away from the village. She had but little to bite and less to burn, so
she sent her little boy to the forest to gather wood. He skipped and
leaped, and leaped and skipped, in order to keep warm, for it was a
cold, gray autumn day, and whenever he had gathered a root or a branch
to add to his bundle, he had to slap his arms against his shoulders, for
the cold made his hands as red as the whortleberry bushes over which he
walked. When he had filled his barrow, and was wandering homeward, he
crossed a field of stubble. There he saw lying a jagged white stone. "O,
you poor old stone, how white and pale you are! You must be freezing
terribly!" said the boy; took off his jacket, and laid it over the
stone. And when he came back home with his wood, his mother asked
him how it was that he was going around in the autumn cold in his
shirt-sleeves. He told her that he had seen a jagged old stone, quite
white and pale with the frost, and that he had given it his jacket. "You
fool," said the woman, "do you think a stone can freeze? And even if it
had chattered with frost, still, charity begins at home. Your clothes
cost enough as it is, even when you don't hang them on the stones out
in the field!"--and with that she drove the boy out again to fetch his
jacket. When he came to the stone, the stone had turned around, and had
raised itself from the ground on one side. "Yes, and I'm sure it is
because you have the jacket, poor fellow!" said the boy. But when he
looked more closely, there was a chest full of bright silver coins under
the stone. "That must be stolen money," thought the boy, "for no one
lays money honestly earned under stones in the wood." And he took the
chest, and carried it down to the pond nearby, and threw in the whole
pile of money. But a four-shilling piece was left swimming on the top
of the water. "Well, this one is honest, for whatever is honest will
float," said the boy. And he took the four-shilling piece and the jacket
home with him. He told his mother what had happened to him, that the
stone had turned around, and that he had found a chest full of silver
coins, and had thrown it into the pond because it was stolen money. "But
a four-shilling piece floated, and that I took along, because it was
honest," said the boy. "You are a fool," said the woman--for she was as
angry as could be--"if nothing were honest save what floats on the
water, there would be but little honesty left in the world. And if
the money had been stolen ten times over, still you had found it, and
charity begins at home. If you had kept the money, we might have passed
the rest of our lives in peace and comfort. But you are a dunderhead and
will stay a dunderhead, and I won't be tormented and burdened with you
any longer. Now you must get out and earn your own living."
So the boy had to go out into the wide world, and wandered about far
and near looking for service. But wherever he went people found him too
small or too weak, and said that they could make no use of him. At last
he came to a merchant. There they kept him to work in the kitchen, and
he had to fetch wood and water for the cook. When he had been there for
some time, the merchant decided to journey to far countries, and asked
all his servants what he should buy and bring back home for them.
After all had told him what they wanted, came the turn of the little
fellow who carried wood and water for the kitchen. He handed him his
four-shilling piece. "Well, and what am I to buy for it?" asked the
merchant. "It will not be a large purchase." "Buy whatever it will
bring, it is honest money, that I know," said the boy. His master
promised to do so, and sailed away.
Now when the merchant had discharged his cargo in foreign parts and had
reloaded, and had bought what his servants had desired, he went back to
his ship, and was about to shove off. Not until then did he remember
that the scullion had given him a four-shilling piece, with which to
buy him something. "Must I go up to the city again because of this
four-shilling piece? One only has one's troubles when one bothers with
such truck," thought the merchant. Then along came a woman with a bag on
her back. "What have you in your bag, granny?" asked the merchant. "O,
it is only a cat! I can feed her no longer, and so I want to throw her
into the sea in order to get rid of her," said the old woman. "The boy
told me to buy whatever I could get for the four-shilling piece," said
the merchant to himself, and asked the woman whether he could have her
cat for four shillings. The woman agreed without delay, and the bargain
was closed.
Now when the merchant had sailed on for a while, a terrible storm broke
loose, a thunderstorm without an equal, and he drifted and drifted, and
did not know where or whither. At last he came to a land where he had
never yet been, and went up into the city.
