"Once on a time there was a poor householder, who had an only son, but
he was so lazy and unhandy, this son, that he would neither mix with
folk nor turn his hand to anything in the world. So the father said:
"'If I'm not to go on for ever feeding this long lazy fellow, I must
pack him off a long way, where no one knows him. If he runs away then it
won't be so easy for him to come home.'
"Yes! the man took his son with him, and went about far and wide
offering him as a serving man; but there was no one who would have him.
"So last of all they came to a rich man, of whom the story went that he
turned a penny over seven times before he let it go. He was to take the
lad as a ploughboy, and there he was to serve three years without wages.
But when the three years were over the man was to go to the town two
mornings, and buy the first thing he met that was for sale, but the
third morning the lad was to go himself to the town, and buy the first
thing he met, and these three things he was to have instead of wages.
"Well! the lad served his three years out, and behaved better than any
one would have believed. He was not the best ploughboy in the world,
sure enough; but then his master was not of the best sort either, for he
let him go the whole time with the same clothes he had when he came, so
that at last they were nothing else but patch on patch and mend on mend.
Now, when the man was to set off and buy he was up and away at cockcrow,
long before dawn.
"'Dear wares must be seen by daylight,' he said; 'they are not to be
found on the road to town so early. Still, they may be dear enough, for
after all it's all risk and chance what I find.'
"Well! the first person he found in the street was an old hag, and she
carried a basket with a cover.
"'Good day, granny,' said the man.
"'Good day to you, father,' said the old hag.
"'What have you got in your basket?' asked the man.
"'Do you mean business?' said the old hag.
"'Yes, I do, for I was to buy the first thing I met.'
"'Well, if you want to know you had better buy it,' said the old hag.
"'But what does it cost?' asked the man.
"Yes! she must have fourpence.
"The man thought that no such very high price after all. He couldn't do
better, and lifted the lid, and it was a puppy that lay in the basket.
"When the man came home from his trip to town the lad stood out in the
yard, and wondered what he should get for his wages for the first year.
"'So soon home, master?' said the lad.
"Yes, he was.
"'What was it you bought?' he asked.
"'What I bought,' said the man, 'was not worth much. I scarcely know if
I ought to show it; but I bought the first thing that was to be had, and
it was a puppy.'
"'Now, thank you so much,' said the lad. 'I have always been so fond of
dogs.'
"Next morning things went no better. The man was up at dawn again, and
he had not got well into the town before he saw the old hag with her
basket.
"'Good day, granny,' he said.
"'Good day to you, sir,' she said.
"'What have you got in your basket to-day?' asked the man.
"'If you wish to know you had better buy it,' said the old hag.
"'What does it cost?' asked the man.
"'Yes! she must have fourpence; she never had more than one price,' she
said.
"So the man said he would take it; it would be hard to find anything
cheaper. When he lifted the lid this time there lay a kitten in it.
"When he got home the lad stood out in the yard, waiting and wondering
what he should get for his wages the second year.
"'Is that you, master?' he said.
"Yes, there he was.
"'What did you buy to-day now?' asked the lad.
"'Oh! it was worse, and no better,' said the man; 'but it was just as we
bargained. I bought the first thing I met, and it was nothing else than
this kitten.'
"'You could not have met anything better,' said the lad; 'I have been as
fond of cats all my life as of dogs.'
"'Well,' thought the man, 'I did not get so badly out of that after all;
but there's another day to come, when he is to go to town himself.'
"The third morning the lad set off, and just as he got into the town he
met the same old hag with her basket on her arm.
"'Good morning, granny!' said the lad.
"'Good morning to you, my son,' said the old hag.
"'What have you got in your basket?'
"'If you want to know you had better buy it,' said the old hag.
"'Will you sell it then?' asked the lad.
"Yes, she would; and fourpence was her price.
"'That was cheap enough,' said the lad, 'and he would have it, for he
was to buy the first thing he met.'
"'Now you may take it, basket and all,' said the old hag; 'but mind you
don't look inside it before you get home. Do you hear what I say?'
"'Nay, nay, never fear, he wouldn't look inside it; was it likely?' But
for all that he walked and wondered what there could be inside the
basket, and whether he would or no he could not help just lifting the
lid and peeping in. In the twinkling of an eye out popped a little
lizard, and ran away so fast along the street that the air whistled
after it. There was nothing else in the basket.
"'Nay! nay!' cried the lad, 'stop a bit, and don't run off so. You know
I have bought you.'
