cabbages. She took the most beautiful white heads up in her hand,
squeezed them together till they squeaked, and then throwing them into
the basket again without regard to order, said as before, “Wretched
things! wretched cabbages!”
“Don’t wriggle your head about in that ugly fashion,” cried the little
boy, somewhat frightened; “why your neck is as thin as a cabbage-stalk
and might easily break, then your head would fall into the basket, and
who would buy of us?”
“You don’t like such thin necks then, eh?” muttered the old woman with
a laugh. “You shall have none at all, your head shall be fixed between
your shoulders, that it may not fall down from the little body.”
“Don’t talk such nonsense to the little boy,” at length said the
cobbler’s wife, indignant at the long-looking, examining, and smelling
of the things; “if you wish to buy any thing be quick, for you scare
away all my other customers.”
“Well, be it as you say,” cried the old woman, with a furious look, “I
will buy these six heads of cabbages; but you see I must support myself
by my stick, and cannot carry any thing, therefore, allow your little
son to carry them home for me, I will reward him for it.”
The little boy would not go with her, and began to cry, for he was
terrified at the ugly old woman, but his mother commanded him earnestly
to go, as she thought it a sin to load the feeble old soul with this
burden. Still sobbing, he did as he was ordered, and followed the old
woman over the market.
She proceeded but slowly, and was almost three-quarters of an hour
before she arrived at a very remote part of the town, where she at
length stopped in front of a small dilapidated house. She now pulled
out of her pocket an old rusty hook, and thrust it dexterously into a
small hole in the door, which immediately opened with a crash. But
what was the astonishment of little James as he entered! The interior
of the house was magnificently adorned, the ceiling and walls were of
marble, the furniture of the most beautiful ebony, inlaid with gold and
polished stones, the floor was of glass, and so smooth, that little
James several times slipped and fell down. The old woman now took a
small silver whistle from her pocket, and blew a tune on it which
sounded shrilly through the house. Immediately some guinea-pigs came
down the stairs, and little James was much amazed at their walking
upright on their hind legs, wearing on their paws nut-shells instead of
shoes, men’s clothes on their bodies, and even hats in the newest
fashion on their heads.
“Where are my slippers, ye rascally crew?” cried the old woman,
striking at them with her stick, so that they jumped squeaking into the
air; “how long am I to stand here waiting?”
They quickly scampered up the stairs and returned with a pair of
cocoa-nut shells lined with leather, which they placed dexterously upon
the old woman’s feet.
Now all her limping and shuffling was at an end. She threw away her
stick, and glided with great rapidity over the glass floor, pulling
little James after her with her hand. At length she stopped in a room
which was adorned with a great variety of utensils, and which almost
resembled a kitchen, although the tables were of mahogany, and the
sofas covered with rich cloth, more fit for a drawing-room.
“Sit down,” said the old woman, very kindly, pressing him into a corner
of a sofa, and placing a table before him in such a manner that he
could not get out again; “sit down, you have had a heavy load to carry,
human heads are not so light--not so light.”
“But, woman,” replied the little boy, “you talk very strangely; I am,
indeed, tired, but they were cabbage heads I was carrying, and you
bought them of my mother.”
“Why, you know but little about that,” said the old woman, laughing, as
she took the lid from the basket and brought out a human head, which
she held by the hair. The little boy was frightened out of his senses
at this; he could not comprehend how it all came to pass; and thinking
of his mother, he said to himself, “If any one were to hear of these
human heads, my mother would certainly be prosecuted.”
“I must give you some reward now, as you are so good,” muttered the old
woman; “have patience for a minute, and I will prepare you a soup which
you will remember all your life.” Having said this, she whistled
again, and immediately there came first some guinea-pigs dressed like
human beings; they had tied round them kitchen aprons, fastened by a
belt, in which were stuck ladles and carving-knives; after them came
skipping in a number of squirrels, that wore large, wide Turkish
trousers, walked upright, and had small caps of green velvet on their
heads. These seemed to be the scullions, for they climbed very nimbly
up the walls and brought down pans and dishes, eggs and butter, herbs
and flour, and carried it to the hearth. The old woman slided
continually to and fro upon her cocoa-nut slippers, and little James
observed that she was very anxious to cook something good for him. Now
the fire crackled and blazed up higher, there was a smoking and
bubbling in the saucepan, and a pleasant odour spread over the room,
but the old woman kept running up and down, the squirrels and
guinea-pigs after her, and as often as she passed the hearth she poked
her long nose into the pot. At length it began to boil and hiss, the
steam rose from the pot, and the scum flowed down into the fire. She
then took off the saucepan, and pouring some into a silver basin, gave
it to James.
