{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_20552/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_20552","id":"gutenberg_20552","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20552","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's Myths, Fairy Tales, etc.","Fairy tales -- Romania"],"text":"Produced by David Edwards, Sankar Viswanathan, and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n(This book was produced from scanned images of public\ndomain material from the Google Print project.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                        ROUMANIAN FAIRY TALES\n\n\n                             _COLLECTED_\n\n\n                                  BY\n\n                            MITE KREMNITZ.\n\n\n                        _ADAPTED AND ARRANGED_\n\n\n                                  BY\n\n                            J. M. PERCIVAL\n\n\n\n                               NEW YORK\n\n                        HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY\n\n                                 1885\n\n\n\n                           COPYRIGHT, 1885,\n\n                                  BY\n\n                           HENRY HOLT & CO.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThis collection contains translations of Roumanian tales which,\nhowever, comprise but a small portion of the inexhaustible treasure\nthat exists in the nation. The originals are scattered throughout\nRoumanian literature. The finest collection is Herr P. Ispirescu's,\nfrom which the stories numbered in the contents 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12,\n13, and 17 in the present volume have been selected. No. 11 is taken\nfrom Herr T. M. Arsenie's small collection; the others have been drawn\nfrom the columns of the periodical _Convorbiri Literare_. Of these\nNos. 5 and 14 are by the pen of Herr J. Creanga, No. 9 is the work of\nHerr Miron Pompilin, while Nos. 1, 3, 7, 16 and 18 are by Herr\nSlavice, who wrote No. 15 specially for this volume, in the Roumanian\nlanguage, just as it was related to him by the peasants.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n1.  STAN BOLOVAN\n\n2.  THE WONDERFUL BIRD\n\n3.  THE TWINS WITH THE GOLDEN STAR\n\n4.  YOUTH WITHOUT AGE AND LIFE WITHOUT DEATH\n\n5.  THE LITTLE PURSE WITH TWO HALF-PENNIES\n\n6.  MOGARZEA AND HIS SON\n\n7.  CUNNING ILEANE\n\n8.  THE PRINCESS AND THE FISHERMAN\n\n9.  LITTLE WILD-ROSE\n\n10. THE VOICE OF DEATH\n\n11. THE OLD WOMAN AND THE OLD MAN\n\n12. THE PEA EMPEROR\n\n13. THE MORNING STAR AND THE EVENING STAR\n\n14. THE TWO STEP-SISTERS\n\n15. THE POOR BOY\n\n16. MOTHER'S DARLING JACK\n\n17. TELLERCHEN\n\n18. THE FAIRY AURORA\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nStan Bolovan.\n\n\nOnce upon a time, something happened. If it hadn't happened, it\nwouldn't be told.\n\nAt the edge of the village, where the peasants' oxen break through the\nhedges and the neighbors' hogs wallow in the ground under the fences,\nthere once stood a house. In this house lived a man, and the man had a\nwife; but the wife grieved all day long.\n\n\"What troubles you, dear wife, that you sit there drooping like a\nfrost-bitten bud in the sunlight?\" her husband asked one day. \"You\nhave all you need. So be cheerful, like other folks.\"\n\n\"Let me alone, and ask no more questions!\" replied the wife, and\nbecame still more melancholy than before.\n\nHer husband questioned her the second time, and received the same\nreply. But, when he asked again, she answered more fully.\n\n\"Dear me,\" she said, \"why do you trouble your head about it? If you\nknow, you'll be just sorrowful as I am. It's better for me not to tell\nyou.\"\n\nBut, to this, people will never agree. If you tell a person he must\nsit still, he is more anxious to move than ever. Stan was now\ndetermined to know what was in his wife's mind.\n\n\"If you are determined to hear, I'll tell you,\" said the wife.\n\"There's no luck in the house, husband,--there's no luck in the\nhouse!\"\n\n\"Isn't the cow a good one? Are not the fruit-trees and bee-hives full?\nAre not the fields fertile?\" asked Stan. \"You talk nonsense, if you\ncomplain of any thing.\"\n\n\"But, husband, we have no children.\"\n\nStan understood; and, when a man realizes such a thing, it isn't well.\nFrom this time, a sorrowful man and a sorrowful woman lived in the\nhouse on the edge of the village. And they were sorrowful because the\nLord had given them no children. When the wife saw her husband sad,\nshe grew still more melancholy; and the more melancholy she was, the\ngreater his grief became.\n\nThis continued for a long time.\n\nThey had masses repeated and prayers read in all the churches. They\nquestioned all the witches, but God's gift did not come.\n\nOne day, two travelers arrived at Stan's house, and were joyfully\nreceived and entertained with the best food he had. They were angels\nin disguise; and, perceiving that Stan and his wife were good people,\none of them, while throwing his knapsack over his shoulder to continue\nhis journey, asked his host what he most desired, and said that any\nthree of his wishes should be fulfilled.\n\n\"Give me children,\" replied Stan.\n\n\"What else shall I give you?\"\n\n\"Children, sir, give me children!\"\n\n\"Take care,\" said the angel, \"or there will be too many of them. Have\nyou enough to support them?\"\n\n\"Never mind that, sir,--only give them to me!\"\n\nThe travelers departed; but Stan accompanied them as far as the\nhigh-road, that they might not lose their way among the fields and\nwoods.\n\nWhen Stan reached home again, he found the house, yard, and garden\nfilled with children, in all not less than a hundred. Not one was\nlarger than the other; but each was more quarrelsome, bolder, more\nmischievous and noisier than the rest. And, in some way, God made Stan\nfeel and know that they all belonged to him and were his.\n\n\"Good gracious! What a lot of them!\" he cried, standing in the midst\nof the throng.\n\n\"But not too many, husband,\" replied his wife, bringing a little flock\nwith her.\n\nThen followed days which can only be experienced by a man who has a\nhundred children. The house and village echoed with shouts of \"father\"\nand \"mother,\" and the world was full of happiness.\n\nBut taking care of children isn't so simple a matter. Many pleasures\ncome with many troubles, and many troubles with many joys. When, after\na few days, the children began to shout, \"Father, I'm hungry!\" Stan\nbegan to scratch his head. There did not seem to him to be too many\nchildren, for God's gift is good, however large it may be; but his\nbarns were too small, the cow was growing thin, and the fields did\nnot produce enough.\n\n\"I'll tell you what, wife,\" said Stan one day, \"it seems to me that\nthere isn't much harmony in our affairs. As God was good enough to\ngive us so many children, He ought to have filled the measure of His\ngoodness, and sent us food for them, too.\"\n\n\"Search for it, husband,\" the wife answered. \"Who knows where it may\nbe concealed? The Lord never does a thing by halves.\"\n\nStan went out into the wide world to find God's gift. He was firmly\nresolved to return home laden with food.\n\nAha! The road of the hungry is always a long one. A man doesn't earn\nfood for a hundred greedy children in a trice. Stan wandered on, on,\non, till he had fairly run himself off his feet. When he had thus\narrived nearly at the end of the world, where what is mixes with what\nis not, he saw in the distance, in the middle of a field which lay\nspread out as flat as a cake, a sheep-fold. By it stood seven\nshepherds, and in the shadow within lay a flock of sheep.\n\n\"Lord, help me,\" said Stan, and went up to the fold to see whether, by\npatience and discretion, he might not find some employment there. But\nhe soon discovered that there was not much more hope here than in the\nother places whither he had journeyed. This was the state of affairs:\nevery night, at precisely twelve o'clock, a furious dragon came and\ntook from the herd a ram, a sheep, and a lamb, three animals in all.\nHe also carried milk enough for seventy-seven lambkins to the old\nshe-dragon, that she might bathe in it and grow young. The shepherds\nwere very angry about it, and complained bitterly. So Stan saw that he\nwas not likely to return home from here richly laden with food for his\nchildren.\n\nBut there is no spur more powerful than for a man to see his children\nstarving. An idea entered Stan's head, and he said boldly, \"What would\nyou give me, if I released you from the greedy dragon?\"\n\n\"One of each three rams shall be yours, one-third of the sheep, and\none-third of the lambs,\" replied the shepherds.\n\n\"Agreed,\" said Stan; yet he felt rather anxious, lest he might find it\ntoo hard to drive the flock home alone.\n\nBut there was no hurry about that. It was some time before midnight.\nAnd besides, to tell the truth, Stan did not exactly know how he was\nto get rid of the dragon. \"The Lord will send me some clever plan,\" he\nsaid to himself, and then counted the flock again to see how many\nanimals he would have.\n\nJust at midnight, when day and night, weary of strife, for a moment\nstood still, Stan felt that he was about to see something he had never\nbeheld before. It was something that can not be described. It is a\nhorrible thing to have a dragon come. It seemed as if the monster was\nhurling huge rocks at the trees, and thus forcing a way through\nprimeval forests. Even Stan felt that he should be wise to take the\nquickest way off, and enter into no quarrel with a dragon. Ah! but his\nchildren at home were starving.\n\n\"I'll kill you or you shall kill me!\" Stan said to himself, and\nremained where he was, close by the sheep-fold.\n\n\"Stop!\" he cried, when he saw the dragon near the fold; and he shouted\nas though he was a person of importance.\n\n\"H'm,\" said the dragon: \"where did you come from, that you screech at\nme so?\"\n\n\"I am Stan Bolovan, who at night devours rocks and by day grazes on\nthe trees of the primeval forests; and if you touch the flock, I'll\ncut a cross on your back, and bathe you in holy water.\"\n\nWhen the dragon heard these words, he stopped in the midst of his\ncareer; for he saw that he had found his match.\n\n\"But you must first fight with me,\" replied the dragon, hesitatingly.\n\n\"_I_ fight with you?\" cried Stan. \"Beware of the words that have\nescaped your lips. My breath is stronger than your whole body.\" Then,\ntaking from his knapsack a piece of white cheese, he showed it to the\ndragon. \"Do you see this stone?\" he said. \"Pick one up from the bank\nof yonder stream, and we'll try our strength.\"\n\nThe dragon took a stone from the shore of the brook.\n\n\"Can you squeeze buttermilk out of the stone?\" asked Stan.\n\nThe dragon crushed the stone in his hand, so that he crumbled it into\npowder. But he squeezed no buttermilk from it.\n\n\"It can't be done,\" he said rather angrily.\n\n\"I'll show you whether it can be done,\" replied Stan, and then\nsqueezed the soft cheese in his hand, till the buttermilk trickled\ndown between his fingers.\n\nWhen the dragon saw this, he began to look about him to find the\nshortest road to run away; but Stan placed himself before the forest.\n\"Let us have a little reckoning about what you have taken from the\nfold,\" he said. \"Nothing is given away here.\"\n\nThe poor dragon would have taken flight, if he hadn't been afraid that\nStan might blow behind him, and bury him under the trees in the\nforest. So he stood still, like a person who doesn't know what else to\ndo.\n\n\"Listen!\" he said, after a while. \"I see that you are a useful man. My\nmother has long been looking for a servant like you, but has not been\nable to find one. Enter our service. The year has three days, and each\nday's wages is seven sacks of ducats!\"\n\nThree times seven sacks of ducats! A fine business! That was just what\nStan needed. \"And,\" he thought, \"if I've outwitted the dragon, I can\nprobably get the better of his mother!\" So he didn't waste many words\nabout the matter, but set off with the monster. A long, rough road;\nbut still it was too short, since it led to a bad end. It seemed to\nStan as if he had arrived almost before he started.\n\nThe old she-dragon, old as Time itself, was waiting for them. She had\nmade a fire under the huge caldron, in which she meant to boil the\nmilk and mix it with the blood of a lamb and the marrow from its\nbones, that the liquid might have healing power. Stan saw her eyes\nglistening in the darkness when they were still three gun-shots off.\nBut, when they reached the spot and the she-dragon perceived that her\nson had brought her nothing, she was very angry. This she-dragon was\nby no means lovable. She had a wrinkled face, open jaws, tangled hair,\nsunken eyes, parched lips, and a breath reeking with the smell of\nonions.\n\n\"Stay here,\" said the dragon. \"I'll go and make arrangements with my\nmother.\"\n\nStan would willingly have stood still further off, but he had no\nchoice now that he had once entered upon this evil business. So he let\nthe dragon go on.\n\n\"Listen, mother!\" said the dragon, when he had entered the house.\n\"I've brought you a man to get rid of. He's a terrible fellow, who\neats pieces of rock and squeezes buttermilk out of stones.\" Then he\ntold her what had happened.\n\n\"Just leave him to me,\" she said, after hearing the whole story. \"No\nman ever slipped through _my_ fingers.\"\n\nSo the matter remained as it had first been settled. Stan Bolovan\nbecame the servant of this monster and his mother. A terrible fix! I\nreally don't know what will come of it.\n\nThe next day, the she-dragon gave him his task. They were to give a\nsignal to the dragon world with a club sheathed in seven thicknesses\nof iron. The dragon raised the club and hurled it three miles, then he\nset off with Stan, that he might also throw it three miles, or, if\npossible, further still. When Stan reached the club, he began to look\nat it rather anxiously. He saw that he and all his children together\ncould not even lift it from the ground.\n\n\"Why are you standing there?\" asked the dragon.\n\n\"Why, you see, it's such a handsome club. I'm sorry,\" replied Stan.\n\n\"Sorry? Why?\" inquired the dragon.\n\n\"Because,\" answered Stan, \"I'm afraid you'll never see it again in\nyour whole life, if I throw it; for I know my own strength.\"\n\n\"Don't fear. Just throw it,\" replied the dragon.\n\n\"If you really mean it, we'll first go and get provisions enough to\nlast three days; for we shall have to travel at least three days, if\nnot longer, to get it.\"\n\nThese words frightened the dragon, but he did not yet believe that it\nwould be so bad as Stan said. So they went home for the provisions,\nthough he wasn't at all pleased with the idea of having Stan serve his\nyear in merely going after the club. When they got back again to it,\nStan sat down on the bag of provisions and became absorbed in staring\nat the moon.\n\n\"What are you doing?\" asked the dragon.\n\n\"Only waiting for the moon to sail by.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"Don't you see that the moon is directly in my way?\" said Stan. \"Or do\nyou want me to fling the club into the moon?\"\n\nThe dragon now began to be seriously anxious. It was a club that had\ndescended to him from his ancestors, and he wouldn't have liked to\nlose it in the moon.\n\n\"I'll tell you what,\" he said. \"Don't throw the club. I'll do it\nmyself.\"\n\n\"Certainly not. Heaven forbid!\" replied Stan. \"Only wait till the moon\npasses by.\"\n\nThen a long conversation followed; for Stan would not consent to have\nthe dragon throw the club again, except on the promise of seven sacks\nof ducats.\n\n\"Oh, dear! mother, he's a tremendously strong man,\" said the dragon.\n\"I could scarcely prevent him from throwing the club into the moon.\"\n\nThe she-dragon began to be anxious, too. Just think of it! Would it be\na joke to have a person able to throw any thing into the moon? She was\na she-dragon of true dragon blood, however, and the next day had\nthought of a still harder task.\n\n\"Bring some water,\" she said early in the morning, and gave each\ntwelve buffalo skins, ordering them to fill them by evening, and fetch\nthem all home at once.\n\nThey went to the well; and, before one could wink, the dragon had\nfilled the twelve skins, and was in the act of carrying them back.\nStan was tired, he had scarcely been able to drag the empty skins\nalong. A chill ran through his veins, when he thought of the full\nones. What do you suppose he did? He pulled a worn-out knife blade\nfrom his belt, and began to scratch the earth around the well with it.\n\n\"What are you doing?\" asked the dragon.\n\n\"I'm not a blockhead, that I should go to the labor of filling the\nskins with water,\" replied Stan.\n\n\"But how will you carry the water to the house, then?\"\n\n\"How? Just as you see,\" said Stan. \"I'm going to take the well, you\ngoose!\"\n\nThe dragon stood with his mouth wide-open in amazement. He wouldn't\nhave had this done on any account, for the well was one that had\nbelonged to his ancestors.\n\n\"I'll tell you,\" he said anxiously, \"let me carry your skins home,\ntoo.\"\n\n\"Certainly not. Heaven forbid!\" replied Stan, digging on around the\nwell.\n\nNow, another long discussion followed; and this time, too, the dragon\ncould only persuade Stan by promising him seven sacks of ducats.\n\nOn the third day, that is the last one, the she-dragon sent them into\nthe forest for wood.\n\nBefore one could count three, the dragon tore up more trees than Stan\nhad ever seen before in his whole life, and piled them up together.\nBut Stan began to examine the trees, chose the very finest, climbed up\ninto one and tied its top with a wild grape-vine to the next. So,\nwithout saying a word, he continued to fasten one splendid tree to\nanother.\n\n\"What are you doing there?\" asked the dragon.\n\n\"You see what I am doing,\" replied Stan, working quietly on.\n\n\"Why are you tying the trees together?\"\n\n\"Why, to save myself unnecessary work in pulling them up one by one,\"\nsaid Stan.\n\n\"But how are you going to carry them home?\"\n\n\"I shall take the whole forest, you goose! Can't you understand that?\"\nsaid Stan, continuing to fasten them together.\n\nThe dragon now felt as if he wanted to take to his heels, and never\nstop until he reached home.\n\nBut he was afraid that he should suddenly find Stan pulling the whole\nforest down on his head.\n\nThis time, as it was the end of the year's service, it seemed as if\nthe discussion would never cease. Stan did not want to listen at all,\nbut had set his mind upon flinging the forest on his back at any rate.\n\n\"I'll tell you what,\" said the dragon, trembling with fear, \"your\nwages shall be seven times seven sacks of ducats. Content yourself\nwith that.\"\n\n\"Well, be it so, as I see you are a good fellow,\" replied Stan, and\nagreed that the dragon should carry the wood for him.\n\nThe year was now over. Stan was anxious only about one things--how he\nwas to drag so many ducats home.\n\nIn the evening, the dragon and his mother sat talking together in\ntheir room; but Stan listened in the entry.\n\n\"Woe betide us!\" said the dragon: \"this fellow upsets us terribly.\nGive him money, even more than he has, only let us get rid of him.\"\n\nAh, yes! but the she-dragon cared for money.\n\n\"Let me tell you one thing,\" she said: \"you must kill this man\nto-night.\"\n\n\"I am afraid of him, mother,\" he answered in terror.\n\n\"Have no fear,\" replied his mother. \"When you see that he is asleep,\ntake your club and strike him in the middle of the forehead.\"\n\nSo it was agreed. Ah, yes! but Stan always had a bright idea at the\nright time. When he saw that the dragon and his mother had put out the\nlight, he took the pig's trough, and laid it bottom upward in his\nplace, covered it carefully with a shaggy coat, and lay down himself\nunder the bed, where he began to snore like a person who is sound\nasleep.\n\nThe dragon went out softly, approached the bed, raised his club, and\nstruck one blow on the spot where Stan's head ought to have been. The\ntrough sounded hollow, Stan groaned, and the dragon tiptoed back\nagain.\n\nStan then crept out from under the bed, cleaned it, and lay down, but\nwas wise enough not to close an eye all night long.\n\nThe dragon and his mother were rigid with amazement when they saw Stan\ncome in the next morning as sound as an egg.\n\n\"Good morning!\"\n\n\"Good morning; but how did you sleep last night?\"\n\n\"Very well,\" replied Stan. \"Only I dreamed that a flea bit me just\nhere on the forehead, and it seems as if it still pained me.\"\n\n\"Just listen to that, mother!\" cried the dragon. \"Did you hear? He\ntalks about a flea, and I hit him with my club!\"\n\nThis was too much for the she-dragon. She perceived that it isn't\nworth while to argue with such people. So they hastened to fill his\nsacks, in order to get rid of him as quickly as possible. But poor\nStan now began to perspire. When he stood beside the bags, he trembled\nlike an aspen leaf, because he was unable to lift even one of them\nfrom the ground. So he stood staring at them.\n\n\"Why are you standing there?\" asked the dragon.\n\n\"H'm! I'm waiting,\" replied Stan, \"because I would rather stay with\nyou another year. I'm ashamed to have any body see me carry away so\nlittle at one time. I'm afraid people will say, 'Look at Stan Bolovan,\nwho in one year has grown as weak as a dragon.'\"\n\nNow, it was the two dragons' turn to be frightened.\n\nThey vainly told him that they would give him seven--nay, three times\nseven or even seven times seven--sacks of ducats, if he would only go\naway.\n\n\"I'll tell you what,\" said Stan, at last. \"As I see you don't want to\nkeep me, I won't force you to do so. Have it your own way. I'll go.\nBut, that I need not be ashamed before the people, you must carry this\ntreasure home for me.\"\n\nThe words were scarcely out of his mouth, when the dragon picked up\nthe sacks and set off with Stan.\n\nShort and smooth, yet always too long, is the road that leads home.\nBut, when Stan found himself close to his house, and heard his\nchildren's shouts, he began to walk slower. It seemed too near; for he\nwas afraid that, if the dragon knew where he lived, he might come to\ntake away the treasure. Only he was puzzled to find any way of\ncarrying his money home alone.\n\n\"I really don't know what to do,\" he said, turning to the dragon. \"I\nhave a hundred hungry children, and fear you may fare badly among\nthem, because they are very fond of fighting. But just behave\nsensibly, and I'll protect you as well as I can.\"\n\nA hundred children! That's no joke! The dragon--though a dragon of\ndragon race--let the bags fall in his fright. But, from sheer terror,\nhe picked them up again. Yet his fear did not gain the mastery till\nthey entered the court-yard. When the hungry children saw their father\ncoming with the loaded dragon, they rushed toward him, each one with a\nknife in the right hand and a fork in the left. Then they all began to\nwhet the knives on the forks, shrieking at the top of their lungs, \"We\nwant dragon meat!\"\n\nThis was enough to scare Satan himself. The dragon threw down the\nsacks, and then took to flight, so frightened that since that time he\nhas never dared to come back to the world.\n\n\n\n\nThe Wonderful Bird.\n\n\nOnce upon a time, something happened. If it had not happened, it would\nnot be told.\n\nThere was a good, pious emperor, who had three sons. Among many other\nbenefits bestowed upon the inhabitants of his empire he built a\nchurch, about which marvelous stories were told, for he adorned it\nwith gold, precious stones and every thing the workmen of that country\nregarded as beautiful and valuable. Within and in front of this church\nwere numbers of marble columns, and it was supplied with the finest\npaintings, silver chandeliers, huge silver lamps, and the rarest\nbooks. The more the emperor rejoiced in its beauty, the more sorrowful\nhe felt that he could not finish it, for the steeple continually fell\ndown.\n\n\"How is it that this sacred church can not be completed?\" he asked. \"I\nhave spent all my property and it is not yet done.\" So he ordered a\nproclamation to be sent throughout the empire, stating that any\narchitect who could finish the church steeple would receive great\ngifts and honors. Besides this, a second proclamation was issued,\ncommanding prayers to be read and services held in all the churches,\nthat God might take pity on him and send him a good architect. The\nthird night the monarch dreamed that if any one would fetch the\nwonderful bird from the other shore and put its nest in the steeple,\nthe church could be finished. He told this dream to his sons, and they\nvied with each other in offering to set out and devote themselves to\ntheir imperial father's service.\n\nThe emperor replied: \"I see, my sons, that you all desire to fulfill\nyour duty to God, but you can't all three go at once. My oldest son\nshall set out first, if he does not succeed, the second one, and so on\nuntil the Lord takes pity upon us.\"\n\nThe younger sons silently submitted; the oldest one made his\npreparations for the journey. He traveled as best he could, and when\nhe had passed the frontiers of his father's empire, found himself in a\nbeautiful grove. After lighting a fire he stood waiting until his food\nwas cooked. Suddenly he saw a fox, which begged him to tie up his\nhound, give it a bit of bread and a glass of wine, and let it rest by\nhis fire. Instead of granting the request the prince released the\nhound, which instantly pursued the animal, whereupon the fox, by a\nmagic spell, transformed the emperor's son into a block of stone.\n\nWhen the sovereign saw that his oldest son did not return, he listened\nto the entreaties of his second son, and gave him permission to set\nforth to find the wonderful bird. After making his preparations and\ntaking some provisions with him, this prince also departed. On the\nspot where his brother had been turned to stone, the same thing\nhappened to him, because he also refused the fox's entreaties, and\ntried to catch it, to get its skin.\n\nThe emperor grew very thoughtful, when after a long time his sons\nfailed to return, either with or without the wonderful bird.\n\nAt last the youngest said: \"You see, father, it is now a long time\nsince my brothers set out to find the wonderful bird, and they haven't\ncome home yet; give me some money and clothes for the journey that I\nmay try my luck also. If I succeed, you will rejoice, because your\ndream will be fulfilled, and if I do not, you will suffer no\nmortification from it.\"\n\n\"Your older brothers have apparently been unable to get this wonderful\nbird,\" replied the emperor; \"nay, perhaps they have even lost their\nlives, they have been absent so long. I am old; if you go too, who\nwill help me in the cares of government; if I die, who is there to\nascend the throne except you, my son? Stay here, my dear child, do not\nleave me.\"\n\n\"You know, my royal father, that I have never swerved a hair's breadth\nfrom your commands, and if I now venture to urge my petition it is\nonly because, if possible, I would fain fulfill a wish that gives you\nno rest, which you have cherished so many years and striven to realize\nat so great a cost.\"\n\nAfter many entreaties, the emperor yielded. The prince chose from the\nimperial stables a horse that pleased him, took a dog for a\ncompanion, supplied himself with sufficient food and departed.\n\nAfter some time had passed, the emperor's two older sons suddenly\narrived with the magic bird and a young girl, who was placed in charge\nof the poultry-yard. Every body wondered at the beauty of the bird,\nwhose plumage glittered with a thousand hues, each feather shining\nlike the sun, and the church-steeple did not fall after the bird and\nits nest were placed within. One thing, however, was noticed; the bird\nseemed dumb, it never uttered a note, and all who saw it grieved that\nso beautiful a creature should have no song; even the emperor, spite\nof all the pleasure he took in the church and steeple, was sorrowful\nbecause the bird did not sing.\n\nPeople began to forget the youngest son, so great was the rejoicing\nover the bird that seemed to keep the steeple from falling, and thus\nenabled the workmen to finish the church; but the emperor grieved\nbecause the prince was not there to share his subjects' pleasure.\n\nOne day the poultry-keeper came to him and said: \"May thy face shine,\nmighty emperor, the whole city is marveling at the singing of the\nmagic bird--a shepherd entered the church early this morning, and the\nbird instantly began to sing as if it would burst its throat, and is\nso happy that it can hardly keep in its nest. This has happened to-day\nfor the second time. While the shepherd is in the church the bird\nnever stops singing, but as soon as he goes away, it is silent.\"\n\n\"Let the shepherd be brought before me at once.\"\n\n\"Your majesty, the shepherd seems to be a stranger; no one here knows\nhim. Your majesty's sons, I hear, have set guards to arrest him.\"\n\n\"Silence,\" said the emperor; \"do not mention my sons; it is not seemly\nfor you to speak against them.\"\n\nThe sovereign sent some of his most trusty servants to keep watch,\nseize the shepherd as soon as he entered the church and the bird began\nto sing, and bring him before him. But, not content with this, he went\nhimself the next holiday to hear the bird's wonderful singing with his\nown ears, and see the shepherd. If he had not been present, a violent\nconflict would have arisen between his own people and the spies sent\nby his sons, who evidently wished to lay hands on the shepherd. The\nemperor ordered that he should be brought to the palace, for a strange\nfeeling stirred in his heart when he saw the timid youth with the\nfigure of a hero.\n\nWhen he came out of church, the monarch went directly home to his\npalace, for his heart told him that there must be something unusual\nabout this shepherd. On seeing him, he said:--\n\n\"Tell me, my son, from what part of the country do you come? Have you\nany parents, and how did you get here?\"\n\n\"My story is a long one, most noble emperor. I have parents and\nbrothers. I shall need more time to tell you how I came hither, but if\nit is your majesty's will, I am ready. I will come to your majesty\nearly to-morrow morning, it is too late to-day.\"\n\n\"Very well, my brave fellow, I will expect you at dawn to-morrow.\"\n\nEarly the next morning the shepherd came to await the emperor's\ncommands; but as soon as the emperor heard that he had arrived, he\nsummoned him.\n\n\"Tell me, my son, what is the reason the magic bird sings as soon as\nyou enter the church, and stops when you go out.\"\n\n\"To understand that and other things, your majesty, let me tell you my\nwhole story.\"\n\n\"I will listen; tell me anything you please.\"\n\nThe shepherd then began:--\n\n\"I have a father, and brothers. I left my home to do something to\nplease my father, who was sad because he had a wish that could not be\nfulfilled. After a journey of several days I reached a beautiful\nmeadow, from which branched several roads. Intending to spend the\nnight there, I lighted a fire, took out some of the provisions I had\nbrought with me, and was just sitting down to eat them, when I\nsuddenly saw a fox beside me. Whence it came I did not know; it seemed\nas if it had sprung up out of the earth.\n\n\"'Please let me warm myself by your fire,' it said. 'See, I am so cold\nthat my teeth chatter. Give me a bit of bread and a glass of wine,\nthat I may satisfy my hunger and thirst, and tie your dog, so I can\neat in peace and rest without fear.'\n\n\"'Very well,' I replied, 'come and warm yourself. Here are my\nprovisions and my flask, eat and drink as much as you choose.'\n\n\"I tied my dog, and we sat down by the fire and talked together. Among\nother things, I told the fox where I was going, and even asked if it\ncould tell me what I should do to accomplish the task I had\nvoluntarily undertaken.\n\n\"'Have no anxiety about that,' replied the fox. 'We'll set out\ntogether early to-morrow morning, and if I don't help you to the goal,\nnever trust me again.'\n\n\"We sat by the fire, feasting like two friends, then the fox bade me\ngood-night, and vanished like a shadow. I wondered how it had been\npossible that I did not see what direction the animal took, and while\nracking my brains to find out how it had managed to go and come\nunperceived, I fell asleep. When the fox came at dawn next morning, it\nfound me gazing in astonishment at several blocks of stone, which\nresembled two men, two dogs, and two horses. As soon as I saw the\nanimal, we prepared to set out.\n\n\"The fox turned three somersaults and suddenly changed into a handsome\nhero. On the way he told me that the place where I had spent the night\nwas part of his property, that he was married and had several\nchildren, but had been condemned to wear the form of a fox until some\nhuman being would take pity on him and receive him, let him warm\nhimself by the same fire, give him a bit of bread and glass of wine.\nAs I was this man, he was now released from the spell, and would go\nwith me and never leave me until I had accomplished my object. This\nevent pleased me, and we journeyed on and on all through the long\nsummer day until late at night when we reached a mountain meadow,\nwhere we encamped. My traveling companion told me that the next day we\nshould be obliged to pass through the lands of several dragons, and he\nthought we should there find what we sought.