In the tavern which he entered the table was set, and at every place lay
a switch, one for each guest. This seemed strange to the merchant, for
he could not understand what was to be done with all the switches. Yet
he sat down and thought: "I will watch carefully, and see just what the
rest do with them, and then I can imitate them." Yes, and when the food
came on the table, then he knew why the switches were there: the place
was alive with thousands of mice, and all who were sitting at the table
had to work and fight and beat about them with their switches, and
nothing could be heard but the slapping of the switches, one worse than
the other. Sometimes people hit each other in the face, and then they
had to take time to say, "Excuse me!"
"Eating is hard work in this country," said the merchant. "How is it
the folk here have no cats?" "Cats?" said the people: they did not know
what they were. Then the merchant had the cat that he had bought for the
scullion brought, and when the cat went over the table, the mice had to
hurry into their holes, and not in the memory of man had the people been
able to eat in such comfort. Then they begged and implored the merchant
to sell them his cat. At last he said he would let them have her; but he
wanted a hundred dollars for her, and this they paid, and thanked him
kindly into the bargain.
Then the merchant sailed on, but no sooner had he reached the high seas
than he saw the cat sitting at the top of the main-mast. And immediately
after another storm and tempest arose, far worse than the first one, and
he drifted and drifted, till he came to a land where he had never yet
been. Again the merchant went to a tavern, and here, too, the table was
covered with switches; but they were much larger and longer than at the
place where he had first been. And they were much needed; for there were
a good many more mice, and they were twice the size of those he had
first seen.
Here he again sold his cat, and this time he received two hundred
dollars for her, and that without any haggling. But when he had sailed
off and was out at sea a way, there sat the cat up in the mast. And the
storm at once began again, and finally he was again driven to a land in
which he had never been. Again he turned in at a tavern, and there the
table was also covered with switches; but every switch was a yard and a
half long, and as thick as a small broom, and the people told him that
they knew of nothing more disagreeable than to sit down to eat, for
there were great, ugly rats by the thousand. Only with toil and trouble
could one manage to shove a bite of something into one's mouth once in a
while, so hard was it to defend oneself against the rats. Then the cat
was again brought from the ship, and now the people could eat in peace.
They begged and pleaded that the merchant sell them his cat; and for a
long time he refused; but at last he promised that they should have her
for three hundred dollars. And they paid him, and thanked him, and
blessed him into the bargain.
Now when the merchant was out at sea again, he considered how much the
boy had gained with the four-shilling piece he had given him. "Well, he
shall have some of the money," said the merchant to himself, "but not
all of it. For he has to thank me for the cat, which I bought for him,
and charity begins at home."
But while the merchant was thinking these thoughts, such a storm and
tempest arose that all thought the ship would sink. Then the merchant
realized that there was nothing left for him to do but to promise that
the boy should have all the money. No sooner had he made his vow, than
the weather turned fair, and he had a favoring wind for his journey
home. And when he landed, he gave the youth the six hundred dollars and
his daughter to boot. For now the scullion was as rich as the merchant
himself and richer, and thereafter he lived in splendor and happiness.
And he took in his mother and treated her kindly. "For I do not believe
that charity begins at home," said the youth.
NOTE
"The Honest Four-Shilling Piece" (Asbjoernsen and Moe, N.F.E.,
p. 306, No. 59) stands for the idealization of childish simplicity
and honesty, which after much travail, and despite the ill-will of
the "experienced," comes into its deserved own.
XIII
THE MAGIC APPLES
Once upon a time there was a lad who was better off than all the others.
He was never short of money, for he had a purse which was never empty.
He never was short of food, for he had a table-cloth on which, as soon
as he spread it, he found all he wanted to eat and drink. And, besides,
he had a magic wishing cap. When he put it on he could wish himself
wherever he wanted, and there he would be that very moment.
There was only one thing that he lacked: he had no wife, and he was
gradually coming into the years when it would be necessary for him to
make haste.