“Now, my dear little son, now,” said she, “eat this soup and you will
have in your own person all that you admired so much in me. You shall
moreover become a clever cook, that you may be something at least, but
as for the herb, that you shall never find, because your mother did not
have it in her basket.”
The little boy did not exactly understand what she was saying, but was
the more attentive to eating his soup, which he relished uncommonly.
His mother had cooked various savoury soups, but never any like this.
The flavour of the fine herbs and spice ascended from it, and it was at
the same time very sweet, and very sharp and strong. While he was
sipping the last drops of the delicious soup, the guinea-pigs lighted
some Arabian incense which floated through the room in blue clouds,
which became thicker and thicker, and then descended. The smell of the
incense had a stupifying effect upon the boy; in vain did he repeatedly
say to himself that he must return to his mother, for as often as he
endeavoured to rouse himself, as often did he relapse into slumber and,
at length, actually fell into a profound sleep upon the old woman’s
sofa.
Strange dreams came over him, while he thus slept. It seemed as if the
old woman was taking off his clothes, and putting on him the skin of a
squirrel. Now he could make bounds and climb like a squirrel; he
associated with the other squirrels and guinea-pigs, who were all very
polite, decent people, and he did his duty of waiting upon the old
woman in his turn with the rest. At first he had to perform the
service of a shoeblack, that is, he had to oil and polish the cocoa-nut
shells which his mistress wore instead of slippers. Having often
blacked and polished shoes at home, he performed his duty well and
quickly. After the lapse of about one year, he dreamt again,
(according to the sequel of his dream) that he was employed for more
delicate work, that is, in company with some other squirrels, he was
obliged to catch the atoms in the sun, and, when they had caught
enough, to sift them through the finest hair-sieve, as the old woman
considered them the nicest thing, and not being able to masticate well
for want of teeth, had her bread prepared of such atoms.
At the end of another year, he was raised to the rank of one of the
servants who had to collect the water the old woman drank. But you
must not suppose that she had a cistern dug for that purpose, or a tub
placed in the yard to catch the rain-water; she had a much finer plan.
The squirrels, and James with them, had to collect in their hazel-nut
shells the dew from roses, and this was the beverage of the old woman.
The labour of these water-carriers was not a very light one, as she
used to drink a prodigious quantity. After another year, he was
employed in in-door service, his duty being to clean the floors, and as
they were of glass and showed the least speck, it was not a very easy
task. He and his fellow-servants were obliged to brush the floors, and
with pieces of old cloth tied to their feet dexterously skated about
the rooms. In the fourth year, he received an appointment in the
kitchen, which was so honourable an office, that one could succeed to
it only after a long probation. James here served from scullion
upwards to the post of first pastrycook, and acquired such an
extraordinary skill and experience in every thing relating to the
culinary art, that often he could not help wondering at himself; the
most difficult things, pies composed of two hundred different
ingredients, soups prepared with all the herbs of the globe,--all
these, and many other things, he learned to make quickly and
efficiently.
Seven years had thus passed away in the service of the old woman, when
one day, pulling off her shoes of cocoa-nut, and taking her basket and
crutch in hand in order to go out, she told him to pluck a chicken,
stuff it with herbs, and roast it nice and brown, during her absence.
