morning his wife filled a basket with food and a bottle with drink for
his lunch, and, laden with this lunch and his ax, he went off to be gone
till evening cutting timber. One day he was about to fell a huge oak
which he thought would furnish many a good plank. He had his ax raised
for the first blow when he heard a pitiful entreating, and there stood
before him a little fairy, who beseeched him to spare the tree.
So dazed was he with wonder that for a while he could not open his mouth
to speak a word, but at last he said, “Well, I’ll do as you ask.”
“That tree is my home,” explained the fairy, “and you will not lose as
much as you think by letting it stand, for it is hollow at the heart.
Besides, to show you that I am not ungrateful, I will grant you and your
wife the first three wishes you and she wish after you get home, let
them be what they may.”
Then the fairy opened a little door at the base of the tree, which he
had not seen before, and disappeared.
“Well,” said the woodman, “if my wife and I can have three wishes, our
fortune is as good as made. It is nearly evening, and I may as well go
home at once. I shall never need to cut any more trees.”
He put his ax over his shoulder, picked up his basket and bottle, and
off he went. When he arrived at his cottage he sat down by the fireside
to rest and told his wife about the fairy.
“Well,” said she, when she had heard him through, “If it is left to my
choice, I know very well what I would wish for. I think nothing is so
good as to be handsome, and rich, and aristocratic.”
“And yet,” said the husband, “even with such wishes realized, one might
be sick and fretful and die young. It would be much wiser to wish for
health, cheerfulness, and a long life.”
“The fairy should have promised a dozen wishes,” said the wife, “for
there are at least that many things I want very much.”
“Yes,” agreed the man, “a dozen wishes would have been better, but as we
have only three we must make those three do all that is possible. Let us
consider the matter carefully until tomorrow before wishing, that we may
decide wisely what three things are most necessary for us.”
“I’ll think the whole night through,” said she.
“After all,” remarked the man, “it may be the fairy’s promise was only a
trick. Who can tell?”
The evening was chilly, and the wife took the tongs and poked the fire
into brighter blazing. For a time the man sat in silence, and then he
happened to think that he was hungry. “Why isn’t the supper ready?” he
asked.
“You forget that you are home early,” she replied. “It won’t be supper
time for two hours.”
“Ah!” sighed he, “two hours is a long wait after working in the woods
all day. I wish I had some nice sausages this minute.”
No sooner had he said this than—rustle, rustle—what should come down the
chimney but a dish containing a string of as fine sausages as ever were
seen. The dish came down on the hearth with a slight clatter, and the
woodman and his wife stared in astonishment. “What’s all this?” said
she.
He answered not a word, and she glowered and glowered. “Oh, you silly
man!” she cried, “there’s one wish gone already, and only two are left.
What a fool you have been! I wish the sausages were fast to the tip of
your nose.”
[Illustration:
A noble string of sausages hung from his nose
]
Before you could wink, there the goodman sat with his nose the longer
for a noble string of sausages. He tried to pull them off, but they
stuck. Then his wife gave them a pull, but still they stuck. They
refused to come off even when the two pulled together.
“Ouch, ouch!” exclaimed the man, “we must stop this pulling, or we shall
pull my nose off. But I can’t have these things staying on my nose. What
shall we do?”
“They are not so very unsightly,” said she, “and we had better wish for
vast riches. Then we shall be able to live in comfort the rest of our
lives, and if you object to the looks of the sausages we can have a
golden case made to hide them.”
“I couldn’t endure them, case or no case,” declared the man. Then, lest
the goodwife should wish for riches in spite of his protest, he hastily
wished that the sausages might come off.
There they lay in the dish as before, and if the husband and wife did
not ride in a golden coach and dress in silk and satin, why they at
least had as fine a mess of sausages for their supper as the heart of
man could desire.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE OLD HORSE
THERE was once a farmer who had a horse which served him faithfully till
it had grown old and could do its work no longer. So its master grudged
it food, and said: “I have no further use for you, and yet I still feel
kindly toward you. Therefore, if you will show yourself strong enough to
bring home a lion, I will take care of you to the end of your days. But
away with you now and out of my stable.”