As he was walking sadly along one fine day, it occurred to him to wish
himself where he would find the most beautiful princess in the world. No
sooner had he thought of it than he was there. And it was a land which
he had never yet seen, and a city in which he had never yet been. And
the king had a daughter, so handsome that he had never yet beheld her
like, and he wanted to have her on the spot. But she would have nothing
to do with him, and was very haughty.
Finally he despaired altogether, and was so beside himself that he could
no longer be where she was not. So he took his magic cap and wished
himself into the castle. He wanted to say good-by, so he said. And she
laid her hand in his. "I wish we were far beyond the end of the world!"
said the youth, and there they were. But the king's daughter wept, and
begged to be allowed to go home again. He could have all the gold and
silver in the castle in return. "I have money enough for myself," said
the youth, and he shook his purse so that money just rolled about. He
could sit down at the royal table and eat the finest food, and drink the
finest wines, said she. "I have enough to eat and drink myself," said
the youth. "See, you can sit down at the table," said he, and at once he
spread his table-cloth. And there stood a table covered with the best
one might wish; and the king himself ate no better.
After they had eaten, the king's daughter said: "O, do look at the
handsome apples up there on the tree! If you were really kind, you would
fetch me down a couple of them!" The youth was not lazy, and climbed up.
But he had forgotten his table-cloth and his purse, and these she took.
And while he was shaking down the apples his cap fell off. She at once
put it on and wished herself back in her own room, and there she was
that minute.
"You might have known it," said the youth to himself, and hurried down
the tree. He began to cry and did not know what to do. And as he was
sitting there, he sampled the apples which he had thrown down. No sooner
had he tried one than he had a strange feeling in his head, and when he
looked more closely, he had a pair of horns. "Well, now it can do me no
more harm," said he, and calmly went on eating the apples. But suddenly
the horns had disappeared, and he was as before. "Good enough!" said the
youth. And with that he put the apples in his pocket, and set out to
search for the king's daughter.
He went from city to city, and sailed from country to country; but it
was a long journey, and lasted a year and a day, and even longer.
But one day he got there after all. It was a Sunday, and he found out
that the king's daughter was at church. Then he sat himself down with
his apples before the church door, and pretended to be a peddler.
"Apples of Damascus! Apples of Damascus!" he cried. And sure enough, the
king's daughter came, and told her maidens to go and see what desirable
things the peddler from abroad might have to offer. Yes, he had apples
of Damascus. "What do the apples give one?" asked the maiden. "Wisdom
and beauty!" said the peddler, and the maiden bought.
When the king's daughter had eaten of the apples, she had a pair of
horns. And then there was such a wailing in the castle that it was
pitiful to hear. And the castle was hung with black, and in the whole
kingdom proclamation was made from all pulpits that whoever could help
the king's daughter should get her, and half the kingdom besides. Then
Tom, Dick and Harry, and the best physicians in the country came along.
But none of them could help the princess.
But one day a foreign doctor from afar came to court. He was not from
their country, he said, and had made the journey purposely just to try
his luck here. But he must see the king's daughter alone, said he, and
permission was granted him.
The king's daughter recognized him, and grew red and pale in turn. "If
I help you now, will you marry me?" asked the youth. Yes, indeed she
would. Then he gave her one of the magic apples, and her horns were only
half as large as before. "But I cannot do more until I have my cap,
and my table-cloth, and my purse back again," said he. So she went and
brought him the things. Then he gave her still another magic apple, and
now the horns were no more than tiny hornlets. "But now I cannot go on
until you have sworn that you will be true to me," said he. And she
swore that she would. And after she had eaten the third apple, her
forehead was quite smooth again, and she was even more beautiful than
in days gone by.
Then there was great joy in the castle. They prepared for the wedding
with baking and brewing, and invited people from East and West to come
to it. And they ate and drank, and were merry and of good cheer, and if
they have not stopped, they are merry and of good cheer to this very
day!
NOTE
"The Magic Apples" (_Norske Eventyr og Sagn_, optegnet av Sophus
Bugge og Rikard Berge, Christiania, 1909, p. 61) is probably a
somewhat original version of one of the cycles of tales in which
people acquire asses' ears, long noses, humped backs and other
adornments, through eating some enchanted fruit. The British Isles
are believed to be the home-land of this tale, and it is thought
to have emigrated to Scandinavia by way of France and Germany.
