, and so they were called the
Hunting Princes. They had hunted all over the six snow-capped mountains
in their father's realm; there was a seventh, however, called the Black
Mountain, and, although they were continually asking their father to
allow them to hunt there, he would not give them permission. In the
course of time the king died, and his sons could scarcely wait till the
end of the funeral ceremonies before they rushed off to hunt in the
Black Mountain, leaving the government in the hands of an old duke. They
wandered about several days on the mountain, but could not find so much
as a single bird, so they decided to separate, and that each of them
should go to one of the three great clefts in the mountain, thinking
that perhaps luck would serve them better in this way. They also agreed
that whoever shot an arrow uselessly should be slapped in the face. They
started off, each on his way. Suddenly the youngest one saw a raven and
something shining in its beak, that, he thought, was in all probability
a rich jewel. He shot, and a piece of steel fell from the raven's beak,
while the bird flew away unhurt. The twang of the bow was heard all over
the mountain, and the two elder brothers came forward to see what he had
done; when they saw that he had shot uselessly they slapped his face and
went back to their places. When they had gone the youngest suddenly saw
a falcon sitting on the top of the rock. This he thought was of value,
so he shot, but the arrow stuck in a piece of pointed rock which
projected under the falcon's feet, and the bird flew away; as it flew a
piece of rock fell to the ground which he discovered to be real flint.
His elder brothers came, and slapped his face for again shooting in so
foolish a manner. No sooner had they gone and the day was drawing to an
end than he discovered a squirrel just as it was running into its hole
in a tree; so he thought its flesh would be good to eat; he shot, but
the squirrel escaped into a hollow of the tree, and the arrow struck
what appeared to be a large fungus, knocking a piece off, which he found
to be a fine piece of tinder. The elder brothers came and gave him a
sound thrashing which he took very quietly, and after this they did not
separate. As it was getting dark and they were wandering on together a
fine roebuck darted across their path; all three shot, and it fell. On
they went till they came to a beautiful meadow by the side of a spring,
where they found a copper trough all ready for them. They sat down,
skinned and washed the roebuck, got all ready for a good supper, but
they had no fire. "You slapped my face three times because I was wasting
my arrows," said the youngest; "if you will allow me to return those
slaps I will make you a good fire." The elder brothers consented, but
the younger waived his claim and said to them, "You see, when you don't
need a thing you think it valueless; see now, the steel, flint, and
tinder you despised will make us the fire you need." With that he made
the fire. They spitted a large piece of venison and had an excellent
huntsman's supper. After supper they held a consultation as to who was
to be the guard, as they had decided not to sleep without a guard. It
was arranged that they should take the duty in turns, and that death was
to be the punishment of any negligence of duty. The first night the
elder brother watched and the two youngest slept. All passed well till
midnight, when all at once in the direction of the town of the Black
Sorrow, which lay behind the Black Mountain, a dragon came with three
heads, a flame three yards long protruding from its mouth. The dragon
lived in the Black Lake, which lay beyond the town of the Black Sorrow,
with two of his brothers, one with five heads and the other with seven,
and they were sworn enemies to the town of the Black Sorrow. These
dragons always used to come to this spring to drink at midnight, and for
that reason no man or beast could walk there, because whatever the
dragons found there they slew. As soon as the dragon caught sight of the
princes he rushed at them to devour them, but he who was keeping guard
stood up against him and slew him, and dragged his body into a copse
near. The blood streamed forth in such torrents that it put the fire
out, all save a single spark, which the guarding prince fanned up, and
by the next morning there was a fire such as it did one good to see.
They hunted all day, returning at night, when the middle prince was
guard. At midnight the dragon with the five heads came; the prince slew
him, and his blood as it rushed out put the fire entirely out save one
tiny spark, which the prince managed to fan into a good fire by the
morning.
On the third night the youngest prince had to wrestle with the dragon
with seven heads. He vanquished it and killed it. This time there was so
much blood that the fire was completely extinguished. When he was about
to relight it he found that he had lost his flint. What was to be done?