\n\n\"The following morning we entered the dragons' country, though\nsomewhat timidly, and about noon reached the dragon-palace. It is\nimpossible to describe the magnificent things we saw there. Gardens\nwith all sorts of flowers and fruits, rooms that seemed lined with\nsilver, so that they shone in the sun like mirrors, walls covered with\npaintings and carved flowers. Every corner of the palace was gilded,\nand fountains cast jets of water into the air. Luckily for us, the\ndragons were not at home when we arrived. On the threshold we met a\nbeautiful girl, a girl who looked as sweet as if she were made of\nsugar, and who advised us not to enter the court-yard in the dragons'\nabsence, or we should meet with some misfortune. Then she wept for joy\nat seeing people from the place from whence the dragons had stolen\nher. When we asked her about the wonderful bird, she said it was in\nthe possession of some other dragons, relatives of those on whose\nlands we were.\n\n\"'Go there,' she added, 'for with God's help, I hope you will succeed,\nand when you return, take me with you.'\n\n\"After she had told us how we could enter the dragons' court-yard and\nwhat we must do, I swore by what was dearest to me in the world, my\nfather, that I would not leave her in the dragons' power, but take\nher away. Then we continued the journey. To tell the truth, I loved\nher as soon as I saw her.\n\n\"When we reached the borders of the next dragon-kingdom, we stopped to\nrest, but at dawn the following day we crossed the frontier and by\nnoon reached their palace, which was even more beautiful than the\nfirst one. As soon as I had dismounted from my horse, I went to the\nstable, but my companion turned back, for this was what the girl had\nadvised. The horses were at their cribs. One turned its head and\nlooked at me. I patted its eyes, pulled its ears, threw a bridle over\nits neck, mounted it, and in riding by, took the cage with the magic\nbird that hung in the entry.\"\n\n\"You brought the wonderful bird?\" cried the emperor. \"Then you are my\nson, whom all believe dead.\"\n\n\"Even so, father.\" And after kissing the emperor's hand, he begged him\nto send for the poultry-keeper. When she came, the shepherd said,\n\"This is the girl of whom I told you.\"\n\n\"How is that possible!\" replied the emperor. \"How did she become a\npoultry maid?\"\n\n\"She'll tell you that herself. I don't know. So, as I was saying,\" he\ncontinued, \"after I had snatched the cage I fled as fast as I could on\nthe horse I had taken from the dragons, but the other horses began to\nneigh and make such a noise that my hair fairly bristled, yet I held\nfirm. The dragons chased me until I reached my comrade, who was\nwaiting for me on the frontier. If it had not been for him, they\nwould have seized me, and who knows what would have become of me then.\nBut my companion stretched out his hand, shouting, 'Stop!' The dragons\nseemed to be suddenly turned to stone; not another step forward did\nthey take. After embracing and kissing me he admired the bird's\nbeauty. The dragons did every thing in their power to get it from me,\nand made all sorts of promises, but when they saw they could not\npersuade me, begged me at least to give them the horse. I perceived it\nwould not be right to leave them in such a sad state, so I returned\nthe horse and went on with my companion and the bird, but the dragons\nalmost stared their eyes out after it.\n\n\"When we reached the other dragon palace, the girl was waiting for us\nat the gate. Cracking her whip three times the whole building changed\ninto an apple, which she put in her pocket. I passed my arm around\nher, and we set out. But oh! dear, when the dragons discovered it! How\nthey chased us, roaring so that our blood curdled in our veins. I\nsummoned all my courage, spurred my horse, and fled like the wind with\nmy companion. But the dragons came as fast as thought. When my comrade\nsaw this, and perceived that there was no possibility of escape, he\nstopped, made a sign and turned them into blocks of stone. Then we\ncontinued our journey till we reached the field from which we had\nstarted and which was part of the fox's property. After we had rested\nand I had thanked God that we had accomplished our task, I asked my\ncomrade what those stone pillars meant.\n\n\"He answered: 'If you know you will regret it, and if you don't know,\nyou will also regret it.'\n\n\"'Pray tell me.'\n\n\"'These are your brothers,' he answered. 'Instead of kindly granting\nmy request, as you did, they set their hounds on me, which condemned\nme to wear the loathsome fox-skin still longer, so I turned them to\nstone.'\n\n\"'For my sake,' I entreated, 'for the sake of our friendship, make\nthem men again as they were before.'\n\n\"'I prize your friendship greatly,' he replied, 'so let it be as you\nwish--but you'll repent it.'\n\n\"In an instant he made a sign with his hand, the stones suddenly\nshook, and my brothers remained motionless with amazement, when they\nsaw us before them. We took leave of my comrade and set out on our way\nhome. But see what a fine trick my brothers played me.\n\n\"'Brother,' they said, after we had ridden about a mile, 'we are tired\nby the long distance, and it is very warm. Let us go to a pond we know\nhere and each drink a little to cool ourselves.' I agreed, and we went\nthere. The oldest drank, so did the second one, but when I was going\nto drink too, lying face downward at the edge of the pond, so that I\ncould reach the water with my lips, as they had done, I suddenly felt\na terrible burning sensation in both feet, and when I turned to see\nthe cause, could not get up; my brothers had cut off both my feet, and\nthen hurried off, without listening to my complaints and entreaties.\n\n\"I spent three days and nights beside the pond. When my good horse saw\na dragon coming, it lifted me by my clothes with its teeth, ran as far\nas it could and kicked so violently that no wild beast could approach\nus.\n\n\"At last, on the fourth day, I met a blind man groping his way along.\n'Who are you?' I asked.\n\n\"'A poor, maimed fellow,' said he. Then, after he had told me that his\nbrothers, out of envy, had put out his eyes, I told him that my\nbrothers had cut off my feet.\n\n\"'I'll tell you what!' he exclaimed. 'We'll take an oath of\nbrotherhood. I have feet, you have eyes, so I'll carry you on my back.\nI'll walk for you, and you shall see for me. A huge scorpion lives\nclose by, whose blood cures all kinds of diseases.'\n\n\"I accepted his offer, and we went to the scorpion's house. He was not\nat home, so the blind man put me behind the door, telling me to kill\nhim with my sword as soon as he came in; then he hid himself behind\nthe stove. We did not wait long before the scorpion entered in a great\nrage, for he had noticed that somebody had broken into his house. When\nI saw him my heart shrunk till it was no bigger than a flea, but as he\ncame in I waited till he was close by me, then struck one blow that\nchopped all three of his heads off at once.\n\n\"I instantly smeared myself with the hot blood and as soon as it\ntouched my feet they stuck as fast as if they had never been cut off.\nI also smeared the blind man's eyes, and his sight returned. After\nthanking God, each set out on his own way.\n\n\"I did not want to go home at once, but thought it best to hire out as\na shepherd and leave God to arrange things so that the criminals'\nguilt should appear. I was not disappointed in my confidence, for you\nsee His power is great and His judgment just.\"\n\n\"Now tell me how you became a servant and poultry-maid,\" said the\nemperor to the maiden.\n\n\"After your imperial majesty's oldest sons had cut off their youngest\nbrother's feet, one of them took me, the other the wonderful bird. I\nthought my heart would dissolve with grief because I was obliged to\npart from your majesty's youngest son, whom I loved because he was\nsuch a noble man. They proposed that I should love one of them, and\npromised that he would marry me as soon as we reached the emperor's\ncourt. After refusing all their offers, I preferred to take service as\nyour majesty's poultry maid, rather than go any where else, for I knew\nGod would not let a man who did right perish, and now I thank Him for\nhaving shown me that a good deed is never lost.\"\n\n\"Can you prove,\" asked the emperor, \"that you are the girl and no one\nelse?\"\n\n\"This apple will show every one that I am she,\" replied the girl,\ndrawing it from her bosom. \"Your older sons knew nothing about it, or\nthey would have taken it from me.\"\n\nWith these words she went out of doors, cracked a little whip three\ntimes over the apple and a magnificent palace, more splendid than any\nin the kingdom, instantly arose.\n\nThe emperor himself was astonished. He wished to celebrate his\nyoungest son's return, but the latter said, \"Father, before we thank\nGod that I have come home alive, let us three brothers submit to His\njudgment.\"\n\nThe emperor could make no objection. The brothers were led before him\nand he ordered the older ones to kneel and ask the youngest son's\nforgiveness. But he replied: \"If God forgives you, I will also.\"\n\nAs they could not avoid it, they went in front of the church, and set\nout three bee-hives at equal distances apart. Each brother stood with\nhis feet in one, and hurled a stone into the air from a sling. The\nelder brothers' stones in falling back struck them so hard on the head\nthat they were killed, but the youngest brother's fell in front of\nhim.\n\nMany had assembled to witness this trial. After the wedding was over\nand the emperor had married his son to the poultry-maid, he came down\nfrom the throne and gave it to the prince, who, if alive, reigns there\nstill.\n\nI was present at these events, and now tell them to those who listen.\n\n\n\n\nThe Twins With the Golden Star.\n\n\nOnce upon a time something happened. If it hadn't happened, it\nwouldn't be told.\n\nThere was an emperor, who ruled over a whole world, and in this world\nlived an old shepherd and shepherdess, who had three daughters, Anna,\nStana, and Laptitza.[1]\n\n[Footnote 1: Little Milk-white, from \"Lapte\"--milk.]\n\nAnna, the oldest sister, was so beautiful that the sheep stopped\nfeeding when she went among them; Stana, the second, was so lovely\nthat the wolves watched the herd when she was the shepherdess, but\nLaptitza, the youngest, who had a skin as white as the foam of milk,\nand hair as soft as the wool of the lambkins, was as beautiful as both\nof her sisters put together, beautiful as only she herself could be.\n\nOne summer day, when the sunbeams were growing less scorching, the\nthree sisters went to the edge of the forest to pick strawberries.\nWhile searching for them, they heard the tramp of horses' hoofs, as if\na whole troop of cavalry were dashing up. It was the emperor's son,\nhunting with his friends and courtiers, all handsome, stately youths,\nsitting their horses as if they were a part of their steeds, but the\nhandsomest and proudest of all rode the most fiery charger, and was\nthe emperor's son himself.\n\nWhen they saw the sisters, they curbed their horses and rode more\nslowly.\n\n\"Listen to me, sisters,\" said Anna; \"if one of those youths should\nchoose me for his wife, I'd knead a loaf of bread which, when he had\neaten it, would make him always feel young and brave.\"\n\n\"And I,\" said Stana, \"would weave my husband a shirt, in which he\ncould fight against dragons, go through water without being wet, or\nfire without being burned.\"\n\n\"But I,\" said Laptitza, the youngest sister, \"would give my husband\ntwo beautiful sons, twin boys with golden hair, and on their foreheads\na golden star, a star as bright as Lucifer.\"\n\nThe youths heard these words, and turning their horses dashed toward\nthe maidens.\n\n\"Sacred be thy promise, thou shalt be mine, fairest empress,\" cried\nthe emperor's son, lifting Laptitza with her berries upon his horse.\n\n\"And thou shalt be mine!\" \"And thou shalt be mine!\" said a second and\nthird youth; so bearing their lovely burdens on their steeds, all\ndashed back to the imperial court.\n\nThe three weddings were celebrated the very next day, and for three\ndays and nights the festival was held throughout the empire with great\npomp and splendor. After three days and nights the news went through\nthe whole country that Anna had gathered grain, ground, boiled, and\nkneaded it, and made a loaf of bread, as she had promised while\npicking strawberries. Then, after three more days and nights, tidings\nwent through the land that Stana had collected flax, dried, and\nhackled it, spun it into linen, wove the cloth, and made her husband a\nshirt as she had promised while seeking for her strawberries. Laptitza\nalone had not yet kept her word, but great things require time.\n\nWhen seven weeks had passed, counting from the wedding day, the\nemperor's son, now emperor, appeared before his brave companions and\nthe other courtiers with a very joyous face, and in a much softer\nvoice than ever before informed them that henceforth he should not\nleave the court for a long time, his heart moved him to stay with his\nwife night and day.\n\nSo the world, the country, and the whole empire rejoiced in the\nexpectation of seeing something never beheld before.\n\nBut many things happen in this world, among them much that is good and\nmuch that is evil.\n\nThe emperor had a step-mother, who had brought with her to the palace\na daughter of her first husband, a girl with beautiful hair. But woe\nbetide those who have such relationships.\n\nThe step-mother had intended that her daughter should become the\nemperor's wife and empress of the whole country, instead of little\nMilk-white, the shepherd's daughter. Therefore she determined that if\nthings fell out as Laptitza had promised, the emperor and the world\nshould believe they did not happen according to the prediction.\n\nBut the step-mother could not carry out her plan, because the emperor\nremained with his wife day and night. Yet she thought that gradually,\nby coaxing and cunning, she might get rid of him, and then Laptitza\nwould be left in her care and she would provide for every thing.\n\nBut she could not get rid of the emperor by means of a few coaxing\nwords. The wind blew them away, and all her craft was useless. Time\npassed, the day for the fulfillment of Laptitza's promise was drawing\nnear, and still the emperor never left his wife.\n\nWhen the step-mother saw that no plot succeeded, she felt as if a\nstone were lying heavy on her heart, and sent a message to her\nbrother, whose kingdom was very near, to ask him to come with his\nsoldiers and summon the emperor to a war.\n\nThis was a clever plan and, as will be seen, not an unsuccessful one.\nThe emperor fairly leaped into the air in his rage, when he heard that\nhostile soldiers were on the march to attack his country, and that\nsomething would occur which had not happened for a long time--a\nbattle, a terrible battle, a battle between two emperors. The young\nhusband saw that there was no help for it, he must do what needed to\nbe done.\n\nThat is the way with emperors. No matter how much they wish to guard\ntheir wives--if they hear of war, their hearts fairly leap in their\nbodies, their brains swell almost to bursting, their eyes grow dim,\nand leaving wife and children in God's care, they dash like the wind\nto battle.\n\nThe emperor departed at the first sign of peril, moved as swiftly as\none of God's judgments, fought as only he could fight, and at dawn on\nthe morning of the third day was back again at the imperial court, his\nheart soothed by the battle, but full of unsatisfied longing to know\nwhat had happened during his absence.\n\nAnd--this had happened. Just at dawn on the morning of the third day,\nwhen the stars were paling in the sky, and the emperor was only three\nsteps from the palace-gate, the Lord's gift came down to the earth,\nand Laptitza's promise was fulfilled--two beautiful twin princes,\nexactly alike, each with golden hair and a golden star on his\nforehead.\n\nBut the world was not to see them!\n\nThe step-mother, as wicked as her thoughts, hastily put two puppies in\nthe place of the beautiful twins, and buried the golden-haired\nchildren at the corner of the palace, just under the emperor's\nwindows.\n\nWhen the monarch entered the palace he saw and heard nothing except\nthe two puppies the step-mother had put in the twins' place. No words\nwere wasted. The emperor saw with his own eyes, and that was enough.\nLaptitza had not kept her promise, and there was nothing to be done\nexcept mete out her punishment.\n\nHe could not help it, and though his own heart was torn, commanded\nthat the empress should be buried to her breast in the earth and so\nremain before the eyes of the world, in token of what befell those\nwho tried to deceive an emperor.\n\nThe next day the step-mother's wish was fulfilled. The emperor married\na second time, and again the wedding festivities lasted three days and\nthree nights.\n\nBut God's blessing does not rest upon unjust deeds.\n\nThe two princes found no rest in the earth. Two beautiful aspens\nsprang up where they were buried, but when the step-mother saw them\nshe ordered them to be pulled up by the roots. The emperor, however,\nsaid: \"Let them grow, I like to see them before the window. I never\nbeheld such aspens before.\"\n\nSo the trees grew, grew as no other aspens ever had grown, every day a\nyear's growth, every night another year's growth, but in the dawn of\nmorning, when the stars were paling in the sky, three years' growth in\na single moment. When three days and three nights had passed, the two\naspens were lofty trees, lifting their boughs to the emperor's window,\nand when the wind stirred the branches, he listened to their rustling\nall day long.\n\nThe step-mother suspected what they were, and pondered all day trying\nto find some way to get rid of the trees at any cost. It was a\ndifficult task, but a woman's will can squeeze milk from a stone, a\nwoman's cunning conquers heroes--what force can not accomplish, fair\nwords win, and when these fail, hypocritical tears succeed.\n\nOne morning the empress sat down on the side of her husband's bed and\nbegan to overwhelm him with loving words and tender caresses. It was\na long time before the thread broke, but at last--even emperors are\nmortal!\n\n\"Very well,\" he said, reluctantly, \"have your own way; order the\naspens to be cut down, but one must be made into a bedstead for me,\nthe other for you.\"\n\nThis satisfied the empress. The aspens were cut down, and before night\nthe beds were standing in the emperor's room.\n\nWhen he lay down, he felt as if he had become a hundred times heavier,\nyet he had never rested so well; but it seemed to the empress as if\nshe were lying on thorns and nettles, so that she could not sleep all\nnight long.\n\nWhen the emperor had fallen asleep, the beds began to creak, and amid\nthis creaking the empress fancied she heard words that no one else\nunderstood.\n\n\"Is it hard for you, brother?\" asked one of the beds.\n\n\"No, it isn't hard for me,\" replied the bed in which the emperor was\nsleeping, \"I am happy, for my beloved father rests upon me.\"\n\n\"It's hard for me,\" replied the other, \"for on me lies a wicked soul.\"\n\nSo the beds talked on in the empress's ears until the dawn of morning.\n\nWhen daylight came, the empress planned how she could destroy the\nbeds. At last she ordered two bedsteads exactly like them, and when\nthe emperor went hunting, placed them in his room without his\nknowledge; but the aspen beds, down to the very smallest splinter, she\nthrew into the fire.\n\nWhen they were burned so entirely that not even a bit of charcoal\nremained, the empress collected the ashes and scattered them to the\nwinds, that they might be strewn over nine countries and seas, and not\nan atom find another atom through all eternity.\n\nBut she had not noticed that just when the fire was burning brightest\ntwo sparks rose, and soaring upward, fell again into the midst of the\ndeep river that flowed through the empire, where they were changed\ninto two little fishes with golden scales, so exactly alike that\nnobody could help knowing they were twin brothers.\n\nOne day the imperial fishermen went out early in the morning, and\nthrew their nets into the water. Just at the moment the last stars\nwere fading, one of the men drew up his net and beheld what he had\nnever seen before: two tiny fishes with golden scales.\n\nThe other fishermen assembled to see the miracle, but when they had\nbeheld and admired it, determined to carry the fish alive to the\nemperor for a gift.\n\n\"Don't take us there, we've just come from there, and it will be our\ndestruction,\" said one of the fishes.\n\n\"But what shall I do with you?\" asked the fisherman.\n\n\"Go and gather the dew from the leaves, let us swim in it, put us in\nthe sun, and don't come back again till the sunbeams have dried the\ndew,\" said the second little fish.\n\nThe fisherman did as he was told, gathered the dew from the leaves,\nput the little fish into it, placed them in the sun, and did not come\nback till the dew was all dried up.\n\nBut what had happened! What did he see?\n\nTwo boys, handsome princes with golden hair and a golden star on their\nforeheads, so exactly alike that no one who saw them could help\nknowing that they were twin brothers.\n\nThe children grew very rapidly. Every day enough for a year, and every\nnight enough for another year, but in the dawn of morning when the\nstars paled in the sky, enough for three years in a single moment.\nBesides, they grew as no other children ever had grown, three times as\nfast in age, strength, and wisdom. When three days and nights had\npassed, they were twelve years in age, twenty-four in strength, and\nthirty-six in wisdom.\n\n\"Now let us go to our father,\" said one of the princes to the\nfisherman.\n\nThe fisherman dressed the lads in beautiful clothing, and made each a\nlambskin cap, which the boys drew low over their faces, that no one\nmight see their golden hair and the golden star on their foreheads,\nand then took the princes to the imperial palace.\n\nIt was broad daylight when they arrived.\n\n\"We want to speak to the emperor,\" said one of the princes to the\nguard, who stood armed at the door of the palace.\n\n\"That can't be done, he's at table,\" replied the soldier.\n\n\"Just because he _is_ at table,\" said the second prince, passing\nthrough the door.\n\nThe guards ran up and tried to drive the boys out of the court-yard,\nbut the boys slipped through their fingers like quicksilver. Three\npaces forward, three up, and they were standing before the great hall,\nwhere the emperor was dining with all his court.\n\n\"We want to come in,\" said one of the princes sharply, to the servants\nwho stood at the door.\n\n\"That can't be done,\" one of the lackeys answered.\n\n\"Indeed! We'll see whether it can be done or not,\" cried the other\nprince, pushing the men aside right and left.\n\nBut there were a great many lackeys, and only two princes. A tumult\nand uproar arose outside, that resounded through the palace.\n\n\"What is going on out there?\" asked the emperor angrily.\n\nThe princes stopped when they heard their father's voice.\n\n\"Two boys are trying to enter by force,\" said an attendant,\napproaching the emperor.\n\n\"By force? Who seeks to enter my palace by force? Who are these boys?\"\ncried the emperor in the same breath.\n\n\"We know not, your majesty,\" replied the lackey, \"but there must be\nsomething uncommon about them, for the lads are as strong as young\nlions, they overpowered the guard at the gate, and have given us\nplenty to do. Besides, they are proud, they don't lift their caps from\ntheir heads.\"\n\nThe emperor flushed scarlet with rage.\n\n\"Throw them out!\" he cried. \"Set the dogs on them.\"\n\n\"Never mind, we will go,\" said the princes, weeping at the harsh\nwords, as they went down the steps again.\n\nAs they reached the gate, they were stopped by a servant, who was out\nof breath from running to overtake them.\n\n\"The emperor has commanded you to come back, the empress wants to see\nyou.\"\n\nThe princes hesitated, then turned, climbed the stairs, and still with\ntheir caps on their heads appeared before the emperor.\n\nThere stood a long, wide table, at which sat all the imperial guests;\nat the head was the emperor, and beside him the empress, reclining on\ntwelve silk cushions.\n\nAs the princes entered, one of these twelve cushions fell to the\nfloor, only eleven remaining under the royal lady.\n\n\"Take off your caps!\" cried a courtier.\n\n\"To wear the head covered is a token of rank among men. We wish to be\nwhat we are.\"\n\n\"Why, yes!\" exclaimed the emperor, softened by the musical words that\nfell from the boys' lips. \"Remain what you are, but who are you?\nWhence do you come, and what do you want?\"\n\n\"We are twin brothers, members of a family that is broken in twain,\nhalf in the earth, half at the head of the table; we come from whence\nwe went, and have reached the place whence we came; we have had a\nlong journey, have spoken in the sighing of the wind, given a voice to\nwood, sang in the ripples of the water, but now we wish to chant in\nhuman language a song you know without knowing it.\"\n\nA second cushion fell from under the empress.\n\n\"Let them go home with their nonsense!\" she said to her husband.\n\n\"Oh! no, let them sing,\" replied the emperor. \"You only wanted to see\nthem, but I wish to hear them. Sing, boys!\"\n\nThe empress was silent, and the princes began to sing the story of\ntheir lives.\n\n\"There was once an emperor,\" they began, and a third cushion fell from\nunder the empress.\n\nWhen they described the emperor's departure to the war, three cushions\nfell at once, and when the princes had finished their song not a\nsingle one remained. But when they took off their caps and showed\ntheir golden hair and the golden star on their foreheads, guests,\ncourtiers and emperor closed their eyes, that they might not be\ndazzled by so much radiance.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAfterward, what ought to have been from the beginning, happened.\n\nLaptitza sat at the head of the table beside her husband, but the\nstep-mother's daughter served as the humblest maid in the palace, and\nthe wicked step-mother was fastened to the tail of a wild mare and\ndragged around the earth seven times, that the whole world might know\nand never forget, that whoever plans evil comes to a bad end.\n\n\n\n\nYouth Without Age and Life Without Death.\n\n\nOnce upon a time something happened whose like never occurred\nbefore--if it had not happened it would not be told--since the flea\nhad one foot shod with ninety-nine pounds of iron and jumped into the\nskies to get us fairy tales.\n\nThere was once a mighty emperor and empress. Both were young and\nhandsome, and as they desired the blessing of children they did every\nthing that was necessary to secure it, that is they went to the\nwitches and philosophers and asked them to read the stars to find out\nwhether they would have children or not. But it was all in vain.\nFinally the emperor heard that a very wise old man lived in a\nneighboring village, and sent for him. The messengers returned with\nthe answer: \"Let him who needs me come to me.\" So the emperor and\nempress set out for the wise man's house, taking with them several of\ntheir courtiers, attendants, and soldiers. When the old man saw them\nin the distance, he rose, went to meet them, and said at once:\n\n\"Welcome! But what do you want to know, oh, emperor! your wish will\nbring you sorrow.\"\n\n\"I am not here to question you about that,\" replied the emperor, \"but\nto learn whether you have any plants you can give us that will bestow\nthe blessing of children.\"\n\n\"I have,\" the old man answered, \"but you will possess only _one_\nchild. He will be a handsome, lovable boy, yet you will not be able to\nkeep him long.\"\n\nAfter the emperor and empress had obtained the herbs they joyfully\nreturned to the palace. The whole empire, the courtiers, and all the\nattendants rejoiced too. But when the hour of its birth came, the\nchild began to scream in a way no magic arts could silence. The\nemperor commenced to promise it all the good things the world\ncontained, but it was impossible to quiet it.\n\n\"Hush, father's pet,\" said the emperor, \"I will give you this or that\nkingdom; hush, my son, I will give you this or that princess for your\nwife.\" At last, when he saw the child would not stop, he added: \"Hush,\nmy boy, I will give you youth without age and life without death.\"\n\nThen the prince stopped crying; the courtiers beat drums and blew\ntrumpets, and there were great rejoicings throughout the empire for a\nwhole week.\n\nThe older the boy grew, the more thoughtful and reflective he became.\nHe went to the schools and the philosophers and gained every kind of\nlearning, so that the emperor died of joy and came to life again. The\nwhole realm was proud of having a prince so wise and learned, a\nsecond King Solomon. But one day, when the lad had just reached his\nfifteenth year and the emperor sat at a banquet with the nobles and\ngrandees of the country, the handsome prince rose, saying: \"Father,\nthe time has come, you must now give me what you promised at my\nbirth!\"\n\nWhen the emperor heard this he grew very sorrowful and answered: \"Why,\nmy son, how can I give you an impossible thing? If I promised it to\nyou then, it was only to hush you.\"\n\n\"If you can't give it to me, father, I shall be obliged to wander\nthrough the whole world till I find what was promised to me, and for\nwhich I was born.\"\n\nThen all the nobles and the emperor fell at his feet and besought him\nnot to quit the country, because, as the courtiers said, his father\nwas growing old, and they would place him on the throne and give him\nthe most beautiful princess under the sun for his wife. But it was\nimpossible to shake his resolution, he remained as firm as a rock.\nAfter his father had seen and duly considered all these things, he\ngave his consent and prepared to supply the prince with provisions and\nwhatever else he might need for his journey.\n\nThe young hero went to the imperial stables, where the finest steeds\nin the whole realm were standing, to choose one of them; but when he\nlaid his hand on the horse's tail he knocked it down, and so they all\nfell, one after another. At last, just as he was going out, he let his\neyes wander around the building once more and saw in one corner a\nsick, weak horse, covered with sores. He went up to it, and when he\ngrasped it by the tail, the animal turned its head, saying:\n\n\"What do you command, my master? I thank God that He has permitted a\nhero's hand to touch me once more.\"\n\nAnd, planting its feet firmly, it remained standing. The young prince\ntold it what he intended to do, and the horse replied:\n\n\"To obtain your wish, you must ask your father for the sword, lance,\nbow, quiver of arrows, and garments he wore when a youth; but you must\ntake care of me with your own hands for six weeks and give me oats\nboiled in milk.\"\n\nWhen the prince begged the emperor for the articles the horse had\nadvised, the monarch called the major-domo of the palace and ordered\nhim to open all the chests of clothing, that his son might choose what\nhe pleased. The young hero, after rummaging them three whole days, at\nlast found in the very bottom of an old trunk the weapons and garments\nhis father had worn in his youth, but the arms were covered with rust.\nHe set to work to clean them with his own hands and in six weeks,\nduring the time he was taking care of the horse, he succeeded in\nmaking the weapons as bright and shining as a mirror. When the horse\nheard from the handsome prince that the clothes and arms were cleaned\nand ready, it shook itself once. All the sores instantly fell off and\nthere it stood, a strong, well-formed animal, with four wings. When\nthe hero saw this, he said:\n\n\"We'll go in three days!\"\n\n\"May you have a long life, master. From to-day I shall be at your\nservice,\" the horse answered.\n\nOn the morning of the third day there was great mourning throughout\nthe whole court and empire. The handsome prince, clad like a hero,\nholding his sword in his hand and riding the horse he had chosen, took\nleave of the emperor, the empress, the great nobles and lesser\ngrandees, the army, and all the attendants, who, with tears in their\neyes, implored him to give up the journey and not risk his life; but\nsetting spurs to his steed, he dashed through the gate like the wind,\nfollowed by the carts loaded with provisions and money, and the two\nhundred horsemen the emperor had commanded to accompany him.\n\nAfter reaching the boundaries of his father's country and arriving at\nthe wilderness, the prince distributed all his property among the\nescort, bade them farewell, and sent them back, keeping for himself\nonly as much food as the horse could carry. Then he turned toward the\neast and rode for three days and three nights, till he came to a wide\nplain where lay a great many human bones.\n\nWhen he stopped here to rest, the horse said: \"You must know, master,\nthat we are on the land of a Woodpecker Fairy who is so wicked that\nnobody can enter her domain without being murdered. She was once a\nwoman, but the curse of her parents, whom she angered by her\ndisobedience, turned her into a woodpecker. She is with her children\nnow, but you will meet her to-morrow in yonder forest; she will come\nto kill you. She is terribly big, but don't be frightened; hold the\nbow ready to pierce her with an arrow, and keep your sword and lance\nin hand, so that you can use them in case of need.\"\n\nThen they went to rest, taking turns in watching.\n\nAt dawn the next morning they prepared to pass through the forest; the\nprince saddled and bridled the horse, drew the girths tighter than\nusual, and mounted. Suddenly he heard a tremendous crashing. \"Make\nready, master,\" said the horse, \"the Woodpecker Fairy is coming.