He did this according to the rules of his art; twisted the chicken’s
neck, scalded it in hot water, pulled out the feathers cleverly,
scraped its skin smooth and fine, and then drew it. Next he began
gathering the herbs with which he was to stuff the chicken. Now when
he came to the chamber where these herbs were kept, he perceived a
small cupboard in the wall that he had never before noticed, and
finding the door of it half open, he had the curiosity to go near, in
order to see what it contained, when behold! there stood a great many
little baskets in it, from which proceeded a strong pleasant smell. He
opened one of these little baskets, and found in it a herb of a most
singular form and colour; its stalks and leaves were of a bluish green,
and it had a flower of burning red fringed with yellow at the top. He
looked thoughtfully at this flower, and smelled it, when it emitted the
same powerful odour as the soup which the old woman had cooked for him
when he first came there. But the smell was so strong that he began to
sneeze, was obliged to keep sneezing, and at last awoke, sneezing still.
He now found himself upon the old woman’s sofa, and looked around him
with astonishment. “Heavens!” he said to himself, “how vividly one may
dream; I would almost have sworn that I was a wanton squirrel,--a
companion of guinea-pigs and other vermin, but at the same time had
become a great cook. How my mother will laugh when I tell her all
this! But will she not also scold me for falling asleep in a strange
house instead of helping her in the market?” While engaged in these
thoughts, he started up to run away; but his limbs were still quite
stiff with sleep, and particularly his neck, for he was unable to move
his head well to and fro. He could not help smiling at himself and his
drowsiness, for every moment, before he was aware, he ran his nose
against a cupboard or the wall, or turning suddenly round, struck it
against a door-post. The squirrels and guinea-pigs crowded whining
around him, as if anxious to accompany him, and he actually invited
them to do so when he was on the threshold, for they were nice little
creatures, but they glided quickly back into the house on their
nutshells, and he only heard them howling at a distance.
As it was a very remote part of the town to which the old woman had
brought him, he could hardly find his way through the narrow streets,
and as, moreover, there was a great crowd of people, wherever he went,
he could only account for this by supposing there must be a dwarf
somewhere in the neighbourhood for show, for he heard everywhere cries
of, “Only look at the ugly dwarf! Where does the dwarf come from? O!
what a long nose he has, and how his head sits between his shoulders,
and look at his brown ugly hands!” At any other time, he would
probably have followed the cry, for he was very fond of seeing giants
and dwarfs, and any sort of curious, foreign costume, but now he was
obliged to hurry and get to his mother.
He felt quite weary when he arrived at the market. He found his mother
still sitting there, and she had a tolerable quantity of fruit in the
basket; he could not therefore have been sleeping long, but still it
appeared to him, even at a distance, as if she were very melancholy,
for she did not call to those coming past to buy, but supported her
head by one hand, and on coming closer he likewise thought she looked
paler than usual. He hesitated as to what he should do; and at length
mustering up courage, crept gently behind her, and putting his hand
familiarly upon her arm, asked, “Dear mother, what’s the matter with
you? are you angry with me?”
The woman turned round, but started back with a shriek of terror,
saying, “What do you want with me, you ugly dwarf? Begone, begone! I
do not like such jokes.”
“But mother, what is the matter with you?” asked James, quite
terrified; “surely you must be unwell, why will you turn your son away
from you?”
“I have told you already to be gone,” replied Jane, angrily; “you will
not get any money from me by your juggleries, you ill-favoured monster.”
“Surely God has deprived her of the light of her intellect,” said the
dwarf, deeply grieved within himself; “what shall I do to get her home?
Dear mother, pray do listen to reason; only look well at me, I am
indeed your son--your own James.”
“Why this is carrying the joke too far,” she said to her neighbour;
“only look at that ugly dwarf; there he stands, and will no doubt drive
away all my customers; nay, he even dares to ridicule my misfortune,
telling me that he is my son, my own James, the impudent fellow.”
At this her neighbours rose, and began as much abuse as possible,
(every one knows that market women understand this well,) and
reproaching him with making light of poor Jane’s misfortune, who seven
years ago had had her beautiful boy kidnapped, with one accord they
threatened to fall upon him and tear him to pieces, unless he took
himself off immediately.
Poor James did not know what to make of all this. Indeed it seemed to
him that he had that very morning, as usual, gone to market with his
mother, had helped her to lay out her fruit, and had afterwards gone
with the old woman to her house, eaten some soup, slept a little while,
and had now come back; and yet his mother and her neighbours talked of
seven years, calling him at the same time an ugly dwarf. What then was
the change that had come over him? Seeing, at length, that his mother
would no longer listen to any thing he said, he felt the tears come in
his eyes, and went sorrowfully down the street towards the stall where
his father sat in the daytime mending shoes.