He began to look about him, and see if he could find any means of
relighting the fire. He climbed up into a very high tree, and from it he
saw in a country three days' journey off, on a hill, a fire of some sort
glimmering: so off he went; and as he was going he met Midnight, who
tried to pass him unseen; but the prince saw him, and cried out, "Here!
stop; wait for me on this spot till I return." But Midnight would not
stop; so the prince caught him, and fastened him with a stout strap to a
thick oak-tree, remarking, "Now, I know you will wait for me!" He went
on some four or five hours longer, when he met Dawn: he asked him, too,
to wait for him, and as he would not he tied him to a tree like
Midnight, and went further and further. Time did not go on, for it was
stopped. At last he arrived at the fire, and found there were
twenty-four robbers round a huge wood fire roasting a bullock. But he
was afraid to go near, so he stuck a piece of tinder on the end of his
arrow, and shot it through the flames. Fortunately the tinder caught
fire, but as he went to look for it the dry leaves crackled under his
feet, and the robbers seized him. Some of the robbers belonged to his
father's kingdom, and, as they had a grudge against the father, they
decided to kill the prince. One said, "Let's roast him on a spit";
another proposed to dig a hole and bury him; but the chief of the
robbers said, "Don't let us kill the lad, let's take him with us as he
may be very useful to us. You all know that we are about to kidnap the
daughter of the king of the town of the Black Sorrow, and we intend to
sack his palace, but we have no means of getting at the iron cock at the
top of the spire because when we go near it begins at once to crow, and
the watchman sees us; let us take this lad with us, and let him shoot
off the iron cock, for we all know what a capital marksman he is; and
if he succeeds we will let him go." To this the robbers kindly
consented, as they saw they would by this means gain more than if they
killed him. So they started off, taking the prince with them, till they
came close to the fortress guarding the town of the Black Sorrow. They
then sent the prince in advance that he might shoot off the iron cock;
this he did. Then said the chief of the robbers, "Let's help him up to
the battlements, and then he will pull us up, let us down on the other
side, and keep guard for us while we are at work, and he shall have part
of the spoil, and then we will let him go." But the dog-soul of the
chief was false, for his plan was, that, having finished all, he would
hand the prince over to the robbers. This the prince had discovered from
some whisperings he had heard among them. He soon found a way out of the
difficulty. As he was letting them down one by one, he cut off their
heads, and sent them headless into the fortress, together with their
chief. Finding himself all alone, and no one to fear, he went to the
king's palace: in the first apartment he found the king asleep; in the
second the queen; in the third the three princesses. At the head of each
one there was a candle burning; that the prince moved in each case to
their feet, and none of them noticed him, except the youngest princess,
who awoke, and was greatly frightened at finding a man in her bedroom;
but when the prince told her who he was, and what he had done, she got
up, dressed, and took the young prince into a side-chamber and gave him
plenty to eat and drink, treated him kindly, and accepted him as her
lover, and gave him a ring and a handkerchief as a sign of their
betrothal. The prince then took leave of his love, and went to where the
robbers lay, cut off the tips of their noses and ears, and bound them up
in the handkerchief, left the fortress, got the fire, released Midnight
and Dawn, arrived at their resting-place, made a good fire by morning,
so that all the blood was dried up.
At daybreak in the town of the Black Sorrow, Knight Red, as he was
inspecting the sentries, came across the headless robbers. As soon as he
saw them he cut bits off their mutilated noses and ears, and started for
the town, walking up and down, and telling everybody with great pride
what a hero he was, and how that last night he had killed the
twenty-four robbers who for such a length of time had been the terror of
the town of the Black Sorrow. His valour soon came to the ears of the
king, who ordered the Red Knight to appear before him: here he boasted
of his valour, and produced his handkerchief and the pieces cut from the
robbers. The king believed all that he said, and was so overjoyed at the
good news that he gave him permission to choose which of the princesses
he pleased for his wife, adding that he would also give him a share of
the kingdom. The Red Knight, however, made a mistake, for he chose the
youngest daughter, who knew all about the whole affair, and was already
engaged to the youngest prince. The king told his daughter he was going
to give her as a wife.
