He told him, "No," and that he might go there for three days.
"Go to such a mountain, and the first house that you will see there
will be yours."
He goes, then, to the mountain, and sees the house, and goes to it. He
finds his two brothers at the door cutting wood. He tells them that
he is their brother; but they will not believe him. They take him
indoors, and he tells his father and mother that he is Malbrouk. They
are astonished to see such a big man for seven years' old. They pass
these three days in great delight; and he said to his brothers:
"There is plenty of room at my godfather's for you too, and you must
come with me."
They go off, then, all three together. When they arrive, the witch
was not at all contented. She said to her husband:
"I don't know. These three men will do us some mischief, and we must
kill them."
Malbrouk did not wish to; but as the witch gave him no rest, he told
her that at the end of three days he would kill them. What does the
little Malbrouk do? At night their daughters used to put crowns
on their heads, and the little Malbrouk and his brothers cotton
night-caps. The little Malbrouk says to them:
"We must make an exchange; it is now our turn to have the crowns."
The girls were just as well pleased, and they gave them to them. One
night (old) Malbrouk goes there, and after having felt their
heads, when he perceived that they had the night-caps, he kills
the three. After the little Malbrouk saw that he woke his brothers,
took his godfather's seven-leagued boots, and goes off, far, far,
far away. The witch said to (the old Malbrouk):
"You have taken good care whom you have killed? I am not at all
satisfied that you have not done some donkey-trick."
The witch goes, and sees her three daughters dead. She was terribly
angry, [75] and there was no help for it.
Malbrouk and his brothers come to a place where a king lives, and
he remarks that everything is sad. He asks what it is? They tell him
that the king has lost his three daughters, and that nobody can find
them. Malbrouk says to them:
"I will find them."
They tell that quickly to the king, and bring them before him,
and Malbrouk tells him, too, that he will find them. All three set
out. When they have gone a little way they find an old woman, who
says to them:
"Where are you going to in that fashion?"
"To look for the king's three daughters."
This old woman says to them:
"Go to the king, and ask him for three hundred fathoms of new rope,
a bucket, and a bell."
They go, and the king gives to them immediately what they ask for. They
go, then, to the woman, and she says to them, pointing to a well,
that they are in that well. [76] The eldest put himself into the
bucket, and says to them:
"When I am afraid, I will ring the bell."
When he has gone only a little way he is frightened, and rings. They
pull him up. The second goes; and when he has gone a little farther
down he is frightened, and rings. Malbrouk then gets in, and he says
to them:
"When I shall give a pull at the bucket from below, then you will
pull it up."
He goes down, then, and at last he sees that there is a beautiful
house underground, and he sees there a beautiful young lady, who is
sitting with a serpent asleep in her lap. When she sees Malbrouk,
she says to him:
"Be off, I pray you, from here; he has only three-quarters of an hour
to sleep, and if he wakes, it is all over with you and me."
He says to her, "No matter; lay the head of the serpent on the ground,
gently, gently, without waking him."
She lays it there, and he carries off this young lady in the bucket,
after having pulled the cord. He goes into another chamber, and he
sees another young lady, still more beautiful, with the head of a
lion asleep on her lap. She also says to him:
"Be off quickly from here. He has only half-an-hour to sleep, and if
he wakes, it is all up with you and me."
Malbrouk says to her, "Place gently, gently, without waking him,
the head of the lion on the ground."
She does so. Malbrouk takes her, gets into the bucket with her, and
his brothers pull them both up. They write at once to the king to
come and fetch them, that they have found two of his daughters. As
you may suppose, the king sends a carriage directly to fetch them,
and he makes great rejoicings. The king tells him to choose whichever
of the two he likes for his wife. Malbrouk says to him:
"When I shall have found your third daughter she shall be my wife,
and my two brothers may take these two young ladies for their wives."