“I am curious to see,” he thought to himself, “whether he, too, will
disown me? I will place myself in the doorway and talk to him.” And
having come there he did so and looked in.
The cobbler was so busily engaged at work that he did not see him; but
happening to cast a look towards the door, he dropped shoe, twine, and
awl on the ground, and cried, with astonishment, “For Heaven’s sake
what is that?”
“Good evening, master,” said the little dwarf, stepping inside the
booth. “How fare you?”
“Badly, badly, my little gentleman,” replied James’s father, to his
utter amazement; for he, too, did not seem to recognise him. “I have
to do all the work myself, for I am alone and now getting old, and yet
I cannot afford to keep a journeyman.”
“But have you no son to assist you in your work?” inquired the dwarf
further.
“Indeed I had one, whose name was James, and he now must be a handsome,
quick lad, twenty years old, who might effectually assist me. Ah! what
a pleasant life I should lead! Even when he was twelve years old he
showed himself quite handy and clever, and understood a great deal of
the business. He was a fine engaging little fellow; he would soon have
brought me plenty of custom, so that I should no longer have been
mending shoes and boots but making new ones. But so goes the world.”
“Where is your son, then?” asked James, in a tremulous voice.
“That God only knows,” replied his father. “Seven years ago, yes! it
is just that now, he was stolen from us in the market-place.”
“Seven years ago, you say?” cried James, with astonishment.
“Yes, little gentleman, seven years ago; the circumstance is as fresh
in my memory as if it had happened to-day, how my poor wife came home
weeping and crying, saying that the child had not come back all day,
and that she had inquired and searched everywhere without finding him.
But I always said it would come to that; for James was a pretty child,
no one could help saying so, therefore my poor wife was proud of him
and fond of hearing people praise him, and often sent him with
vegetables and such like things to the houses of the gentlefolks. All
this was very well; he always received some present. But said I, mark
me, the town is large, and there are many bad people in it, so take
care of James. But it happened as I always said. Once there comes an
ugly old woman to the market, bargains for some fruits and vegetables,
and at length buys so much that she cannot carry it home herself. My
wife, kind soul, sends the lad with her, and--has never seen him again
since that hour.”
“And that is now seven years, say you?”
“Seven years this spring. We had him cried in the town, we went from
house to house inquiring; many had known and liked the pretty lad, and
searched with us, but all in vain. Neither did any one know the woman
who bought the vegetables; a very aged woman, however, ninety years
old, said, ‘it might possibly have been the wicked fairy, Krauterweis,
who once in fifty years comes to the town to buy various articles.’”
Thus spoke James’s father hastily, hammering his shoes at the same
time, and drawing out at great length the twine with both hands. Now
by degrees light broke on the little dwarf’s mind, and he saw what had
happened to him, viz., that he had not been dreaming, but had served as
a squirrel seven years with the evil fairy. Rage and sorrow now filled
his heart almost to bursting.
The old witch had robbed him of seven years of his youth, and what had
he in exchange? What was it that he could polish slippers of cocoa-nut
shell? that he could clean rooms with glass floors? that he had learned
all the mysteries of cooking, from the guinea pigs? Thus he stood for
some time meditating on his fate, when at length his father asked him--
“Do you want to purchase any thing, young gentleman? Perhaps a pair of
new slippers or, peradventure, a case for your nose?” he added, smiling.
“What do you mean about my nose?” asked James; “why should I want a
case for it?”
“Why,” replied the cobbler, “every one according to his taste; but I
must tell you, that if I had such a terrible nose, I should have a case
made for it of rose-coloured morocco. Look here, I have a beautiful
piece that is just the thing; indeed we should at least want a yard for
it. It would then be well guarded, my little gentleman; whereas now I
am sure you will knock it against every door-post and carriage you
would wish to avoid.”
The dwarf was struck dumb with terror; he felt his nose, it was full
two hands long and thick in proportion. So then the old hag had
likewise changed his person; and hence it was his mother did not know
him, and people called him an ill-favoured dwarf.