\" As\nshe approached, she moved so fast that she tore the trees down; but\nthe horse leaped upward like the wind, so that it was almost over her,\nand the prince shot off one of her feet with an arrow. Just as he was\nabout to discharge the second arrow, she cried:\n\n\"Stop, my young hero, I'll do you no harm.\" And seeing that he did not\nbelieve her, she gave him the promise written with her own blood.\n\n\"Your horse can not be killed, my young hero,\" she added, \"it is\nenchanted; if it hadn't been for that, I would have roasted and eaten\nyou. Know that until to-day no mortal man has ventured to cross my\nboundaries as far as this; a few bold wights who dared to make the\ntrial, reached the plain where you saw so many bones.\"\n\nThey now went to the fairy's house, where she entertained them as\nguests. But while sitting at the table enjoying the banquet, the\nWoodpecker Fairy moaned with pain, so the prince pulled the foot he\nhad shot off out of the traveling bag where he had put it, fastened it\non, and it instantly healed. The hostess, in her joy, kept open house\nfor three days, and begged the emperor's son to choose one of her\ndaughters, all three of whom were beautiful as fairies, for his wife.\nHe would not do that, but told her what he was seeking, and she\nreplied:\n\n\"With your horse and your heroic courage, I believe you will succeed.\"\n\nAfter three days had passed, the prince prepared to continue his\njourney and departed. He rode on, and on, and on; the road seemed to\ngrow longer and longer, but when he had finally crossed the frontiers\nof the Woodpecker Fairy's kingdom, he entered a beautiful meadow, one\nside of which was covered with blooming plants, but the other was\nscorched.\n\nThe prince asked why the grass was singed, and the horse answered:\n\n\"We are now in the domain of the Scorpion Witch; she is the Woodpecker\nFairy's sister, but they are both so wicked that they can't live\ntogether. Their parents' curse has fallen upon them, and so, as you\nsee, they have become monsters; their enmity goes beyond all bounds;\nthey are always trying to get possession of each other's lands. When\nthis one is very angry she spits fire and pitch; she must have had\nsome quarrel with her sister, and, to drive her out of her kingdom,\nhas burned the grass on which she was standing. She is even worse than\nher sister, and has three heads. We will rest awhile now, and be ready\nat the first peep of dawn to-morrow.\"\n\nThe next day they prepared themselves just as they did when they\nexpected to meet the Woodpecker fairy, and set out. Soon they heard a\nhowling and rustling unlike any thing ever known before.\n\n\"Make ready, master, the Scorpion Witch is coming.\"\n\nThe Scorpion Witch, with one jaw in the sky and the other on the\nearth, approached like the wind, spitting fire as she came, but the\nhorse darted upward as swiftly as an arrow, and then rushed over her a\nlittle on one side. The hero shot an arrow and one of her heads fell,\nbut when he was going to strike off another, the Scorpion Witch\nentreated him to forgive her, she would do him no harm, and to\nconvince him of this she gave him her promise, written in her own\nblood.\n\nLike the Woodpecker Fairy, she entertained the prince, who returned\nher head, which grew on again, and at the end of three days he resumed\nhis travels.\n\nWhen the hero and his horse had reached the boundaries of the Scorpion\nWitch's kingdom they hurried on without resting till they came to a\nfield covered with flowers, where reigned perpetual spring. Every\nblossom was remarkably beautiful and filled with a sweet, intoxicating\nfragrance; a gentle breeze fanned them all. They remained here to\nrest, but the horse said:\n\n\"We have arrived so far successfully, master, but we still have one\ngreat peril to undergo and, if the Lord helps us to conquer it, we\nshall really be valiant heroes. A short distance further on is the\npalace where dwell Youth without Age and Life without Death. It is\nsurrounded by a high, dense forest, where roam all the wild animals in\nthe world, watching it day and night. They are very numerous, and it\nis almost beyond the bounds of possibility to get through the wood by\nfighting them; we must try, if we can, to jump over them.\"\n\nAfter resting about two days they prepared to continue their journey,\nand the horse, holding its breath, said:\n\n\"Buckle my girth as tight as you can, and when you have mounted hold\nfast to my mane and press your feet close to my neck, that you may not\nhinder me.\" The prince mounted, and in a moment they were close to the\nforest.\n\n\"Master,\" said the horse, \"this is the time that the wild beasts are\nfed; they are all collected together, now we'll jump over.\"\n\n\"Forward,\" replied the handsome prince, \"and may the Lord have mercy\non us.\"\n\nThey flew upward and saw the palace, which glittered so that it would\nhave been easier to look at the sun. They passed over the forest, and,\njust as they were descending at the palace steps, one of the horse's\nhoofs lightly touched the top of a tree, which put the whole woods in\nmotion. The wild animals began to howl till it was enough to make\none's hair bristle. They hastily alighted, and if the mistress of the\npalace had not been outside feeding her chickens (for that is what she\ncalled the wild beasts), they would certainly have been killed. She\nspared their lives out of pure pleasure, for she had never before seen\na human being. Restraining the savage beasts, she soothed them, and\nsent them back to their haunts. She was a tall, slender, lovely\nfairy, quite too beautiful. When the young hero saw her, he stood\nstill as though turned to stone. But as she gazed at him she pitied\nhim and said:\n\n\"Welcome, my handsome prince. What do you seek here?\"\n\n\"We seek Youth without Age and Life without Death.\"\n\nThen he dismounted from his horse and entered the palace, where he\nfound two other ladies, both of the same age, the elder sisters of the\nfirst one. He began to thank the fairy for having delivered him from\ndanger, but she and her sisters, to show their joy, had a handsome\nbanquet served in golden dishes. They gave the horse liberty to graze\nwherever it chose, and afterward made it acquainted with all the wild\nbeasts, so that it might rove about the forest in peace. The ladies\nentreated the prince to stay with them, saying that it was so tiresome\nto be alone. He did not wait to be asked a second time, but accepted\nthe offer with the satisfaction of a man who has found precisely what\nhe sought.\n\nBy degrees they became accustomed to live together; the prince told\nthem his story and related what he had suffered before meeting them,\nand after some time he married the youngest sister. At their wedding\npermission was granted to him to go wherever he liked in the\nneighborhood; they only begged him not to enter one valley, which they\npointed out, otherwise some misfortune would befall him; it was\ncalled, they said, the Valley of Lamentation.\n\nThe prince spent a very long time at the palace without being aware\nof it, for he always remained just as young as he was when he arrived.\nHe wandered about the woods without ever having a headache. He amused\nhimself in the golden palace, lived in peace and quiet with his wife\nand her sisters, enjoyed the beauty of the flowers, and the sweet,\npure air. He often went hunting; but one day, while pursuing a hare,\nhe shot two arrows at it without hitting the animal. Angrily chasing\nit he discharged a third arrow, which struck it, but in his haste the\nluckless man had not noticed that he had passed through the Valley of\nLamentation while following the game.\n\nHe picked it up and turned toward home, but was suddenly seized with a\nlonging for his father and mother. He did not venture to speak of this\nwish to his wife, yet by his grief and restlessness both she and her\nsisters instantly perceived his condition.\n\n\"Oh! luckless prince, you have passed through the Valley of\nLamentation,\" they said in terror.\n\n\"I did so, my dear ones, without meaning to be so imprudent, but now\nthe longing to see my parents is killing me! Yet I can not forsake\nyou. I have already spent several days with you and have no cause to\ncomplain. So I'll go and see my parents once more, and then come back\nto you, never to leave you again.\"\n\n\"Do not quit us, beloved prince! Your parents died two or three\nhundred years ago, and if you go, we fear you yourself will never\nreturn; stay with us, for a presentiment of evil tells us that you\nwill perish!\"\n\nAll the entreaties of the three ladies, as well as those of the horse,\nwere unable to quiet the young hero's longing for his parents, which\nwas fairly consuming him alive.\n\nAt last the horse said: \"If you don't listen to me, master, whatever\nhappens to you will be your own fault. I'll tell you something, and if\nyou accept my condition, I'll take you back.\"\n\n\"I'll accept it with many thanks,\" replied the prince; \"let me hear\nit.\"\n\n\"As soon as you reach your father's palace you will dismount, but I am\nto return alone in case you stay even an hour.\"\n\n\"Be it so,\" the prince agreed.\n\nThey made their preparations for the journey, the prince embraced the\nladies and after having bade them farewell he rode away, but they\nsobbed and wept bitterly when he left them.\n\nThey reached the country which had once been the kingdom of the\nScorpion Witch, but found cities there; the woods had become fields;\nthe prince questioned one person and another about the Scorpion Witch\nand her house, but they answered that their grandfathers had heard\nfrom their great, great grandfathers that such silly tales had once\nbeen told.\n\n\"How is that possible!\" replied the prince, \"I came through this\nregion myself only a short time ago,\" and he told them all he knew.\n\nThe people laughed at him as if he were a lunatic or a person talking\nin his sleep, and the prince angrily rode on without noticing that his\nhair and beard were growing white.\n\nWhen he reached the realm of the Woodpecker Fairy, the same questions\nand answers were exchanged. The prince could not understand how these\nplaces had altered so much in a few days, and again rode angrily on.\nHe now had a white beard that reached to his waist, and he felt as if\nhis feet were beginning to tremble.\n\nQuitting this country he arrived in his father's empire. Here he found\nnew people, new towns, and every thing so much changed that he could\nnot recognize it. At last he came to the palace where he was born.\nWhen he dismounted, the horse kissed his hand, and said:\n\n\"I wish you good health, master, I'm going back to the place from\nwhich I came. If you want to go too, mount quickly, and we'll be off.\"\n\n\"Farewell, I too hope to return soon.\"\n\nThe horse darted away with the speed of an arrow.\n\nWhen the prince saw the ruined palace and the weeds growing around it,\nhe sighed deeply and with tears in his eyes tried to remember how\nmagnificent these places had once been. He walked around the building\ntwo or three times, tried to recollect how every room, every corner\nhad looked, found the stable where he had discovered the horse, and\nthen went down into the cellar, whose entrance was choked up with\nfallen rubbish.\n\nHe groped hither and thither, holding up his eyelids with his hands,\nand scarcely able to totter along, while his snowy beard now fell to\nhis knees, but found nothing except a dilapidated old chest, which he\nopened. It seemed empty, but as he raised the lid a voice from the\nbottom said: \"Welcome, if you had kept me waiting much longer, I too\nshould have gone to decay.\"\n\nThen his death, which had become completely shriveled in the chest,\nseized him; but the prince fell lifeless on the ground and instantly\ncrumbled into dust.\n\n    Into the saddle then I sprung,\n    The tale to tell to old and young.\n\n\n\n\nThe Little Purse with two Half-pennies.\n\n\nThere was once an old man and an old woman. The old woman had a hen\nand the old man had a rooster; the old woman's hen laid two eggs a day\nand she ate a great many, but she would not give the old man a single\none. One day the old man lost patience and said: \"Listen, old crony,\nyou live as if you were in clover, give me a couple of eggs so that I\ncan at least have a taste of them.\"\n\n\"No indeed!\" replied the old woman, who was very avaricious. \"If you\nwant eggs, beat your rooster that he may lay eggs for you, and then\neat them; I flogged my hen, and just see how she lays now.\"\n\nThe old man, being stingy and greedy, listened to the old woman's\ntalk, angrily seized his rooster, gave him a sound thrashing and said:\n\n\"There, now, lay some eggs for me or else go out of the house, I won't\nfeed you for nothing any longer.\"\n\nAs soon as the rooster escaped from the old man's hands it ran off\ndown the high-road. While thus pursuing its way, lo and behold! it\nfound a little purse with two half-pennies. Taking it in its beak, the\nbird turned and went back toward the old man's house. On the road it\nmet a carriage containing a gentleman and several ladies. The\ngentleman looked at the rooster, saw a purse in its bill, and said to\nthe driver:\n\n\"Get down and see what this rooster has in its beak.\"\n\nThe driver hastily jumped from his box, took the little purse from the\nrooster's bill, and gave it to his master. The gentleman put it in his\npocket and drove on. The rooster was very angry and ran after the\ncarriage, repeating continually:\n\n    \"Kikeriki, sir, Kikerikak,\n    To me the little purse give back.\"\n\nThe enraged gentleman said to the coachman as they passed a well:\n\n\"Take that impudent rooster and throw it into the well.\"\n\nThe driver got down from his box again, seized the rooster, and flung\nit down the well. When the rooster saw that its life was in such great\ndanger, what was it to do?\n\nIt began to swallow the water, and drank and drank till it had\nswallowed all the water in the well. Then it flew out and again ran\nafter the carriage, calling:\n\n    \"Kikeriki, sir, Kikerikak,\n    To me the little purse give back.\"\n\nWhen the gentleman saw this, he was perfectly amazed and said:\n\n\"Hoho! This rooster is a perfect imp of Satan! Never mind! I'll wring\nyour neck, you saucy cockerel!\" When he reached home he told the cook\nto take the rooster, throw it on the coals burning upon the hearth,\nand push a big stone in front of the opening in the chimney. The old\nwoman did what her master bade her.\n\nWhen the rooster saw this new injustice, it began to spit out the\nwater it had swallowed till it had poured all the water from the well\nupon the burning coals. This put out the fire, cooled the hearth, and\nmade such a flood on the kitchen floor that the cook fainted away from\npure rage. Then the rooster gave the stone a push, came out safe and\nsound, ran to the gentleman's window, and began to knock on the panes\nwith its bill, screaming:\n\n    \"Kikeriki, sir, Kikerikak,\n    To me the little purse give back.\"\n\n\"Heaven knows that I've got a torment in this monster of a rooster,\"\nsaid the gentleman. \"Driver, rid me of it, toss it into the middle of\nthe herds of cows and oxen; perhaps some bull will stick its horns\nthrough it and relieve us.\" The coachman seized the rooster and flung\nit among the herds. You ought to have seen the rooster's delight. It\nswallowed bulls, oxen, cows, and calves, till it had devoured the\nwhole herd and its stomach had grown as big as a mountain. Then it\nwent to the window again, spread out its wings before the sun so that\nit darkened the gentleman's room, and once more began:\n\n    \"Kikeriki, sir, Kikerikak,\n    To me the little purse give back.\"\n\nWhen the gentleman saw this he was ready to burst with rage and did\nnot know what to do to get rid of the rooster. He stood thinking till\nat last an idea entered his head:\n\n\"I'll lock it up in the treasure-chamber. Perhaps if it tries to\nswallow the ducats one will stick in its throat, and I shall get rid\nof the bird.\" No sooner said than done. He grasped the rooster and\nflung it into the treasure-chamber. The rooster swallowed all the\nmoney and left the chests empty. Then it escaped from the room, went\nto the gentleman's window, and again began:\n\n    \"Kikeriki, sir, Kikerikak,\n    To me the little purse give back.\"\n\nAs the gentleman saw that there was nothing else to be done he tossed\nthe purse out. The rooster picked it up, went about its own business,\nand left the gentleman in peace. All the poultry ran after the rooster\nso that it really looked like a wedding; but the gentleman turned\ngreen with rage as he watched, and said sighing:\n\n\"Let them all run off to the last chick, I'm glad to be rid of the\ntorment; there was witchcraft in that rooster!\"\n\nBut the puffed-up rooster stalked proudly along, followed by all the\nfowls, and went merrily on and on till he reached the old man's house\nand began to crow: \"Kikeriki!\"\n\nWhen the old man heard the rooster's voice he ran out joyfully to meet\nthe bird, but looking through the door what did he see? His rooster\nhad become a terrible object. An elephant beside it would have seemed\nlike a flea; and following behind came countless flocks of birds, each\none more beautiful and brilliant than the other. When the old man saw\nthe rooster so huge and fat, he opened the gate for it. \"Master,\" said\nthe bird, \"spread a sheet here in the middle of the yard.\"\n\nThe old man, as nimble as a top, laid down the sheet. The rooster took\nits stand upon it, spread its wings, and instantly the whole yard was\nfilled with birds and herds of cattle, but it shook out on the sheet a\npile of ducats that flashed in the sun till they dazzled the eyes.\nWhen the old man beheld this vast treasure he did not know what to do\nin his delight, and hugged and kissed the rooster.\n\nBut all at once the old woman appeared from somewhere, and when she\nsaw this marvelous spectacle her eyes glittered in her head, and she\nwas ready to burst with wrath.\n\n\"Dear old friend,\" she said, \"give me a few ducats.\"\n\n\"Pine away with longing for them, old woman; when I begged you for\nsome eggs, you know what you answered. Now flog your hen, that it may\nbring you ducats. I beat my rooster, and you see what it has fetched\nme.\"\n\nThe old woman went to the hen-coop, shook the hen, took it by the\ntail, and gave it such a drubbing that it was enough to make one weep\nfor pity. When the poor hen escaped from the old woman's hands it fled\nto the highway. While walking along it found a bead, swallowed it,\nhurried back home as fast as possible, and began to cackle at the\ngate. The old woman welcomed it joyfully. The hen ran quickly in at\nthe gate, passed its mistress, and went to its nest--at the end of an\nhour it jumped off, cackling loudly. The old woman hastened to see\nwhat the hen had laid. But when she glanced into the nest what did she\nperceive? A little glass bead. The hen had laid a glass bead! When the\nold woman saw that the hen had fooled her, she began to beat it, and\nbeat till she flogged it to death. So the stupid old soul remained as\npoor as a church-mouse. From that time she might live on roast nothing\nand golden wait a while, instead of eggs, for she had abused and\nkilled the poor hen, though it was not at all to blame.\n\nBut the old man was very rich; he built great houses, laid out\nbeautiful gardens, and lived luxuriously. He made the old woman his\npoultry-maid, the rooster he took about with him everywhere, dressed\nin a gold collar, yellow boots, and spurs on its heels, so that one\nmight have thought it was one of the Three Kings from the Christmas\nplay instead of a mere ordinary rooster.\n\n\n\n\nMogarzea and His Son.\n\n\nThere was once a young lad who had neither father nor mother. Every\nthing his parents had left him was in the care of guardians, and at\nlast he could bear their unjust reproaches no longer, but went out\ninto the wide world, entered a path leading to a glade in the forest,\nand followed it a long way.\n\nWhen, in the evening, he grew tired and found no place to rest, he\nclimbed a hill and gazed around him in every direction to try to\ndiscover a light; after a long search he saw the flicker of a tiny\nspark and went toward it. He walked and walked half the night, then he\ncame to a huge fire, by which a man as big as a giant was sleeping.\nWhat was the youth to do? After thinking a while, he crept into one\nleg of the man's trowsers and spent the rest of the night there.\n\nWhen the man rose the next morning, to his great astonishment, he saw\nthe youngster drop out of his breeches.\n\n\"Where did you come from?\" he asked.\n\n\"I was sent to you for a son last night,\" replied the lad.\n\n\"If that is true,\" said the big man, \"you may tend my sheep, and I'll\ngive you something to eat, but beware that you don't cross the\nboundaries, or woe betide you!\"\n\nHe pointed out to the boy the end of his land, and then added:\n\n\"God be with you!\"\n\nThe lad tended the flock all day, and when he returned in the evening\nfound the fire lighted, and helped the giant milk the sheep.\n\nAfter their work was done, they sat down to supper, and while they\nwere eating the boy asked:\n\n\"What is your name, father?\"\n\n\"Mogarzea,\" replied the big fellow.\n\n\"I wonder you don't get tired of staying here alone in this\nwilderness.\"\n\n\"Then you wonder without cause. Don't you know that the bear never\ndances willingly?\"\n\n\"Yes, you're right there,\" replied the boy. \"But I see that you are\nalways dull and sad. Tell me your story, father.\"\n\n\"What can be the use of telling you things that would make you\nsorrowful too?\"\n\n\"Never mind, I should like to know them. Are you not my father? Do you\nsuppose you have me as a son for nothing?\"\n\n\"Well then, if that's true and you wish it, listen to my story.\n\n\"My name, as I have already told you, is Mogarzea; I am a prince, and\nset out to go to the Sweet-milk Lake, which is not far from here, to\nmarry a fairy. I had heard that three fairies lived there. But Fortune\ndid not smile upon me; wicked elves attacked me and took away my soul.\nSince that time I have settled here to dwell with my sheep on this\nlittle patch of land, without being able to take pleasure in any\nthing, without having a moment's happiness, or even once enjoying a\nlaugh.\n\n\"The abominable elves are so quarrelsome that they let no one who\ncrosses their frontiers go unpunished. That's why I advise you to be\non your guard, lest something should happen to you also.\"\n\n\"All right, all right, just let me alone, father,\" replied the youth,\nand they went to rest.\n\nWhen day dawned, the lad rose and set off with the flock. I don't know\nhow or why, but he could not feel content to gaze at the elves'\nbeautiful meadows, while the sheep were grazing on Mogarzea's barren\nground.\n\nOn the third day, when he was standing in the shade of a tree playing\non the flute, for he was, as it were, a master of the art of flute\nplaying, one of the sheep strayed away into the flowery meadows,\nothers followed, then others, till, when the youth noticed them, a\nnumber of the animals had crossed the boundaries.\n\nStill playing on his flute, he went to drive back the sheep which had\nleft the flock, but he suddenly saw before him three merry maidens,\nwho stopped him and began to dance around him. When the lad\ndiscovered the state of affairs, he summoned up his courage and blew\nwith all his might. They danced until the evening.\n\n\"Let me go now,\" he said, \"poor Mogarzea will be hungry; to-morrow, if\nyou wish, I'll play still better.\"\n\n\"We will let you go,\" they replied, \"but you know that if you don't\ncome you will not escape our punishment.\"\n\nSo they agreed that he was to come directly to them the next morning,\nsheep and all, then each went home. Mogarzea wondered why the milk had\nincreased so much, and was not satisfied until the lad assured him\nthat he had not crossed the boundaries. They ate their supper and went\nto rest.\n\nThe youth did not wait till it had become perfectly light, but at the\nfirst streak of dawn set off with the sheep straight to the elves'\nmeadows. When he began to play on his flute, the elves instantly\nappeared and danced and danced till evening. Then the youth pretended\nto drop the flute and, as if by accident, stepped upon it and broke\nit.\n\nIf you could have seen how he bewailed it, how he wrung his hands and\nwept over the loss of his companion, you would surely have pitied him.\nEven the elves were touched with compassion and tried to comfort him.\n\n\"I wouldn't care so much,\" he said, \"only I shall never find another\nflute that will sound as merry as this one, for it was made out of the\nheart of a seven-year-old cherry tree.\"\n\n\"We have, in the court-yard, a cherry tree that is just seven years\nold; if you want it, come, we'll cut it down and you can make yourself\nanother flute.\"\n\nThey all went there, felled the cherry tree, and for fear of touching\nthe pith while stripping off the bark, the youth requested all the\nelves to help.\n\nAfter having made a cleft in the trunk with his ax, large enough for\nthem to get their fingers in, he told them to take hold of it in order\nto break it apart solely by the strength of their arms, that the blade\nof the ax might not touch the pith of the wood. They were actually\nstupid enough to do so as they stood around the trunk, and, while\nsaying \"pull,\" he drew out the ax and caught their fingers in the\ncrack.\n\nIn vain the elves begged him to release them, in vain they said that\nthey were almost faint with pain; the lad would not even listen to the\nfine promises they made, but remained as cold as a stone.\n\nFinally he asked them for Mogarzea's soul.\n\n\"It is in a bottle on the window-sill,\" they said.\n\nAfter he had fetched it, he inquired how he could restore it to its\nplace, and the elves explained, hoping he would then release them from\ntheir torture.\n\n\"You have tormented many people so that they suffered terrible agony\nall their lives; now you too can suffer for one night, it won't make\nthe sky fall.\"\n\nWith these words he took the sheep and Mogarzea's soul and departed;\nbut the elves wailed so that any one's heart might have been torn with\npity. When he reached home, Mogarzea scolded him for being late. The\nboy's only reply was to ask him to lie down on his back, then\nclimbing upon his breast he jumped up and down several times, until\nthe lazy soul the elves had conjured into him darted out and the\nyoungster gave him his own to swallow; holding his mouth and nose with\nhis hands he made him drink the water that had been in the bottle, and\nthen put on a plaster he had brought from the elves.\n\nHe had scarcely got it on, when Mogarzea sprang up like a deer and\nsaid:\n\n\"Whether you are my son or not, what do you want as a reward for what\nyou have done?\"\n\n\"Tell me where the Milk Lake is, and what I am to do to obtain one of\nthe three fairies who are there for my wife, and let me be your son\nforever.\"\n\nMogarzea granted the lad's wishes and they sat down to supper without\nhis wondering how the sheep gave so much milk; all night long they\namused themselves by shouting, singing and dancing.\n\nNoticing that dawn was approaching before they had gone to rest, they\nresolved to set out together to pay a visit to the cheated elves,--and\ndid so. When Mogarzea saw them, he took them, log and all, on his back\nand went to his father's kingdom, where every body rejoiced when he\ncame home as brave and cheery as ever. But he pointed out his\ndeliverer, who was following behind with the sheep.\n\nThen they all thanked the lad for his cleverness in rescuing Mogarzea\nfrom misfortune, and the festivities at the palace lasted three whole\ndays.\n\nAfter these three days had passed, the boy took Mogarzea aside and\nsaid:\n\n\"I want to go now; please tell me where the Sweet-milk Lake is, and,\nGod willing, I'll come back again with my wife.\"\n\nAt first Mogarzea tried to detain him, but finding it no use to talk\ntill he was tired, he told him what he had heard--he had seen nothing,\non account of the elves.\n\nThe boy took his flute and some food for the journey, and then,\ndeparting, walked three long summer days until the evening, before he\nreached the Milk Lake, which was in a fairy's kingdom. Early the next\nmorning he began to play on his flute at the edge of the lake,--and\nwhat did he see? A beautiful fairy, whose hair was exactly like gold,\nand whose clothes were more costly than any he had ever seen; she was\nmore dazzling than the sun as she began to dance. The boy stood\nmotionless with his eyes fixed upon her, but when the fairy noticed\nthat he was no longer playing she vanished. The next day she did the\nsame thing. On the third, still playing, he approached, and as in the\npleasure of dancing she did not notice it, he suddenly rushed upon\nher, clasped her in his arms, kissed her, and snatched the rose from\nher head.\n\nShe screamed and then begged him to give her back the flower, but he\nrefused. Even wood and stone might have wept over her grief, as she\nlamented and entreated. But when he fastened the rose in his hat, she\nfollowed him.\n\nFinding that he could not be persuaded to restore the rose, they\nagreed to be married. So they went to Mogarzea, to be wedded by the\nemperor, and remained there, but every year in the month of May they\nreturned to the Milk Lake to bathe their children in its waves.\n\nAfter the emperor's death Mogarzea divided the kingdom with his\npreserver.\n\n\n\n\nCunning Ileane.\n\n\nOnce upon a time something happened. If it had not happened, it would\nnot be told.\n\nThere was once an emperor who had three daughters; the oldest was\nbeautiful, the middle one more beautiful, but the youngest, Ileane,\nwas so fair that even the sun stopped to gaze at her and admire her\ncharms.\n\nOne day the emperor received the news that his neighbor, a mighty\nmonarch, was no longer friendly, but wanted to fight with him on\naccount of a great imperial feud. The emperor consulted the old men of\nthe country, and, seeing there was nothing else to be done, he\ncommanded his valiant soldiers to mount their horses, take their\nweapons, and prepare for the terrible battle which was to be fought.\n\nBefore mounting himself, the emperor called his daughters, addressed a\nfew fatherly, touching words to them, and gave each one a beautiful\nflower, a merry little bird, and a rosy-cheeked apple.\n\n\"Whoever has her flower wither, her bird mope or her apple rot, I\nshall know has not kept her faith,\" said the wise emperor; then\nmounting his steed he wished them \"Good-health\" and set off with his\nbrave soldiers on their toilsome way.\n\nWhen the neighboring emperor's three sons heard the news that the\nemperor had quitted his home and gone to the war, they made an\nagreement among themselves and sprang on their horses to ride to the\npalace and vex the monarch by making his three daughters faithless to\nhis trust. The oldest prince, a brave, spirited, handsome fellow, went\nfirst to see how matters stood and bring tidings afterward to the\nothers.\n\nThree days and three nights the champion stood under the wall, but not\none of the girls had appeared at the windows. In the gray dawn of the\nfourth day he lost patience, plucked up his courage, and tapped on the\noldest princess's window.\n\n\"What is it--what is it? What is wanted?\" asked the royal maiden,\nroused from her sleep.\n\n\"It is I, little sister,\" said the prince, \"I, an emperor's son, who\nhave stood under your window three days for love of you.\"\n\nThe princess did not even approach the window, but replied in a\nprudent tone:\n\n\"Go back home by the way you came; may flowers spring up before you\nand thorns remain behind.\"\n\nAfter three more days and nights the prince again knocked on the\ngirl's window. This time the princess approached it, and said in a\nmore gentle voice:\n\n\"I told you to go back home by the way you came; may thorns spring up\nbefore you and flowers remain behind.\"\n\nOnce more the prince waited three days and three nights under the\nmaiden's window. In the gray dawn of the tenth day, that is after\nthrice three days and thrice three nights had passed, he smoothed his\nhair and for the third time tapped on the window.\n\n\"What is it? Who is it? What is wanted?\" asked the princess, this time\nsomewhat more sternly than before.\n\n\"It is I, little sister,\" said the prince. \"For thrice three days I\nhave stood longingly under your window. I would like to see your face,\ngaze into your eyes, and watch the words flow from your lips!\"\n\nThe princess opened the window, glanced angrily at the handsome youth,\nand said in a scarcely audible voice:\n\n\"I would willingly look into your face and say a word or two to you,\nbut first go to my younger sister--then come to me.\"\n\n\"I'll send my younger brother,\" replied the prince. \"But give me one\nkiss to make my way home pleasanter.\"\n\nAnd almost before he had spoken, he snatched a kiss from the beautiful\ngirl.\n\n\"May no second one fall to your lot,\" said the princess, wiping her\nmouth with her embroidered sleeve. \"Go back home by the way you came;\nmay flowers spring up before you and flowers remain behind.\"\n\nThe prince went back to his brothers and told them all that had\nhappened, and the second took his departure.\n\nAfter this prince had stood under the second princess's window nine\ntimes nine days and nine times nine nights and tapped for the ninth\ntime at her window, she opened it and said to him kindly:\n\n\"I would like to look at you and say a word or two to you, but first\ngo to my youngest sister, then come to me.\"\n\n\"I'll send my youngest brother,\" said the prince. \"But give me one\nkiss, that I may hurry the faster.\"\n\nHe had scarcely said it, when he stole a kiss.