Once on a time there were three brothers; I don’t quite know how it
happened, but each of them had got the right to wish one thing,
whatever he chose. So the two elder were not long a-thinking; they
wished that every time they put their hands in their pockets they might
pull out a piece of money; for, said they:
“The man who has as much money as he wishes for is always sure to get
on in the world.”
But the youngest wished something better still. He wished that every
woman he saw might fall in love with him as soon as she saw him; and
you shall soon hear how far better this was than gold and goods.
So, when they had all wished their wishes, the two elder were for
setting out to see the world; and Boots, their youngest brother, asked
if he mightn’t go along with them; but they wouldn’t hear of such a
thing.
“Wherever we go”, they said, “we shall be treated as counts and kings;
but you, you starveling wretch, who haven’t a penny, and never will
have one, who do you think will care a bit about you?”
“Well, but in spite of that, I’d like to go with you”, said Boots;
“perhaps a dainty bit may fall to my share too off the plates of such
high and mighty lords.”
At last, after begging and praying, he got leave to go with them, if he
would be their servant, else they wouldn’t hear of it.
So, when they had gone a day or so, they came to an inn, where the two
who had the money alighted, and called for fish and flesh, and fowl,
and brandy and mead, and everything that was good; but Boots, poor
fellow, had to look after their luggage and all that belonged to the
two great people. Now, as he went to and fro outside, and loitered
about in the inn-yard, the innkeeper’s wife looked out of window and
saw the servant of the gentlemen upstairs; and, all at once, she
thought she had never set eyes on such a handsome chap. So she stared
and stared, and the longer she looked the handsomer he seemed.
“Why what, by the Deil’s skin and bones, is it that you are standing
there gaping at out of the window?” said her husband. “I think ’twould
be better if you just looked how the sucking pig is getting on, instead
of hanging out of window in that way. Don’t you know what grand folk we
have in the house to-day?”
“Oh!” said his old dame, “I don’t care a farthing about such a pack of
rubbish; if they don’t like it they may lump it, and be off; but just
do come and look at this lad out in the yard; so handsome a fellow I
never saw in all my born days; and, if you’ll do as I wish, we’ll ask
him to step in and treat him a little, for, poor lad, he seems to have
a hard fight of it.”
“Have you lost the little brains you had, Goody?” said the husband,
whose eyes glistened with rage; “into the kitchen with you, and mind
the fire; but don’t stand there glowering after strange men.”
So the wife had nothing left for it but to go into the kitchen, and
look after the cooking; as for the lad outside, she couldn’t get leave
to ask him in, or to treat him either; but just as she was about
spitting the pig in the kitchen, she made an excuse for running out
into the yard, and then and there she gave Boots a pair of scissors, of
such a kind that they cut of themselves out of the air the loveliest
clothes any one ever saw, silk and satin, and all that was fine.
“This you shall have because you are so handsome,” said the innkeeper’s
wife.
So when the two elder brothers had crammed themselves with roast and
boiled, they wished to be off again, and Boots had to stand behind
their carriage, and be their servant; and so they travelled a good way,
till they came to another inn. There the two brothers again alighted
and went indoors, but Boots, who had no money, they wouldn’t have
inside with them; no, he must wait outside and watch the luggage. “And
mind”, they said, “if any one asks whose servant you are, say we are
two foreign Princes.”
But the same thing happened now as happened before; while Boots stood
hanging about out in the yard, the innkeeper’s wife came to the window
and saw him, and she too fell in love with him, just like the first
innkeeper’s wife; and there she stood and stared, for she thought she
could never have her fill of looking at him. Then her husband came
running through the room with something the two Princes had ordered.
“Don’t stand there staring like a cow at a barn-door, but take this
into the kitchen, and look after your fish-kettle, Goody”, said the
man; “don’t you see what grand people we have in the house to-day?”
“I don’t care a farthing for such a pack of rubbish”, said the wife;
“if they don’t like what they get they may lump it, and eat what they
brought with them. But just do come here, and see what you shall see!