Then the farmer drove the poor horse out, and it went sadly away with
drooping head to the forest to get a little shelter from the wind and
weather. There it met a fox, who said, “Why do you hang your head and
look so downcast, and wander about in this solitary fashion?”
“Alas!” said the horse, “avarice and fidelity cannot dwell together. My
master has forgotten all the service I have rendered him these many
years, and because I can no longer plough he will not give me any
fodder, and he has driven me out of my stable.”
“Did he give you no hope that you might return?” asked the fox.
“Very little,” replied the horse. “He told me that if I could manage to
bring home a lion he would take care of me, but he knows well enough
that such a thing is impossible.”
“Perhaps not,” said the fox. “I will help you. Just you lie down here
and stretch out your legs as if you were dead.”
The horse did as he was bid, and the fox went to a lion whose den was
not far off, and said: “Near by lies a dead horse. Come along with me,
and you can have a capital meal.”
The lion went with the fox, and when they got to the horse, the fox
said: “Hist! hearken to my advice. You can’t eat the creature in comfort
here. I will tie it to you, and you can drag it away to your den, and
enjoy it at your leisure.”
The plan pleased the lion, and he stood quite still, close to the horse,
while the fox knotted the horse’s tail fast to him. He did not realize
that the fox was cunningly tying his legs together and twisting and
knotting the hairs of the tail till it was impossible for him to get
free with all his strength. As soon as the work was done, the fox patted
the horse on the shoulder, and said: “Pull, old Gray! Pull!”
At once the horse jumped up and started for home, dragging the lion
behind it. In his rage the lion roared so that all the birds in the
forest flew away in terror. But the horse let him roar, and never
stopped until it reached its master’s door.
[Illustration]
When the farmer saw what the horse had done he was delighted, and he
repented of his former resolution to let the creature shift for itself.
“You shall remain with me in future and live at your ease,” said he.
So the faithful horse had plenty to eat and comfortable shelter till it
died.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE DONKEY CABBAGES
THERE was once a young huntsman who went to the forest in search of
game. He was light-hearted and merry, and he whistled a gay tune as he
went along. By and by he met an ugly old woman, who said: “Good morning,
huntsman. You are well fed and happy, while I am hungry and sad. Give me
an alms, I pray you.”
The huntsman pitied the poor old woman, and he put his hand in his
pocket and gave her what he could afford. Then he started to go on, but
the old woman stopped him, and said: “Hark you, dear huntsman, I will
make you a present because of your good heart. Go on your way, and you
will soon come to a tree on which sit nine birds quarreling over a
cloak. Take aim with your gun, and shoot into the midst of them. They
will drop the cloak, and one of the birds will fall down dead. Take the
cloak with you. It is a wishing-cloak. When you throw it round your
shoulders, you have only to wish yourself at a place to be there at
once. Cut open the dead bird, and you will find a ring inside. Wear it
on your finger, and each morning there will be a gold piece under your
pillow.”
The huntsman thanked the old woman, and thought, “She promises fine
things, and I hope it will all turn out as she says.”
When he had gone about a hundred paces, he heard above him, in the
branches of a tree, a great chattering and screaming. He looked up and
saw a group of birds pulling at a cloak with their beaks and claws. It
was evident from the snatching and tugging that each bird wanted the
garment for itself.
“Well,” said the huntsman, “this is extraordinary, and it is just what
the old woman said I would see.”
He put his gun to his shoulder, took aim, and fired. Away went the birds
with a great noise and scattering of feathers—all except one, which fell
down dead, and at the same time the cloak dropped at the huntsman’s
feet. He cut open the bird and found a ring inside and put it on his
finger. Then he took the cloak and went home.
When he awoke the next morning he remembered the old woman’s promise and
looked under his pillow. Sure enough, there lay a shining gold coin, and
on the morning following he found another, and thus it was every
morning. Gradually, he collected quite a heap of gold, and at last he
said to himself: “What is the good of all this gold to me if I stay at
home? I will go and look about in the world.”
So he took leave of his parents, shouldered his gun, and set out on his
travels. One day a turn in the road brought into view a magnificent
castle. An old woman and a beautiful girl were looking out from an upper
window. The old woman was a witch, and the maiden was her daughter.
“Here comes some one,” said she, “who has a magic ring on his finger. We
must try to get it, my darling. It is better suited to us than to him.
Whoever wears that ring finds a gold coin every morning under the
pillow. You must get it from him or it will be the worse for you.”
She then withdrew, but the maiden remained looking out of the window.
When the huntsman got nearer he saw her, and said to himself: “I am
weary with traveling. I will stop at this fine castle and rest.” But he
would not have felt such an urgent need of stopping if he had not seen
the maiden.
He was kindly received and hospitably entertained, and he was soon so in
love with the daughter of the witch that she was constantly in his
thoughts, and he cared for nothing but pleasing her.
At length the witch decided on a plan for getting the ring. She
concocted a drink that would make the huntsman insensible, put it in a
goblet, and said to her daughter: “Carry this to the youth, and get his
ring. He will not miss it.”
The maiden went to the huntsman, and said, “My dearest, here is a
pleasant drink we have prepared for you.”
He took the goblet and drank what was in it, and soon it overpowered him
and she secured the magic ring. After that the huntsman found no more
gold under his pillow; but the maiden wore the ring every night, and the
coin was under her pillow instead, and each morning the old woman used
to come and get it. However, he did not trouble himself about the
matter, and was content to enjoy the maiden’s company.
One day the old woman said to her daughter: “We have got the ring, but
we must have his wishing-cloak, too.”
“Let us leave him that,” said the maiden. “Have we not done enough in
taking away his means of getting riches?”
That made the old woman very angry, and she said, “The cloak is so rare
and wonderful a thing that I am determined to have it, and I shall
punish you unless you get it for me.”
The maiden seated herself at a window and looked sadly out at a distant
blue mountain. Soon the huntsman joined her and asked, “Why are you so
sad?”
“Alas! my sweetheart,” said she, “over there is the granite mountain, on
which are great quantities of precious stones. I long for those precious
stones so much that I grow melancholy whenever I think of them. But who
can ever get them, except perhaps the birds, for the mountain-sides are
too steep to climb.”
“If that is all your trouble,” said the huntsman, “I have a remedy for
it.”
Then he drew her under his cloak and wished to be on the granite
mountain, and they were there almost instantly. Precious stones
glittered all around them and rejoiced their sight, and they eagerly
gathered some of the largest and finest. But the witch had cast a spell
on the huntsman, and a great drowsiness began to come over him. He said
to the maiden, “We will sit down and rest a while, for I am so tired I
can hardly stand.”
They sat down, and he laid his head on her lap, and went to sleep. Then
the maiden slipped the cloak off his shoulders and put it on her own,
loaded herself with the precious stones, and wished herself at home.
By and by the huntsman awoke and realized that his beloved had betrayed
him and left him alone on the wild mountain. “Oh, what treachery there
is in the world!” he exclaimed, and he sat there overwhelmed with grief
and knew not what to do.
The mountain belonged to some savage and mighty giants, and before long
he saw three of them striding toward him. He hastily lay down and
pretended to be fast asleep. The first one, when he came to where the
huntsman was, kicked him, and said, “What kind of an earthworm is this?”
“Tread on him and kill him,” said the second.
But the third said contemptuously: “That is not worth while. Let him
alone. He will soon die here, or if he climbs higher up the mountain the
clouds will carry him away.”
Then they went off, and the huntsman got up and climbed to the top of
the mountain. After he had sat there for a time, a cloud came sweeping
by, and it caught him up and floated away through the air with him. At
last, in the dusk of evening, it made a gentle descent and deposited him
in a large walled garden. He looked around and said: “I wish I had
something to eat. After traveling so far I am very hungry. But here I
see not a single apple or berry, or any other fruit—nothing, only
cabbages, some of them green and some pink. As there is no other food to
be had I will try one of the cabbages, and I think it may refresh me,
even if I don’t like the taste of it.”
[Illustration:
TO HIS HORROR HE PERCEIVED THAT HE HAD BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO A DONKEY
]
So he selected a tender head of green cabbage and started to eat. But he
had scarcely taken a couple of bites when he felt a wondrous change come
over him. His head grew big and shaggy, and his ears long and hairy, and
his arms became legs, and he had hoofs instead of hands and feet. To his
horror he perceived that he had been transformed into a donkey. Soon he
resumed eating, for his appetite had not been appeased, and the juicy
cabbages were now much to his liking. Presently he tried one of the pink
cabbages. Immediately he felt a new change taking place, and soon found
he had resumed his human form.