\n\n\"May no second one fall to your lot,\" said this royal maiden too. \"Go\nback home by the way you came, may flowers spring up before you and\nflowers remain behind!\"\n\nThe prince returned to his brothers, told them all that had happened,\nand--for the third time--a hero departed, the youngest son. When he\nreached the palace where the three sisters lived Ileane was standing\nat the window, and when she saw him, said merrily:\n\n\"You handsome champion with the royal face, where are you hurrying,\nthat you urge on your steed so hotly?\"\n\nWhen the prince saw Ileane's face and heard Ileane's words, he\nstopped, gazed at her, and answered boldly:\n\n\"I'm hurrying to the sun to steal one of its rays, to give to its\nsister and take her home, where she shall become my bride. Now, little\nsister, I will stop on my way to look at you, gaze at the radiance of\nyour face, say a word to you and steal a word in reply.\"\n\nIleane cleverly answered: \"If your nature is like your words, if your\nsoul is like your face, proud and beautiful, and mild and gentle, I\nwill gladly call you into the house, seat you at a banquet, give you\nfood and drink and kisses.\"\n\nThe prince sprang from his horse as he heard these words, and answered\nboldly:\n\n\"My nature will be like my speech, my heart like my face; let me in,\nseat me at the banquet, you shall never repent it from dawn till\nnightfall.\"\n\nHe had scarcely uttered the words when he leaped upon the window-sill,\njumped through the window into the room, went through the room to the\ntable, and took his place at the very top, where the emperor had sat\nwhen he was a bridegroom.\n\n\"Stop, stop!\" said Ileane. \"First let me see whether you are what you\nought to be, and then we'll talk and begin our love-making. Can you\nmake roses grow on burdocks?\"\n\n\"No!\" said the prince.\n\n\"Then the thistle is your flower,\" said clever Ileane. \"Can you make\nthe bat sing in a sweet voice?\"\n\n\"No!\" said the prince.\n\n\"Then night is your day,\" said clever Ileane. \"Can you make apples\ngrow on wolf's-bane?\"\n\n\"That I can!\" said the prince.\n\n\"Then that shall be your fruit!\" replied the beautiful and cunning\nIleane. \"Sit down at the table.\"\n\nThe prince took his place. Ah! but Ileane was indeed cunning Ileane.\nEre he had fairly seated himself, he dropped, chair and all, into the\ndeep cellar where the emperor's treasures were kept.\n\nIleane now began to scream: \"Help!\" and when all the servants came\nrushing in to see what had happened, she told them she had heard a\nnoise and was afraid that some one had got into the cellar to rob the\nemperor of his treasures. The servants did not waste many words, but\ninstantly opened the iron door and went into the cellar, where they\nfound the prince and brought him in disgrace to be sentenced.\n\nIleane pronounced judgment.\n\nTwelve girls under punishment for some offense were to carry him out\nof the country, and when they had reached the frontier with him, each\none was to give him a kiss.\n\nThe order was obeyed. When the prince reached home and joined his\nbrothers, he told them the whole story, and after every thing had been\nrelated their hearts were filled with rage. So they sent word to the\ntwo older princesses that they must arrange to have Ileane go to the\nthree princes' court, so that they might revenge themselves upon her\nfor the insult she had offered them. When the oldest daughter received\nthis message from the prince she pretended to be sick, called Ileane\nto her bedside, and told her that she could not get well unless Ileane\nbrought her something to eat from the princes' kitchen.\n\nIleane would have done any thing for her sister's sake, so she took a\nlittle jug and set off for the court of the three princes, to beg or\nsteal. When she reached the palace, she rushed breathlessly into the\nkitchen and said to the head-cook:\n\n\"For heaven's sake, don't you hear the emperor calling you? Make\nhaste, and see what is the matter.\"\n\nThe cook took to his heels and ran as fast as he could, as though he\nhad received an imperial command. Ileane, left alone in the kitchen,\nfilled her jug with food, emptied all the dainty dishes that were on\nthe fire upon the floor, and went away.\n\nWhen the princes heard of this insult they were still more enraged\nthan before, sent another message to the two sisters and again\nprepared a revenge. As soon as the second sister received the news,\nshe, too, pretended to be ill, called Ileane to her bed, and told her\nthat she could not get well unless she tasted the wine in the princes'\ncellar. Ileane would have done any thing for her sister, so she took\nthe little jug and prepared to go again.\n\nWhen she reached the court she rushed into the cellar, and, panting\nfor breath, said to the head-butler:\n\n\"For heaven's sake, don't you hear the emperor calling you? Make haste\nand see what is the matter.\" The butler took to his heels and ran as\nif he had received an imperial command. Ileane filled her jug with\nwine, poured out the rest on the cellar floor, and then hurried home.\n\nThe princes sent a third message to the two princesses and told them\nthey must send Ileane in a different way from what they had done\nbefore. This time both the princesses feigned illness, called their\nsister to them, and told her that they could not get well unless\nIleane brought them two of the princes' apples.\n\n\"My dear sisters,\" replied Ileane, \"I would go through fire and water\nfor you, how much more willingly to the princes.\" Taking the little\njug she set off to find, seize, and bring back the fruit and save her\ndear sisters' lives.\n\nWhen the youngest prince learned that Ileane was coming to the garden\nto steal the golden apples, he gave orders that, if groans were heard\nthere, nobody must dare go in, but let the person who was wailing,\nmoan in peace. Then he hid huge knives, swords, spears, and many other\nthings in the earth under the tree that bore the golden apples,\nconcealing them so that only the sharp points rose out of the ground.\nAfter he had finished, he hid himself in a clump of bushes and waited\nfor Ileane. She came to the gate, and seeing the two huge lions that\nkept guard there flung each of them a piece of meat; the lions began\nto tear it, and the princess went to the apple tree, stepped\ncautiously between the knives, swords, spears, and other things, and\nclimbed into it.\n\n\"May this do you much good, little sister,\" said the prince. \"I'm glad\nto see you in my garden.\"\n\n\"The pleasure is mine,\" replied Ileane, \"since I have so brave and\nhandsome a prince for my companion. Come, climb the tree and help me\npick some apples for my dear sisters, who are dangerously ill and have\nasked for them.\"\n\nThe prince wanted nothing better--he meant to pull Ileane from the\ntree among the knives.\n\n\"You are very kind, Ileane,\" he replied, \"be kinder still and give me\nyour hand to help me up into the tree.\"\n\n\"Your plan is wicked,\" thought Ileane, \"but it shall work your own\nmisfortune.\" She gave him her hand, pulled him up the trunk to the\nbranches, and then let him drop among the knives, swords, spears and\nother such things, which had been put there for her own destruction.\n\n\"There you are,\" she said, \"now you will know what you meant to do.\"\n\nThe hero with the black soul began to shriek and groan--but nobody\ncame to help him; they left him, according to his own orders, to moan\nin peace, and he was obliged to bear his terrible sufferings\npatiently.\n\nIleane took her apples, carried them home, gave them to her sisters,\nand then went back to the imperial palace and told the servants to go\nand rescue their master from his great danger.\n\nThe prince, who had been so abominably treated, sent for the most\nskillful witch in the whole country to come and give him a cure for\nhis wounds. But Ileane had gone to the witch first and offered her a\ngreat deal of money to let her, Ileane, go to the court in her place.\nSo Ileane went to the palace disguised as the witch. She ordered a\nbuffalo hide to be soaked in vinegar three days and three nights, then\ntaken out and wrapped around the wounded youth. But the prince's cuts\nonly burned the more, and his sufferings became still more unbearable.\nWhen he saw that he was in a bad way, he sent for a priest that he\nmight relieve his heart before he died and give him the sacrament. But\nIleane was not idle. She went to the priest, offered him a large sum\nof money, and induced him to let her go to the palace instead. So\nIleane arrived at the court disguised as a priest.\n\nWhen she approached the prince's bed he was at the point of death,\nthere were scarcely three breaths left in him.\n\n\"My son,\" said the false priest, Ileane, \"you have summoned me to\nconfess your sins to me. Think of the hour of death, and tell me all\nyou have on your heart. Are you at variance with any one? Yes, or no?\"\n\n\"With no one,\" replied the prince, \"except Ileane, the youngest\ndaughter of the emperor, our neighbor. And I hate her out of love and\nlonging,\" he continued. \"If I should not die, but recover, I will ask\nthe emperor for her hand in marriage, and if I don't kill her the\nfirst night she shall be my faithful wife according to the law.\"\nIleane heard these words, said a few in reply, and then went home.\nHere she soon understood why her sisters were wailing and lamenting,\nfor they had heard that the emperor was returning home from the great\nwar.\n\n\"You ought to rejoice,\" said Ileane, \"when you hear that our kind\nfather is coming home safe and well.\"\n\n\"We should rejoice,\" replied the sisters, \"if our flowers had not\nwithered, our apples had not rotted, and our birds had not stopped\nsinging; but now we have reason to cry.\"\n\nWhen Ileane heard these words she went to her room, saw the flower\nsprinkled with dew, the bird hungry, and the apple looking as if it\nwanted to say: \"Eat me, little sister!\"\n\nSo, to help her dear sisters, she gave the flower to one and the bird\nto the other, keeping only the beautiful apple for herself. So they\nwaited for the arrival of the emperor, who was very stern in his\ncommands.\n\nWhen the monarch reached home, he approached his oldest daughter and\nasked for the flower, the bird, and the apple. She showed him nothing\nbut the flower, and even that was half withered. The emperor said\nnothing, but went to his second daughter. She showed him only the\nlittle bird, and that, too, looked drooping. Again the emperor did not\nspeak, but silently went up to his youngest daughter, clever Ileane.\n\nWhen the emperor saw the apple on Ileane's chest of drawers he could\nalmost have devoured it with his eyes, it was so beautiful. \"Where did\nyou put the flower, and what have you done with the bird?\" he asked\nIleane.\n\nIleane did not answer, but hurried to her sisters and brought back a\nfresh flower and a merry little bird.\n\n\"May you prosper, my little daughter,\" said the emperor; \"I see now\nthat you have kept faith with me.\"\n\nFrom Ileane the emperor went to his second daughter, and then to the\neldest one.\n\nWhen he questioned them about the three things he had trusted to their\ncare, they hastily brought Ileane's flower, bird, and apple. But as\nGod permits no falsehood to succeed, in their hands the flower\nwithered, the bird moped, and only the apple remained fresh,\nrosy-cheeked, and eatable.\n\nWhen the emperor saw this he understood every thing, and ordered the\ntwo older princesses to be buried to their breasts in the earth, and\nleft there that they might be an example of the severity of an\nimperial punishment. But Ileane he praised, kissed, spoke to her in\nkind, fatherly words, and said: \"May you have much happiness, my\nchild, for you have been faithful to your duty.\"\n\nAfter the neighboring emperor's son had recovered, he mounted his\nhorse and set off to ask Ileane to be his wife. The old emperor,\nIleane's father, after hearing for what purpose the prince had come,\nsaid to him kindly:\n\n\"Go and ask Ileane, my son and hero; whatever she wishes shall, with\nGod's help, be done.\"\n\nIleane said nothing, but permitted the prince to kiss her. The emperor\ninstantly understood the whole matter and said: \"My dear children, I\nsee that you ought to be husband and wife; may it prove for your\ngood.\"\n\nIt was not long before Ileane married the bold, handsome, heroic\nyouth. Her wedding was so magnificent that tidings of it spread\nthrough seven countries. Yes indeed! But Ileane had not forgotten the\nevil the prince had in his mind; she knew that he would try some trick\nupon her the first night after their marriage. So she ordered a sugar\ndoll to be made exactly the same size as she was herself, with face,\neyes, lips, and figure precisely like Ileane's. When it was finished,\nshe hid it in the bed where she was to sleep that night.\n\nIn the evening, when the relatives and friends had gone to rest and\nIleane, too, had been asleep, the prince said to his bride:\n\n\"Dear Ileane, wait a little while, I'll come back directly.\" Then he\nleft the room.\n\nIleane did not hesitate long, but jumped out of bed, left the sugar\ndoll in her place, and hid behind a curtain at the head of the bed.\n\nShe had scarcely concealed herself, when the prince returned to the\nchamber with a sharp sword in his hand.\n\n\"Tell me now, my dear Ileane,\" he said, \"did you throw me into the\ncellar?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Ileane, behind the curtain. The prince dealt one blow with\nthe sword on the doll's breast.\n\n\"Did you drive me out of the country with scorn and mockery?\" he asked\nagain.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Ileane.\n\nThe prince cut the doll across her face.\n\n\"Did you empty my dishes of food?\" asked the prince the third time.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Ileane.\n\nThe prince slashed the doll from head to foot.\n\n\"Did you pour out my wine?\" was the prince's fourth question.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Ileane.\n\nThe prince cut the figure once across. Ileane began to breathe heavily\nas if in the agony of death.\n\n\"Did you throw me among the knives?\" he asked for the fifth and last\nquestion.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Ileane.\n\nThe prince now thrust his sword into the figure's heart, slashed, and\nhacked it in all directions, with all his strength, till the tears ran\ndown in streams. As dawn approached he began to sob bitterly. Suddenly\na bit of sugar popped into his mouth.\n\n\"Ah, Ileane! you were sweet in life, and remain sweet even in death,\"\nhe said, weeping still more violently.\n\n\"Sweet indeed,\" said Ileane, coming out from behind the curtain, \"but\nfrom this hour forth I will be a hundred thousand times sweeter.\"\n\nThe prince seemed fairly petrified with delight, when he saw Ileane\nsafe and well. He clasped her in his arms, and for many years they\nlived joyously and ruled the land in peace and happiness.\n\n\n\n\nThe Princess and the Fisherman.\n\n\nOnce upon a time something happened. If it had not happened, it would\nnot be told.\n\nThere was once a fisherman, neither very well off nor very poor, but\nhe was young, with a mustache that curled fiercely at the ends, you\nknow, and a fine-looking fellow. Whenever he passed the imperial\npalace, the emperor's daughter sent for him, bought his fish, and gave\nhim ten times as much money as they were worth.\n\nOur fisherman was spoiled by this wealth, and whenever he had nice\nfresh fish he took them to the palace; not a day passed that the\nprincess did not buy fish if the fisherman went by.\n\nOne day, while paying for the fish, the princess pressed his hand, the\nfisherman blushed as red as a beet, and cast down his eyes, but first\ngave her one loving glance, for he had understood that she was willing\nhe should do so.\n\nThen he entered into conversation with her, and took good care not to\nsay any thing stupid.\n\nThe next time the princess bought fish he began to talk about them at\ngreat length, and made her comprehend that he had understood her\nfeelings, and that the fire of love which was consuming her burned no\nless hotly in his heart than in her own.\n\nAnother time he spoke still more freely, and the princess learned that\nhe was unmarried; she was, besides, much pleased with his clever\nanswers, and as he was very attractive the royal maiden finally fell\nin love with him. She gave him a purse filled with money to purchase\nhandsome clothes, and told him to come back afterward and show himself\nto her.\n\nAfter he had bought garments like those worn by gentlemen, he put them\non and returned to the princess. She would scarcely have recognized\nhim, for even his gait and bearing had become as stiff as a noble's.\n\nAt last, unable to repress the love that glowed in her heart, the\nemperor's daughter told him that she would marry him.\n\nThe fisherman did not know much, but he was aware that such a dainty\nmorsel wasn't meant for his bill, and he could hardly believe what he\nheard with his ears and saw with his eyes; but when the princess\nassured him that she wasn't joking, he accepted her hand, though to\ntell the truth with many doubts and blushes.\n\nThe marriage did not exactly suit the emperor, but as he loved his\ndaughter and she was her parents' only child, he yielded to her\nwishes. The princess gave the fisherman another purse filled with\nmoney, and told him to buy himself still handsomer clothes. When he\nreturned, in garments that fairly glittered with gold, the royal\nmaiden presented him to the emperor, and the monarch betrothed them to\neach other.\n\nEre long a magnificent imperial wedding was celebrated. When the\ncompany sat down to enjoy the banquet, a soft-boiled egg, which,\naccording to ancient custom, only the bride and bridegroom were\npermitted to eat, was brought to the wedded pair. When the husband was\nabout to dip a bit of bread into the egg, the princess stopped him,\nsaying: \"I must dip first, because I am the daughter of an emperor,\nand you are a fisherman.\" The bridegroom made no reply, but rose from\nthe table and vanished. The guests, who did not know what had\nhappened, looked at one another and asked in surprise what this meant,\nfor they had not heard that the emperor's son-in-law had formerly been\na fisherman.\n\nThe bride repented her imprudence, bit her lips, and wrung her hands.\nShe ate what she was compelled to swallow, but she might just as well\nhave thrown it behind her, for not a morsel did her any good.\n\nAfter the feast she went to her room, but all night long she could not\nonce close her eyes or fall asleep, she was so sorrowful. She thought\nof her bridegroom so constantly that she was afraid she would fall ill\nfrom longing. Her principal grief was that she did not know why he had\ngone away without saying even one word.\n\nThe next day she went to the emperor and told him she was seized with\nso great a longing for her husband that she was going to follow him\ntill she found him. The emperor tried to detain her, but she would\nnot listen and set out on her journey.\n\nShe searched up and down the whole city, but did not find him\nanywhere. Then she wandered from place to place till she met him\nserving in a tavern.\n\nAs soon as she saw him she went up and spoke to him, but he pretended\nnot to know her, turned his head away, made no answer, and went about\nhis business.\n\nThe princess followed him everywhere, begging him to say just one word\nto her, but in vain. When the landlord saw that the stranger was to\nblame for the interruption in the work, he said: \"Why don't you let my\nservant finish his work in peace? Don't you see he is dumb? Be kind\nenough to go away from here, if you are a respectable woman.\"\n\n\"He isn't dumb,\" she cried, \"this is my husband, who deserted and fled\nfrom me on account of a fault of mine.\"\n\nAll the people in the tavern stood still in astonishment when they\nheard her words, for she was not joking; but the landlord could not\nbelieve it, he thought it would be impossible for a man who could\nspeak to live a whole week without saying even one word, and every\nbody really knew him as a dumb man, made him understand by signs, and\nliked him for his industry.\n\nThe princess then entered into an agreement with them all, that she\nwould induce him to speak within three days if they would only allow\nher to stay with him, but if she did not succeed she would be hung.\nThis agreement was put in writing and shown to the magistrates for\ntheir sanction. When the contract was concluded, the three days' trial\nwas arranged to begin the next morning.\n\nThe fisherman at first knew nothing about this agreement, though he\nheard of it afterward, but the emperor's daughter never left his side.\n\n\"My beloved husband,\" she said, \"you know I am to blame. I chose you\nbecause I loved you; I swear that I will never commit such a blunder\nagain; have pity on me, speak one word to me, save me from the\ndisgrace that is killing me. I know you have a right to be angry, but\nfor the sake of my love, forgive me.\"\n\nThe fisherman turned his head toward her, shrugged his shoulders, and\npretended that he did not know her, and did not understand what she\nwas talking about. One day, two days passed, and he did not even say\nboo. When the third came the princess was terribly frightened, and\nwherever the dumb man went she followed, beseeching him to say one\nword to her.\n\nBut the fisherman, feeling that she was softening him by her\nentreaties, fled like a savage that she might not assail him with\ntears, and pretended his heart was a lump of ice; but she did not\ncease imploring him a thousand times, so tenderly that it would have\nsoftened even a wild beast.\n\nAt last the third day also passed, and the fisherman had not even said\nbaa.\n\nEvery body wondered over these things. Nothing was talked of in the\nwhole city, except the mute servant at the tavern and the beautiful,\ncharming girl, who, it was supposed, had mistaken the dumb man for\nsome one else, and had now brought herself into trouble.\n\nThe next day the gallows was ready, and the whole population gathered\naround it to witness the end of the affair.\n\nThe magistrates were summoned to the place, and, against their will,\ncompelled to execute what was in the agreement.\n\nThe executioner came, and called upon the princess to submit to the\npenalty, since she had not succeeded in fulfilling the obligations she\nhad imposed upon herself; the girl turned once more to the fisherman,\nand, sobbing bitterly, tried to soften his heart, but in vain. When\nshe saw and understood that no escape was possible, she loosed her\nhair and let it fall over her shoulders, wailing so piteously that it\nwas enough to make even wood and stone weep for her, and so walked\ntoward the place of execution. All the people, old and young, were\nweeping around her, yet could not help her.\n\nOn reaching the gallows, she once more gazed hopefully at the dumb\nman, who had come with the crowd, but stood as if he were perfectly\nunmoved, and said to him:\n\n\"My dear husband, save me from death; you know my love for you, do not\nlet me perish so ignominiously. Speak but one word and I shall be\ndelivered.\" But the man only shrugged his shoulders and glanced\nbackward across the fields.\n\nThe executioner stood with the noose in his hand; two assistants led\nher up the ladder, and the hangman slipped the rope around her neck.\nOne moment more, and the princess would have been a corpse! But just\nat the instant the executioner was going to let her swing out into the\nempty air, the fisherman raised his hand, shouting: \"Hi! hi! stop!\"\n\nThey all stood motionless, tears of joy streamed from every eye as the\nhangman took the noose from the prisoner's neck. Then the fisherman,\nlooking at the royal maiden, said three times:\n\n\"Will you say fisherman to me again?\"\n\n\"Forgive me, my dear husband,\" the princess hastened to reply, \"I have\nonly said it once, and that was by mistake. I promise you not to do so\nagain.\"\n\n\"Let her come down, she is my wife.\"\n\nHe took her by the hand, and they went home together.\n\nAfterward they lived in peace and happiness, and if they haven't died,\nthey are living still.\n\n    Into the saddle then I sprung,\n    This tale to tell to old and young.\n\n\n\n\nLittle Wild-Rose.\n\n\nOnce upon a time something extraordinary happened. If it had not\nhappened it would not be told. It was when the wolves lay down to rest\nwith the sheep, and the shepherds feasted in the green fields with\nemperors and kings, when one sun rose and another set.\n\nThere was once a man, my dear good friends. This man would now--I am\ntelling no lie--this man would now be a hundred years old, if not\ntwenty more to boot; his wife, too, was older than any body I know;\nshe was like the Friday-goddess (Venus), and from youth to age had\nnever had a single child. Only those who know what children are in a\nhouse can understand the uncontrollable grief in the empty home of the\nold man and his wife. The poor old man had done every thing in his\npower to have his house brightened and filled with joy by what he\nhimself so greatly desired. He had given alms to the convents and\nchurches, he had had liturgies read in seven churches, had sent for\npriests with white beards, because they are the holiest men and have\nmore earnestness in prayer, and had had masses read for all the\nsaints and prayers for the last unction. But every thing was useless.\nThe old wife had clung to the witches and magicians. There was not an\nenchanter to whom she had not gone for advice, even if he lived a\nweek's journey off. As I said before, what wouldn't she have done! But\nit was vain, all was useless.\n\nOne day the old man said sadly and thoughtfully:\n\n\"Old wife!\"\n\n\"What do you want?\"\n\n\"Give me some provisions to take with me on my journey, for I intend\nto travel through the wide world, looking wherever I go to try and\nfind a child, for my heart aches and burns when I think that the end\nof my life is drawing near, and no heir will have my house after me,\nbut all my property fall into the hands of strangers. I have tried all\nways, now I will take this one. And I'll tell you one thing: If I find\nno child, I won't come home any more.\"\n\nWith these words the old man took his knapsack on his back, went out\nof the house, and began his journey. He walked on and on and on\nthrough the kingdom and the world, as God willed. Listen, good\nfriends, I am telling the truth. He walked on till he came to a thick\nforest, so dense that it seemed like a wall. Tree was intwined with\ntree, bush with bush, so that the sun could not even send so much as a\nray of light through the foliage. When the old man saw these vast\nwoods he thrice made the sign of the cross toward the east, prostrated\nhimself three times, also toward the east, and then entered with great\nsorrow. How long a time he spent in groping about the forest I don't\nknow, but I do know that one day he reached the entrance of a cave.\nThis cave was hundreds and thousands of times darker than the deep\nforest, as dark as it is when we shut our eyes, as dark as it usually\nis in endless caverns. The old man crossed himself three times, fell\non his knees several times, and then, with God's assistance, turned\naround a projection of a rock. He went about the distance of a\ngun-shot and saw a light in a cranny. Approaching nearer and nearer he\ncould not believe his eyes when he saw what was standing beside it. An\nold hermit! He was very old, as ancient as the world. He had a white\nbeard that reached to his knees, and when he raised his eyebrows and\nthen lowered them again they shaded the whole cave.\n\nThe hermit stood like a pillar of stone, his eyes fixed on a\npsalm-book on which his elbow rested, and which was sprinkled with big\nred characters; it was very, very old, so old that God alone knew to\nwhat period it belonged; and on a broad stone a yellow wax-candle\nblazed with a red flame and a blue smoke that was as dense as a cloud.\nThe old man approached the praying saint and, again falling on his\nknees, said:\n\n\"Good-evening, holy father!\"\n\nThe hermit was so absorbed in his litany that he heard nothing. So our\nold man spoke louder. The hermit did not stir, but made him a sign\nwith his crutch to move aside. The old man stood aloof till the hermit\nhad finished his prayer. When it was over, he raised his eyebrows and\nbegan:\n\n\"My son, what do you seek from me in this dark, cheerless abode? For\nmany centuries my eyes have seen no human face, and now I wonder what\nhas led your footsteps hither.\"\n\nThe old man answered:\n\n\"I kiss your right hand. My unhappiness has brought me here. I have\nlived with my wife many years, but we have no children, and I should\nlike to have an heir when I behold our Lord's glorious face.\"\n\nThe hermit took an apple, and, after having blessed it, cut it in two,\nand said:\n\n\"Take these two halves of the apple; give this one to your wife, eat\nthe other yourself, and in God's name do not wander over the world\nso.\"\n\nThe old man took the gift, kissed the hermit's right hand and feet,\nand left the cave. Entering the dense forest, he walked a long time\nbefore he came to the meadows. There a terrible thirst and burning\nsensation in the throat seized upon him. What should he do, for he\nfound no water? He did precisely what he was destined to do. He took\nthe half apple and ate it. But instead of the half intended for him,\nhe ate his wife's. He had scarcely swallowed it when he felt as if he\ncould go no further. So he sank down on the grass where a quantity of\nyellow cheese-wort was growing, and fell sound asleep. And the angel\nof the Lord came down from Heaven, and watched beside him. When he\nawoke, what did his eyes behold? The wonder of wonders! The most\nmarvelous of marvels! By his side, among the herbs, a little child was\ncrying and moving its tiny hands. The angel brought some basil and\nsome water that had been consecrated nine years, sprinkled the child,\nand christened it, giving it the name of \"Little Wild-Rose.\" The old\nman, happier than he had ever been at the sight of the pretty little\ngirl, took her in his arms, kissed her, and set off with her to his\nwife. When he reached the house he took a kneading-trough, put the\nlittle thing in it, set it on the roof, and then crawled into the\ncottage, saying:\n\n\"Come quick, wife, come quick, and see what a treasure of a daughter,\nwith golden hair and eyes like stars, our Lord has given me.\"\n\nWhen they hurried out, to see the treasure of a girl and take the\ntrough down from the roof, they saw nothing, no trace of the child\nanywhere. The old man crossed himself and sighed deeply. He searched\nhither and thither, right and left, but the little girl was nowhere to\nbe found. He hunted through the straw in the hut and on the ground\nbehind it to see if she had fallen down; but if she wasn't there she\nwasn't, and that ended the matter, for they couldn't stamp her out of\nthe earth.\n\nOh, heavens, how the old man grieved and wrung his hands in despair.\nHow could he help being startled by such a thing! He had put the child\nin the trough and seen her after he had laid her in it, and knew\nexactly where he had left her, and now to be unable to find her just a\nmoment after was quite too bad.\n\n\"What could have happened to the little girl? Has the angel of the\nLord taken her? Have the elves and wicked gnomes stolen her away?\nWhat in the world could have occurred!\" said the man, sighing.\nSomebody had taken her, that was plain. But neither angels nor elves\nnor wicked gnomes frequented the neighborhood. Now, my good friends,\njust listen to the amazing event. A vulture or a griffin, whichever it\nwas, but we'll say a griffin, was passing by, and, hearing the child's\ncries, swooped swiftly down, seized the little one, tucked her under\nits right wing, soared up into the sky with her, and took her to its\neyry to feed its young. After putting her in its nest, the griffin\nflew off again. But the young birds, instead of eating the little\ngirl, looked kindly at her, gave her some soft bread-crumbs, made a\nbed for her, and covered her with their wings to protect her from the\nchill of the morning air.\n\nI must now tell you that in this terrible forest, at the bottom of a\nwell of pure poison, lived a dragon with twelve heads, and this well\nwas not far from the tree in whose top rested the griffin's nest. This\nhorrible dragon never let the little griffins grow up, but as soon as\nthey were ready to fly stretched out two of its fiery heads and put an\nend to their lives, so that the poor old griffin had never yet, in all\nits life, been able to see even one of its children fly off.\n\nThe present brood were now full-grown, and were waiting for daylight\nto fly through the woods and mountains, when lo, just at midnight the\nwater of the well made a splashing noise, and what appeared in the\nmoonlight that flickered through the trees? Two fiery heads, which\napproached the nest, setting up such a howling and wailing that the\nmountains shook to their foundations and the valleys rocked to and fro\nlike cradles. Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, the joints of the\nearth and sky trembled and quaked, and the archangel, grasping a sword\nin his hand, appeared on a golden cloud, darting downward like a\nthunderbolt. Just as the dragon was going to seize the young griffins,\nthe angel flashed his sword from east to west, and again from west to\neast, cutting off both heads as easily as one drinks a spoonful of\nwater. Then two still more terrible ones came, but they were also\nhacked into pieces. Two others next appeared; they, too, were\ndestroyed, and so fared all the twelve. Blood and poison flowed till\nthe whole forest and valley were turned into a marsh, and the heads\ndashed against the tree which held the nest, so that the leaves fell\nfrom the boughs for ten miles around. The angel took some basil plant,\nand sprinkled the four quarters of the earth with water that had been\nconsecrated in Paradise nine years before. The pools of blood all\ngathered into one spot, the heads lost their vitality, and the ground\nopened, swallowing them up with all the blood, so that the wood once\nmore became pure and bright as God meant it to be.