To this she said, "Very well, father, but to whomsoever you intend to
give me he must be a worthy man, and he must give proofs that he has
rendered great service to our town." To this the king replied, "Who
could be able or who has been able to render greater services to the
town than this man, who has killed the twenty-four robbers?" The girl
answered, "You are right, father; whoever did that I will be his wife."
"Well done, my daughter, you are quite right in carrying out my wish;
prepare for your marriage, because I have found the man who saved our
town from this great danger." The young girl began to get ready with
great joy, for she knew nothing of the doings of the Red Knight, and
only saw what was going to happen when all was ready, the altar-table
laid, and the priest called, when lo! in walked the Red Knight as her
bridegroom, a man whom she had always detested, so that she could not
bear even to look at him. She rushed out and ran to her room, where she
fell weeping on her pillow. Everyone was there, and all was ready, but
she would not come; her father went in search of her, and she told him
how she had met the youngest of the Hunting Princes the night before,
and requested her father to send a royal messenger into the deserted
meadow, where the dragons of the Black Lake went to drink at the copper
trough, and to invite to the wedding the three princes who were staying
there; and asked her father not to press her to marry the Red Knight
till their arrival; on such conditions she would go among the guests.
Her father promised this, and sent the messenger in great haste to the
copper trough, and the young girl went among the guests. The feast was
going on in as sumptuous a manner as possible. The messenger came to the
copper trough, and hid himself behind a bush at the skirts of an open
place, and as he listened to the conversation of the princes he knew
that he had come to the right place; he hastened to give them the
invitation from the king of the town of the Black Sorrow to the wedding
of his youngest daughter.
The princes soon got ready, especially the youngest one, who, when he
heard that his fiancée was to be married, would have been there in the
twinkling of an eye if he had been able. When the princes arrived in the
courtyard the twelve pillows under the Red Knight began to move, as he
sat on them at the head of the table. When the youngest prince stepped
upon the first step of the stairs, one pillow slipped out from under the
Red Knight, and as he mounted each step another pillow fled, till as
they crossed the threshold even the chair upon which he sat fell, and
down dropped the Red Knight upon the floor.
The youngest Hunting Prince told them the whole story, how his elder
brothers had slain the dragons with three and five heads, and he the one
with seven heads; he also told them especially all about the robbers,
and how he met the king's daughter, how he had walked through all their
bedrooms and changed the candles from their head to their feet; he also
produced the ring and the handkerchief, and placed upon the table the
nose and ear-tips he had cut off the robbers.
They tallied with those the Red Knight had shown, and it was apparent to
everybody which had been cut off first.
Everyone believed the prince and saw that the Red Knight was false. For
his trickery he was sentenced to be tied to a horse's tail and dragged
through the streets of the whole town, then quartered and nailed to the
four corners of the town.
The three Hunting Princes married the three daughters of the king of the
town of the Black Sorrow. The youngest prince married the youngest
princess, to whom he was engaged before, and he became the heir-apparent
in the town of Black Sorrow, and the other two divided their father's
realm.
May they be your guests to-morrow!
THE LAZY SPINNING-GIRL WHO BECAME A QUEEN.
A common woman had a daughter who was a very good worker, but she did
not like spinning; for this her mother very often scolded her, and one
day got so vexed that she chased her down the road with the distaff. As
they were running a prince passed by in his carriage. As the girl was
very pretty the prince was very much struck with her, and asked her
mother "What is the matter?" "How can I help it?" said the mother, "for,
after she has spun everything that I had, she asked for more flax to
spin." "Let her alone, my good woman," said the prince; "don't beat her.
Give her to me, let me take her with me, I will give her plenty to
spin. My mother has plenty of work that needs to be done, so she can
enjoy herself spinning as much as she likes." The woman gave her
daughter away with the greatest pleasure, thinking that what she was
unwilling to do at home she might be ashamed to shirk in a strange
place, and get used to it, and perhaps even become a good spinster after
all. The prince took the girl with him and put her into a large shed
full of flax, and said "If you spin all you find here during the month
you shall be my wife." The girl seeing the great place full of flax
nearly had a fit, as there was enough to have employed all the girls in
the village for the whole of the winter; nor did she begin to work, but
sat down and fretted over it, and thus three weeks of the month passed
by. In the meantime she always asked the person who took her her food,
"What news there was?" Each one told her something or other. At the end
of the third week one night, as she was terribly downcast, suddenly a
little man half an ell long, with a beard one and a-half ells long,
slipped in and said, "Why are you worrying yourself, you good, pretty
spinning-girl?" "That's just what's the matter with me," replied the
girl; "I am not a good spinster, and still they will believe that I am a
good spinster, and that's the reason why I am locked up here." "Don't
trouble about that," said the little man; "I can help you and will spin
all the flax during the next week if you agree to my proposal and
promise to come with me if you don't find out my name by the time that I
finish my spinning." "That's all right," said the girl, "I will go with
you," thinking that then the matter would be all right. The little dwarf
set to work. It happened during the fourth week that one of the
men-servants, who brought the girl's food, went out hunting with the
prince. One day he was out rather late, and so was very late when he
brought the food. The girl said, "What's the news?" The servant told her
that that evening as he was coming home very late he saw, in the forest,
in a dark ditch, a little man half an ell high, with a beard one and
a-half ells long, who was jumping from bough to bough, and spinning a
thread, and humming to himself:--"My name is Dancing Vargaluska. My
wife will be good spinster Sue."
Sue, the pretty spinning-girl, knew very well what the little man was
doing, but she merely said to the servant, "It was all imagination that
made you think you saw it in the dark." She brightened up; for she knew
that all the stuff would be spun, and that he would not be able to carry
her off, as she knew his name. In the evening the little man returned
with one-third of the work done and said to her, "Well, do you know my
name yet?"
"Perhaps, perhaps," said she; but she would not have told his real name
for all the treasures in the world, fearing that he might cease working
if she did. Nor did she tell him when he came the next night. On the
third night the little man brought the last load; but this time he
brought a wheelbarrow with him, with three wheels, to take the girl away
with him. When he asked the girl his name she said, "If I'm not mistaken
your name is Dancing Vargaluska."
On hearing this the little man rushed off as if somebody had pulled his
nose.
The month being up, the prince sent to see if the girl had completed her
work; and when the messenger brought back word that all was finished the
king was greatly astonished how it could possibly have happened that so
much work had been done in so short a time, and went himself,
accompanied by a great suite of gentlemen and court-dames, and gazed
with great admiration upon the vast amount of fine yarn they saw. Nor
could they praise the girl enough, and all found her worthy to be queen
of the land. Next day the wedding was celebrated, and the girl became
queen. After the grand wedding-dinner the poor came, and the king
distributed alms to them; amongst them were three deformed beggars, who
struck the king very much: one was an old woman whose eyelids were so
long that they covered her whole face; the second was an old woman
whose lower lip was so long that the end of it reached to her knee; the
third old woman's posterior was so flat that it was like a pancake.
These three were called into the reception-room and asked to explain why
they were so deformed. The first said, "In my younger days I was such a
good spinster that I had no rival in the whole neighbourhood. I spun
till I got so addicted to it that I even used to spin at night: the
effect of all this was that my eyelids became so long that the doctors
could not get them back to their places."
The second said, "I have spun so much during my life and for such a
length of time that with continually biting off the end of the yarn my
lips got so soft that one reached my knees."
The third said, "I have sat so much at my spinning that my posterior
became flat as it is now."
Hereupon the king, knowing how passionately fond his wife was of
spinning, got so frightened that he strictly prohibited her ever
spinning again.
The news of the story went out over the whole world, into every royal
court and every town; and the women were so frightened at what had
happened to the beggars that they broke every distaff, spinning-wheel,
and spindle, and threw them into the fire!
THE ENVIOUS SISTERS.