Such a handsome fellow as walks here, out in the yard, I never saw in
all my born days. Shan’t we ask him in and treat him a little; he looks
as if he needed it, poor chap?” and then she went on:
“Such a love! such a love!”
“You never had much wit, and the little you had is clean gone, I can
see”, said the man, who was much more angry than the first innkeeper,
and chased his wife back, neck and crop, into the kitchen.
“Into the kitchen with you, and don’t stand glowering after lads”, he
said.
So she had to go in and mind her fish-kettle, and she dared not treat
Boots, for she was afraid of her old man; but as she stood there making
up the fire, she made an excuse for running out into the yard, and then
and there she gave Boots a table-cloth, which was such that it covered
itself with the best dishes you could think of, as soon as it was
spread out.
“This you shall have”, she said, “because you’re so handsome.”
So when the two brothers had eaten and drank of all that was in the
house, and had paid the bill in hard cash, they set off again, and
Boots stood up behind their carriage. But when they had gone so far
that they grew hungry again, they turned into a third inn, and called
for the best and dearest they could think of.
“For”, said they, “we are two kings on our travels, and as for our
money, it grows like grass.”
Well, when the innkeeper heard that, there was such a roasting, and
baking, and boiling; why! you might smell the dinner at the next
neighbour’s house, though it wasn’t so very near; and the innkeeper was
at his wits’ end to find all he wished to put before the two kings. But
Boots, he had to stand outside here too, and look after the things in
the carriage.
So it was the same story over again. The innkeeper’s wife came to the
window and peeped out, and there she saw the servant standing by the
carriage. Such a handsome chap she had never set eyes on before; so she
looked and looked, and the more she stared the handsomer he seemed to
the innkeeper’s wife. Then out came the innkeeper, scampering through
the room, with some dainty which the travelling kings had ordered, and
he wasn’t very soft-tongued when he saw his old dame standing and
glowering out of the window.
“Don’t you know better than to stand gaping and staring there, when we
have such great folk in the house”, he said; “back into the kitchen
with you this minute, to your custards.”
“Well! well!” she said, “as for them, I don’t care a pin. If they can’t
wait till the custards are baked, they may go without—that’s all. But
do, pray, come here, and you’ll see such a lovely lad standing out here
in the yard. Why I never saw such a pretty fellow in my life. Shan’t we
ask him in now, and treat him a little, for he looks as if it would do
him good. Oh! what a darling! What a darling!”
“A wanton gadabout you’ve been all your days, and so you are still”,
said her husband, who was in such a rage he scarce knew which leg to
stand on; “but if you don’t be off to your custards this minute, I’ll
soon find out how to make you stir your stumps; see if I don’t.”
So the wife had off to her custards as fast as she could, for she knew
that her husband would stand no nonsense; but as she stood there over
the fire she stole out into the yard, and gave Boots a tap.
“If you only turn this tap”, she said; “you’ll get the finest drink of
whatever kind you choose, both mead, and wine, and brandy; and this you
shall have because you are so handsome.”
So when the two brothers had eaten and drunk all they could, they
started from the inn, and Boots stood up behind again as their servant,
and thus they drove far and wide, till they came to a king’s palace.
There the two elder gave themselves out for two emperor’s sons, and as
they had plenty of money, and were so fine that their clothes shone
again ever so far off, they were well treated. They had rooms in the
palace, and the king couldn’t tell how to make enough of them. But
Boots, who went about in the same rags he stood in when he left home,
and who had never a penny in his pocket, he was taken up by the king’s
guard, and put across to an island, whither they used to row over all
the beggars and rogues that came to the palace. This the king had
ordered, because he wouldn’t have the mirth at the palace spoilt by
those dirty blackguards; and thither, too, only just as much food as
would keep body and soul together was sent over everyday. Now Boots’
brothers saw very well that the guard was rowing him over to the
island, but they were glad to be rid of him, and didn’t pay the least
heed to him.