\n\nWhen the griffin came back at dawn, found its children safe in the\nnest, and saw that the accursed well had disappeared, it uttered such\na cry of delight that the earth for nine miles round trembled and\nshook.\n\nThen it waked the young birds and said:\n\n\"Tell me quickly, my darlings, who has done me this great favor?\"\n\nThe young birds shook their heads and replied: \"We don't know any\nthing about it, we have been asleep all night.\"\n\nAs the griffin looked about, its glance fell upon the little girl,\nwhose golden hair and starry eyes were glittering in the morning\nsunlight like the torches of Paradise, and the thought instantly\ndarted through its mind that this beautiful light must have rendered\nthe unspeakable benefit.\n\n\"Children,\" said the griffin, angrily, \"you haven't eaten the little\ngirl, what does this mean?\" The young birds kept as still as mice, but\nthe griffin straightway swallowed lovely little Wild-Rose, yet when\nshe appeared again she was seven times as beautiful as before.\n\nThe griffin now set about a great task; all day long it brought\nflowers and soft green moss from the woodland meadows to make the\nlittle girl a room like a fairy's nest, and this tiny chamber,\nwhenever the wind blew, rocked to and fro like a cradle. From this\ntime little Wild-Rose was as dear to it as its own children, nay, she\nwas the very apple of the griffin's eye, and it took care of her and\nfed her with the very best things a griffin could find.\n\nSo the little Wild-Rose with the golden hair began to grow and\nflourish like a stately lily. In the morning the merry dawn kissed and\nwoke her, at noon the shadows of the leafy boughs fanned her, and in\nthe evening she was lulled to rest by the gentle breezes and the tunes\nthat echoed through the forest from the shepherds' pipes.\n\nSo the little girl grew in beauty till she was able to stand alone,\nand one day, just as the evening-star was bathing in the rosy light\nleft by the sun when it sank behind the mountains, the Lord permitted\nwhat had been predestined to happen, though it was something that had\nnever occurred before, since this world was created and the sun began\nits course through the sky. So it happened that little Wild-Rose stood\nup, came out of her little room, and for the first time gazed into the\nworld. But when she looked at the evening-sky the air quivered, the\nrising stars trembled, and on the eastern horizon a second sun, more\nbeautiful and a hundred times brighter than the one which had set\nbehind the mountains, rose upward in majesty and splendor as if\nmounting from a sea of fire. The forests, chasms and valleys quaked,\nthe flowers whispered sweetly to each other and turned their little\nheads toward the vivifying waves of light. And now behold--the fairest\nflowers tried to drink in the little maid's glances, and the trees\naround bowed their tops to rejoice in little Wild-Rose's beauty. In\nshort, the whole of God's creation, the birds in the sky as well as\nthe beasts in the forest, exulted and jumped for joy over the divine\nmiracle.\n\nAfter that evening's festival, twice three days passed, then three\ntimes three, finally still more until little Wild-Rose was fourteen\nyears old.\n\nAt fourteen little Wild-Rose was beautiful--so beautiful that I am\nafraid to praise her and describe her perfections, lest you should\nafterward say that you had seen some one equally handsome. But there\nwas no one like her under the sun. Lovely as she was, no human being\nhad seen her, and she had no idea of empires and cities; she lived on\nsisterly terms with the flowers, danced with the butterflies, was\nlulled by the murmur of the brook, vied with the birds in singing.\nNow, my dear readers, forgive me for first telling you I would say\nnothing, and afterward adding a few words in praise of little\nWild-Rose. Who that has ever seen her can help talking about her?\n\nSo the days passed like hours and the hours like minutes, until one\nday a great hunt took place in the beautiful woods.\n\nThe emperor's son went to the chase too.\n\nWell, evidently this ought to have been. The prince, in a good or evil\nhour--I don't know which I ought to say--saw a deer bound into the\nthicket, and hurried after the animal faster and faster and faster,\ntill the young hero found himself where he had never been even in his\ndreams--in the very depths of the dense forest, which was still\nuntrodden by any human foot.\n\nWhen the prince discovered his situation, he stood still and listened,\nto try to hear some sound in this solitude; the barking of a dog, the\nblast of a horn, the report of a gun, any thing of the sort would have\npleased the youth. But he listened in vain, utter silence and solitude\nsurrounded him. After gazing around him for some time a dazzling light\ngleamed through the foliage. He glanced that way again, and felt that\nhe must know what was there. One, two, three, and he reached the spot\nto see what it was. And he found--found the tree with the dainty\nlittle swinging chamber, and the young griffins staring at him.\nWhatever he may have thought, he drew his bow and would have instantly\nshot off the heads of the whole brood, when, like a thunderbolt, a\nblaze of light flashed into his face, dazzling him so that he dropped\nthe bow and covered his eyes with his hands. When he looked that way\nagain, he saw for half a minute the face and figure of little\nWild-Rose, felt as if he were in the other world, and could not help\nfalling on the grass in a fainting-fit. When he recovered his senses\nhe called to the young girl to come down. But how was Wild-Rose to do\nsuch a thing? She did not go to a young man, but staid quietly at home\nwith her mamma.\n\nWhen the prince saw this he went away as he had come. Yet no, not\nexactly as he had come, for when he arrived his heart had not been\nfull of love and longing. Neither had he come through the bushes\nwithout any trace of path or opening. But now he tumbled about\nwherever he went, as though he had no eyes. Yet, however he returned,\nhe _did_ return, arriving just as the shepherds were driving their\ncattle from the pasture into the village, and there he luckily met two\nof his hunting companions.\n\nEarly the next morning heralds from the imperial court went through\nthe whole country, proclaiming that whoever would promise to bring a\nwonder of a girl from the forest of the well with two trees, would be\nreceived by the emperor as his councilor so long as he lived and the\nwhole court would do him honor. Lo, and behold! there came an old,\nlame woman, with a hump on her back and as much hair on her head as\nthere is on the palm of the hand. \"I am the person who can bring the\ngirl from the forest of the well with the two trees,\" she said. The\nheralds looked at the old woman and burst out laughing.\n\n\"Are you from Satan's kingdom, you scare-crow?\" said a herald. \"Who,\nin the Wood Witch's name, brought you in our way, for now we shall\nhave no luck. Begone from our sight.\"\n\nBut the old woman insisted that she could bring the girl from the\nforest. And she stuck to the heralds like a bur to a sheep.\n\nThen the oldest herald said: \"Comrades, take her with us, for the\nemperor said plainly that we were to bring to the court any person, no\nmatter who, that boasted of being able to execute his command; take\nthe old woman and put her in the carriage.\"\n\nSo they took the old woman and carried her to court.\n\n\"You have boasted that you could bring the girl from the forest?\"\nasked the emperor, seated on his throne.\n\n\"Long life to your majesty. Yes, I promised to do so.\"\n\n\"Then set to work.\"\n\n\"Let that be the old woman's care, but give me a kettle and a tripod.\"\nShe quickly received them and set off behind the emperor's huntsmen,\nher mouth chattering and the kettle rattling, as the gipsies do when\nthey bring a bride to her wedding. The prince had not remained at\nhome either. How could he have staid behind and not known the why and\nwherefore! When the party reached the forest, the hunters and the\nprince halted and the old woman went on, like the Wood Witch, alone.\n\nThe shrewd, cunning old woman lighted a fire under the tree where the\ngirl was, placed the tripod over the flames, and hung the kettle on\nit. But the kettle stood awry and upset as fast as she put it on.\nLittle Wild-Rose, who was looking down from her room and saw the old\nwoman's stupidity, lost her patience and called:\n\n\"Not that way, old woman, set the tripod the other way.\"\n\n\"But suppose I don't know how, my darling?\"\n\nAnd she vainly set it up, turned it round, and straightened it, the\nkettle would not stand. Wild-Rose grew more and more impatient and\nangry.\n\n\"Haven't I already told you once that it won't stand so? Turn the\nhandle of the kettle toward the trunk of the tree.\"\n\nThe old woman did exactly the opposite, and then said:\n\n\"Come down and show me, dear child.\"\n\nAnd Wild-Rose, absorbed by that one idea, climbed quickly down the\ntree to teach the crone. But the old woman taught her so that she\nneeded no second lesson. Seizing her by the arm, she lifted her on her\nshoulder and ran off with her to the enamored prince. When the prince\nsaw Wild-Rose, he came to meet her, begged for her hand, and,\ntrembling, kissed her. Then she was clothed in magnificent garments,\nwhich had been embroidered with gold and pearls by nine princesses.\n\nShe was placed in the imperial carriage, and the horses stopped only\nonce on the way home to take breath, for they had no equals except\namong the steeds of the sun. When they reached the palace, the prince\nlifted her out, led her in, and seated her at the table as if she were\na real princess. The young hero's parents gazed at her with delight,\nand remembered their own youth. At the end of a week a magnificent\nwedding was celebrated, which lasted for three days and three nights,\nthen, after twenty-four hours' intermission, three days and three\nnights more were spent in splendid festivities.\n\nI was there, too, but as I am lame in one foot, I did not arrive until\nthe wedding was over and had great trouble in finding some clear\nbroth, which I searched in vain for a crumb of meat and then sipped\nfrom a sieve, so you can imagine how much I had and how I spent the\ntime.\n\n\n\n\nThe Voice of Death.\n\n\nOnce upon a time something happened. If it had not happened, it would\nnot be told.\n\nThere was once a man who prayed daily to God to grant him riches. One\nday his numerous and frequent prayers found our Lord in the mood to\nlisten to them. When the man had grown rich he did not want to die, so\nhe resolved to go from country to country and settle wherever he heard\nthat the people lived forever. He prepared for his journey, told his\nwife his plan, and set off.\n\nIn every country he reached he asked whether people ever died there,\nand went on at once if he was told that they did. At last he arrived\nin a land where the inhabitants said they did not know what dying\nmeant. The traveler, full of joy, asked:\n\n\"But are there not immense crowds of people here, if none of you die?\"\n\n\"No, there are no immense crowds,\" was the reply, \"for you see, every\nnow and then somebody comes and calls one after another, and whoever\nfollows him, never returns.\"\n\n\"And do people see the person who calls them?\" asked the traveler.\n\n\"Why shouldn't they see him?\" he was answered.\n\nThe man could not wonder enough at the stupidity of those who followed\nthe person that called them, though they knew that they would be\nobliged to stay where he took them. Returning home, he collected all\nhis property, and with his wife and children, went to settle in the\ncountry where people did not die but were called by a certain person\nand never came back. He had therefore firmly resolved that neither he\nnor his family would ever follow any body who called them, no matter\nwho it might be.\n\nSo, after he had established himself and arranged all his business\naffairs, he advised his wife and all his family on no account to\nfollow any one who might call them, if, as he said, they did not want\nto die.\n\nSo they gave themselves up to pleasure, and in this way spent several\nyears. One day, when they were all sitting comfortably in their house,\nhis wife suddenly began to call:\n\n\"I'm coming, I'm coming!\"\n\nAnd she looked around the room for her fur jacket. Her husband\ninstantly started up, seized her by the hand, and began to reproach\nher.\n\n\"So you don't heed my advice? Stay here, if you don't want to die.\"\n\n\"Don't you hear how he is calling me? I'll only see what he wants and\ncome back at once.\"\n\nAnd she struggled to escape from her husband's grasp and go.\n\nHe held her fast and managed to bolt all the doors in the room. When\nshe saw that, she said:\n\n\"Let me alone, husband, I don't care about going now.\"\n\nThe man thought she had come to her senses and given up her crazy\nidea, but before long the wife rushed to the nearest door, hurriedly\nopened it, and ran out. Her husband followed, holding her by her fur\nsack and entreating her not to go, for she would never return. She let\nher hands fall, bent backward, then leaned a little forward and\nsuddenly threw herself back, slipping off her sack and leaving it in\nher husband's grasp, who stood stock still staring after her as she\nrushed on, screaming with all her might:\n\n\"I'm coming, I'm coming.\"\n\nWhen he could see her no longer, the husband collected his senses,\nwent back to the house, and said:\n\n\"If you are mad and want to die, go in God's name, I can't help you;\nI've told you often enough that you must follow no one, no matter who\ncalled you.\"\n\nDays passed, many days; weeks, months, years followed, and the peace\nof the man's household was not disturbed again.\n\nBut at last one morning, when he went to his barber's as usual to be\nshaved, just as he had the soap on his chin, and the shop was full of\npeople, he began to shout:\n\n\"I won't come, do you hear, I won't come!\"\n\nThe barber and his customers all stared in amazement. The man, looking\ntoward the door, said again: \"Take notice, once for all, that I won't\ncome, and go away from there.\"\n\nAfterward he cried:\n\n\"Go away, do you hear, if you want to get off with a whole skin, for I\ntell you a thousand times I won't come.\"\n\nThen, as if some one was standing at the door constantly calling him,\nhe grew angry and raved at the person for not leaving him in peace. At\nlast he sprang up and snatched the razor from the barber's hand,\ncrying:\n\n\"Give it to me, that I may show him what it is to continually annoy\npeople.\"\n\nAnd he ran at full speed after the person who, he said, was calling\nhim, but whom nobody else could see. The poor barber, who did not want\nto lose his razor, followed. The man ran, the barber pursued, till\nthey passed beyond the city limits, and, just outside of the town, the\nman fell into a chasm from which he did not come out again, so he\nalso, like all the rest, followed the voice that called him.\n\nThe barber, who returned home panting for breath, told everybody he\nmet what had happened and so the belief spread through the country\nthat the people, who had gone away and not returned, had fallen into\nthat gulf, for until then no one had known what became of those who\nfollowed the person that summoned them.\n\nWhen a throng set out to visit the scene of misfortune, to see the\ninsatiable gulf which swallowed up all the people and yet never had\nenough, nothing was found; it looked as if, since the beginning of\nthe world, nothing had been there except a broad plain, and from that\ntime the population of the neighborhood began to die like the human\nbeings in the rest of the earth.\n\n\n\n\nThe Old Woman and the Old Man.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old man and an old woman, who had not a\nsingle child in their old age, and it was very hard for them, because\nthey had no help, not even to light the fire; when they came home from\nworking in the fields, they were obliged to begin with lighting the\nfire and then prepare their food.\n\nOne day, when they were fretting and consulting each other, they\ndetermined to look for children whatever might happen.\n\nThe old man went one way, the old woman another, to find a child\nsomewhere.\n\nThe old man met a dog, the old woman a mouse. When they met again the\nold woman asked:\n\n\"Husband, what have you found?\"\n\n\"A little dog. And you, wife?\"\n\n\"A little mouse.\"\n\nThey now agreed to adopt the mouse for a child and drive the dog away,\nso the couple returned with the mouse, greatly delighted because they\nhad found what they sought, that is, a child.\n\nOn reaching home the old woman began to make a fire; then she set the\npot of sour buttermilk on to boil, and left the mouse to watch that it\ndid not fall over, while she went to work with the old man in the\nfields.\n\nAfter she had gone, the porridge boiled and splashed over the top of\nthe pot; the mouse, which was sitting on the hearth, said:\n\n\"Porridge, don't jump on me or I'll jump on you.\" But the buttermilk\ndid not stop and still splashed over the brim. When the mouse saw\nthis, it grew angry and leaped straight into the pot.\n\nWhen the old people returned from hoeing and called their child, there\nwas no child to be found. After searching for it a long time without\nsuccess, they sat sadly down to eat their dinner. Yet they ate the\nporridge with great relish until, when the old woman emptied the dish\nshe found at the bottom--what? The little mouse, their child, dead!\nShe began:\n\n\"Husband, husband, here it is, our child is drowned in the\nbuttermilk.\"\n\n\"How is that possible, wife!\" replied the bearded old fellow.\n\nWhen they saw this terrible accident, they began to weep and lament\nbitterly; the old man in his grief tore his beard, and the old woman\npulled the hair out of her head.\n\nThe old man left the house with tearful eyes and touzled beard; on the\nbough of a tree, in front of the hut, perched a magpie, which seeing\nhim asked:\n\n\"Why have you pulled out your beard, old man?\"\n\n\"Oh, my dear bird, how can I help tearing my beard, when my little\nchild has drowned itself in the pot of porridge and is dead?\"\n\nWhen the magpie heard this, it tore out all its feathers, leaving\nnothing but the tail.\n\nThe old woman set off with her bald head to the well, to get a jug of\nwater to wash the dead body of her child.\n\nBy the well stood a girl with a pitcher, who had come to draw water;\nwhen she saw the old woman she asked:\n\n\"My, old woman, why have you torn the hair out of your head till you\nare perfectly bald?\"\n\n\"Alas, my darling, how can I help tearing my hair and making myself\nbald, when my little mouse is dead?\"\n\nThe girl, in her grief, smashed her pitcher in two, then she hurried\nto the empress to tell her the story; the royal lady, as soon as she\nheard it, fell down from the balcony, broke her ankle, and died, while\nthe emperor, out of love for his wife, went away and became a monk in\nthe monastery of Lies, beyond the Country of Truth; while I\n\n    Acquaintance made with grandsires old,\n    To whom this simple tale I told,\n    It seemed to them such perfect chaff\n    That its bare memory raised a laugh.\n\n\n\n\nThe Pea Emperor.\n\n\nOnce upon a time something wonderful happened. If it hadn't happened,\nit wouldn't be told.\n\nThere was once a good for nothing fellow, who was so poor and needy\nthat he had not even enough to eat to be able to drink water after it.\nWhen he had wandered through all the countries in the world, he\nreturned home somewhat more sensible. He had passed through many\nperils abroad, knocked his head against the top of the door, been\nsifted through the coarse and the fine sieve. He would now gladly have\npursued some trade, but he had no money. One day he found three peas.\nAfter picking them up from the ground he took them on the palm of his\nhand, looked at them, pondered a long time, and then said laughing:\n\"If I plant these seeds in the ground, I shall have a hundred in a\nyear; if I afterward plant the hundred, I shall have thousands, and if\nI put these thousands in the earth I shall reap who knows how many!\nThen, if I go on in this way, I shall finally become a rich man. But\nif I could help wealth to come quicker--let me see!\"\n\nHe went to the emperor and begged him to order through the whole\nempire barrels in which to keep his peas.\n\nWhen the emperor heard that he needed such a quantity of barrels, he\nthought he must be stifling in money, and was more and more convinced\nof it when he entered into conversation with him. What is true must\nremain true; he didn't keep his mouth shut, but opened it and bragged\ntill it would have been supposed that real pearls fell from his lips.\n\nHe told the emperor what he had seen in foreign lands, related how\nthings were here and there, spoke of this and that, till the emperor\nstood before him with his mouth wide open. When he saw that the\nemperor marveled at his statements, he bragged more and more, saying\nthat he had palaces, herds, and other riches.\n\nThe sovereign believed the boaster's stories, and said to him:\n\n\"I see that you have traveled, know a great deal, and are cunning and\nexperienced; if you wish, I will gladly give you my daughter in\nmarriage.\"\n\nThe braggart now regretted having told so many lies, for he did not\nknow how to escape the monarch's proposal. After reflecting a short\ntime, he plucked up courage and said \"I will gladly accept the\nposition of son-in-law you offer, and will try to show you that I am\nworthy of it.\"\n\nThe necessary preparations were made, and after some time an imperial\nwedding was celebrated in the palace. Then the man remained there.\n\nOne, two, several weeks elapsed, and no trace of peas and wealth\nappeared. Finally the emperor began to repent what he had done, but\nthere was no help for it and the emperor's son-in-law perceived, from\nthe manner of the courtiers and nobles, that they had very little\nrespect for him.\n\nHis cheeks burned with shame. He made useless plans, tortured himself\nto find some means of getting out of the scrape, and could not even\nsleep at night. One morning without any one's knowledge he left the\npalace at dawn, walked on till he came to a meadow, and wandered along\nabsorbed in thought, without knowing where he was going. Suddenly a\nrosy-cheeked man stood before him, and asked: \"Where are you going,\ngossip, you look as sad and thoughtful as if all your ships had sunk\nin the sea.\"\n\nThe emperor's son-in-law related his dilemma and what he was seeking,\nand the man replied:\n\n\"If I deliver you from your difficulty, what will you give me?\"\n\n\"Whatever you ask,\" he answered.\n\n\"There are nine of us brothers,\" said the man, \"and each knows a\nriddle. If you guess them our whole property shall be yours, but if\nnot, your first child must be ours.\"\n\nThe emperor's son-in-law, utterly crushed with shame, agreed, hard as\nit was for him, hoping that before the child was born he might find\nsomebody who could tell him what to do.\n\nSo they set out together, that the stranger might show him the herds\nof cattle he owned and his palaces, which were not far off. They also\ninstructed the herdsmen, swineherds, shepherds, and laborers what\nthey were to say, if any body asked to whom the flocks and herds\nbelonged.\n\nThe emperor's son-in-law returned to the palace and said that he would\ntake his wife home the next day. On his way back he met an old man in\nthe fields, and, seeing how aged and feeble he was, he pitied him and\noffered him alms. The old man would accept nothing, but asked\npermission to enter his service, telling him that he would be none the\nworse for it, and the other received him. When the emperor heard that\nhis son-in-law wanted to go to his own palace, he was so delighted\nthat he commanded every thing to be arranged on a grand scale in order\nto accompany him with imperial honors.\n\nTherefore, on the following day, the whole court was filled with\nnobles, soldiers, and attendants of all kinds. All the directions for\nthe journey had been given by the old man who had taken service with\nthe emperor's son-in-law; he said that he was the Pea Emperor's\nsteward, and all praised his energy, dignity, and industry.\n\nThe emperor was in high spirits and set out with the empress, the Pea\nEmperor, and his bride, for his son-in-law's possessions. The old\nservant went before and had every thing in good order. But the poor\nPea Emperor was as pale and dejected as if somebody had showered him\nwith boiling water. He was thinking of the riddles and how he could\nguess them.\n\nThey drove and drove till they reached the fields. Here was a\nbeautiful meadow, beyond it a grove like the Garden of Paradise. When\nthe overseer of the fields saw them, he came up cap in hand.\n\n\"To whom do these estates belong, my friend?\" asked the emperor.\n\n\"To the Pea Emperor,\" replied the man.\n\nThe emperor grew fat with joy, for he now believed that his son-in-law\nreally was no beggar. They drove on some distance further and met\nnumerous flocks and herds of all sorts of animals; the emperor asked\none keeper after another to whom they belonged, and all replied: \"To\nthe Pea Emperor.\"\n\nBut when they reached the palace of the nine dragons the emperor\nmarveled at its magnificence. Every thing was in order. They were\nreceived at the gate by a band of musicians, who played the most\nbeautiful tunes ever heard. The interior of the palace was adorned\nwith real gems. A magnificent banquet was hastily prepared, and they\ndrank the finest wine.\n\nAfter the emperor had wished his son-in-law every happiness, he\nreturned to his own home greatly delighted with the riches he had\nseen. But the Pea Emperor was almost dead with anxiety.\n\nEvening came. The old servant said to his master:\n\n\"Master, what you have seen of me since I entered your service must\nhave convinced you of my fidelity. Now I assure you that I can help\nyou still more.\"\n\n\"Are you telling the truth?\" asked the Pea Emperor.\n\n\"Do not doubt me for an instant, master! And I ask one thing besides:\nlet me spend the night in some corner of the chamber where you are\nsleeping, even if it is behind the door. Moreover, I advise you not to\nanswer a single word, no matter who calls you by name or how great a\nnoise is made.\"\n\n\"Be it so!\" said the Pea Emperor. And so it was.\n\nAfter they had lain down and put out the light, they heard a dull,\nrumbling noise like an approaching thunder storm. Then a hoarse, rough\nvoice said:\n\n\"Pea Emperor, Pea Emperor!\"\n\n\"What do you want?\" replied the old man.\n\n\"I'm not calling you,\" it replied, \"I'm calling the Pea Emperor.\"\n\n\"That's just the same thing,\" replied the old man, \"my master is\nasleep, he's tired.\"\n\nThen the noise of many voices was heard, as if people were quarreling!\nAgain the first one repeated: \"Pea Emperor, Pea Emperor!\"\n\n\"What is it?\" the old man answered.\n\n\"What is one?\"\n\n\"The moon is one.\"\n\n\"Is it you, master?\"\n\n\"Burst, dragon!\"\n\nThen a terrible wailing arose, as if all the spirits of evil were\nabroad, and another voice said:\n\n\"What is two?\"\n\n\"Two eyes in the head see well.\"\n\n\"Is it you, master?\"\n\n\"Burst, dragon!\"\n\n\"What is three?\"\n\n\"Where there are three grown daughters in a house, _beware_ of putting\nyour head in.\"\n\n\"Is it you, master?\"\n\n\"Burst, dragon!\"\n\n\"What is four?\"\n\n\"The cart with four wheels runs well.\"\n\n\"Is it you, master?\"\n\n\"Burst, dragon!\"\n\n\"What is five?\"\n\n\"Five fingers on the hand hold well.\"\n\n\"Is it you, master?\"\n\n\"Burst, dragon!\"\n\nAgain there was a noise like a thunder storm, and the palace shook as\nif the earth was quaking. And again there was a shout for the Pea\nEmperor. But the latter became more and more quiet, and scarcely\nventured to breathe, but remained perfectly still. This time, too, the\nold servant answered. Another voice asked:\n\n\"What is six?\"\n\n\"The flute with six holes blows well.\"\n\n\"Is it you, master?\"\n\n\"Burst, dragon!\"\n\n\"What is seven?\"\n\n\"Where there are seven brothers, don't meddle with their affairs.\"\n\n\"Is it you, master?\"\n\n\"Burst, dragon!\"\n\n\"What is eight?\"\n\n\"The plow with eight oxen furrows the earth well.\"\n\n\"Is it you, master?\"\n\n\"Burst, dragon!\"\n\n\"What is nine?\"\n\n\"Where there are nine grown daughters in a house, it is not swept.\"\n\n\"Is it you, master?\"\n\n\"Burst, dragon!\"\n\nThe Pea Emperor, who heard all this, could not sleep all night long,\neven when it grew so still that one might have heard a fly buzz; he\nwaited for daylight with the utmost impatience.\n\nWhen he rose the next morning the old servant had vanished. He went\nout of the palace, and what did he behold? The scattered corpses of\nnine dragons, which he gave to the ravens. While thanking God for\nhaving preserved his life and delivered him from disgrace, he heard a\nsweet voice say:\n\n\"Your compassion for the poor man saved you. Always be charitable.\"\n\n\n\n\nThe Morning Star and The Evening Star.\n\n\nOnce upon a time something extraordinary happened. If it had not\nhappened it would not be told.\n\nThere was once an emperor and empress who were childless. So they\nsought out all the wizards and witches, all the old women and\nastrologers; but their skill proved vain, no one knew how to help\nthem. At last the royal pair devoted themselves to almsgiving,\npraying, and fasting, until one night the empress dreamed that the\nLord had taken pity on her, and appearing to her, said: \"I have heard\nyour prayers, and will give you a child whose like can not be found on\nearth. Your husband, the emperor, must go to the brook to-morrow with\na hook and line, then you are to prepare with your own hands the fish\nhe catches, and eat it.\"\n\nBefore it was fairly daylight, the empress went to the emperor and\nwoke him, saying: \"Rise, my royal husband, it is morning.\"\n\n\"Why, what ails you to-day, wife, that you wake me so early?\" the\nemperor replied. \"Has any foe crossed the frontiers of my country?\"\n\n\"Heaven forbid. I've heard nothing of that sort, but listen to my\ndream.\"\n\nAnd she told him about it.\n\nWhen the emperor heard her story he jumped out of bed, dressed, took\nthe hook and line, and, gasping for breath, went to the brook. He\nthrew in the hook and soon saw the cork on the line bob. He pulled it\nout, and what did he see? A big fish, made entirely of gold. It was a\nwonder that he did not die of joy. But what did the empress say when\n_she_ saw it? She was still more out of her wits.\n\nThe empress cooked the fish with her own hands, the royal couple ate\nit, and the empress instantly felt that the promise would be\nfulfilled.\n\nThe maid-servant who cleared away the table saw a fish-bone on the\nempress' plate, and thought she would suck it, to know how food tastes\nwhen prepared by royal hands.\n\nOne day the empress received the gift of a beautiful boy, as handsome\nas a little angel. That same night the maid-servant, too, had a son\nwho looked so exactly like the prince that they could not be\ndistinguished from each other. The maid-servant's child precisely\nresembled the royal one. The prince was named Busujok,[2] the\nmaid-servant's son was called Siminok.[3]\n\n[Footnote 2: Busujok: Basil.]\n\n[Footnote 3: Siminok: Geaphalium, cat's foot.]\n\nThey grew up together, were taught their lessons, and learned as much\nin one day as other children in a whole year. When they were playing\nin the garden, the empress watched them from her window with great\ndelight.\n\nThey became tall youths and looked so much alike that people could\nnever tell which was the prince and which the maid-servant's son. They\nwere haughty in bearing, both were charming, winning in speech, and\nbrave, brave to a fault.\n\nOne day they determined to go hunting. But the empress was constantly\nfretting herself to find some way of recognizing her own son, for as\ntheir faces were alike and their clothes precisely the same, she often\ncould not distinguish one from the other. She therefore thought of\nputting some mark on the prince. So she called him, and while\npretending to be playing with his hair, knotted two locks together\nwithout his knowledge. Then the youths went off to hunt.\n\nThey hurried joyously through the green fields, skipped about like\nlambkins, gathered flowers, sprinkled themselves with dew, watched the\nbutterflies flit from blossom to blossom, saw the bees gather wax and\nhoney, and enjoyed themselves to the utmost. Then they went to the\nsprings, drank some water to refresh themselves, and gazed unweariedly\nat the sky, which met the earth on the horizon. They would fain have\ngone to the end of the world to see it close at hand, or at least far\nenough to reach the spot where the earth grows marshy before it comes\nto an end.\n\nNext they went into the woods. When they saw the beauties of the\nforest, they stood still with mouths wide open in astonishment.