XIV
SELF DID IT
Once upon a time there was a mill, in which it was impossible to grind
flour, because such strange things kept happening there. But there was a
poor woman who was in urgent need of a little meal one evening, and she
asked whether they would not allow her to grind a little flour during
the night. "For heaven's sake," said the mill-owner, "that is quite
impossible! There are ghosts enough in the mill as it is." But the woman
said that she must grind a little; for she did not have a pinch of flour
in the house with which to make mush, and there was nothing for her
children to eat. So at last he allowed her to go to the mill at night
and grind some flour. When she came, she lit a fire under a big
tar-barrel that was standing there; got the mill going, sat down by the
fire, and began to knit. After a time a girl came in and nodded to her.
"Good evening!" said she to the woman. "Good evening!" said the woman;
kept her seat, and went on knitting. But then the girl who had come in
began to pull apart the fire on the hearth. The woman built it up again.
"What is your name?" asked the girl from underground.
"Self is my name," said the woman.
That seemed a curious name to the girl, and she once more began to pull
the fire apart. Then the woman grew angry and began to scold, and built
it all up again. Thus they went on for a good while; but at last, while
they were in the midst of their pulling apart and building up of the
fire, the woman upset the tar-barrel on the girl from underground. Then
the latter screamed and ran away, crying:
"Father, father! Self burned me!"
"Nonsense, if self did it, then self must suffer for it!" came the
answer from below the hill.
NOTE.
"Self Did It" (Asbjoernsen, _Huldreeventyr_, I, p. 10. From the
vicinity of Sandakar, told by a half-grown boy) belongs to the
cycle of the Polyphemus fairy-tales, with a possible glimmer of
the old belief that beings low in the mythological scale are most
easily controlled by fire.
XV
THE MASTER GIRL
Once upon a time there was a king who had several sons; I do not just
know how many there were, but the youngest was not content at home,
and insisted on going out into the world to seek his fortune. And in
the end the king had to give him permission to do so. After he had
wandered for a few days, he came to a giant's castle, and took service
with the giant. In the morning the giant wanted to go off to herd his
goats, and when he started he told the king's son he was to clean the
stable in the meantime. "And when you are through with that, you need
do nothing more for to-day, for you might as well know that you have
come to a kind master," said he. "But you must do what you are told to
do conscientiously and, besides, you must not go into any of the rooms
that lie behind the one in which you slept last night, else your life
will pay the forfeit."
"He surely is a kind master," said the king's son to himself, walked up
and down the room, and whistled and sang; for, thought he, there would
be plenty of time to clean the stable. "But it would be nice to take a
look at the other room, there surely must be something in it that he is
alarmed about, since I am not so much as to take a look," thought he,
and went into the first room. There hung a kettle, and it was boiling,
but the king's son could find no fire beneath it. "What can there be in
it?" thought he, and dipped in a lock of his hair, and at once the hair
grew just like copper. "That's a fine soup, and whoever tastes it will
burn his mouth," said the youth, and went into the next room. There hung
another kettle that bubbled and boiled; but there was no fire beneath
it, either. "I must try this one, too," said the king's son, and again
he dipped in a lock of his hair and it grew just like silver. "We have
no such expensive soup at home," said the king's son, "but the main
thing is, how does it taste?" and with that he went into the third room.
And there hung still another kettle, a-boiling just like those in the
two other rooms, and the king's son wanted to try this one, too. He
dipped in a lock of his hair, and it came out like pure gold, and fairly
shimmered.
Then the king's son said: "Better and better! But if he cooks gold here,
I wonder what he cooks inside, there?" And he wanted to see, so he went
into the fourth room. Here there was no kettle to be seen; but a maiden
sat on a bench who must have been a king's daughter; yet whatever she
might be, the king's son had never seen any one so beautiful in all his
days. "Now in heaven's name, what are you doing here?" asked the maiden.