They do as Malbrouk said, and he sets out to see his sweetheart. He
goes on, and on, and on. All the fowls of the air know Malbrouk. As
he was going along he finds a wolf, a dog, a hawk, and an ant, and
in their language they cry out:
"Oyhu! [77] Malbrouk, Malbrouk!" and saying to him, "Where are you
going, Malbrouk? these three days we have been here before this sheep,
and cannot agree how to divide it; but you, you shall divide it."
Malbrouk goes to them, then, trembling lest they should make a division
of him, too. He cuts off the head, and gives it to the ant.
"You will have enough to eat, and for your whole household."
He gives the entrails to the hawk, and for the dog and the wolf he
cuts the carcase in half. He left them all well satisfied; and Malbrouk
goes on his way in silence, in silence. When he had gone a little way,
the ant says:
"We have not given Malbrouk any reward."
The wolf calls to him to come back. Malbrouk comes trembling,
thinking that it was his turn, and that they are going to eat him,
without doubt. The ant says to him:
"We have not given you anything, after that you have made such a
good division for us; but whenever you wish to become an ant, you
have only to say, 'Jesus, ant!' and you will become an ant."
The hawk says to him: "When you wish to make yourself a hawk, you
will say, 'Jesus, hawk!' and you will be a hawk."
The wolf says to him: "When you shall wish to become a wolf, you
shall say, 'Jesus, wolf!' and you shall be a wolf."
And the dog, he said to him the same thing, too. [78] He goes off,
then, well pleased, further into the forest. A woodpecker says to him:
"Malbrouk, where are you going?"
"To fetch such a daughter of a king."
"You will not find her easily. Since they have delivered her sisters,
he has carried her to the farther side of the Red Sea, [79] in an
island, and keeps her there in prison, in a beautiful house, with
the doors and windows so closely shut that only the ants can get into
that house."
Malbrouk goes off happy at hearing this news, and that he would find
the princess. He goes on, and on, and on, and he arrives opposite to
this island, and remembering what the hawk had said to him, he said,
"Jesus, hawk!" and immediately he becomes a hawk. [80] He flies away,
and goes on until he comes to the island of which the woodpecker had
told him; he sees that he can only get in there like an ant, and he
says, "Jesus, ant!" and he gets through the little lattice-work. He
is dazed at the sight of the beauty of this young lady. He says,
"Jesus, man!" and he becomes a man again. When the young lady sees him,
she says to him:
"Be off quickly from here. It is all over with your life. He is about
to come, this horrible body without a soul, [81] before a quarter of
an hour, and you will be done away with."
"I will become an ant again, and I will place myself in your bosom;
but do not scratch yourself too hard, else you will crush me."
As soon as he has said that the monster comes. He gives her partridges
and pigeons for her dinner, but he himself eats serpents and horrible
vermin. He tells her that he has a slight headache, and to take the
hammer and rap him on the head. She could not lift it, it was so big;
but she knocks him as well as she is able. The monster goes off. The
ant comes out from where he was, and prepares to eat the partridges
and pigeons with the young lady. Malbrouk said to her:
"You must ask him, as if you were in great trouble about it, what
would have to be done to kill him? and you will tell him how unhappy
you would be if he should be killed--that you would die of hunger in
prison in this island."
The young lady says, "Yes," she will do so.
The monster comes again, and says to her:
"Ay! ay! ay! my head. Take the hammer, and hit me hard."
The young lady does it until she is tired, and then she says:
"How unfortunate I shall be if you die."
He answers, "I shall not die. He who will know that will know a
great secret."
"Most certainly I would not wish you to die. I should die of hunger
in this island without you, and I should get no benefit by it. You
ought to tell me what would kill you."
He says to her, "No! Before this, too, a woman has deceived a man,
and I will not tell you."
"You can tell it to me--yes, to me. To whom shall I tell it? I see
nobody. Nobody is able to come here."
At last, at last, he tells her then:
"You must kill a terrible wolf which is in the forest, and inside him
is a fox, in the fox is a pigeon; this pigeon has an egg in his head,
and whoever should strike me on the forehead with this egg would kill
me. [82] But who will know all that? Nobody."