\nConsider that they had not beheld any of these things in their whole\nlives. When the wind blew and stirred the leaves, they listened to\ntheir rustling, and it seemed as if the empress was passing by,\ndrawing her silken train after her. Then they sat down on the soft\ngrass, under the shade of a big tree. Here they began to reflect and\nconsult each other about how they were to commence hunting. They\nwanted to kill nothing but wild beasts. They did not notice the birds\nwhich hopped around them and perched on the boughs of the trees; they\nwould have been sorry to hurt them, for they liked to listen to their\ntwitter. It seemed as if the birds knew this; they showed no fear, but\nsang as if they were going to split their throats; the nightingales,\nhowever, trilled only from their craws, that their songs might be the\nsweeter. While they stood there consulting, the prince suddenly felt\nso overwhelmed with fatigue that he could hold out no longer, but\nlaying his head in Siminok's lap, asked him to stroke his hair.\n\nWhile he was doing so, Siminok stopped and said:\n\n\"What is the matter with your head, Brother Busujok?\"\n\n\"What should be the matter? How do I know, Brother Siminok?\"\n\n\"Just see,\" replied Siminok, \"two locks of your hair are tied\ntogether.\"\n\n\"How is that possible?\" said Busujok. This discovery vexed the prince\nso much that he determined to go out into the wide world.\n\n\"Brother Siminok,\" he said, \"I'm going out into the wide world,\nbecause I can't understand why my mother tied my hair while she was\nplaying with it.\"\n\n\"Listen to reason, Brother Busujok, and do nothing of the sort,\"\nreplied Siminok; \"if the empress tied your hair, it certainly was not\nfor any evil purpose.\"\n\nBut Busujok remained firm in his resolve, and when he took leave of\nSiminok, he said to him:\n\n\"Take this handkerchief, Brother Siminok, and if you ever see three\ndrops of blood on it, you will know that I am dead.\"\n\n\"May the Lord help you, Brother Busujok, that you may prosper; but I\nbeg you once more by my love, stay!\"\n\n\"Impossible,\" replied Busujok.\n\nThen the youths embraced each other, and Busujok departed; Siminok\nremained behind, gazing longingly after him till he was out of sight.\n\nSiminok then returned to the palace and related all that had happened.\n\nThe empress was insane with grief. She wrung her hands and wept till\nit was pitiful to see her. But she did not know what to do, and at\nlast comforted herself a little by gazing at Siminok. After some time\nthe latter took out the prince's handkerchief, looked at it, and saw\nthree drops of blood on it. Then he said:\n\n\"Oh! my royal brother is dead. I shall go and look for him.\"\n\nTaking some provisions for the journey, he set out in search of\nBusujok. He passed through cities and villages, crossed fields and\nforests, wandering on and on till he reached a small hut. There he\nmet an old woman, whom he asked about his brother. The crone told him\nthat Busujok had become the son of the emperor who reigned in the\nneighborhood.\n\nWhen Siminok reached this emperor's palace, the princess, as soon as\nshe saw him, thought that he was her husband and came running to meet\nhim. But he said: \"I am your husband's brother; I have heard that he\nis dead, and came here to learn something about him.\"\n\n\"I can not believe it,\" replied the princess. \"You are my husband, and\nI don't know why you deny it. Has my faith been put to any test, and\nhave I ever deceived you?\"\n\n\"Nothing of the sort. But I tell you truthfully that I am not your\nhusband.\"\n\nThe princess would not believe this, so Siminok said:\n\n\"The Lord will show the truth. Let the sword hanging on yonder nail\nscratch whichever of us two is mistaken.\"\n\nInstantly the sword sprang down and cut the princess' finger. Then she\nbelieved Siminok, and gave him the hospitality which was his due.\n\nThe next day he learned that Busujok had gone out hunting and had not\nyet returned. So he, too, mounted a horse, took some greyhounds, and\nrode after his brother, following the direction in which he had gone.\nHe rode on and on till he reached a forest, where he met the Wood\nWitch. As soon as he saw her, he set off after her. She fled, he\npursued, until perceiving no way of escape she swung herself up into a\ntall tree.\n\nSiminok dismounted, tied his horse to a tree, made a fire, took out\nhis provisions, and began to eat, occasionally tossing the greyhounds\nsomething.\n\n\"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I'm so cold,\" said the Wood Witch, \"my teeth are\nchattering.\"\n\n\"Get down and warm yourself by the fire,\" replied Siminok.\n\n\"I'm afraid of the dogs,\" she said.\n\n\"Don't be frightened, they'll do you no harm.\"\n\n\"If you want to do me a favor,\" the Wood Witch answered, \"take a\nstrand of my hair and tie your dogs with it.\"\n\nSiminok put the hair in the fire.\n\n\"Oh! how horribly the hair I gave you smells--you have put it in the\nfire.\"\n\n\"Go away from here and don't talk any more nonsense,\" replied Siminok.\n\"One of the hounds put its tail a little too near the fire and\nscorched it, that's what smells so badly. If you are cold, come down\nand warm yourself, if not, hold your tongue and let me alone.\"\n\nThe Wood Witch believed him, came down, approached the fire, and said:\n\n\"I am hungry.\"\n\n\"What shall I give you to eat? Take what you want of all I have.\"\n\n\"I should like to eat you,\" said the Wood Witch, \"prepare for it.\"\n\n\"And I will devour you,\" replied Siminok.\n\nHe set the hounds upon her to tear her to pieces.\n\n\"Stop,\" cried the Wood Witch, \"call off your dogs that they may not\ntear me, and I'll give you back your brother with his horse, hounds,\nand all.\"\n\nSiminok called off the dogs.\n\nThe Wood Witch swallowed three times and up came Busujok, his horse,\nand his dogs. Siminok now set his hounds upon her, and they tore her\ninto mince-meat. When Busujok recovered his senses, he wondered at\nseeing Siminok there and said:\n\n\"Welcome, I'm glad to meet you so well and gay, Brother Siminok, but\nI've been asleep a very long time.\"\n\n\"You might have slept soundly till the end of the world, if I had not\ncome?\" he replied.\n\nThen Siminok told him every thing that had happened from their parting\nuntil that moment.\n\nBut Busujok suspected him; he thought that Siminok had won his wife's\nlove, and would not believe him when he told him the simple\ntruth--that such an idea had never entered his head.\n\nNow that Busujok had once begun to be jealous of his bride, he acted\nlike a lunatic! So, being overpowered by evil thoughts, he made an\nagreement with Siminok to bandage the eyes of their horses, mount\nthem, and let them carry their riders wherever they would.\n\nThis was done. When Busujok heard a groan he stopped his horse, untied\nthe bandage, and looked around him. Siminok was nowhere to be seen.\nJust think! He had fallen into a spring, been drowned, and never came\nout again!\n\nBusujok returned home and questioned his wife; she told just the same\nstory as Siminok. Then, to be still more certain of the truth, he,\ntoo, ordered the sword to jump down from the wall and scratch the one\nwho was wrong. The sword leaped down and wounded his middle finger.\n\nThe prince pined away, lamenting and weeping bitterly for the loss of\nSiminok, and sorely repenting his undue haste, but all was vain,\nnothing could be changed. So, in his grief and anguish, he resolved\nnot to live any longer without his brother, ordered his own eyes and\nthose of his horse to be bandaged, mounted it, and bade it hasten to\nthe forest where Siminok had perished. The horse went as fast as it\ncould, and plump! it tumbled into the very same spring where Siminok\nhad fallen, and there Busujok, too, ended his days. But at the same\ntime the morning star, the emperor's son Busujok, and the evening\nstar, the maid-servant's son Siminok, appeared in the sky.\n\n    Into the saddle then I sprung,\n    This tale to tell to old and young.\n\n\n\n\nThe Two Step-Sisters.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was an old widower, who had one daughter; he\nmarried again and took for his wife a widow, who also had a daughter.\nThe widow's daughter was ugly, lazy, obstinate and spiteful; yet as\nshe was her mother's own child, the latter was delighted with her and\npushed every thing upon her husband's daughter. But the old man's\nchild was beautiful, industrious, obedient and good. God had gifted\nher with every virtuous and lovable quality, yet she was persecuted by\nher spiteful sister, as well as by her step-mother; it was fortunate\nthat she possessed endurance and patience, or she would have fared\nbadly. Whenever there was any hard work to be done, it was put upon\nthe old man's daughter--she was obliged to get dry wood from the\nforest, drag the heavy sacks of grain to the mill; in short, every\ntask always fell to her lot. The whole livelong day she had no rest,\nbut was kept continually going up stairs and down. Still the old woman\nand her treasure of a daughter were constantly dissatisfied, and\nalways had something to find fault with. The step-daughter was a\nheavy cross to the second wife, but her own daughter was like the\nbasil plant, which is placed before the images of the saints.\n\nWhen the step-sisters went to the village in the evening to spin, the\nold man's daughter did not allow herself to be interrupted in her\nwork, but finished a whole sieve full of spools, while the old woman's\ndaughter with difficulty completed a single one. When they came home\nlate at night, the old woman's daughter jumped nimbly over the fence\nand asked to hold the sieve till the other had leaped over it too.\nMeantime the spiteful girl hurried into the house to her parents, and\nsaid she had spun all the spools. The step-sister vainly declared that\nthey were the work of her own hands; mother and daughter jeered at her\nwords, and of course gained their cause. When Sunday or Friday came\nthe old woman's daughter was brushed and bedizened as though the\ncalves had licked her. There was no dance, no feather-plucking in the\nvillage to which the old woman's daughter did not go, but the\nstep-daughter was sternly denied every pleasure of the kind. Yet when\nthe husband came home, his wife's tongue ran like a mill-wheel--her\nstep-daughter was disobedient, bold, bad-tempered, this, that, and the\nother; he must send her away from home, put her out at service,\nwhichever he chose; it was impossible to keep her in the house because\nshe might ruin her daughter too.\n\nThe old man was a jackanapes, or, as the saying goes, under petticoat\ngovernment. Every thing his wife said was sacred. Had he obeyed the\nvoice of his heart the poor old man might perhaps have said something,\nbut now the hen had begun to crow in the house, and the rooster was of\nno consequence; yet, if he had thought of opposing them, his wife and\nher daughter would have soon made him repent it. One day, when he was\nunusually angry about what his wife had told him, he called the young\ngirl, and said:--\n\n\"My dear child, your mother is always saying that you are disobedient\nto her, have a spiteful tongue, and are wicked, so that it is not\npossible for you to stay any longer in my house; therefore go wherever\nthe Lord may guide you, that there may no longer be so much quarreling\nhere on your account. But I advise you as a father, wherever you may\ngo, to be obedient, humble, and industrious, for here with me all your\nfaults have been overlooked, parental affection has aided, but among\nstrangers nobody knows what sort of people you may meet, and they will\nnot indulge you as we have done.\"\n\nWhen the poor girl saw that her step-mother and her daughter wanted to\ndrive her out of the house at any cost, she kissed her father's hand\nwith tears in her eyes, and went out into the wide world without any\nhope of ever returning home. She walked along the road till she\nchanced to meet a little sick dog, so thin that one could count its\nribs.\n\nWhen the dog saw her, it said: \"You beautiful, industrious girl, have\npity on me and take care of me, I will reward you some day.\"\n\nThe girl did pity the poor animal, and, taking it in her arms, washed\nand cleaned it thoroughly. Then she left it and went on, glad that she\nhad been able to do a good action. She had not walked far when she\ncame to a fine pear-tree in full bloom, but it was completely covered\nwith caterpillars.\n\nWhen the pear-tree saw the girl, it said: \"You beautiful, industrious\ngirl, take care of me and rid me of these caterpillars, I will repay\nyou for it some day.\"\n\nThe girl, with her usual diligence, cleared the pear-tree from its dry\nbranches and most carefully removed the caterpillars; then she walked\nquietly on to seek some place where she might enter into service.\n\nOn her way she came to a ruined, neglected fountain, which said to\nher: \"You beautiful, industrious girl, take care of me, I will reward\nyou some day.\"\n\nThe little maid cleared the fountain, cleaned it thoroughly, and then\nwent on again. As she walked she came to a dilapidated oven, which had\nbecome almost entirely useless.\n\nAs soon as the oven saw her, it said: \"You beautiful, industrious\ngirl, line me with stones and clean me, I will repay you some day!\"\n\nThe young girl knew that work harms no one, so she rolled up her\nsleeves, moistened some clay, stopped the holes in the stove, greased\nit and cleaned it till it was a pleasure to see it. Then she washed\nher hands and continued her journey. As she walked on, day and night,\nit happened, I don't know how--that she missed her way; yet she did\nnot lose her trust in God, but walked on and on until early one\nmorning, after passing through a dark forest, she reached a beautiful\nmeadow. In the meadow she saw a little house, completely overgrown\nwith vines, and when she approached it an old woman came out kindly to\nmeet her, and said: \"What are you seeking here, child, and who are\nyou?\"\n\n\"Who should I be, good dame! A poor girl, motherless, and I may say\nfatherless, too, for God alone knows what I have suffered since my own\nmother's hands were folded on her breast. I am seeking service, and as\nI know nobody and am wandering from place to place I have lost my way.\nBut the Lord guided me, so that I have reached your house and I beg\nyou to give me a shelter.\"\n\n\"Poor child!\" replied the old dame. \"Surely God himself has led you to\nme and saved you from danger. I am the goddess of Sunday. Serve me\nto-day, and I promise that you shall not leave my house empty-handed\nto-morrow.\"\n\n\"Very well, but I don't know what I have to do.\"\n\n\"You must wash and feed my little children, who are now asleep, and\nthen cook my dinner; when I come home from church I want to find it\nneither hot nor cold, but just right to eat.\"\n\nWhen she had said this, the old woman set off for church. The young\ngirl rolled up her sleeves and went to work. First of all she prepared\nthe water for the bath, then went out-doors and began to call:\n\"Children, children, children, come to mother and let her wash you.\"\n\nWhen she looked up, what did she behold? The court-yard was filled\nand the woods were swarming with a host of dragons and all sorts of\nwild beasts of every size. But, firm in her faith and trust in God,\nthe young girl did not quail, but taking one animal after another\nwashed and cleaned it in the best possible way. Then she set about\ncooking the dinner, and when Sunday came out of church and saw her\nchildren so nicely washed and every thing so well done she was greatly\ndelighted. After she had sat down to the table, she told the young\ngirl that she might go up into the attic, choose whichever chest she\nwanted, and take it away with her for her wages; but she must not open\nit until she reached her father's house.\n\nThe maiden went to the garret, where there were a number of chests,\nsome old and ugly, others new and beautiful. But as she was not a bit\ncovetous, she took the oldest and ugliest of them all. When she came\ndown with it, the goddess of Sunday frowned slightly, but there was no\nhelp for it, so she blessed the girl, who took her trunk on her back\nand joyfully returned to her father's house.\n\nOn the way, lo and behold! there was the oven full of beautifully\nrisen, nicely browned cakes. The girl ate and ate, as many as she\ncould, then took some with her for her journey and went on. Soon she\ncame to the fountain she had cleaned, and which was now filled to the\nbrim with water as clear as tears and as sweet and cold as ice. On the\nedge stood two silver goblets, from which she drank the water until\nshe was entirely refreshed. Then, taking one goblet with her, she\nwalked on. As she went, lo and behold! there stood the pear-tree she\nhad cleaned, full of pears as yellow as wax, perfectly ripe, and as\nsweet as honey. When the pear-tree saw the girl, it bent its branches\ndown to her, and she ate some of the fruit and took more pears to eat\non the way, just as many of them as she wanted. From there she\njourneyed on again, and lo and behold! she next met the little dog,\nwhich was now well and handsome; around its neck it wore a collar of\nducats which it gave the old man's daughter as a reward for taking\ncare of it in its sickness.\n\nSo the young girl at last reached her father's house. When the old man\nsaw her his eyes filled with tears and his heart throbbed with joy.\nThe girl took out the dog's collar and the silver goblet and gave them\nto her father; when they opened the chest together, out came countless\nnumbers of horses, cattle, and sheep, till the sight of so much wealth\ninstantly made the old man young again. But his wife stood as if she\nwere dazed, and did not know what to do in her rage. Her daughter,\nhowever, plucked up courage and said:--\n\n\"Never mind, mother, the world isn't emptied yet; I'll go and fetch\nyou still greater treasures.\"\n\nAfter saying this she angrily set off at once. She walked and walked\nalong the same path her step-sister had followed. She, too, met the\nsick, feeble dog, passed the pear-tree covered with caterpillars, the\ndry, neglected fountain, and the dilapidated oven which had become\nalmost useless; but when dog, tree, fountain and oven begged her to\ntake care of them, she answered rudely and scornfully: \"Do you\nsuppose I'll soil my delicate hands! Have you often been tended by\npeople like me?\"\n\nAs they all knew that it is easier to get milk from a dry cow than to\nmake a spoiled, lazy girl obliging, they let her go her way in peace,\nand no longer asked her for help. As she walked on and on, she too at\nlast reached the Goddess Sunday. But here also she behaved sullenly,\nsaucily, and awkwardly. Instead of cooking the dinner nicely and\nwashing Sunday's children as thoroughly as her step-sister had done,\nshe burned them all till they screamed and ran off as though crazed by\nthe burns and the pain. The food she scorched, charred, and let curdle\nso that no one could eat it, and when Sunday came home from church she\ncovered her eyes and ears in horror at what she found in her house.\nEven the gentle, indulgent goddess could not get along with such an\nobstinate, lazy girl as this one, so she told her to go up into the\ngarret, choose any chest she wanted, and then in God's name continue\nher journey.\n\nThe girl went, took the newest and handsomest trunk, for she liked to\nget as much as possible of the best and finest things, but was not\nwilling to do faithful service. When she came down she did not go to\nthe Goddess Sunday to receive her blessing, but hurried off as if she\nwere quitting an evil house. She nearly ran herself off her feet, in\nthe fear that her mistress might change her mind and follow her to get\nher trunk back. When she reached the oven there were some nice cakes\nin it, but when she approached to satisfy her hunger the fire burned\nher and she could take none. The silver goblets were again at the\nfountain and the fountain was full of water to the brim, but when the\ngirl tried to seize the cup to drink, the goblets instantly vanished,\nthe water dried up, and the girl almost died of thirst. When she came\nto the pear tree it stood full of pears, but do you suppose the\ntraveler could taste even one of them? No! The tree had made itself a\nthousand times as tall as before, so that its boughs touched the\nclouds! So the old woman's daughter might pick her teeth, she obtained\nnothing else. Going further on she met the dog, which again had a\ncollar of ducats round its neck; but when the girl tried to take it\noff the dog bit her so that he tore off her fingers and would not let\nher touch him. The girl, in rage and shame, sucked her delicate little\nhands, but it did no good.\n\nAt last, after great difficulty, she reached her mother's house, but\neven here she did not find herself rolling in money, for when the old\nman's wife opened the chest, out came a host of dragons, which\nswallowed her and her daughter as if they had never been in the world.\nThen dragons, trunk, and all vanished.\n\nThe old man could now live in peace, and possessed countless riches;\nhis daughter he married to a worthy, capable man. The cocks now crowed\non the gate-posts, the threshold, and everywhere, but the hens no\nlonger crowed as an evil omen in the house of the old man, who had not\nmany days of life remaining. He was bald and bent, because his wife\nhad quarreled with him too often and looked to see if he didn't need a\ndrubbing.\n\n\n\n\nThe Poor Boy.\n\n\nOnce upon a time something happened. If it hadn't happened, it\nwouldn't be told.\n\nThere was once a poor widow, so poor that even the flies would not\nstay in her house, and this widow had two children, a boy and a girl.\nThe boy was such a brave fellow that he would have torn the snakes'\ntongues out of their mouths, and the girl was so beautiful that the\nemperor's sons and handsome princes of every land were waiting\nimpatiently for her to grow up, that they might go and court her. But\nwhen the girl had reached her sixteenth year, the same thing befell\nher that happens to all beautiful maidens--a dragon came, stole her,\nand carried her far away to the shore of another country. From that\nday the widow loved her son hundreds and thousands of times better\nthan before, because he was now her only child and the sole joy she\nhad in the world. She watched him like the apple of her eye and would\nnot let him go a single step away from her. But much as she loved him\nshe was cheerless and sad, for, dear me! a boy is only a boy, but a\ngirl is a girl, especially when she is beautiful.\n\nThe boy, seeing his mother so melancholy, tried to grow stronger and\nstronger, and counted the days before he should be large enough to go\nout into the world and seek his sister, little Rosy Cheeks, along\nuntrodden paths filled with thorns. When he had reached his eighteenth\nyear he made himself a pair of calf-skin sandals with steel soles,\nwent to his mother, and said:--\n\n\"Mother, I have neither rest nor peace here so long as I see you so\nsick and sorrowful from constantly thinking of my sister; I have\ndetermined to go out into the wide world and not return till I can\nbring news of her. I don't know whether I shall find her, but at least\nI hope so, and that hope I leave with you for your consolation.\"\n\nWhen the widow heard these words she was forced to struggle with her\nfeelings ere she answered: \"Well, my son, my child! Do what you can\nnot help doing; when you return I shall see you again, and if you\ndon't come back I shall not weep for you, because the journey you have\nin view is a long one; therefore if you are absent a long time there\nwill always be the hope of your return.\"\n\nAfter saying this she mixed three loaves for him with her own milk,\none of meal, the second of bran, and the third of ashes from the\nhearth. The lad put the loaves into his knapsack, bade his mother\nfarewell, and went out into the world like a poor boy to whom all\nroads are equally long, all bridges equally wide, and who does not\nknow what direction to take. At the gate he stood still, cast one\nglance to the east, one to the west, one to the north, and one to the\nsouth, then took a handful of dust from under the threshold of the\ndoor, scattered it on the wind, and turned his steps in the direction\nthat it was carried by the breeze.\n\nThe Poor Boy walked and walked, further and further, through many a\nrich country, till he came to a moor on which no grass grew and no\nwater flowed. Here he stopped and pulled out his three loaves. He\nbegan with the one made of meal, because it was the handsomest, and as\nhe ate it his strength increased and his thirst was quenched. Again\nthe Poor Boy walked on, journeying across the wide moor a whole long\nsummer day until nightfall, when he reached a vast forest as extensive\nas the heath he had passed, but which was dense, gloomy, and forsaken\neven by the winds. When he entered the wood, he saw by the trunk of a\ntree an old woman with a bent figure and a wrinkled face. The Poor\nBoy, who for so long a time had seen no human countenance and heard no\nhuman speech, was greatly delighted and said merrily:--\n\n\"Good luck, mother! But how do you happen to come here, and what are\nyou doing in this wilderness of a forest?\"\n\n\"Your words are kind!\" replied the old woman sighing. \"Alas, age has\nbrought me down to this; I wanted to walk a little distance and can go\nno further because my feet will no longer carry me.\"\n\nWhen the Poor Boy heard this he pitied the old woman, went up to her,\nand asked whence she came, where she was going, and on what business\nshe was bent. The luckless fellow did not know that this person was no\nother than the Wood Witch, who waits on the edge of forests and meets\nthose who wander in these desolate regions, in order to delude them\nwith fair words and then lead them to destruction. When he saw her so\nfeeble, the boy remembered his three loaves, and, as if he were going\nhome the very next day, thought he would share his provisions with her\nthat she might get a little strength.\n\n\"I thank you,\" replied the Wood Witch, who had other designs upon him\nin her mind; \"but see, I have no teeth to chew your dry bread. If you\nwant to do any thing to help me, take me on your back and carry me, I\nlive close by.\"\n\n\"But just taste it,\" said the boy, who in his kindness of heart wanted\nto do her some good. \"It is only hunger that has made you so weak, and\nif this doesn't help you I'll carry you as you wish.\"\n\nWhen the Wood Witch saw the loaf made of meal she gazed at it with\ndelight; there was something about it--I don't know what--that made\neven the Wood Witch long for a morsel. And as she bit into it her\nheart grew softer. After she had eaten three mouthfuls she felt as if\nshe were a human being, like the rest of us, with her heart in the\nright place and a gentle temper.\n\n\"Learn, my son,\" she said to him, \"that I am the Wood Witch, and know\nvery well who you are, whence you come, and where you are going. It is\na great task you have before you, for your sister is in the other\nworld, which inhabitants of this earth can reach only in one way.\"\n\n\"And what is that?\" asked the Poor Boy impatiently.\n\nThe Wood Witch looked doubtfully at him.\n\n\"I don't advise you to take it,\" she said, \"it would be a pity to lose\nyour young life. But who knows, perhaps you'll have good luck; I see\nthat you have a tender heart, and whoever has that can bring many\nthings to pass; besides, I know you--you will have no rest till you\nhave found her. So learn--far away from here, after you have crossed\nsix moors and six forests, you will meet on the edge of the seventh\nforest, which extends to the frontiers of the next world, an old\nwitch; this witch has a drove of horses, and among them is an\nenchanted horse which can carry you to the other shore. But this steed\ncan be obtained only by the person who knows how to choose it from the\nwhole drove, after he has served the old witch for a year.\"\n\nThis was what the Poor Boy had wanted to know. He lost no more time,\nthanked the Wood Witch for her explanations, and set off, keeping\nstraight through the dense forest, because his road was long and he\nwas in a hurry. The Poor Boy walked like one who goes on a good\nerrand, and hurried like a person who wants to get home early. How far\nhe walked and how much he hurried any one can imagine, who remembers\nhow long a time he himself required to cross a single moor and a\nsingle forest. But, when his strength failed, he bit off a piece of\nhis loaf and instantly revived again.\n\nAs he came out of the sixth forest and passed near the clear waves of\na brook, he saw a wasp struggling in the water and pitied the insect.\nSo he took a dry branch and held out one end of it to the wasp, that\nit might crawl up on it and then use its wings. But this wasp happened\nto be the queen of all the wasps in the woods, and when she found\nherself saved by the boy's kindness she flew upon his shoulder and\nsaid:\n\n\"Wherever you go, may good-luck be your companion. Please pull out a\nhair from under my right wing and take good care of it, for who knows\nwhether it will not prove useful to you some day. If you need me,\nshake this hair and I'll come to you, in whatever part of the world\nyou may be.\"\n\nThe Poor Boy pulled out the hair, put it carefully away, and journeyed\non. Who knows how far he walked before he came to a great lake, on\nwhose shore he saw a fish flapping on the dry land. He pitied the poor\ncreature, which had scarcely a breath of life left, so he picked it up\nand tossed it into the water. But this fish was king of all the\nfishes, and had jeweled scales and golden fins. It swam once around\nthe lake, breathed two or three times to recover its strength, and\nthen came back to the boy and said:\n\n\"Wherever you go, may good-luck be your companion. Please pull off a\nscale from under my right fin and keep it carefully, who knows whether\nit may not be useful to you some day. If you ever need me, rub this\nscale and I'll come to you wherever you may be, as far as the water\nextends around the earth.\"\n\nThe Poor Boy took the scale, put it carefully away, and journeyed on.\nWho knows how far he walked ere he reached the seventh moor, where no\ngrass grew and no water flowed. There he found in his path a mole\nwhich had been surprised above ground by the daylight, and was now\ngroping piteously about in its blindness, unable to find its burrow\nwhere its children were starving, though it was only one jump away.\nThe youth pitied the mole, too, took it and carried it to its hill.\n\n\"Wherever you go,\" said the mole, \"may good-luck be your companion.\nPlease take a claw from my right paw and keep it carefully; who knows\nwhether it may not be useful to you some day. But if you need me,\nscratch on the ground with this claw and I will come to you in\nwhatever part of the earth you may be.\"\n\nThe Poor Boy took the claw, put it carefully away, and went on again\nover the endless moor toward the invisible forest that lay on the\nfrontiers of the other world. How many days and nights he journeyed\nover this moor heaven only knows; but one morning, when he woke, he\nsaw in the distance, as far off as if it were in the other world, a\nstreak of light like the fire shepherds build at the entrance of the\nfold. This was the home of the witch who had the enchanted horse.\n\nThe Poor Boy was greatly delighted when he found himself so near the\nend of the world, and his joy increased till, on the evening of the\nthird day, he reached the enchantress's house. Oh, dear! there he\nwas, in the midst of the moor, just at the edge of the forest, which\nstretched far beyond his sight in the dusk of twilight, upon a wide\nplain covered with green grass, through which flowed streams of clear\nwater, but in the middle of this plain rose a number of tall poles, on\neach of which was a human skull. The witch's hut stood in the midst of\nthese poles, with a tall poplar in front of it, and on the right and\nleft a willow tree. This proved that the Wood Witch was right--life\nhere was by no means merry. The Poor Boy plucked up his courage and\napproached to enter the hut, which stood as if deserted in the middle\nof the moor.\n\nThe old witch sat on a high three-legged chair in the entry, but\nbefore her stood a huge kettle on a big tripod, over a fire that\nburned without smoke. In one hand she held the shin-bone of a giant,\nwhich she used to stir the herbs stewing in the caldron. When the Poor\nBoy bade her good evening, she eyed him from top to toe.\n\n\"Welcome, my hero! I've expected you a long time, for this caldron has\nlong been rattling and telling me continually that you were on the\nway.\"\n\nThe lad was much pleased with this kind reception, for the old woman\ndid not seem to him at all peevish, as she looked kindly at him and\nspoke in a gentle voice. She, too, was glad, because she had again\nlaid hands on a man, for the poles bearing human skulls protected her\nfrom the malicious elves, who could not pass through them; and there\nwas still one piece of ground large enough for three heads, where\npoles had not yet been put.\n\nThey now agreed that the Poor Boy should watch the drove a whole year,\nand in payment receive the horse he himself should choose; but if he\nshould lose the drove he was to give up his head to the witch. The old\nwoman instantly stuck a pole in the ground and put the hero's hat on\nit. Then the youth ate something, that he might not go with the drove\nto the pasture hungry. While the boy was eating, the witch led the\nmares behind the hut and began to beat them with the giant's shin\nbone, telling them not to drink any water during the night, nor allow\nthe others to do so, because the water from the springs in the plain\nwould put them to sleep, and the old woman wanted the herd to graze\nall night. The boy knew nothing about this.\n\nWhen he came to the pasture with the drove he was attacked by so great\na thirst, that he would have walked from morning till night to find a\ndrop of water; so to quench it he lay down by a spring and drank, and\neven while drinking he fell asleep.