But when Boots got over there, he just pulled out his scissors and
began to snip and cut in the air; so the scissors cut out the finest
clothes any one would wish to see; silk and satin both, and all the
beggars on the island were soon dressed far finer than the king and all
his guests in the palace. After that, Boots pulled out his table-cloth,
and spread it out, and so they got food too, the poor beggars. Such a
feast had never been seen at the king’s palace, as was served that day
at the Beggars’ Isle.
“Thirsty, too, I’ll be bound you all are”, said Boots, and out with his
tap, gave it a turn, and so the beggars got all a drop to drink; and
such ale and mead the king himself had never tasted in all his life.
So, next morning, when those who were to bring the beggars their food
on the island, came rowing over with the scrapings of the porridge-pots
and cheese-parings—that was what the poor wretches had—the beggars
wouldn’t so much as taste them, and the king’s men fell to wondering
what it could mean; but they wondered much more when they got a good
look at the beggars, for they were so fine the guard thought they must
be Emperors or Popes at least, and that they must have rowed to a wrong
island; but when they looked better about them, they saw they were come
to the old place.
Then they soon found out it must be he whom they had rowed out the day
before who had brought the beggars on the island all this state and
bravery; and as soon as they got back to the palace, they were not slow
to tell how the man, whom they had rowed over the day before, had
dressed out all the beggars so fine and grand that precious things fell
from their clothes.
“And as for the porridge and cheese we took, they wouldn’t even taste
them, so proud have they got”, they said.
One of them, too, had smelt out that the lad had a pair of scissors
which he cut out the clothes with.
“When he only snips with those scissors up in the air he snips and cuts
out nothing but silk and satin”, said he.
So, when the Princess heard that, she had neither peace nor rest till
she saw the lad and his scissors that cut out silk and satin from the
air; such a pair was worth having, she thought, for with its help she
would soon get all the finery she wished for. Well, she begged the king
so long and hard, he was forced to send a messenger for the lad who
owned the scissors; and when he came to the palace, the Princess asked
him if it were true that he had such and such a pair of scissors, and
if he would sell it to her. Yes, it was all true he had such a pair,
said Boots, but sell it he wouldn’t; and with that he took the scissors
out of his pocket, and snipped and snipped with them in the air till
strips of silk and satin flew all about him.
“Nay, but you must sell me these scissors”, said the Princess. “You may
ask what you please for them, but have them I must.”
No! Such a pair of scissors he wouldn’t sell at any price, for he could
never get such a pair again; and while they stood and haggled for the
scissors, the Princess had time to look better at Boots, and she too
thought with the innkeepers’ wives that she had never seen such a
handsome fellow before. So she began to bargain for the scissors over
again, and begged and prayed Boots to let her have them; he might ask
many, many hundred dollars for them, ’twas all the same to her, so she
got them.
“No! sell them I won’t”, said Boots; “but all the same, if I can get
leave to sleep one night on the floor of the Princess’ bedroom, close
by the door, I’ll give her the scissors. I’ll do her no harm, but if
she’s afraid, she may have two men to watch inside the room.”
Yes! the Princess was glad enough to give him leave, for she was ready
to grant him anything if she only got the scissors. So Boots lay on the
floor inside the Princess’ bedroom that night, and two men stood watch
there too; but the Princess didn’t get much rest after all; for when
she ought to have been asleep, she must open her eyes to look at Boots,
and so it went on the whole night. If she shut her eyes for a minute,
she peeped out at him again the next, such a handsome fellow he seemed
to her to be.
Next morning Boots was rowed over to the Beggars’ isle again; but when
they came with the porridge scrapings and cheese parings from the
palace, there was no one who would taste them that day either, and so
those who brought the food were more astonished than ever. But one of
those who brought the food contrived to smell out that the lad who had
owned the scissors owned also a table-cloth, which he only needed to
spread out, and it was covered with all the good things he could wish
for. So when he got back to the palace, he wasn’t long before he said:
“Such hot joints and such custards I never saw the like of in the
king’s palace.”
