darkness, and putting on his shoes of swiftness, he began to run, the
giant following him like a walking castle, making the earth shake at
every step.
Jack led him round and round the walls of the house, that the company
might see the monster; then, to finish the work, he ran over the
drawbridge, the giant going after him with his club: but when he came
to the middle, where the bridge had been cut on both sides, the great
weight of his body made it break, and he tumbled into the water, where
he rolled about like a large whale. Jack now stood by the side of the
moat, and laughed and jeered at him, saying, "I think you told me you
would grind my bones to powder; when will you begin?"
The giant foamed at both his horrid mouths with fury, and plunged
from side to side of the moat; but he could not get out to have
revenge on his little foe. At last Jack ordered a cart-rope to be
brought to him; he then drew it over his two heads, and by the help of
a team of horses, dragged him to the edge of the moat, where he cut
off his heads: and before he either ate or drank, sent them both to
the court of King Arthur. He then went back to the table with the
company, and the rest of the day was spent in mirth and good cheer.
After staying with the knight for some time, Jack grew weary of such
an idle life, and set out again in search of new adventures. He went
over hills and dales without meeting any, till he came to the foot of
a very high mountain. Here he knocked at the door of a small and
lonely house, and an old man, with a head as white as snow, let him
in.
"Good father," said Jack, "can you lodge a traveller who has lost his
way?"
"Yes," said the hermit, "I can, if you will accept such fare as my
poor house affords."
Jack entered, and the old man set before him some bread and fruit for
his supper. When Jack had eaten as much as he chose, the hermit said:
"My son, I know you are the famous conqueror of giants; now, at the
top of this mountain is an enchanted castle, kept by a giant named
Galligantus, who, by the help of a vile magician, gets many knights
into his castle, where he changes them into the shape of beasts. Above
all, I lament the hard fate of a duke's daughter, whom they seized as
she was walking in her father's garden, and brought hither through the
air in a chariot drawn by two fiery dragons, and turned her into the
shape of a deer. Many knights have tried to destroy the enchantment
and deliver her, yet none have been able to do it, by reason of two
fiery griffins, who guard the gate of the castle, and destroy all who
come nigh; but as you, my son, have an invisible coat, you may pass by
them without being seen; and on the gates of the castle you will find
engraved by what means the enchantment may be broken."
Jack promised that in the morning, at the risk of his life, he would
break the enchantment; and after a sound sleep, he arose early, put on
his invisible coat, and got ready for the attempt. When he had climbed
to the top of the mountain, he saw the two fiery griffins; but he
passed between them without the least fear of danger for they could
not see him because of his invisible coat. On the castle-gate he found
a golden trumpet, under which were written these lines:--
"Whoever can this trumpet blow,
Shall cause the giant's overthrow."
As soon as Jack had read this, he seized the trumpet, and blew a
shrill blast, which made the gates fly open, and the very castle
itself tremble. The giant and the conjuror now knew that their wicked
course was at an end, and they stood biting their thumbs and shaking
with fear. Jack with his sword of sharpness, soon killed the giant,
and the magician was then carried away by a whirlwind. All the
knights and beautiful ladies, who had been changed into birds and
beasts, returned to their proper shapes. The castle vanished away like
smoke, and the head of the giant Galligantus was sent to King Arthur.
The knights and ladies rested that night at the old man's hermitage,
and the next day they set out for the court. Jack then went up to the
king, and gave his majesty an account of all his fierce battles.
Jack's fame had spread through the whole country; and at the king's
desire, the duke gave him his daughter in marriage, to the joy of all
the kingdom. After this, the king gave him a large estate, on which he
and his lady lived the rest of their days in joy and content.
TOM THUMB.
In the days of King Arthur, Merlin, the most learned enchanter of his
time, was on a journey; and being very weary, stopped one day at the
cottage of an honest ploughman to ask for refreshment. The ploughman's
wife, with great civility, immediately brought him some milk in a
wooden bowl, and some brown bread on a wooden platter. Merlin could
not help observing, that although everything within the cottage was
particularly neat and clean, and in good order, the ploughman and his
wife had the most sorrowful air imaginable: so he questioned them on
the cause of their melancholy, and learned that they were very
miserable because they had no children. The poor woman declared, with
tears in her eyes, that she should be the happiest creature in the
world, if she had a son, although he were no bigger than his father's
thumb. Merlin was much amused with the notion of a boy no bigger than
a man's thumb; and as soon as he returned home, he sent for the queen
of the fairies (with whom he was very intimate), and related to her
the desire of the ploughman and his wife to have a son the size of his
father's thumb. She liked the plan exceedingly, and declared their
wish should be speedily granted. Accordingly, the ploughman's wife
had a son, who in a few minutes grew as tall as his father's thumb.