\n\nWhen in the first gray dawn of the next morning he woke from his\nslumber, the drove had vanished, leaving no trace anywhere! It is only\nnecessary to remember that the lad's cap was already hanging on the\npole to understand how great was his despair. But he gazed around him\nin every direction without discovering even a sign of a horse; the\nmorning twilight was fast vanishing, and he stood utterly forsaken,\nnot knowing which way to turn. Then he recollected the service he had\nonce rendered the wasp, and thought that a wasp flies so fast that it\nmight discover the drove and bring him news of their hiding-place, so\nhe took the hair he had pulled from under the wasp's right wing and\nshook it. Quick as thought a buzzing noise was heard from every\ndirection--it grew louder and louder, till one might have thought the\nworld was going to ruin. Good gracious! There came one wasp after\nanother, one swarm behind another, whole ranks, great clouds of wasps\nof all sizes, all ready to circle the earth and obey the Poor Boy's\ncommands.\n\n\"Have no anxiety,\" said the Wasp Queen; \"if the drove still remains on\nthe earth, we'll bring the horses back to you ere sunrise.\"\n\nThen every thing became quiet, because the wasps flew off to every\nquarter of the globe and scattered all over the world. Ere long a\ncloud of dust appeared in the distance, swept with mad haste over the\nwide plain in the midst of the moor, and the drove of horses, urged by\nthe wasps' stings, dashed up so swiftly that the earth fairly groaned\nunder their hoofs. The Poor Boy thanked the wasps for their help, and\nthen went to the hut as if nothing had happened.\n\nThe old woman looked askance at him, said he had done well, and then\nbeat the mares again, ordering them to hide carefully at night. That\nevening the lad would eat nothing, because he thought the witch's food\nhad caused his terrible thirst the night before; but when he went with\nthe drove to the pasture, a burning, consuming thirst seized upon him\nas soon as he saw the clear water, and wherever he went springs\nbubbled from under his feet. At last he could no longer control\nhimself, and relying upon the aid of the wasps, lay down beside a\nspring and had scarcely drunk when he instantly fell asleep. This time\nhe woke later than on the night before, because he had gone to sleep\nlater, so he was later in shaking the hair he had pulled out from\nunder the wasp's wing, and the swarms of wasps were later in coming to\nseek and drive the horses home.\n\nBut what did the youth see? Ere long one swarm after another returned,\neach bringing news that the drove could not be found on the surface of\nthe earth and must have hidden somewhere in the sea.\n\nThe sun was about to rise. The Poor Boy took the fish-scale, rubbed\nit, and suddenly there appeared in the springs at his feet a school of\ntiny fish, that filled every channel, and asked what were his wishes\nand commands. He told them what he desired and instantly all the\nwaters on the earth, rivers, lakes, and seas, began to swell and dash,\nwhile the wasps flew off to be ready to pounce upon the drove as soon\nas the fish forced the horses to appear.\n\nThe Poor Boy had scarcely time to collect his horses and take them\nhome when the sun rose.\n\nThe old woman looked angrily at him, but said again that he had done\nwell, and gave the mares a still more terrible beating; for the year\nconsisted of three days, and if they did not hide successfully that\nnight the hero might demand his wages.\n\nThe Poor Boy knew this too. So he began to eat his meal-loaf as he\nwent with the drove to the pasture, and whenever he bit off a piece\nhis strength increased and his thirst was quenched. Yet, whenever he\nsaw the springs or heard the water rippling over the pebbles, he grew\nthirsty again, and so devoured the whole of the meal-loaf. He ought\nnow to have taken the bran loaf, but did not venture to do so because\nhe still had a long journey before him, and was afraid of being\nwithout food. Therefore he again relied on the aid of the wasps and\nfishes, lay down by a spring, and as soon as he had drunk fell asleep.\n\nWhen he awoke it was broad daylight, though the sun had not yet risen.\nHe shook the hair, but the wasps came with the tidings that the drove\nwas not on the surface of the earth, he rubbed the fish-scale, but the\nfishes said the horses were not under the water either; so, in his\ndespair, he seized the mole's claw and scratched on the ground with\nit.\n\nThen you should have seen the wonder! The wasps buzzed, the fish\nsearched all the water in the world, and the moles began to rummage\nthe earth, furrowing it in every direction as if they meant to make it\ninto pap. When the first sunbeams touched the top of the poplar before\nthe hut, the drove dashed like hunted ghosts to the Poor Boy; if the\nhorses tried to go into the water the fish scared them back, if they\ntried to hide themselves in the ground the claws of the moles drove\nthem out, and so they were forced to go wherever the wasps guided\nthem.\n\nThe Poor Boy thanked his friends for their help, and returned home\njust as the sun shone upon the hut. The old woman looked angrily at\nhim, but said nothing.\n\nBut now trouble came. The year was over, and the Poor Boy began to\nrack his brains because he did not know which horse in the drove he\nought to choose. That's the way with over-hasty people. The Wood Witch\ncould probably have told him this, too, if he had not left her so\nquickly. Now he went to work hap-hazard. Still, he thought, whatever\nhe might hit upon he should not fare badly, for on a long journey it\nwas better at any rate to be on horseback than on foot. Besides, he\nhad seen the old witch's horses run and knew that they were fine\nanimals, no worthless jades. So he went through the drove, and as he\nwalked noticed a sick filly, which he pitied because it looked so\nneglected, but he did not think of choosing it. But, no matter how\nmuch he turned and twisted, he always stopped beside this animal, for\nhe was very kind-hearted and told himself that, even if he could not\nmake much use of it, he could at least do the poor creature some\nservice.\n\n\"Who knows,\" he said, \"if I should comb, brush, and curry it, perhaps\nit may yet make a good horse!\"\n\nSo he chose it, and resolved to take with him the pouch containing the\ncomb, brush, and curry-comb, in order to carefully tend his horse.\n\nThe old witch turned green with spite when she heard that the youth\nhad chosen this steed, for it was the very one. But what could she do?\nShe was obliged to keep her promise. She merely advised him to select\nanother, better animal, telling him that he would soon be without a\nhorse, and that good work deserved good wages, but at last she gave\nit to him.\n\nStill, a witch always remains a witch, and when the Poor Boy had\nmounted, taken leave of her, and ridden off, she went to the big\ncaldron, took it off and mounted the tripod, then she changed herself\nin face and figure and hurried after with the speed of curses, to\ncatch him, kill him, and get her horse back. The Poor Boy felt that\nsomething terrible was pursuing him, and set spurs to his steed.\n\n\"It's no use to spur me,\" said the horse, \"we can't outrun her, so\nlong as we are on her lands. But throw the comb behind you, to put an\nobstacle in her way.\"\n\nNow the Poor Boy knew that he had chosen wisely when he took the sick\nfilly. So he drew the comb out of the bag, flung it behind him, and it\ninstantly became a long, high fence, which the witch could not climb\nover, so she was obliged to go a long way round, and he thus gained a\nstart.\n\n\"Throw down the brush,\" said the horse, when it again heard the\ntrampling of the tripod near them.\n\nThe rider threw the brush, which turned into a dense growth of reeds,\nthrough which the old hag forced her way with much difficulty and many\na groan.\n\n\"Throw the curry-comb,\" cried the horse for the third time. When he\nhad flung that down, the Poor Boy looked back and saw a whole forest\nof knives and swords, and among them the witch trying to get through\nand being cut into mince-meat.\n\nWhen they reached the seventh forest, where the witch's kingdom ended,\nthe sick horse shook itself and became a handsome, winged steed, whose\nlike was never seen before or since.\n\n\"Now hold fast,\" said the horse, \"I am going to carry you as never\nhero went from this world to the other, for I, too, have a sister\nthere whom I seek.\"\n\nThe Poor Boy was dazed by the swiftness with which the horse flew over\nthe forest and alighted in the other world through a large opening in\nanother part of the woods. When he recovered his senses, he found\nhimself on the shore of the other world with the horse, which now\nshook itself a second time, changed into a handsome prince with long,\ncurling locks, and said:\n\n\"Wherever you go, may good luck be your companion, for you have\nreleased me from the spell the Wood Witch laid upon me. Learn that I\nam the son of the Red Emperor and set out to seek my sister, but on\nthe edge of the forest I met the Wood Witch, who complained that she\ncould walk no further and begged me to carry her on my back; but when,\nout of pity, I let her get on my shoulders, she changed me into a\nhorse and condemned me to retain that form until a hero took pity on\nme and mounted me, that I might carry him to the other world, there I\nwas to regain my human form.\"\n\nThe Poor Boy was greatly overjoyed to find himself no longer alone. He\ntook the bran loaf, broke it in halves, and gave one portion to the\nprince, that they might be brothers till death. The prince tasted the\nbread, and as he ate his strength and his love increased. They told\neach other their experiences, and then went on their way.\n\nFar, far off, just at the end of the coast-line, rose shining\nbuildings, which must be the dragons' palaces. The country here was so\nbeautiful, that one would have gladly traveled through it forever, it\nwas so radiant with light, so green, so rich in flowers, birds of\nbeautiful plumage, and tame, sportive animals. And in this country men\nnever grew old, but remained exactly the same age as when they entered\nit, for here there were no days, the sun neither rose nor set, but the\nlight came of itself, as if from a clear sky. The dragons, however,\nwere nowhere to be seen, and the two brothers for life continued their\nway. After they had walked as far as a three-days' march, they reached\nthe beautiful palaces and paused before them, because they were so\nmarvelously lovely, with high towers, and walls built of stones as\nsoft as velvet, covered with plates of snow that had been dried in the\nsun. But they seemed empty and deserted.\n\nThe Poor Boy and the prince entered, went through all the rooms filled\nwith costly ornaments, and, seeing no one, thought that the dragon\nmust surely have gone hunting and determined to wait for him. But they\nwere surprised that they did not find their sisters here. Each\nstretched himself on one of the beautiful divans and was going to\nrest, when suddenly both started up, amazed by what they heard.\n\nDear me! It was a song, so touching that it would have softened the\nvery stones; it made those who listened feel as if they were in\nheaven, and the notes were in a woman's voice. The two companions did\nnot listen long, but hurried off in the direction from which the sound\ncame.\n\nThis is what they saw--in one part of the palace was a glass tower,\nand in this tower sat a girl spinning, singing, and weeping, but her\ntears, in falling, were instantly changed to pearls. This maiden was\nso beautiful that, if she had been in the world, two men would have\nkilled each other for her sake. When the heroes beheld her, they stood\nmotionless and gazed longingly at her, but the girl stopped spinning,\nand neither sang nor wept, but looked at them in amazement.\n\nShe was not the sister of either youth, but as usually happens in such\ncases, the Poor Boy supposed she was the prince's sister, and the\nprince thought she was the sister of the Poor Boy.\n\n\"I'll stay here,\" said the Poor Boy, \"and you can go on, deliver my\nsister, and marry her.\"\n\n\"No, I'll stay here,\" replied the prince, \"you can go on and release\nmy sister, for this maiden shall be my wife.\"\n\nNow came trouble! When they understood that the lovely girl was the\nsister of neither, the handsome heroes seized their swords and were on\nthe point of fighting as men do fight when they are obliged to divide\nany thing.\n\n\"Stop,\" said the fair girl, \"don't attack each other. It is better\nfirst to discover whether I am really what I seem to you, or, after\nall, only a shadow! I am the Bodiless Maiden, who will not obtain\nform in this world until the dragon has stolen me from the other\nshore. I shall then be as you see me now, shall spin, sing, and weep,\nbecause I shall think of my mother who is spinning, singing, and\nweeping; and your sisters, who were stolen by the two older brothers\nof the dragon who rules this palace spin, sing, and weep, too.\"\n\nOn hearing this, the two heroes wanted to set off at once, in order to\nlose no more time on the way.\n\n\"Stop, don't be over hasty,\" said the Bodiless Maiden. \"You probably\nthink that you will conquer the dragons by mere will? Great deeds\nawait you. The old she-dragon put me here, that I might constantly\nspur on her youngest son, because it is written that all three\nbrothers are to be married at the same time. The two older brothers\nkeep your sisters prisoners, but can not wed them till the youngest\nson has stolen me. Whenever he comes home from hunting, he stops there\nwhere you are standing, gazes longingly at me, then arranges his\nweapons and feeds his horse with red-hot coals, but can't set out yet\nbecause my hour has not come. So stay and conquer him here, that he\nmay not steal me while you are on your way, for you would then be too\nlate in reaching your sisters. Yet mind one thing; you can not conquer\nhim outside of his court-yard, because he is invisible. So, when he\ncomes home, he throws his club at the gate with so much force that the\nearth quakes, the walls fall down, and any mortals who might be inside\nare buried alive. If you feel that you have strength enough to hold\nthe gates on their hinges, so that they can not give way when he hurls\nthe club against them, stay, otherwise go, in God's name, for it would\nbe a pity to lose your young lives.\"\n\nThe Poor Boy and the prince looked at each other, understood that the\ndeed must be done, and resolved to stay. While the Poor Boy went to\nthe gates to hold them, the prince drew his sword and awaited the\ndragon in the middle of the court-yard. You can perceive that this was\nno joke.\n\nVery little time passed, when suddenly, crash! the club struck against\nthe iron-barred gates so that one might have believed the world was\nfalling to pieces. The Poor Boy thought the muscles of his heart would\ncrack in two under the terrible strain, and the walls would crumble to\ntheir foundations--but he held the gates on their hinges. When the\ndragon saw that the palace did not fall down, he stood still in\nsurprise.\n\n\"What does this mean?\" he said. \"I must have grown very weak since\nyesterday.\" He did not suspect what awaited him.\n\nWhen, with some difficulty, he opened the gate, he did not notice the\nPoor Boy, but went straight toward the prince, who stood in mortal\nterror in the middle of the court-yard, for, after all, what would you\nexpect? A dragon is a dragon, and not a girl in woman's clothes.\n\nWe won't linger over the story any longer, we know what always happens\nwhen dragons and princes meet. They began the battle. The prince was a\nhero, but the dragon was the youngest of three brothers! They fought\nwith swords, who knows how long? then, when they saw that neither\ncould conquer the other in that way, they fought hand to hand, while\nthe Poor Boy held up the palace, that it might not fall down on their\nheads.\n\nWhen the Poor Boy saw that his strength was failing and neither was\nconquering the other, he called loudly: \"Seize him and throw him on\nthe ground, I can hold out no longer.\"\n\nThe prince grasped the dragon, summoned up all his strength, and\nhurled him on the ground so that his bones cracked and he lay\nsenseless; then he hastily took to flight, ran through the half-open\ngate, and pulled the Poor Boy after him; the walls fell, the huge\nsplendid palaces toppled down, and, as it were, buried the dragon\nalive. Nothing remained standing except the glass tower, now empty and\ndeserted. The Bodiless Maiden had vanished from it the very moment\nthat there was no longer any one who could have stolen her from the\nother world.\n\nThe two comrades thanked the Lord that they had been able to\naccomplish their task so far, and journeyed on, walking and walking,\ntill they reached the palace of the second dragon. Already in the\ndistance they saw the glass tower and heard the wailing song; but the\nPoor Boy's heart beat higher, because the nearer he approached the\nmore distinctly he recognized his sister's voice. When they reached\nthe beautiful great palace and saw the girl in the glass tower, both\nrushed up to break into the turret and clasp her in their arms.\n\nBut affairs could not be managed so easily. The girl in the glass\ntower, who was really the Poor Boy's sister, looked at them in\nsurprise; but when he told her that he had come to rescue her from the\ndragon's claws, she replied that she did not know him, and that\nneither in face nor form did he bear any resemblance to her brother.\nGreat was the Poor Boy's grief when he saw that his sister wanted to\nhave nothing to do with him, though for her sake he had crossed so\nmany moors and encountered so many dangers, but his sorrow became\nstill greater when she began to complain that she was dying of love\nfor the dragon. Every day, she said, he came and gazed ardently at\nher, yet day after day kept her a prisoner and did not marry her.\nStill, this was endurable to the Poor Boy, because she was only his\nsister; but when the prince saw the girl, heard her voice, and\nperceived her love for the dragon, he became perfectly frantic.\n\n\"Well then, if you won't come, we'll carry you off by force!\" he said,\nready to take the whole palace on his back and fly with it to the\nother shore.\n\n\"Gently, gently,\" said the girl; \"if it came to that, I need only pull\na nail out of this glass wall to bring the whole palace toppling down\nupon your heads. But I pity your youth, and advise you not to stay\nhere long, because my betrothed husband might catch you, and you will\nhave no one to mourn for you.\"\n\nThe Poor Boy now took his ash-cake from his knapsack and said:\n\"Sister, just taste this bread, and then say that I am not your\nbrother.\"\n\nShe held out her hand and the glass walls opened; but after she had\ntaken the bread and tasted it she felt that it had been mixed with\nher own mother's milk, and was seized with such terrible homesickness\nthat one might have wept for pity. \"Forward!\" she said hastily, \"let\nus fly, for if he finds us here, woe betide you.\"\n\nThe Poor Boy took her in his arms and kissed her, because she was his\nsister, but the prince embraced and kissed her, too, because--because\nhe was the Poor Boy's sworn brother.\n\nThen they agreed to serve this dragon as they had served his brother,\nso they waited awhile, received the dragon as he deserved, conquered\nhim, and after thanking God that they had overcome this peril too,\njourneyed on again to deliver the emperor's daughter.\n\nBut now came fresh trouble. The princess did not want to be rescued,\nand the prince had no token with him by which she might have\nrecognized him as her brother. In vain the Poor Boy told her that if\nshe did not come willingly, he would carry her off by force; she kept\nher hand on the dangerous nail and it was impossible to coax her.\n\nI must mention that it would go hard with them if they waited for the\ndragon; for there were only two champions, and if one held up the\npalace by keeping the gates on their hinges and the other waited for\nthe dragon in the middle of the court-yard, there was no one who could\nprotect them from the nail.\n\n\"Let me attend to it,\" said the Poor Boy, who, since he had seen the\nprincess, had grown fairly frantic. \"Either his life or mine!\"\n\nAs we perceive, he had determined to fight the dragon in the open\nground, where he could not see him,--a thing never heard of since\nfairy princes first began to fight the dragon's brood; for if it is\nhard to conquer a dragon at all, it is doubly difficult to vanquish\none when he is invisible, and no one had ever thought of such an\nexploit.\n\nThe prince and the Poor Boy's sister hid themselves in a ditch near\nthe palace, that the dragon might not see them; but the Poor Boy\nstationed himself a little behind the gate and waited for the dragon\nto hurl his club, in order to get near him, for when he no longer had\na club he would be obliged to fight either with his sword or with his\nfists.\n\nEre long, crash! the club struck the iron-barred gate, but the Poor\nBoy was not slow, he opened the other gate and ran out with it,\nleaving the palace to fall in ruins behind him.\n\n\"Come on, if you have the courage to show yourself,\" he shouted,\nbelieving that the dragon would make some reply and thus betray\nhimself.\n\nBut the dragon felt that he had found his match, and did not think of\nspeaking, but, invisible to the youth, approached, drew his sword, and\naimed straight at his enemy's head to hack it off, but the blow only\nbroke the lad's jaw. The wound hurt the Poor Boy, but it pleased him,\ntoo, because he now knew where to look for his foe; so he rushed in\nthe direction from which the blow had come, struck out, and felt that\nhe hit flesh, struck again, and again felt that he had hit, and so\ncontinued to deal short, swift thrusts, with, which he drove the\ndragon before the point of his sword. Suddenly he perceived that he\nno longer hit any thing and the dragon had escaped, so he stood\ncowering, like a person who does not know from whence the next blow\nwill come.\n\nThe dragon again aimed straight at the Poor Boy's head, and as he\nhacked, struck off his right ear.\n\n\"I'll pay you for that,\" shouted the youth, rushing upon him again.\nBut his strength was now greatly diminished, and he only hit the\ndragon twice before he lost him from the point of his saber.\n\nThe princess was watching their battle from her tower, which had\nremained standing, and as she watched wondered at the Poor Boy's\nheroic courage; but when she saw the dragon aiming a third blow at the\nyouth's head, she called: \"Dear hero, turn to the right and spit three\ntimes, then you can see your foe.\"\n\nWhen the Poor Boy heard this, he felt a hundred thousand times\nstronger than he had been before, and as he turned to the right, spit,\nand saw the dragon, he rushed upon him, seized him in his arms, and\nsqueezed him so that he crushed all his bones and flung him on the\nground as dead as a mouse.\n\nThe prince and the Poor Boy lost no time, but prepared to journey\nhome. The princess kissed the Poor Boy and his ear and his chin\ninstantly healed, so that he looked even handsomer than before. Then\nthe two comrades went to the dragon's stables, which were hidden under\nthe foundations of the fallen palace. Each took an enchanted horse,\nmounted, lifted his betrothed bride upon it, and hurried homeward.\n\nIf the Red Emperor had been only an ordinary mortal he would have\nrejoiced, but he was a sovereign to boot! He divided his empire\nbetween his son and his daughter's husband; the Poor Boy went to his\npoor mother's house to bring her to court and, when she had arrived, a\nwedding was celebrated, dear me! a wedding that will be talked about\nas long as the world stands.\n\n    Into the saddle then I sprung,\n    This tale to tell to old and young.\n\n\n\n\nMother's Darling Jack\n\n\nOnce upon a time something happened. If it had not happened it would\nnot be told.\n\nThere was once a man who had a child. This child was the youngest of\nseven which the Lord had given him, so it was destined from its birth\nto be lucky. It was christened John, because all dunces and upstarts\nare named John. The father loved little Jack like the very apple of\nhis eye. It could not have been otherwise, since the boy was the\nyoungest of seven children and the smallest, chubbiest, and fattest of\nthem all. But the father doesn't count for every thing. He comes and\ngoes, appears and vanishes, the house is only a sleeping-place for\nhim. The mother is the real soul of the household; she bathes one,\nfeeds another, and scrubs for a third. Jack was his mother's boy, his\nmother's pet, his mother's darling, his mother's handsomest and\nbrightest child.\n\nThey say it is not well for one person to be every thing, the lowest\nto be highest, and the child to govern the house. Jack grew larger\nevery day, and the larger he grew the more quarrelsome, obstinate,\nand consequently self-willed he became. So there was often, nay, to\ntell the whole truth, _very_ often, anger in the house on the boy's\naccount. Jack daily heard some harsh word; but as it proved that words\nmade no impression, punishment frequently followed. Ah! but Jack was\nthe youngest of seven. The one who punished suffered, not the one who\nwas chastised. If the father whipped Jack, the mother wiped away his\ntears; if the mother slapped him, she took care not to let her husband\nknow it. It is a bad example, when a child breaks a pot, for the\nmother to set to work to pick up the pieces; things are then in a bad\nway, and it is well not to waste another word about them.\n\nSo it ended. Jack became a very disobedient child, and disobedience\navenges itself on the disobedient. If his father wanted to teach him\nanything, and said: \"My dear Jack, look, do it so, this is right; this\nis the way oxen are harnessed in front of carts, this is the way the\nnail is driven into the wheel, this is the way sacks are carried,\" and\nother useful lessons, Jack's mind was fixed on other things, and he\nreplied, \"Oh! let me alone.\" And so from one \"Oh! let me alone,\" to\nanother \"Oh! let me alone,\" Jack grew into a big boy without having\neven learned so much as that a plow has handles, a mill is not a\nmortar, and a cow is not an ox. And he couldn't do much in this way.\n\nOne day his father was preparing to go to the fair. Every thing was\nready except one pin, which had not yet been put through the yoke.\n\n\"Father,\" said Jack, \"I'm coming with you.\"\n\n\"It will be better for you to stay at home, that you may not be lost\nin the market,\" replied his father.\n\n\"I want to go--\"\n\n\"I won't take you.\"\n\n\"I _will_ go.\"\n\n\"I won't take you.\"\n\nEvery body knows what forward children are. The instant they are told\nthat a thing can't be had, they want to seize it by force. His father\ncould not help himself, so he set Jack in the wagon and drove off with\nhim to the fair.\n\n\"Mind,\" he said, \"you must keep close to me.\" \"Yes, father,\" said\nJack, obediently, for the first time in the memory of the family. And\nuntil they reached the end of the village, Jack sat as if he were\nnailed to the back of the cart. At the end of the village he put out\none foot, then he raised his head and began to look around him.\nFinally he stood up, leaned on the side of the cart, and began to\nwatch the wheels. He could not understand how one wheel moved of its\nown accord, how one spoke hurried after another, constantly going\nforward without stirring from the spot, nay, without moving from under\nhis own nose.\n\nThey reached the woods. Jack perked up his nose and stared with his\nmouth wide open. The trees on the right and left set out and ran with\nall their might, one after another. There must be witchcraft in it.\nJack jumped out of the cart and again felt the solid ground under his\nfeet. But he once more stood with his mouth wide open. The trees now\nstood still, but the cart moved on further and further. \"Stop,\nfather, stop, so I can see how the wheels turn,\" the boy called after\na while.\n\nBut now his hair fairly bristled with fear. He heard his shout\nrepeated from ten different directions, while his father drove on\nwithout noticing his cry. \"Father!\" he called again, and again he\nheard the word ten times. Jack was terribly frightened, and seeing\nthat no place was as pleasant as home, began to run back there.\nNothing but a cloud of dust could be seen behind him. He ran on and on\ntoward home till he turned into the wrong road.\n\nNow you can see how unfortunate it is for inexperienced people not to\nlisten to the advice of wiser ones! Jack had done wrong in trying to\nrun home when he did not know the way through the forest. He ran for a\nlong time, then gradually slackened his pace and at last began to\nwalk, but kept on through forest after forest, across a meadow, and\nthrough the woods again, then across another meadow, till he was\ncompletely tired out, and weary of his life.\n\n\"Lord, have mercy on me, I will always be obedient in future,\" he\ncried, at last--and his heart must have been very heavy when he\nuttered such words.\n\nAfter that he did not walk much further. A short distance off, on the\nedge of the woods, stood a village. Jack jumped for joy when he saw\nit, and did not stop till he was in the middle of it. Then he went\nfrom house to house, and the further he went the more he wondered that\nhe found all kinds of houses except his own home. He did not know what\nto do, and began to cry.\n\n\"What are you crying about, my son?\" asked a man who was coming back\nfrom the fields in front of a cart drawn by four oxen.\n\nJack told his story, and the man pitied him. \"What is your name?\"\nasked the kind-hearted peasant. \"Jack,\" replied the boy.\n\n\"But your father, what is his name?\"\n\n\"His name is father,\" the lad answered.\n\n\"What is the village where you belong called?\"\n\n\"Village!\" he said.\n\nSo Jack could answer no questions, and the man could do nothing to\nhelp him. He therefore took him into his service as plow-boy, for he\nneeded just such a lad to guide the oxen while he held the handles of\nthe plow. Thus Jack became the servant of a worthy man in the village\non the edge of the forest. But he was of little use, because he had\nnot paid attention when good instruction was given him. And whoever\ndoes not know how to do any thing well, must expect a great deal of\nscolding.\n\nOne day Jack's master was preparing to go to market. \"Listen, Jack,\"\nhe said, \"grease the cart thoroughly, for we're going to market\nto-morrow.\"\n\nJack said \"Yes,\" took the grease, and began to scratch his head. He\ndid not know how to grease a cart. He had never listened when he had\nbeen told, nor looked when he might have seen it; so now he did not\nknow what to do. Finally, from what he had hitherto learned, he\nrecollected that the beginning of a cart is at the yoke, that is, the\npole. So he thought he must commence there if he wanted to do the\nbusiness thoroughly. He greased the thills, the pole, even the rack\nof the cart. Here he stopped, for there was no grease left. So he went\nto ask for some.\n\n\"Master,\" he said, after entering the room, \"give me some more\ngrease.\"\n\n\"Why in the world do you want more grease?\" replied his master\nangrily, \"I gave you enough to grease the cart three times over.\"\n\nJack said that there had only been enough for the thills, pole, and\nrack. When his master heard such words, he took Jack by the ear, led\nhim out, and gave him such a beating that never again in his whole\nlife did he forget that only the axles of a cart are to be greased.\nWell, what was the mother's darling to do--he was obliged to bear it,\nand then pay attention, that he might learn how to grease a cart.\n\nAfter the cart was ready, the oxen were put in and the master took his\nseat in front, but Jack crouched in the back of the cart like a little\nheap of misery, sobbing now and then from having wept so much.\n\"Silence,\" said his master sternly, \"don't let me hear another word\nfrom you!\" This was the last thing before they drove off.\n\nJack sat as still as a mouse; he was almost afraid to breathe. At\nlast, this grew tiresome. So he began to watch the wheels again. But\nhe was wiser now, and did not wonder at the wheels or the trees. Yet\nhe saw something he could not understand. Often as he had seen a wheel\ngo round, he had never noticed the pin spring from it. The cart passed\nover a big stone, and, \"klirr,\" the pin bounced out of the axle and\nfell on the ground. It was pretty to look at, but the lad didn't\nunderstand it. He would have liked to ask his master, but the farmer\nhad ordered him to be silent. After some time the nut loosened. Jack\nthought he understood why. Directly after--bump dropped the nut, too,\nand was left behind the cart. Jack started and was going to say\nsomething, but looked at his master and remembered that he had been\nordered to keep still. But one thing he did understand--if the nut had\ndropped on account of the nail, the wheel would come off for want of\nthe nut. He had scarcely comprehended this, when crack! the wheel fell\ninto the dust and was left behind the cart.\n\nThe cart moved on awhile upon three wheels, then it upset, breaking\nthe pole in two. Now they were in a bad fix.\n\n\"There it is,\" cried Jack in terror, \"didn't I say that would happen?\"\n\nWe will waste no more words on this subject! The farmer was in _such_\na rage! To be in the middle of the road with a broken pole is no joke.\nThe farmer seized Jack, gave him another sound thrashing, and then\ntold him to be off that he might cause him no more trouble. He was\nreally in the wrong, for he had himself forbidden Jack to speak. But\nJack was to blame, too--if he had always obeyed, he would have learned\nlong before just how far such an order went. He had been too obedient,\nobstinately obedient. And that isn't well either.