"'Stick me in the tail--stick me in the tail!' bawled the lizard.
"Well, the lad was not slow in running after it and sticking his knife
into its tail just as it was crawling into a hole in the wall, and that
very minute it was turned into a young man as fine and handsome as the
grandest prince, and a prince he was indeed.
"'Now you have saved me,' said the prince, 'for that old hag with whom
you and your master have dealt is a witch, and me she has changed into a
lizard, and my brother and sister into a puppy and kitten.'
"'A pretty story!' said the lad.
"'Yes,' said the prince; 'and now she was on her way to cast us into the
fjord and kill us; but if any one came and wanted to buy us she must
sell us for fourpence each; that was settled, and that was all my father
could do. Now you must come home to him and get the meed for what you
have done.'
"'I dare say,' said the lad, 'it's a long way off?'
"'Oh,' said the prince, 'not so far after all. There it is yonder,' he
said, as he pointed to a great hill in the distance.
"So they set off as fast as they could, but as was to be weened it was
farther off than it looked, and so they did not reach the hill till far
on in the night.
"Then the prince began to knock and knock.
"'WHO IS THAT,' said some one inside the hill, 'that knocks at my door,
and spoils my rest?' and that some one was so loud of speech that the
earth quaked.
"'Oh! open the door, father, there's a dear,' said the prince. 'It is
your son who has come home again.'
"Yes! he opened the door fast and well.
"'I almost thought you lay at the bottom of the sea,' said the
grey-beard. 'But you are not alone, I see,' he said.
"'This is the lad who saved me,' said the prince. 'I have asked him
hither that you may give him his meed.'
"Yes, he would see to that, said the old fellow.
"'But now you must step in,' he said; 'I am sure you have need of rest."
"Yes! they went in and sat down, and the old man threw on the fire an
armful of dry fuel and one or two logs, so that the fire blazed up and
shone as clear as the day in every corner, and whichever way they looked
it was grander than grand. Anything like it the lad had never seen
before, and such meat and drink as the grey-beard set before them he had
never tasted either; and all the plates, and cups, and stoops, and
tankards were all of pure silver or real gold.
"It was not easy to stop the lads. They ate and drank and were merry,
and afterwards they slept till far on next morning. But the lad was
scarcely awake before the grey-beard came with a morning draught in a
tumbler of gold.
"So when he had huddled on his clothes and broken his fast, the old man
took him round with him and showed him everything that he might choose
something that he would like to have as his meed for saving his son.
There was much to see and to choose from you may fancy.
"'Now what will you have?' said the king; 'you see there is plenty of
choice, you can have what you please.'
"But the lad said, he would think it over and ask the prince. Yes! the
king was willing he should do that.
"'Well!' said the prince, 'you have seen many grand things.'
"'Yes, I have, as was likely,' said the lad; 'but tell me, what shall I
choose of all the wealth. Do tell me, for your father says I may choose
what I please.'
"'Do not take anything of all you have seen,' said the prince; 'but he
has a little ring on his finger, that you must ask for.'
"Yes! he did so, and begged for the little ring which he had on his
finger.
"'Why! it is the dearest thing I have,' said the king; 'but, after all,
my son is just as dear and so you shall have it all the same. Do you
know now what it is good for?'
"No! he knew nothing about it.
"'When you have this ring on your finger,' said the king, 'you can have
anything you wish for."
"So the lad thanked the king, and the king and the prince bade him God
speed home, and told him to be sure and take care of the ring.
"So he had not gone far on his way before he thought he would prove what
the ring was worth, and so he wished himself a new suit of clothes, and
he had scarce wished for them before he had them on him. And now he was
as grand and bright as a new-struck penny. So he thought it would be
fine fun to play his father a trick.
"'He was not so very nice all the time I was at home;' and so he wished
he was standing before his father's door, just as ragged as he was of
old, and in a second he stood at the door.
"'Good day, father, and thank you for our last meal,' said the lad.
"But when the father saw that he had come back still more ragged and
tattered than when he set out, he began to bellow and to bemoan himself.
"'There's no helping you,' he said. 'You have not so much as earned
clothes to your back all the time you have been away.'
"'Don't be in such a way, father,' said the lad, 'you ought never to
judge a man by his clothes; and now you shall be my spokesman, and go up
to the palace and woo the king's daughter for me.' That was what the lad
said.
"'Oh, fie, fie,' said the father, 'this is only gibing and jeering.'