“Master,” said he, half crying to the cobbler, “have you no
looking-glass at hand in which I might behold myself?”
“Young gentleman,” replied his father, gravely, “you have not exactly
been favoured as to appearance so as to make you vain, and you have no
cause to look often in the glass. You had better leave it off
altogether. It is with you a particularly ridiculous habit.”
“Oh! pray let me look in the glass,” cried the dwarf. “I assure you it
is not from vanity.”
“Leave me in peace, I have none in my possession; my wife has a little
looking-glass, but I do not know where she has hid it. If you really
must look into one,--why then, over the way lives Urban, the barber,
who has a glass twice as big as your head; look in there, and now, good
morning.”
With these words his father pushed him gently out of the stall, locked
the door after him, and sat down again to his work. The little dwarf,
much cast down, went over the way to the barber, whom he well
remembered in former times.
“Good morning, Urban,” said he to him, “I come to beg a favour of you,
be so kind as to let me look a moment in your looking-glass.”
“With pleasure,” cried the barber, laughing, “there it is;” and his
customers who were about to be shaved laughed heartily with him. “You
are rather a pretty fellow, slim and genteel; you have a neck like a
swan, hands like a queen, and a turn-up nose, such as one seldom sees
excelled. A little vain you are of it, no doubt; but no matter, look
at yourself, people shall not say that envy prevented me from allowing
you to see yourself in my glass.”
Thus spoke the barber, and a yell of laughter resounded through the
room. In the meantime the dwarf had stepped to the glass and looked at
himself. The tears came in his eyes, while saying to himself; “Yes,
dear mother, thus you could not indeed recognise your James, he did not
look like this in the days of your happiness, when you delighted to
show him off before the people?” His eyes had become little, like
those of pigs; his nose was immense, hanging over his mouth down to his
chin; his neck seemed to have been taken away altogether, for his head
sat low between his shoulders, and it was only with the greatest pain
that he could move it to the right or left; his body was still the same
size as it had been seven years ago, when he was twelve years old, so
that he had grown in width what others do in height, between the ages
of twelve and twenty. His back and chest stood out like two short,
well-filled bags; and this thick-set body was supported by small thin
legs, which seemed hardly sufficient to support their burden; but so
much the larger were his arms, which hung down from his body, being of
the size of those of a full-grown man; his hands were coarse, and of a
brownish hue, his fingers long, like spiders’ legs, and when he
stretched them to their full extent, he could touch the ground without
stooping. Such was little James’s appearance, now that he had become
an ugly dwarf. He now remembered the morning on which the old woman
had stopped before his mother’s baskets. All that he then had found
fault with in her--viz., her long nose, and ugly fingers--all these she
had given him, only omitting her long, palsied neck.
“Well, my prince, have you looked enough at yourself now?” said the
barber, stepping up to him, and surveying him with a laugh. “Truly, if
we wished to dream of such a figure, we could hardly see one so
comical. Nevertheless, I will make you a proposition, my little man.
My shaving-room is tolerably well frequented, but yet not so much so as
I could wish. That arises from my neighbour, the barber Schaum, having
discovered a giant, who attracts much custom to his house. Now, to
become a giant is no great thing, after all, but to be such a little
man as you, is indeed a different thing. Enter my service, little man,
you shall have board and lodging, clothes and every thing; for this you
shall stand in my door-way in the morning, and invite people to come
in; you shall beat up the lather, hand the towel to the customers, and
you may be sure that we shall both make it answer; I shall get more
customers through you than my neighbour by his giant; and you will get
many presents.”
The little man felt quite indignant at the proposal of serving as a
decoy to a barber. But was he not obliged to submit patiently to this
insulting offer? He, therefore, quietly told the barber he had no time
for such services, and went away.
Although the evil hag had thus stunted his growth, yet she had had no
power to affect his mind, as he felt full well; for he no longer
thought and felt as he did seven years since, and believed that he had
become wiser and more sensible in the interval. He did not mourn for
the loss of his beauty, nor for his ugly appearance, but only that he
was driven from his father’s door like a dog. However, he resolved to
make another trial with his mother.