\n\nThe farmer continued his journey as best he could, but Jack was left\non foot in the middle of the road. Alas! Woe betide him, I really\ndon't know what he is to do. He turned into a path he did not know,\nand hoped to reach home. Again he walked over meadows and through\nforests, walked for a long, long time, till his feet would scarcely\ncarry him. This time he found a village in a beautiful meadow, and\noutside the village was a man watching a flock of sheep grazing.\n\n\"How do you do, good sir!\"\n\n\"Thank you kindly, may you grow tall, my son.\"\n\nOne word led to another, and Jack briefly told the man his whole\nstory, from beginning to end, and the peasant was pleased, because,\njust at that time, he needed a shepherd-boy to drive the little flock\nto pasture, lead them to water, and watch them that they might not\nmingle with others. They were a particular breed of sheep, and he\nwould not have had them injured on any account. Such sheep, it was\nreported, were owned only by one emperor, from whom the peasant had\nobtained the single lamb. So they were sheep, well--we can imagine how\nbeautiful they were, since they had descended from a lamb that\nbelonged to an emperor!\n\nJack was glad, too, because he found himself in luck again. So they\nmade a bargain, and Jack became a shepherd boy.\n\n\"You must watch the sheep the whole livelong day, drive them down into\nthe valley to drink, and when it grows dark bring them back to the\nfold. If it seems cold, make a fire at the entrance of the pen, and\nthat the sheep may not freeze, drive them into the fold.\" These were\nthe peasant's orders, and Jack said he would do exactly as he was\ntold.\n\nDuring the day Jack watched the sheep; when he was thirsty he led them\ndown to drink, and as it grew dark drove them to the fold. This fold\nwas a strange contrivance. Jack had never seen one before. It was\ninclosed by a fence of woven willow branches, roofed with rushes that\nthe rain might not injure it, but in one place an opening had been\nleft, over which was a roof made of reeds, supported by posts. \"That's\nthe entrance to the fold,\" said Jack to himself, delighted with his\npenetration.\n\nAs he was cold he made a fire in the opening, just under the\nreed-roof. A fire is a fine thing, and Jack warmed himself by it. Then\nhe remembered that his master had told him he must drive the sheep\ninto the fold, to keep them from freezing. True, he did not understand\nwhy they should be any warmer inside the fold than outside, but he did\nas he was ordered. Seizing the finest ram, the one which wore the big\nbell round its neck, he pushed it through the opening into the fold.\nBut lo and behold! The fire was burning in the gap, and the ram was so\nscorched that not a thread of wool was left on its body.\n\n\"Oho, now I understand it,\" cried Jack, still more pleased. \"The sheep\nmust go through the fire to keep them from freezing.\"\n\nAnd, as he felt that he was doing right, he thrust all the sheep into\nthe fold one after the other.\n\nSuddenly he noticed that the fence, the thatching, and the roof above\nthe opening had all taken fire and were blazing merrily. Jack stood\nperfectly still. He had never seen any thing of the sort and rejoiced\nover carrying out his orders so well, for he perceived that the sheep\ncould not possibly be cold in the midst of the fire. So he contentedly\nwatched the work he had accomplished. One thing he did wish--that his\nmaster was there, so that he might have said, \"See how well I\nunderstand tending sheep.\"\n\nAnd the wish was fulfilled. His master was just sitting at the table\neating bread and onions, because it was a fast day. He looked out of\nthe window and saw a great fire on the mountains, and gazing more\nattentively at it, noticed that it was in the direction of his fold.\nThis seemed queer. With his mouth full he left the house, walked\nfaster and faster, broke into a run, and went higher and higher up the\nhill-side till at last, panting for breath, he reached his fold.\n\nAlas! Alas! What a sight! The fold burned down, the sheep of the\nimperial breed one and all roasted, so that one might have supposed\nthey were nothing but overripe melons. That was a bad job, really a\nvery bad job! Jack had done a great deal of mischief, and might be\nthankful to escape with a flogging. And so it happened. The farmer,\nenraged, nay, fairly furious, seized the cunning shepherd and beat\nhim, beat him so that he would have nearly killed him had not Jack\nluckily escaped from his hands. But after he got away Jack took to his\nheels and ran with all his might, so that he did not look round until\nhe was in the woods.\n\nWhat was to be done then? That's the way a person fares when he has\nno sense! If he had behaved himself, he would have been sitting\nquietly in the house eating barley-sugar and milk.\n\nJack walked on and on through the forest, turning to the right and\nleft, forward and backward, hither and thither, on and on he went,\npoor boy, trying to find some path that led home. He was so hungry and\nthirsty that he sucked the dew from the leaves and ate the oak-apples\nand acorns he found on the ground; then he grew tired and cross and\nfrightened. Woe betide any one who loses the way in a forest!\n\nNight came on, and darkness surprised him in the terrible woods. His\nhair stood on end and he was so terrified that a chill ran through\nevery vein when he heard the wolves, bears, and all sorts of wild\nbeasts howling and panting in the forest. There was no escape now.\nThen he saw a large tree with a hole in its trunk big enough to\nshelter him. Nearing it he noticed that this hole had been hollowed\nout. That was all right. He would hide in it to keep from being\ndevoured by the wild beasts, and was so delighted to find himself safe\nthat he no longer felt sorrowful or hungry. When we have escaped a\ngreat danger, we no longer think of small annoyances. Jack fell asleep\nfrom fatigue, and was just dreaming that he was at home eating millet\nand milk, when suddenly, piff, paff, puff, he heard a shot and started\nup in terror.\n\nWhat had happened? Only a few paces from him twelve big, horrible\nrobbers, foot-pads, had assembled with their captain, made a fire,\nroasted an ox, and were just tapping a cask of good wine; they were\ngoing to have a carouse. When Jack saw the ox on the spit he began to\nfeel almost famished. Dear me! he was so hungry that he would gladly\nhave turned into a wood-worm and gnawed the tree. The poor lad, in his\ninexperience, did not know what terrible people robbers are, so he\ncame out of the hole and approached them. This was not wise. Robbers\nare not to be trifled with.\n\nJack said he would like something to eat too. The robbers all stared\nat him, then drew their knives and swords and began to whet them to\ncut him in pieces and kill him before you could say Jack Robinson.\nThat's the way with robbers. They don't stand on much ceremony.\n\n\"Stop,\" said one of them. \"Might not this boy be useful to us?\"\n\n\"How?\" asked another.\n\n\"Perhaps he's the seventh child, then he can find the iron-wort for\nus,\" said the first speaker.\n\n\"That's true!\" they all shouted.\n\nSo they questioned Jack, and were wild with delight when they learned\nthat he actually was the seventh of seven children. The point in\nquestion was this--the robbers had learned that the emperor had\nreceived an immense sum of money, all in gold, from a merchant who had\nlong been his debtor; the wicked men wanted to steal this treasure.\nBut the emperor had put it in a room closed with seven iron-barred\ndoors, and on each door were seven locks wrought with great skill, so\nthat no one could open them. So this was a real imperial business,\nwhich required careful consideration. Therefore, the robbers had gone\nto a witch, that she might give them instruction and a powerful charm\nby means of which they could force their way through the royal locks\nand iron-barred doors. The witch had told them that nothing except\niron-wort would open the locks, and that the plant could be found only\nby the seventh of seven children while he was still an innocent child,\nin the gray dawn of morning, when it gleamed in the meadows among the\nother herbs. Moreover, whoever had the plant must then make a gash in\nhis finger, lay it in the cut, and leave it there till the wound had\nhealed, so that it might remain in the finger. After that any piece of\niron, lock, bolt, or chain, no matter how strong it might be, would\nopen at his bidding. Such a plant would be to the robbers not merely a\nsource of amusement, but a valuable possession. So they entertained\nJack and made him a soft bed where he could sleep soundly; but they\ntold him that they would kill him if he didn't find the plant. All\nnight long poor Jack dreamed of searching for the stalk of the herb.\nAt the first gray dawn the robbers waked the boy and sent him to look\nfor it.\n\nJack crept along on all fours, and while in this position, looking\nover the stalks of the plants in the meadow, he instantly saw one that\nglistened. That was the one he wanted! That was iron-wort!\n\nAmong the robbers was a one-eyed man, who had been locked up in the\nimperial dungeons and escaped loaded with fetters. The chains had\nafterward been filed off, but the handcuffs were made of a special\nkind of iron which fire did not melt and the file did not scratch.\nJack touched the handcuff with the plant, and \"klirr!\" it fell\nrattling to the ground.\n\n\"Aha, may you be lucky, my son, you have freed me from an annoyance,\"\nsaid the delighted robber.\n\nBut when the captain took the plant from Jack's hand to remove the\nsecond handcuff, he labored in vain, the iron would not obey him. The\nwitch had not told them that the herb would obey no one except the\nperson appointed by fate to find it.\n\nSo the robbers saw that the iron-wort would do them no good, and\nperceiving this they became very angry and sharpened their knives and\nswords to kill Jack.\n\n\"Stop,\" cried the one-eyed brigand. \"You have said that you would not\nmurder him if he could find the plant for us. He has found it. As men\nof our word, we must not kill him.\"\n\nAnd they did not, for robbers are men of their word; whether it is\ngood or evil, what they have promised they perform. Yet, fearing Jack\nmight give them up to justice, they found another way to get rid of\nhim.\n\nWhat did they do? They seized Jack and put him in an open cask, then\nclosed it, drove iron bands around it, and went away. It was an evil\ndeed.\n\nSo Jack went from good to bad, and from bad to worse, till at last we\nsee him fastened up in a wine-cask. What was to become of him! just\nthink, inside of a cask--that's the end of every thing! Jack began to\ncry, howl, and shriek till the hungry wolves heard him and came\nrunning up, thinking they could devour him. But they could do nothing\nbut lick their chops. Jack was shut up in the cask. As soon as he\ndiscovered that the wolves were near, he looked through the bung-hole\nand kept perfectly still.\n\nThe wolves then fell upon the remains of the ox and fought greedily\nover the bones. One, the largest and fiercest, seized a bone and\ncrouched down with it close by Jack's cask--Jack hardly dared to\nbreathe.\n\nSuddenly he saw the wolf's hairy tail come through the bung-hole. Jack\nwas terribly frightened. The tail came further and further in, and\nJack grew more and more alarmed. At last the wolf shook itself and\nleaned further back, so that the whole tail entered and touched Jack's\nnose. This was a bad business! Jack trembled with fear, and in his\nterror clutched the wolf's tail with both hands and held on with all\nhis might. The wolf was frightened, too, and took to flight, dragging\nthe cask after it. You ought to have seen the wonder; helter-skelter\nwent the brute, banging the cask against the trees, up hill and down\ndale. The wolf running, the cask following, Jack holding tight to the\ntail--that was worth seeing! Suddenly, helter-skelter the cask struck\nagainst a wall and burst open. The wolf ran on, but Jack found himself\nat home again, holding fast in both hands the wolf's tail, which had\nbeen torn off.\n\nSo fared mother's darling Jack. Whoever knows any thing more may\ncontinue his story.\n\n\n\n\nTellerchen.\n\n\nOnce upon a time something very extraordinary happened. If it had not\nhappened, it would not be told.\n\nThere was once a husband and wife. The husband had a son by a former\nmarriage, and the wife had a daughter by her first husband. This\nwicked woman could not bear the sight of her husband's son. One day\nshe said: \"Husband! If you don't send that boy away, I can't eat at\nthe same table with you any longer.\"\n\n\"But where shall I send him, wife? Let him stay till he is a little\nolder, then he will set up housekeeping for himself.\"\n\n\"I mean just what I told you--choose.\"\n\nWhen the man saw that he could do nothing with his wife, he said to\nthe boy: \"My dear son, you see I am growing old. I can no longer do\nwork enough to need no assistance. Your mother won't have you here. So\ngo wherever the Lord may lead you to earn your daily bread, and, if it\nis His will, I'll come to see you now and then if I can.\"\n\n\"I see, dear father, that my step-mother can't bear the sight of me,\nyet I don't know why. I have never been disobedient to her, but have\nalways done every thing she told me; still, it is all in vain, she\ncan't endure me. So I will go and work wherever God may guide me. I\nshall be able to earn my daily bread, for I'm a stout, capable lad.\nBut come and see me if you can, father, for I feel as if I should die\nof longing for you.\"\n\n\"Go and prosper, my dear son; may the Lord help you.\"\n\n\"May we have a happy meeting, dear father.\"\n\nAnd the poor boy, with tears streaming down his cheeks, left his\nfather's house. He walked on till at last he met a rich man, to whom\nhe hired himself as a servant. He remained in service seven years, and\nhis master was well satisfied, but suddenly such a longing for his\nfather seized upon him that he could bear it no longer. He told his\nemployer that he was going to see his parents, and his master said:\n\n\"Boy, you have worked on my farm seven years, and served me well. Does\nthe place no longer suit you, or have you been offered higher wages\nelsewhere, that you want to leave me?\"\n\n\"No indeed, master. But I long to go home,--I feel as if I wanted to\nsee my father again. If you think you still owe me any thing, please\nsettle my account.\"\n\n\"Well, my boy, one can't keep a servant by force, and you fixed no\nrate of wages when you came to me. As a reward for the services you\nhave rendered, you may choose from my herds two head of horned cattle\nand ten smaller ones.\"\n\nWhen the boy heard this, he hardly knew what to do with himself in his\ndelight at the thought of having earned so much by his labor. He went\namong the herds and flocks, looking up and down, and wondering which\nanimals he should choose. He did not want to take the best ones,\nbecause he thought his services were not worth so much. But neither\ndid he want to select the worst, he could not make up his mind to\nthat. So he chose from those of medium value. He did the same with the\nhorned cattle. But in searching his eyes fell upon an ox, which also\ngazed longingly at the youth. So he took this ox and a cow.\n\nNow he had no other thought in his mind except to go to his parents,\nbelieving that his step-mother would no longer look askance at him. So\nhe bade his master good-by and went away. Just think, the ox was\nbewitched, but the boy did not know it. He named the animal\nTellerchen.\n\nHe reached home. His father died of joy and came to life again when he\nsaw his son, who had grown tall and handsome, and so sensible too. But\nthe wicked old step-mother behaved like seven evil demons,--nay, like\nthe witch she was. The youth staid in his father's house, helped him\nwork in the fields, drove the cattle to pasture, and made himself very\nuseful. Whenever he went to the pasture with the cattle his mother\ngave him a cake; but it was made of ashes, and he could not eat it.\nWhat was he to do? At noon, instead of having something to eat like\nevery body else, he sat under the shade of a tree and wept over his\nlot, but he could not bring himself to tell his father, lest he should\nmake trouble between him and his wife. He had no comfort at home, no\ncompanions abroad, and so he grew sad and thoughtful. One day, when he\nwas crying with hunger, and even the herdsmen who had left their oxen\nwere eating, Tellerchen suddenly began to speak and said:\n\n\"Master, don't grieve any longer, throw the ash-cake away, seize my\nright horn, and eat and drink what you will find there.\"\n\n\"Why, Tellerchen,\" replied the youth, \"there must be witchcraft about\nyou too. Where was such a thing ever heard of, and how long have you\nbeen able to talk?\"\n\n\"Mind what I tell you. I see you are an excellent lad, and I am sorry\nyou should weep your youth away. Just try my advice, and you'll see\nthat it will be profitable to you.\"\n\nAnd it was. The youth seized Tellerchen's right horn. Behold what\nhappened! He drew out a roll as white as snow, and a glass of wine\nwhich would have made any one's mouth water. The lad ate and drank.\n\nThe step-mother noticed that the youth's face had grown fuller, that\nhe was in good spirits, and did all his work cheerily. Instead of\nseeing him grow thinner day by day, as she had expected, he constantly\ngained flesh. She soon discovered that Tellerchen must be at the\nbottom of the mystery, for she perceived that the boy took much better\ncare of him than of the other cattle. How should she manage to find\nout what he did and ate in the woods? She secretly sent her daughter\nafter him, and ordered her to watch what the youth did while pasturing\nthe cattle. The girl followed her step-brother without his knowledge,\nwatched him, returned to her mother and said, \"Mother, what I have\nseen to-day is beyond telling!\"\n\n\"You met the Wood Witch?\"\n\n\"A wrong guess,\" the daughter replied.\n\n\"You have seen a wizard, a dragon, or a griffin?\"\n\n\"No indeed! Heaven forbid!\"\n\n\"Or did a handsomer, richer, and more sensible youth follow you?\"\n\n\"What an idea! But it's useless for you to rack your brains, you can't\nguess.\"\n\n\"Then tell me what you saw, and don't chatter about it any longer.\"\n\n\"Mother, my step-brother's ox is enchanted.\"\n\n\"Didn't I always say that there was something the matter with the\naccursed beast?\"\n\n\"If you could have seen how he hugged and kissed him, sometimes on the\nright and sometimes on the left cheek, mother. I really felt as though\nmy heart would stop beating. Then directly after he seized his right\nhorn and pulled out some white rolls and wine, which he devoured as if\nthe wolves were after him. I tell you my mouth watered when I saw him\neat so greedily. Yet what amazed me still more was to hear the ox\ntalk. I stood with my mouth wide open, staring at him.\"\n\n\"Never mind, I'll get even with him.\"\n\nThe step-mother did not like the ox, and urged her husband to have him\nslaughtered, neither more nor less. All night long she teased him\nabout it. The poor old man told her that the animal was not his, but\nhis son's, that he was a fine beast and might yet be very useful to\nthem. But she would not listen, and never stopped talking until he had\npromised to kill the ox. Luckily the youth was awake and heard it all.\nAs soon as morning dawned he went to Tellerchen to curry and clean the\nanimal as he always did, but began to weep, and told the ox the fate\nin store for him. Tellerchen told him he must stand outside the house\non the bench by the door, and when the people were chasing him, to\ncatch him and take him to the shambles, he must jump on his back as he\npassed by. This was done, and after the ox had escaped he took his\nmaster to a forest far more beautiful than any the boy had ever seen.\nThere they built huts, and lived as if they were in clover, for the\ngrass in the surrounding meadows was so tall that a man might have\nlost himself in it, and was always so green and blooming that it made\nexcellent pasturage.\n\nOne day, when the youth was sitting comfortably before his hut,\nplaying on the flute, while the ox grazed at some distance, up came an\nenormous bull, so fat that his hide seemed ready to burst.\n\n\"Why did you come here, youngster, with your Tellerchen, to drink my\nwater and feed on my grass?\" he asked.\n\n\"I didn't know that this was your property,\" answered the youth,\n\"Tellerchen brought me here.\"\n\n\"Then tell him he must come to the Gold Bridge to-morrow and fight\nwith me.\" After saying this, he went away.\n\nWhen the ox came home at night he found the youth more sorrowful than\never before. \"What ails you, master, that you stand there as if you\nwere stupefied?\" asked the ox.\n\n\"What ails me?\" replied the youth. \"Why, I'm in a fine fix!\" And he\nrepeated all that the bull had said.\n\n\"Never mind, master, don't worry about it, leave that to me.\"\n\nEarly the next morning the ox left the lad in the hut and set off to\nthe Gold Bridge to fight with the bull; he fought till he had pushed\nhim under the bridge, and then came back home safe and sound.\n\nTwo days after another bull came, somewhat smaller than the first one.\nAfter saying the same things the other had said, he summoned\nTellerchen to fight at the Silver Bridge. The ox again found his\nmaster weeping, soothed him as he had done before, and went to fight\nthe second bull and hurl him under the bridge.\n\nAfter several days a third bull appeared, a feeble, unsightly, ugly,\ndirty animal, and said to the boy: \"Who gave you leave to come here\nwith your Tellerchen to drink my water and spoil the grass in my\nmeadows?\"\n\n\"What business is it of yours?\" replied the youth pertly.\n\n\"If it isn't my business, whose affair should it be?\" replied the\nbull. \"Whichever of you two will dare to fight with me may come\nto-morrow to the Copper Bridge.\"\n\n\"Don't worry,\" replied the youth carelessly, \"we will come.\"\n\nWhen Tellerchen returned from the pasture in the evening, his master,\nwith great amusement, told him every thing that had happened.\n\n\"Your mirth is out of place,\" replied the ox, \"for my time has now\ncome. The bull, sick and emaciated as he was, will overpower me. Watch\nour battle to-morrow, for I will not let you fight with him; you are\nyoung and delicate, and still have a great deal to see in the world.\nWhen you perceive that he is conquering me and about to push me under\nthe bridge, rush forward and seize my left horn, but don't open it\ntill you have reached home.\"\n\nWhen the youth heard this, he began to weep so that he could not be\nquieted, and grieved so much all night long that he had no sleep.\n\nEarly the next morning he went with Tellerchen to the Copper Bridge,\nwhere the puny-looking bull awaited them. They began the struggle, and\nfought and fought until toward the afternoon. Sometimes the ox gored\nthe bull, at others the bull the ox, and the victory still remained\nundecided. But when the afternoon was nearly over the ox's strength\nfailed, and, while the bull was carrying him off and in the very act\nof hurling him under the bridge, the boy rushed up and wrenched off\nhis left horn.\n\nHe wept,--Heaven knows how bitterly the poor lad wept by the bridge.\nBut seeing that his Tellerchen did not come out again from under the\nbridge and it was growing dark, he set off with his horn, and a heart\nbleeding with grief. He spent the night on a hill. The next day hunger\nvexed him, and thinking he should find something to eat in the horn\nTellerchen had left him, he opened it.\n\nWhat, I beg to ask you, do you suppose happened then! Whence came the\ncountless multitude of all sorts of cattle? How could he drive them\nhome? and to get them back into the horn again was impossible. He\nowned this to himself and began to weep bitterly. While thus\nlamenting, lo and behold! a dragon came up to him and said:--\n\n\"What will you give me, boy, if I put all these beasts back into the\nhorn for you?\"\n\n\"Half of them,\" replied the lad.\n\n\"I've no fancy for _that_,\" said the dragon, \"I want something else.\"\n\n\"Tell me what it is, and I'll see.\"\n\n\"When you love life best I am to be allowed to come and take the\ndearest thing you have, to devour it.\"\n\nThe lad, without exactly knowing what he was doing, agreed.\n\nThe dragon rapped three times with its tail and put all the cattle\nback in the horn, which the boy then took and went to his father, whom\nhe found alone. No one knew what had become of the old woman and her\ndaughter, they had vanished from the house.\n\nWhen the peasant saw his son grown into a youth he almost lost his\nsenses with joy, but managed to calm himself. His son opened the\nhorn, and instantly the fields and surrounding country were so filled\nwith cattle that every body was bewildered.\n\n\"Do all these flocks and herds belong to you?\" asked the old man.\n\n\"All, father. What shall we do with this multitude of beasts.\"\n\n\"Relieve the sorrows of the widows and the poor,\" he replied.\n\nThe youth followed his father's advice. There was no day the Lord\nbestowed on which he did not render some service to those who needed\naid. So it happened that not a single pauper was left in the\nneighborhood. News of the wealth and benevolence of the old man's son\nreached the imperial court, and as the emperor had a very clever and\nbeautiful daughter, he sent to ask the youth to become her suitor.\n\nWhen the young man heard that the emperor wanted him for a son-in-law\nhe was greatly astonished. But, on being summoned to the court, he\nwent there and behaved with so much good sense and dignity that the\nsovereign was not at all sorry he had cast his eye upon him. The\nprincess liked him because he was a handsome, proud, spirited\nRoumanian youth. Then, after having agreed among themselves, a wedding\nwas celebrated whose fame spread through the whole country. The young\nman's father was there too.\n\nAfter the dances and amusements of the marriage were over and every\nbody had gone home, the old man, according to ancient custom, placed\nin the room where the emperor's son-in-law and his bride were to\nsleep a roll of snow-white bread. Then he, too, went to rest.\n\nWhat happened during the night? The emperor's son-in-law suddenly saw\nthe dragon, which, with one jaw on the upper cornice of the door and\nthe other on the threshold beneath, told the young fellow it had come\nto settle their account and he must now give up to be devoured the\nbride sleeping beside him, whom he loved like the apple of his eye.\n\nThe old man's son, who had long since forgotten the settlement, did\nnot know what to do. He dared not rush upon the dragon and kill it,\nbecause he knew that they had made this bargain; his father had often\ntold him that, when a man has given his word, he has also pledged his\nsoul. Yet his heart would not let him yield up his beloved wife for\nthe dragon to devour. While he was torturing himself in trying to\nthink what he could do to neither break his promise nor give up his\nbride, the bread on the table began to jump about and said:\n\n\"Hi, dragon, I've been sowed, grew up, was mowed down and fastened\ninto a bundle, yet I bore it, do you now bear your trouble, too, and\ngo into the depths of the sea.\"\n\nThe dragon stood waiting. The bread went on:\n\n\"Then I was carried to the barn, horses trampled on me, I was winnowed\nand taken to the mill. Bear your troubles as I've borne mine, and go,\nthat we may hear your name no more.\"\n\nThe dragon still waited, and its tongue darted about in its mouth like\nlightning. The emperor's son-in-law and his bride remained perfectly\nquiet. The bread spoke again:\n\n\"Then I was ground, taken home, sifted, kneaded with water, put into\nthe oven, and baked till my eyes almost started out of my head, yet I\nbore it. Do you bear it too, you accursed dragon, and may you burst.\"\n\nThe noise that echoed through the air, as the dragon burst, was so\nloud that every body in the palace awoke. Men came running to the\nspot, what did they see? A monster of a dragon, burst and split open.\nIt was so huge that all shrank away in terror.\n\nAfterward they took the carcass, carried it out of the palace, and\ngave it to the ravens. Then the emperor's son-in-law related the whole\naffair. When the people in the palace heard it, they all thanked God\nfor having worked such a miracle and permitted the emperor's children\nto escape safe and sound. Then they lived in peace and happiness and\ndid good every where, and if they have not died, they may be alive\nnow.\n\n    Into the saddle then I sprung,\n    This tale to tell to old and young.\n\n\n\n\nThe Fairy Aurora.\n\n\nOnce upon a time something happened. If it hadn't happened, it\nwouldn't be told.\n\nThere was once a great and mighty emperor, whose kingdom was so large\nthat no one knew where it began and where it ended. Some believed it\nwas boundless, others said that they dimly remembered having heard\nfrom very old people that the emperor had formerly engaged in war with\nhis neighbors, some of whom had proved greater and more powerful,\nothers smaller and weaker than he. One piece of news about this\nemperor went all through the wide world--that he always laughed with\nhis right eye and wept with the left. People vainly asked the reason\nthat the emperor's eyes could not agree, and even differed so\nentirely. When great heroes went to the emperor to question him, he\nsmiled evasively and made no reply. So the enmity between the\nmonarch's eyes remained a profound mystery, whose cause nobody knew\nexcept the emperor himself. Then the emperor's sons grew up. Ah, what\nprinces they were! Three princes in one country, like three morning\nstars in the sky! Florea, the oldest, was a fathom tall, with\nshoulders more than four span broad. Costan was very different, short,\nstrongly built, with a muscular arm and a stout fist. The third and\nyoungest prince was named Petru--a tall, slender fellow, more like a\ngirl than a boy. Petru did not talk much, he laughed and sang, sang\nand laughed, from morning till night. Only he was often seen in a\ngraver mood, when he pushed back the curling locks from his forehead\nand looked like one of the old wiseacres who belonged to the emperor's\ncouncil.\n\n\"Come, Florea, you are grown up, go to our father and ask him why one\nof his eyes always weeps and the other always laughs,\" said Petru, one\nfine morning to his brother Florea. But Florea would not go; he knew\nby experience that the emperor was always vexed if any one asked him\nthat question.\n\nPetru fared just the same when he went to his brother Costan.\n\n\"Very well, if nobody else dares, I'll venture it!\" he said at last.\nNo sooner said than done, Petru instantly went and asked.\n\n\"May your mother blind you! What's that to you?\" replied the emperor\nwrathfully, giving him one cuff on the right ear and another on the\nleft. Petru went sadly away, and told his brothers how his father had\nserved him. Yet, after the young prince had asked what was the matter\nwith the eyes, it seemed as though the left one wept less and the\nright one laughed more.\n\nPetru plucked up his courage and went to the emperor again. A box on\nthe ear is a box on the ear, and two of them are two! It was no sooner\nthought than done. He fared just the same the second time. But the\nleft now only wept occasionally, and the right one seemed ten years\nyounger.\n\n\"If that's the way things stand,\" thought Petru, \"I know what I have\nto do. I'll keep going to him, keep repeating the question, and keep\nreceiving the cuffs on the ear until both eyes laugh.\"\n\nNo sooner said than done. Petru never made the same remark twice.\n\n\"My son Petru,\" began the emperor, this time in a pleasant tone and\nlaughing with both eyes, \"I see that you can't drive this anxiety out\nof your head, so I'll tell you what is the matter with my eyes. Know\nthat this eye laughs when I see that I have three such sons as you,\nbut the other weeps because I fear that you will not be able to reign\nin peace and protect the country against bad neighbors. But if you\nbring me water from the fountain of the Fairy Aurora that I may bathe\nmy eyes with it, both will laugh, because I shall then know that I\nhave brave sons on whom I can rely.\"\n\nSuch were the emperor's words. Petru took his hat from the bench by\nthe stove, and went to tell his brothers what he had heard. The\nprinces consulted together and soon settled the matter, as is proper\namong own brothers. Florea, being the oldest, went to the stables,\nchose the best and handsomest horse, saddled it, and bade farewell to\nhome.\n\n\"I will go,\" he said to his brothers; \"and if, at the end of a year, a\nmonth, a week, and a day, I have not returned with the water, you can\nfollow me, Costan.\" With these words he departed.\n\nFor three days and three nights Florea did not stop; his horse flew\nlike a ghost over the mountains and valleys till it reached the\nfrontiers of the empire. But all around the emperor's dominions ran a\ndeep gulf, and across this abyss there was only a single bridge. Here\nFlorea halted to look back and bid farewell to his native land.\n\nMay the Lord preserve even a Pagan from what Florea now beheld when he\nwanted to go on--a dragon! But a dragon with three heads and the most\nhorrible faces, with one jaw in the sky and another on the earth.\nFlorea did not wait for the dragon to bathe him in flames, but set\nspurs to his horse and vanished as if he had never been in existence.\nThe dragon sighed once and disappeared, without leaving a trace\nbehind.\n\nA week passed; Florea did not return; a fortnight slipped by, but\nnothing was heard of him. A month elapsed; