Now, the king lived not far from these girls, and just at that moment
he was passing before the door of their house, and heard what they
said. The next day the king asked the eldest:
"What were you saying yesterday at such a time?"
And she was ashamed to tell him, but the king pressed her so much
that at last she told it:
"I said that I wished to be married to your servant."
He made the second come, and asked her the same question: "What were
you talking about yesterday?"
She would not tell; but the king pressed her so much that she said:
"I--I was saying that I wished to marry your son-in-law."
He sends them back home, and sends for the third, and asks her what she
said the evening before. She never dared to tell it, because that would
have been too great an impudence, but at the last she told it him; and
the king told her that they must really be married together, because
she was so very pretty. This young girl goes running off home. She
told her sisters that she is to marry the king, and all three go
to live in the king's house. The two sisters were very jealous. The
princess became in the family-way; and the king was obliged to go to
another kingdom. His poor wife was confined of a fine girl. But her
sisters made the queen believe that she had given birth to a cat,
and they wrote this too to the king. The king wrote back to them:
"If it be a cat, take all possible care of it." [158]
When the king returned he did not mention the cat at all. She became
pregnant a second time, and the king was obliged to go to another
kingdom, and when the princess was confined her sisters made her
believe that she had given birth to a dog. Think what grief and pain
this poor queen suffered. Her sisters wrote to the king that his wife
had given birth to a dog, and that without doubt she had something to
do with animals. He wrote again: "If it be a dog, take all possible
care of it." But they said that they had already thrown it into the
water, as they had done with the cat.
Fortunately a gardener was there, the same that had been there the
first time. He caught hold of the basket, and finds a beautiful child
inside. He is very glad, and carries the child to his wife, who puts
the infant out to nurse.
The princess became pregnant the third time. The king had intended to
stop at home; but at the moment of the confinement he was obliged to
go away somewhere, and the sisters wrote to the king that she had been
confined of a bear. The king flew into a great rage, and ordered her to
be put into a dungeon underground. They gave her a little food through
a hole, so that she might not die of starvation; and nevertheless she
had given birth to a handsome boy. The same gardener found this basket
too, which they had thrown into the water. He carries it to his wife,
and she gave it to the same nurse. They were very happy with it, and
said that Heaven had sent them these three children, and they loved
their father and mother very much; but when they were very old they
both died.
The two brothers and their sister got on very well together. They loved
each other very much. The boys used to go out hunting and shooting,
and they were so well off that they had something to give to the
poor. One day there came an old woman begging, and she said to them:
"You cannot be happy."
"Yes, yes, we certainly are," they answered.
And the woman said to them: "No, no, you want three things before you
can be happy--the tree which sings, the bird which tells the truth,
and the water which makes young again."
The young girl grows sad at that. Her brothers remarked it immediately,
and they asked her what was the matter with her. But she would not
tell them. At last they forced her to tell it to them. She told them
what this woman had told her.
The elder of the brothers sets out immediately, taking with him a horse
and a little money. He gives an apple to his sister, saying to her:
[159]
"If this apple changes I shall be in some trouble, and if it turns
rotten I shall be dead."
And he starts off, and travels on, and on, and on. He finds a monk who
tells him to retrace his steps, that there are great dangers before
him; but he will go on notwithstanding. He meets again another monk,
who tells him that he will never return. He confesses himself and
prepares for death, such great dangers will he have to pass through. He
said to him:
"You will hear terrible cries. It will seem to you as if they will
pull you by your clothes, but never turn your head round." [160]
But our lad grew frightened and turned his head round, and was changed
into stone.
After some days the apple begins to get bad, and they fall into great
sorrow because something must have happened to their brother, and
the second brother said that he must go off too; and off he goes with
a horse and a little money. Like the other brother he meets a monk,
who wishes to stop him; but he said to him that it was all the same to
him. He goes on till he meets another monk. This one also said to him:
"Return on your steps. You will not be able to pass; you will hear
cries and see horrors and terrible things--you will never be able to
pass through."
But he prepares himself to go forward. He warned him well not to
look round. He leaves his horse and sets out. When he has gone a
short distance he hears frightful cries, and (sees) terrible things;
and after having gone some distance further he looks on one side,
and is changed into stone.
The apple which he had left with his sister first changes, then goes
quite rotten. You may judge of the sorrow and the grief of this poor
girl. She says to herself that she must dress herself like a man. She
locks the door (of their house), and sets out on horseback. The same
monk wishes to prevent her going on. But she has a still greater desire
to do so, and, notwithstanding all she hears, she will go on. She
arrives at the last monk, who was a great saint. He did not recognise
that it was a young girl. For a hundred years past he had been on the
same spot, until someone should get to the end of the mountain, and
he hoped that this young girl might pass. He gives her a bottle into
which she might put the water that makes young again, and says to her:
"You will sprinkle one drop on each stone, and they will live."
She sets off. The horrible cries did not frighten her. All kinds
of things were said to her. She goes on and on, constantly running,
and gets to the top of the mountain, and she is saved.
At the same instant she hears a thrilling song from a tree, which
was warbling like a bird. A bird, too, flies on to her shoulder, and
tells her so many things that she is quite astounded. But she does not
lose her time--she takes out her bottle and fills it with water. She
pours a drop on each stone, and finds her brothers at last. Think,
think how they all three rejoiced together! They take their horses
(they too had been changed into stones) and go home with their tree,
and the bird, and the water.
They lived very happily. The brothers went out hunting every day,
and sometimes they met the king. One day the king invited them to
dine with him, but they said that they must first ask permission
of their sister. When they came home they asked her, and the bird
answered immediately:
"On condition that the king will come here to-morrow."