Now he lay down and slept off his fatigue. When he awoke it was morning,
and he broke off a head of the green cabbage and a head of the pink
cabbage, and thought: “I will take these along. They may be of use to
me.”
Then he clambered over the wall and went off in search of the witch’s
castle. After wandering about for a few days he was fortunate enough to
find it. But before he showed himself he stained his face and disguised
himself as a countryman. Even his own mother would not have known him.
That done, he went to the castle and begged for a night’s lodging.
“Who are you?” asked the witch, “and what is your business?”
“I am a messenger from the king,” he replied. “His Majesty sent me to
seek the most delicate cabbages that grow on earth. I have been
successful in securing two heads, but the sun shines so warm I am afraid
the tender leaves will wither and that I would waste my efforts to go
any farther with them.”
When the old witch heard about these precious cabbages she was anxious
to eat of them herself, and she became very agreeable in her manner
toward the wanderer, and said, “Good countryman, let me taste the
wonderful cabbages.”
“By all means,” said he. “You shall have one of them,” and he handed her
the green cabbage.
She took it to the kitchen, and with her own hands prepared a salad for
her household. But when it was ready for the table she could wait no
longer, and put some of it in her mouth and began eating. Immediately
the charm worked, and she became an old, gray donkey and ran out into
the courtyard.
Presently the servant maid entered the kitchen. She saw the cabbage
salad on the table and took it up to carry it to the dining-hall. But on
the way, in accord with her usual habit, she tasted of it. At once she
turned into a donkey, dropped the dish, and ran out to join the other
donkey.
In the meantime, the disguised huntsman sat with the beautiful maiden.
She asked him about the wonderful cabbage, and expressed an eager desire
to eat some of it.
“I will go to the kitchen and see if it is ready,” said he.
But on the way thither he found the salad on the floor with scattered
fragments of the dish that had contained it. Then he looked out of a
window and saw the two donkeys running about in the courtyard. “Very
good,” said he, and he put the salad in a fresh dish and carried it to
the maiden.
“I have brought you this precious salad myself,” said he, “so that you
will not have to wait any longer.”
Thereupon she ate some, and lost her human form, and ran out to the
courtyard. The huntsman washed the stain from his face, and went out and
addressed the donkeys. “Now,” said he, “you see plainly who I am, and I
would have you know that I am going to punish you for your treachery.”
He tied them together with a rope, and drove them along the highway
until he came to a mill. There he stopped and tapped on a window. The
miller put his head out and asked what he wanted.
“I have three bad animals here,” said he, “and I want to get rid of
them. If you will take them and feed and treat them as I wish, I will
pay you whatever you say is fair for your trouble.”
“All right,” said the miller. “How shall I treat them?”
The huntsman said he would have the old donkey, which was the witch,
well beaten three times a day and fed once. Then he pointed out the one
which was the servant lass, and said, “Beat that one once and feed it
three times; and this other you are not to beat at all. It is to receive
good care and plenty to eat;” for he could not make up his mind to cause
the fair maiden pain.
He returned to the castle and made himself very comfortable there. A few
days later the miller came and told him the old gray donkey was dead. On
learning this the huntsman took pity on the two other beasts, and had
the miller bring them back to him. As soon as they came he gave them
some of the pink cabbage to eat, and one promptly became the servant
maid, and the other the beautiful daughter of the witch, just as they
were before they ate of the green cabbage.
The beautiful maiden fell on her knees at the feet of the huntsman, and
said: “Oh, my beloved, forgive all the wrong I have done you. My mother
compelled me to do it against my will, for I love you with my whole
heart. Your wishing-cloak hangs in one of the closets, and I will get
your ring for you, too.”
“Keep the ring,” said he. “I intend to make you my bride, and we will
enjoy our riches together.”