"But the lad said it was the right down earnest, and so he took a birch
cudgel and drove his father up to the gate of the palace, and there he
came hobbling right up to the king with his eyes full of tears.
"'Now, now!' said the king, 'what's the matter my man. If you have
suffered wrong, I will see you righted.'
"No, it wasn't that, he said, but he had a son who had brought him great
sorrow, for he could never make a man of him, and now he must say he had
gone clean out of the little wit he had before, and then he went on,--
"'For now he has hunted me up to the palace gate with a big birch
cudgel, and forced me to ask for the king's daughter to wife.'
"'Hold your tongue, my man,' said the king; 'and as for this son of
yours, go and ask him to come here indoors to me, and then we will see
what to make of him.'
"So the lad ran in before the king till his rags fluttered behind him.
"'Am I to have your daughter?'
"'That was just what we were to talk about,' said the king; 'perhaps she
mayn't suit you, and perhaps you mayn't suit her either.'
"'That was very likely!' said the lad.
"Now you must know there had just come a big ship from over the sea, and
she could be seen from the palace windows.
"'All the same!' said the King. 'If you are good to make a ship in an
hour or two like that lying yonder in the fjord and looking so brave,
you may perhaps have her.' That was what the king said.
"'Nothing worse than that!' said the lad.
"So he went down to the strand and sat down on a sandhill, and when he
had sat there long enough, he wished that a ship might be out on the
fjord fully furnished with masts, and sails and rigging, the very match
of that which lay there already. And as he wished for it there it lay,
and when the king saw there were two ships for one, he came down to the
strand to see the rights of it, and there he saw the lad standing out in
a boat with a brush in his hand as though he were painting out spots and
making blisters in the paint good--but as soon as he saw the king down
on the shore he threw away the brush and said,--
"'Now the ship is ready, may I have your daughter?'
"'This is all very well,' said the king, 'but you try your hand at
another masterpiece first. If you can build a palace, a match to my
palace in one or two hours, we will see about it.' That was what the
king said.
"'Nothing worse than that,' bawled out the lad and strode off. So when
he had sauntered about so long, that the time was nearly up, he wished
that a palace might stand there the very match of that which stood there
already. It was not long, I trow, before it stood there, and it was not
long either before the king came, both with queen and princess to look
about him in the new palace. There stood the lad again with his broom
and swept.
"'Here's the palace right and ready,' he called out 'may I have her
now?'
"'Very well, very well,' said the king, 'you may come in and we will
talk it over,' for he saw clearly the lad could do more than eat his
meat, and so he walked up and down, and thought and thought how he might
be rid of him. Yes! there they walked, the king first and foremost, and
after him the queen, and then the princess next before the lad. So as
they walked along, all at once the lad wished that he might become the
handsomest man in all the world, and so he was in a trice. When the
princess saw how handsome he had grown in no time, she gave the queen a
nudge, and the queen passed it on to the king, and when they had all
stared their full, they saw still more plainly, the lad was more than he
seemed to be when he first came in all tattered and torn. So they
settled it among them, that the princess should go daintily to work till
she had found out all about him. Yes! the princess made herself as sweet
and as soft as a whole firkin of butter, and coaxed and hoaxed the lad,
telling him she could not bear him out of her eyes, day or night. So
when the first evening was coming to an end, she said,--
"'As we are to have one another, you and I, you must keep nothing back
from me, dearest, and so you will tell me, I am sure, how you came to
make all these grand things.'
"'Aye, aye,' then said the lad, 'all that you'll come to know in good
time. Only let us be man and wife; there's no good talking about it till
then.' That was what he said.
"The next evening the princess was rather put out. She could see with
half an eye, she said, 'that he couldn't care very much for his
sweetheart, when he wouldn't tell her what she asked him. So it would be
with all the rest of his love-making, when he wouldn't meet her wishes
in such a little thing.'
"Now the lad was quite cut to the heart, and that they might be friends
again he told her the whole story from beginning to end. She was not
slow in telling it to the king and queen, and so they laid their heads
together how they might get the ring from the lad, and when they had
done that they thought it would be no such hard thing to be rid of him.