"I hired myself out here yesterday," said the king's son. "May God be
your aid, for it is a fine service you have chosen!" said she. "O, the
master is very friendly," said the king's son. "He has given me no hard
work to do to-day. When I have cleaned out the stable, I need do nothing
more." "Yes, but how are you going to manage it?" she went on. "If you
do as the others have done, then for every shovelful you pitch out, ten
fresh shovelfuls will fly in. But I'll tell you how to go about it. You
must turn around the shovel, and work with the handle, then everything
will fly out by itself."
This he would do, said the king's son; and he sat there with her all day
long, for they had soon agreed that they would marry, he and the king's
daughter, and in this way his first day in the giant's service did not
weary him at all. When evening came on, she told him that now he must
clean out the stable before the giant came, and when he got there he
thought he would try out her advice, and began to use the shovel as he
had seen his father's grooms use it. And sure enough, he had to stop
quickly, for after he had worked a little while, he hardly had room in
which to stand. Then he did as the king's daughter had told him, turned
the shovel around and used the handle. And in a wink the stable was as
clean as though it had been scrubbed. When he had finished he went
to the room that the giant had assigned him, and walked up and down,
whistling and singing. Then the giant came home with his goats. "Have
you cleaned out the stable?" he asked. "Yes, indeed, master, it is
spick and span," said the king's son. "I'll have to see that," said the
giant, and went into the stable; but it was just as the king's son had
said. "You surely have been talking to the Master Girl, for you could
not have done that alone," said the giant. "Master Girl? What is a
Master Girl?" said the king's son, and pretended to be very stupid. "I'd
like to see her, too." "You will see her in plenty of time," said the
giant.
The next morning the giant went off again with his goats. And he told
the king's son he was to fetch his horse from the pasture, and when he
had done this, he might rest: "For you have come to a kind master," said
he. "But if you enter one of the rooms which I forbade you entering
yesterday, I will tear off your head," he said, and went away with his
herd. "Indeed, you are a kind master," said the king's son, "but in
spite of it I'd like to have another little talk with the Master Girl,
for she is just as much mine as yours," and with that he went in to her.
She asked him what work he had to do that day. "O, it is not so bad
to-day," said the king's son. "I am only to fetch his horse from the
pasture." "And how are you going to manage that?" asked the Master Girl.
"Surely it is no great feat to fetch a horse from pasture," said the
king's son, "and I have ridden swift horses before." "Yet it is not an
easy matter to ride this horse home," said the Master Girl, "but I will
tell you how to set about it: When you see the horse, he will come
running up, breathing fire and flame, just as though he were a burning
pine-torch. Then you must take the bit that is hanging here on the door,
and throw it into his mouth, for then he will grow so tame that you can
do what you will with him." He would take good note of it, said the
king's son, and he sat there with the Master Girl the whole day long,
and they chatted and talked about this and that, but mainly about how
delightful it would be, and what a pleasant time they could have, if
they could only marry and get away from the giant. And the king's son
would have forgotten the pasture and the horse altogether, had not the
Master Girl reminded him of them toward evening. He took the bit that
hung in the corner, hurried out to the pasture, and the horse at once
ran up, breathing fire and flame; but he seized the moment when he came
running up to him with his jaws wide open, and threw the bit into his
mouth. Then he stood still, as gentle as a young lamb, and he had no
trouble bringing him to the stable. Then he went to his room again, and
began to whistle and sing. In the evening the giant came home with his
goats. "Did you fetch the horse?" he asked. "Yes, master," said the
king's son. "It would make a fine saddle-horse, but I just took it
straight to the stable." "I'll have to see that," said the giant, and
went into the stable. But there stood the horse, just as the king's son
had said. "You surely must have spoken to my Master Girl, for you
could not have done that alone," said the giant. "Yesterday the master
chattered about the Master Girl, and to-day he is talking about her
again. I wish master would show me the creature, for I surely would like
to see her," said the king's son, and pretended to be very simple and
stupid. "You will get to see her in plenty of time," said the giant.