The queen of the fairies came in at the window as the mother was
sitting up in bed admiring the child. Her majesty kissed the infant,
and, giving it the name of Tom Thumb, immediately summoned several
fairies from Fairyland, to clothe her new little favourite:--
"An oak-leaf hat he had for his crown,
His shirt it was by spiders spun:
With doublet wove of thistledown,
His trousers up with points were done;
His stockings, of apple-rind, they tie
With eye-lash pluck'd from his mother's eye:
His shoes were made of a mouse's skin,
Nicely tann'd with hair within."
Tom was never any bigger than his father's thumb, which was not a
large thumb neither; but as he grew older, he became very cunning, for
which his mother did not sufficiently correct him: and by this ill
quality he was often brought into difficulties. For instance, when he
had learned to play with other boys for cherry-stones, and had lost
all his own, he used to creep into the boys' bags, fill his pockets,
and come out again to play. But one day as he was getting out of a bag
of cherry-stones, the boy to whom it belonged chanced to see him.
"Ah, ha, my little Tom Thumb!" said he, "have I caught you at your bad
tricks at last? Now I will reward you for thieving." Then drawing the
string tight round his neck, and shaking the bag, the cherry-stones
bruised Tom's legs, thighs, and body sadly; which made him beg to be
let out, and promise never to be guilty of such things any more.
Shortly afterwards Tom's mother was making a batter-pudding, and that
he might see how she mixed it, he climbed on the edge of the bowl; but
his foot happening to slip, he fell over head and ears into the
batter, and his mother, not observing him, stirred him into the
pudding, and popped him into the pot to boil. The hot water made Tom
kick and struggle; and his mother, seeing the pudding jump up and down
in such a furious manner, thought it was bewitched; and a tinker
coming by just at the time, she quickly gave him the pudding; he put
it into his budget, and walked on.
As soon as Tom could get the batter out of his mouth, he began to cry
aloud, which so frightened the poor tinker, that he flung the pudding
over the hedge, and ran away from it as fast as he could. The pudding
being broken to pieces by the fall, Tom was released, and walked home
to his mother, who gave him a kiss and put him to bed.
Tom Thumb's mother once took him with her when she went to milk the
cow; and it being a very windy day, she tied him with a needleful of
thread to a thistle, that he might not be blown away. The cow, liking
his oak-leaf hat, took him and the thistle up at one mouthful. While
the cow chewed the thistle, Tom, terrified at her great teeth, which
seemed ready to crush him to pieces, roared, "Mother, mother!" as loud
as he could bawl.
"Where are you, Tommy, my dear Tommy?' said the mother.
"Here, mother, here in the red cow's mouth."
The mother began to cry and wring her hands; but the cow, surprised at
such odd noises in her throat, opened her mouth and let him drop out.
His mother clapped him into her apron, and ran home with him. Tom's
father made him a whip of a barley straw to drive the cattle with, and
being one day in the field he slipped into a deep furrow. A raven
flying over picked him up with a grain of corn, and flew with him to
the top of a giant's castle by the sea-side, where he left him; and
old Grumbo, the giant, coming soon after to walk upon his terrace,
swallowed Tom like a pill, clothes and all. Tom presently made the
giant very uncomfortable, and he threw him up into the sea. A great
fish then swallowed him. This fish was soon after caught, and sent as
a present to King Arthur. When it was cut open, everybody was
delighted with little Tom Thumb. The king made him his dwarf; he was
the favourite of the whole court; and, by his merry pranks, often
amused the queen and the knights of the Round Table. The king, when he
rode on horseback, frequently took Tom in his hand; and if a shower of
rain came on, he used to creep into the king's waist-coat-pocket, and
sleep till the rain was over. The king also sometimes questioned Tom
concerning his parents; and when Tom informed his majesty they were
very poor people, the king led him into his treasury, and told him he
should pay his friends a visit, and take with him as much money as he
could carry. Tom procured a little purse, and putting a threepenny
piece into it, with much labour and difficulty got it upon his back;
and after travelling two days and nights, arrived at his father's
house. His mother met him at the door, almost tired to death, having
in forty-eight hours travelled almost half a mile with a huge silver
threepence upon his back. Both his parents were glad to see him,
especially when he had brought such an amazing sum of money with him.
They placed him in a walnut-shell by the fireside, and feasted him for
three days upon a hazel-nut, which made him sick, for a whole nut
usually served him for a month. Tom got well, but could not travel
because it had rained: therefore his mother took him in her hand, and
with one puff blew him into King Arthur's court; where Tom entertained
the king, queen, and nobility at tilts and tournaments, at which he
exerted himself so much that he brought on a fit of sickness, and his
life was despaired of. At this juncture the queen of the fairies came
in a chariot, drawn by flying mice, placed Tom by her side, and drove
through the air, without stopping till they arrived at her palace;
when, after restoring him to health and permitting him to enjoy all
the gay diversions of Fairyland, she commanded a fair wind, and,
placing Tom before it, blew him straight to the court of King Arthur.
But just as Tom should have alighted in the courtyard of the palace,
the cook happened to pass along with the king's great bowl of
furmenty (King Arthur loved furmenty), and poor Tom Thumb fell plump
into the middle of it, and splashed the hot furmenty into the cook's
eyes. Down went the bowl.
"Oh dear! oh dear!" cried Tom.
"Murder! murder!" bellowed the cook; and away poured the king's nice
furmenty into the kennel.
The cook was a red-faced, cross fellow, and swore to the king that Tom
had done it out of mere mischief; so he was taken up, tried, and
sentenced to be beheaded. Tom hearing this dreadful sentence, and
seeing a miller stand by with his mouth wide open, he took a good
spring, and jumped down the miller's throat, unperceived by all, even
by the miller himself.
Tom being lost, the court broke up, and away went the miller to his
mill. But Tom did not leave him long at rest: he began to roll and
tumble about, so that the miller thought himself bewitched, and sent
for a doctor. When the doctor came, Tom began to dance and sing; the
doctor was as much frightened as the miller, and sent in great haste
for five more doctors and twenty learned men. While all these were
debating upon the affair, the miller (for they were very tedious)
happened to yawn, and Tom, taking the opportunity, made another jump,
and alighted on his feet in the middle of the table. The miller,
provoked to be thus tormented by such a little creature, fell into a
great passion, caught hold of Tom, and threw him out of the window
into the river. A large salmon swimming by snapped him up in a minute.
The salmon was soon caught and sold in the market to a steward of a
lord. The lord, thinking it an uncommon fine fish, made a present of
it to the king, who ordered it to be dressed immediately. When the
cook cut open the salmon, he found poor Tom, and ran with him directly
to the king; but the king, being busy with state affairs, desired that
he might be brought another day. The cook resolving to keep him safely
this time, as he had so lately given him the slip, clapped him into a
mouse-trap, and left him to amuse himself by peeping through the wires
for a whole week; when the king sent for him, he forgave him for
throwing down the furmenty, ordered him new clothes, and knighted
him:--
"His shirt was made of butterflies' wings,
His boots were made of chicken skins;
His coat and breeches were made with pride:
A tailor's needle hung by his side;
A mouse for a horse he used to ride."
Thus dressed and mounted, he rode a-hunting with the king and
nobility, who all laughed heartily at Tom and his fine prancing steed.
As they rode by a farmhouse one day, a cat jumped from behind the
door, seized the mouse and little Tom, and began to devour the mouse;
however, Tom boldly drew his sword and attacked the cat, who then let
him fall. The king and his nobles, seeing Tom falling, went to his
assistance, and one of the lords caught him in his hat; but poor Tom
was sadly scratched, and his clothes were torn by the claws of the
cat. In this condition he was carried home, when a bed of down was
made for him in a little ivory cabinet. The queen of the fairies came
and took him again to Fairyland, where she kept him for some years;
and then, dressing him in bright green, sent him flying once more
through the air to the earth, in the days of King Thunstone. The
people flocked far and near to look at him; and the king, before whom
he was carried, asked him who he was, whence he came, and where he
lived? Tom answered:--
"My name Is Tom Thumb,
From the Fairies I come;
When King Arthur shone,
This court was my home.