Soon afterward they were married, and they lived happily to the end of
their lives.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
SWEET PORRIDGE
YEARS ago there was a little girl who lived with her mother in a small
house on the edge of a forest. They were very poor, and at length there
came a time when they had nothing left to eat. One day the little girl
went into the forest to get a few sticks with which to make a fire, and
there she met an old woman who gave her a small pot, and said: “This pot
will supply you with food, and you need never be hungry again. You have
only to say, ‘Boil, little pot, boil!’ and it will cook you as much
nice, sweet porridge as you can wish for. Just watch it, and when the
porridge inside has increased to the amount you want, say, ‘Stop, little
pot,’ and the boiling will immediately cease.”
The little girl thanked the old woman, and carried the pot home to her
mother. After that they had plenty to eat, for the pot supplied them
with sweet porridge as often as they pleased.
Everything prospered with them until one afternoon the little girl went
for a walk in the fields outside of the village. She was gone so long
that her mother became hungry, and said to the pot, “Boil, little pot,
boil.”
At once the cooking began, but when the porridge in the pot had
increased to enough for a meal, she could not think of the magic words
to stop the boiling process. So the pot soon began to overflow, and it
continued to boil and boil till the porridge filled the kitchen. In a
little while the entire house was filled, and still the pot boiled. The
porridge now commenced to stream out at the doors and windows and
chimney. It filled the yard and the garden, it engulfed the next house,
and the next, and soon the street was filled. The people fled before it,
and it covered the whole village out of sight. It seemed likely to
furnish food for all the world, and there is no knowing what might have
happened if the little girl had not returned and called to the pot to
stop.
Then it left off cooking; but for many a long day the people who wished
to get into the village had to eat their way through a great mass of
sweet porridge.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PRAYING GEESE
A FOX once came to a meadow where a flock of fine fat geese were
feeding. “My dears,” said he, “I have come without ceremony, just as if
I had been invited. You are very charming, and I desire nothing better
than to keep you company and eat you one after another at my leisure.”
[Illustration]
The geese cackled for terror and began to beg pitifully for their lives.
But their appeals had no effect on the fox. His only response was: “I
shall show you no mercy. You must die.”
Then one of them said: “If we poor geese must lose our lives, at least
grant us one single grace. Permit us to say our prayers, that we may not
die in our sins. After we finish praying we will all stand in a row, and
you can pick out the fattest one to begin on, and feast as you please.”
“Well,” said the fox, “that is a just and pious request. Pray away, and
I will wait for you.”
So they all commenced praying: “Honk, honk, honk! Honk, honk, honk!”
When they have finished praying, this tale shall be continued; but
meanwhile you can be very sure that they are praying still.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE DARNING NEEDLE
THERE was once a darning needle which thought itself so fine that it
imagined it was a sewing needle. “Be careful to hold me tightly,” it
said to the fingers as they took it up. “Do not drop me, for if I fall I
doubt if I should be found again, I am so fine.”
“That’s what you say,” remarked the fingers and began sewing.
“Look, I have a train,” the darning needle said, and dragged a long
thread after it.
The fingers belonged to a cook, and they applied the needle to a
slipper, the upper leather of which had torn and needed mending. “This
is degrading work,” said the darning needle. “I shall never get through
such coarse leather. I shall break, I shall break!”
And really it did break. “Did I not tell you so?” the needle sighed. “I
am too fine.”
“Now it is good for nothing,” said the fingers; but still they held it
while the cook with the fingers of her other hand dropped some melted
sealing-wax on the broken end. When the wax cooled, she fastened her
neckerchief with the needle.
[Illustration]
“I have become a scarf-pin,” said the needle. “I knew very well that I
should come to honor. When one is worthy one is sure to get on in the
world.”
Then it laughed to itself and sat there as proudly as if it was in its
own carriage, and it looked about in all directions. “May I take the
liberty to ask if you are of gold?” it inquired of a pin that was its
neighbor. “Your outward appearance is splendid, and I see you have a
head, too, although it is very small. You must endeavor to have it grow,
for it is not every one who can receive a sealing-wax head of just the
proper size.”
So saying, the darning needle raised itself so proudly that it fell out
of the neckerchief into the sink which the cook was rinsing. “Now I am
going to travel,” the needle said. “I hope I shall not be lost.”