"At night the princess came with some sleeping-drops, and said, now she
would pour out a little philtre for her own true love, for she was sure
he did not care enough for her; that was what she said. Yes! he thought
no harm could come of it, and so he drained off the drink like a man,
and in a trice he fell so sound asleep, they might have pulled the house
down over his head without waking him. So the princess took the ring off
his finger and put it on her own, and wished the lad might lie on the
dung-heap outside in the street, just as tattered and beggarly as he was
when he came in, and in his place she wished for the handsomest prince
in the world. In the twinkling of an eye it all happened. As the night
wore on the lad woke up on the dunghill, and at first he thought it was
only a dream, but when he found the ring was gone he knew how it had all
happened, and then he got so bewildered that he set off and was just
going to jump into the lake and drown himself.
"But just then he met the cat which his master had bought for him.
"'Whither away?' asked the cat.
"'To the lake to drown myself,' said the lad.
"'Don't think of it,' said the cat; 'you shall get your ring back again,
never fear.'
"'Oh, shall I, shall I?' said the lad.
"By this time the cat was already off, and as she started she met a rat.
"'Now I'll take and gobble you up,' said the cat.
"'Oh! pray don't,' said the rat, 'and I'll get you the ring again.'
"'If so, be quick about it,' said the cat, 'or----'
"So after they had taken up their abode in the palace, the rat ran about
poking his nose into everything, trying to get into the prince and
princess's bedroom. At last he found a little hole and crept through it.
Then he heard how they lay awake talking, and the rat could tell that
the prince had the ring on his finger, for the princess said, 'Mind you
take great care of my ring, dear.' That was what she said; but what the
prince said was,--
"'Pooh, no one will come in hither after the ring through stone and
mortar; but, for all that, if you think it isn't safe on my finger, I
can just as well put it into my mouth.'
"In a little while the prince turned over on his back, and tried to go to
sleep, and as he did so the ring was just slipping down into his throat,
and then he coughed it up, so that it shot out of his mouth and rolled
away over the floor--Pop!--up the rat snapped it and crept off with it
to the cat who sat outside watching at the rat-hole.
"All this while the king had laid hands on the lad and put him into a
strong tower and doomed him to lose his life, for that he had made jeers
and gibes at him and his daughter, and there he was to stay till the day
of his death. Now, as the cat was hard at work prowling about trying to
steal into the tower with the ring to the lad, a great eagle came flying
and pounced down on her and caught her up in his claws and flew away
with her over the sea. But just in the nick of time came a falcon and
struck at the eagle, so that he let the cat fall into the sea; but when
the cat felt the cold water, she got so frightened she dropped the ring
and swam to shore. She had not shaken the water off her, and smoothed
her coat, before she met the dog which his master had bought for the
lad.
"'Nay! nay!' said the cat, and purred and was in a sad way, 'what's to
be done now? the ring is gone and they will take the lad's life.'
"'I'm sure I don't know,' said the dog, 'all I know is that something is
riving and rending my inside. It couldn't be worse, if I were going to
turn inside out.'
"'Now you see what comes of over-eating yourself,' said the cat.
"'I never eat more than I can carry,' said the dog; 'and this time I
have eaten nothing but a dead fish which lay floating up and down on the
ebb.'
"'May be that fish had swallowed the ring,' said the cat. 'And now I
dare say you are going to pay for it too, for you know you can't digest
gold.'
"'It may well be,' said the dog. 'It's much the same whether one loses
life first or last. Perhaps, the lad's life might then be saved.'
"'Oh!' said the rat, for he was there too, 'don't say that. I don't want
much of a hole to creep into, and if the ring is there may I never tell
the truth, if I don't poke it out.'
"Well! the rat crept down the dog's throat, and it was not long before
he came out again with the ring. Then the cat set off to the tower and
clambered up about it, till she found a hole into which she could put
her paw, and so she gave back his ring to the lad.
"The lad no sooner got it on his finger than he wished the tower might
rend asunder, and at the same moment he stood in the doorway and scolded
both the king and queen and the princess as a pack of rogues. The king
was not slow in calling out his warriors, and bade them throw a ring
round the tower and seize the lad and settle him whether they took him
dead or alive. But the lad only wished that all the soldiers might stand
up to the armpits in the big moss up in the fjeld, and then they had
more than enough to get out again, all that were not left sticking
there. After that he began again where he left off with the king and his
folk, and when he had got his mouth to say all the bad of them that he
knew and willed, he wished they might be shut up all their days in the
tower into which they had thrown him. And when they were safe shut up
there, he took the land and realm as his own. Then the dog became a
prince and the cat a princess again, her he took and married, and the
last I heard of them, was, that they kept it up at the bridal both well
and long."