In me he delighted,
By him I was knighted;
Did you never hear of
Sir Thomas Thumb?"
The king was so charmed with this address, that he ordered a little
chair to be made, in order that Tom might sit on his table, and also a
palace of gold a span high, with a door an inch wide, for little Tom
to live in. He also gave him a coach drawn by six small mice, This
made the queen angry, because she had not a new coach too: therefore,
resolving to ruin Tom, she complained to the king that he had behaved
very insolently to her. The king sent for him in a rage. Tom, to
escape his fury, crept into an empty snail-shell, and there lay till
he was almost starved; when, peeping out of the hole, he saw a fine
butterfly settle on the ground: he now ventured out, and getting
astride, the butterfly took wing, and mounted into the air with
little Tom on his back. Away he flew from field to field, from tree to
tree, till at last he flew to the king's court. The king, queen, and
nobles, all strove to catch the butterfly, but could not. At length
poor Tom, having neither bridle nor saddle, slipped from his seat, and
fell into a watering-pot, where he was found almost drowned. The queen
vowed he should be guillotined; but while the guillotine was getting
ready, he was secured once more in a mouse-trap; when the cat, seeing
something stir, and supposing it to be a mouse, patted the trap about
till she broke it, and set Tom at liberty. Soon afterwards a spider,
taking him for a fly, made at him. Tom drew his sword and fought
valiantly, but the spider's poisonous breath overcame him:--
"He fell dead on the ground where late he had stood,
And the spider suck'd up the last drop of his blood."
King Thunstone and his whole court went into mourning for little Tom
Thumb. They buried him under a rosebush, and raised a nice white
marble monument over his grave, with the following epitaph:--
"Here lies Tom Thumb, King Arthur's knight,
Who died by a spider's cruel bite.
He was well known in Arthur's court,
Where he afforded gallant sport;
He rode at tilt and tournament,
And on a mouse a-hunting went;
Alive he fill'd the court with mirth,
His death to sorrow soon gave birth.
Wipe, wipe your eyes, and shake your head,
And cry, 'Alas! Tom Thumb is dead.'"
RUMPELSTILZCHEN.
There was once a miller who was very poor, but he had a beautiful
daughter. Now, it happened that he came to speak to the king, and, to
give himself importance, he said to him, "I have a daughter who can
spin straw into gold."
The king said to the miller, "That is a talent that pleases me well;
if she be as skilful as you say, bring her to-morrow to the palace,
and I will put her to the proof."
When the maiden was brought to him, he led her to a room full of
straw, gave her a wheel and spindle, and said, "Now set to work, and
if by the morrow this straw be not spun into gold, you shall die." He
locked the door, and left the maiden alone.
The poor girl sat down disconsolate, and could not for her life think
what she was to do; for she knew not--how could she?--the way to spin
straw into gold; and her distress increased so much that at last she
began to weep. All at once the door opened, and a little man entered,
and said, "Good evening, my pretty miller's daughter why are you
weeping so bitterly?"
"Ah!" answered the maiden, "I must spin straw into gold, and know not
how to do it."
The little man said, "What will you give me if I do it for you?"
"My neckerchief," said the maiden.
He took the kerchief, sat down before the wheel, and grind, grind,
grind--three times did he grind--and the spindle was full: then he put
another thread on, and grind, grind, grind, the second was full; so he
spun on till morning; when all the straw was spun, and all the
spindles were full of gold.
The king came at sunrise, and was greatly astonished and overjoyed at
the sight; but it only made his heart the more greedy of gold. He put
the miller's daughter into another much larger room, full of straw,
and ordered her to spin it all in one night, if life were dear to her.
The poor helpless maiden began to weep, when once more the door flew
open, the little man appeared, and said, "What will you give me if I
spin this straw into gold?"
"My ring from my finger," answered the maiden.
The little man took the ring, began to turn the wheel, and, by the
morning, all the straw was spun into shining gold.
