FAIRY-TALES
I wonder how children would do without fairy-tales. Every country and
every age has these, and devours them eagerly, old as they are.
Perhaps it would be interesting to inquire how they arose. It is said
that a Queen saw her children looking very sad, although they had
everything that she could think of for their happiness. The truth was
they did not know what they wanted. She said, “If only I were a child
again, I would know what is the secret of a child’s happiness.” While
she was thinking a bird flew into her lap, but only for a moment. As
soon as it had gone, she saw a golden egg. “Perhaps,” she thought,
“this egg will contain what will give my children contentment, and
remove their sadness.” She broke the egg, and out came the wonderful
bird, Imagination, the Popular Tale. Now the children were happy and
bright. For the tale took them far away, but brought them home again
as soon as they desired. So it came about that not only children, but
those who are older in years, found a peculiar joy and happiness in
reading the story, provided they come in the spirit of the child. Here
is one well known to Swedish children:
THE CRAFTY BOY AND THE STUPID GIANT
Once upon a time there was a boy who watched goats in the forest. He
was alone, and one day had to pass a large dwelling. He had been
enjoying himself, shouting and singing, as boys will do when in the
woods, when suddenly he saw coming from the house a giant, of great
size and fierce to look upon. The giant was very angry because he had
been disturbed in his sleep, and the boy became so frightened that he
at once took to his heels, and never stopped running till he got home.
In the evening his mother had been making cheese, and he took a piece
that was newly made, and put it in his wallet. Next morning he had
again to pass the giant’s house. The giant, when he saw him, took up a
piece of stone, crushed it into atoms, let it fall upon the ground,
and said: “If you again disturb me with your noise, I will crush you
as I have crushed this stone.” The boy, who was by this time quite
bold, took up the cheese he had brought in his wallet, and squeezing
the whey out of it, said to the giant: “I will squeeze thee as I
squeeze the water out of this stone.” When the giant found out that
the boy was so strong, he went away in great fear and trembling to his
abode.
However, they soon met again, and then the boy suggested a trial of
strength. The test was who could throw an axe so high in the air that
it would never fall down again. The giant tried many times, but the
axe always fell down again. The boy began to mock him, saying: “I
thought you were a very strong man, but you are not. See how I can
throw the axe.” With that he took the axe and swinging it as if with
great force, very cleverly let it slide into the wallet on his back.
The giant did not see the trick, and, looking in vain for the axe
falling down again, thought the boy must be wonderfully strong.
The giant was so much impressed with the boy’s strength, that he asked
him to enter his service. The boy’s first duty was to assist with the
felling of a tree. “I will hold while you fell,” said the boy. But as
the boy was not tall enough to reach to the top of the trunk, the
giant bent it down to the level of the boy. As soon as the boy seized
it, the tree at once rebounded and carried the boy out of sight. In a
short time he came back lame, but saying nothing. “Why did you not
hold?” said the giant. “Would you be brave enough to make a jump like
that?” said the boy. “No,” replied the giant. “Well, then, if you are
so afraid you can hold and cut for yourself.”
Soon the giant had cut down the tree. How was it to be carried home?
It was arranged that the giant should carry the thin end, and the boy
the thick one. The giant went in front, and raised his end on his
shoulder. The boy behind called him to move it farther forward. Soon
the giant had it so balanced on his shoulder, that he had the whole
weight of it. After walking for some time, he shouted: “Are you not
tired yet?” The boy, who had seated himself on his end of the tree,
answered: “Certainly not.” When they arrived at the house, the giant
was quite worn out. “Are you not tired even yet?” said the giant. The
boy answered: “You must not think so little tires me. I could quite
easily have carried it myself.”
The giant was amazed, and wondered what he would try next. He
suggested they should thresh grain. “Let us do it very early in the
morning, before we get our breakfast,” said the boy. The giant agreed.
When they began the boy received a flail he could not lift, so he took
up a stick and beat the ground while the giant threshed. As they had
been working in the dark, the boy’s device had not been seen, and
to escape detection, when daylight was approaching, he suggested that
they should cease work for breakfast. “Yes,” said the giant, “it has
been very hard work.”
[Illustration: A GIRL WITH “KICKER.” _Carl Larsson._]
Some time after the giant sent the boy to plough, and told him that
when the dog came, he was to loose the oxen, bring them home, and put
them in their stable. He brought them home, but as there was no
entrance, he did not know how to get them in. As he could not lift the
house like the giant, he made up his mind to kill the oxen, cut up
their carcases, and put them in in this way. On his return the giant
asked if he had put the oxen in the stall. “Yes,” said the boy, “I got
them in, although I divided them.”
The giant now began to think the boy was too dangerous to have in the
house, and, on the advice of his wife, resolved to put him to death
while he slept. The boy was suspicious that something was going to
happen, and when night came, put the churn in the bed, while he
himself hid behind the door. In came the giant; down came the club, so
that the cream from the churn bespattered all his face. “Ha, ha, ha! I
have struck him so that his brains have bespattered the wall,” said
the giant afterwards to his wife. The two now lay down to rest in
peace, believing they had rid themselves for ever of this terrible
boy.
What a surprise they got next morning, when the boy appeared as if
nothing had happened. “What,” said the giant, “art thou not dead? I
thought I had killed thee with my club.” The boy answered: “Now that
explains it. I had imagined that I felt a flea biting me in the
night-time.”
At the close of the day a large basin of porridge was placed between
them. “What do you say to our trying to see who will eat most?” said
the boy. The giant was quite willing. The boy was too cunning. He had
tied a large bag before his chest, and let large quantities of the
porridge fall into it. When the giant came to a standstill, he saw the
boy still continuing with as good an appetite as when he began. “How
can a little fellow like you eat so much?” said the giant. “Father, I
will soon show you. When I have eaten as much as I can, I do so, and
begin again.” He then ripped up the bag, and the porridge ran out. The
giant took up a knife in imitation of the boy, but was soon dead.
Then the boy gathered all the money he could get, and left by night.
So ends the story of the crafty boy and the stupid giant.