And when the Princess heard that, she told it to the king, and begged
and prayed so long, that he was forced to send a messenger out to the
island to fetch the lad who owned the table-cloth; and so Boots came
back to the palace. The Princess must and would have the cloth of him,
and offered him gold and green woods for it, but Boots wouldn’t sell it
at any price.
“But if I may have leave to lie on the bench by the Princess’ bed-side
to-night, she shall have the cloth; but if she’s afraid, she is welcome
to set four men to watch inside the room.”
Yes! the Princess agreed to this, so Boots lay down on the bench by the
bed-side, and the four men watched; but if the Princess hadn’t much
sleep the night before, she had much less this, for she could scarce
get a wink of sleep; there she lay wide awake looking at the lovely lad
the whole night through, and after all, the night seemed too short.
Next morning Boots was rowed off again to the Beggars’ island, though
sorely against the Princess’ will, so happy was she to be near him; but
it was past praying for; to the island he must go, and there was an end
of it. But when those who brought the food to the beggars came with the
porridge scrapings and cheese parings, there wasn’t one of them who
would even look at what the king sent, and those who brought it didn’t
wonder either; though they all thought it strange that none of them
were thirsty. But just then, one of the king’s guard smelled out that
the lad who had owned the scissors and the table-cloth had a tap
besides, which, if one only turned it a little, gave out the rarest
drink, both ale, and mead, and wine. So when he came back to the
palace, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut this time any more than before;
he went about telling high and low about the tap, and how easy it was
to draw all sorts of drink out of it.
“And as for that mead and ale, I’ve never tasted the like of them in
the king’s palace; honey and syrup are nothing to them for sweetness.”
So when the Princess heard that, she was all for getting the tap, and
was nothing loath to strike a bargain with the owner either. So she
went again to the king, and begged him to send a messenger to the
Beggars’ Isle after the lad who had owned the scissors and cloth, for
now he had another thing worth having, she said; and when the king
heard it was a tap, that was good to give the best ale and wine any one
could drink, when one gave it a turn, he wasn’t long in sending the
messenger, I should think.
So when Boots came up to the palace, the Princess asked whether it were
true he had a tap which could do such and such things? “Yes! he had
such a tap in his waistcoat pocket”, said Boots; but when the Princess
wished with all her might to buy it, Boots said, as he had said twice
before, he wouldn’t sell it, even if the Princess bade half the kingdom
for it.
“But all the same”, said Boots; “if I may have leave to sleep on the
Princess’ bed to-night, outside the quilt, she shall have my tap. I’ll
not do her any harm; but, if she’s afraid, she may set eight men to
watch in her room.”
“Oh, no!” said the Princess, “there was no need of that, she knew him
now so well”; and so Boots lay outside the Princess’ bed that night.
But if she hadn’t slept much the two nights before, she had less sleep
that night; for she couldn’t shut her eyes the livelong night, but lay
and looked at Boots, who lay alongside her outside the quilt.
So, when she got up in the morning, and they were going to row Boots
back to the island, she begged them to hold hard a little bit; and in
she ran to the king, and begged him so prettily to let her have Boots
for a husband, she was so fond of him, and, unless she had him, she did
not care to live.
“Well, well!” said the king, “you shall have him if you must; for he
who has such things is just as rich as you are.”
So Boots got the Princess and half the kingdom—the other half he was to
have when the king died; and so everything went smooth and well; but as
for his brothers, who had always been so bad to him, he packed them off
to the Beggars’ island.
“There”, said Boots, “perhaps they may find out which is best off, the
man who has his pockets full of money, or the man whom all women fall
in love with.”
Nor, to tell you the truth, do I think it would help them much to
wander about upon the Beggars’ island pulling pieces of money out of
their pockets; and so, if Boots hasn’t taken them off the island, there
they are still walking about to this very day, eating cheese-parings
and the scrapings of the porridge-pots.