The king was highly delighted when he saw it, but was not yet
satisfied with the quantity of gold; so he put the damsel into a still
larger room, full of straw, and said, "Spin this during the night; and
if you do it, you shall be my wife." "For," he thought, "if she's only
a miller's daughter I shall never find a richer wife in the whole
world."
As soon as the damsel was alone, the little man came the third time,
and said, "What will you give me if I again spin all this straw for
you?"
"I have nothing more to give you," answered the girl.
"Then promise, if you become queen, to give me your first child."
"Who knows how that may be, or how things may turn out between now and
then?" thought the girl, but in her perplexity she could not help
herself: so she promised the little man what he desired, and he spun
all the straw into gold.
When the king came in the morning, and saw that his orders had been
obeyed, he married the maiden, and the beautiful miller's daughter
became a queen. After a year had passed she brought a lovely baby into
the world, but quite forgot the little man, till he walked suddenly
into her chamber, and said, "Give me what you promised me." The queen
was frightened, and offered the dwarf all the riches of the kingdom if
he would only leave her her child; but he answered, "No; something
living is dearer to me than all the treasures of the world."
Then the queen began to grieve and to weep so bitterly, that the
little man took pity upon her and said, "I will give you three days;
if in that time you can find out my name, you shall keep the child."
All night long the queen thought over every name she had ever heard,
and sent a messenger through the kingdom, to inquire what names were
usually given to people in that country. When, next day, the little
man came again, she began with Caspar, Melchoir, Balthazar, and
repeated, each after each, all the names she knew or had heard of; but
at each one the little man said, "That is not my name."
The second day she again sent round about in all directions, to ask
how the people were called, and repeated to the little man the
strangest names she could hear of or imagine: to each he answered
always, "That is not my name."
The third day the messenger returned and said, "I have not been able
to find a single new name; but as I came over a high mountain by a
wood, where the fox and the hare bid each other good-night, I saw a
little house, and before the house was burning a little fire, and
round the fire danced a very funny little man, who hopped upon one
leg, and cried out:--
"To-day I brew, to-morrow I bake,
Next day the queen's child I shall take;
How glad I am that nobody knows
My name is Rumpelstilzchen!"
You may guess how joyful the queen was at hearing this; and when, soon
after, the little man entered and said, "Queen, what is my name?" she
asked him mischievously, "Is your name Kunz?"
"No."
"Is your name Carl?"
"No."
"Are you not sometimes called Rumpelstilzchen?"
"A witch has told you that--a witch has told you!" shrieked the poor
little man, and stamped so furiously with his right foot that it sunk
into the earth up to the hip; then he seized his left foot with both
hands with such violence, that he tore himself right in two.
FORTUNATUS.
In the city of Famagosta, in the island of Cyprus, there lived a very
rich gentleman. His name was Theodorus: he married a lady who was the
greatest beauty in Cyprus, and she was as rich as himself; she was
called Graciana. They both had every pleasure that wealth could buy,
and lived in the first style. Besides all this, the lady Graciana
brought her husband a fine little son, who was named Fortunatus; so
one would think nothing could have kept Theodorus from being the most
happy person in the world. But this was not long the case; for when he
had enjoyed all these pleasures for some time, he grew tired of them,
and began to keep company with young noblemen of the court, with whom
he sat up all night drinking and playing cards, so that in a few years
he spent all his fortune. He was now very sorry for what he had done,
but it was too late; and there was nothing he could do, but to work at
some trade to support his wife and child. For all this the lady
Graciana never found fault with him, but still loved her husband the
same as before; saying, "Dear Theodorus, to be sure I do not know how
to work at any trade; but if I can not help you in earning money, I
will help you to save it." So Theodorus set to work; and though the
lady Graciana had always been used only to ring her bell for
everything that she wanted, she now scoured the kettles and washed the
clothes with her own hands.
They went on in this manner till Fortunatus was sixteen years of age.
When that time came, one day, as they were all sitting at dinner,
Theodorus fixed his eyes on his son, and sighed deeply.
"What is the matter with you, father?" said Fortunatus.
"Ah! my child," said Theodorus, "I have reason enough to be sorry,
when I think of the noble fortune which I have spent, and that my
folly will force you to labour for your living."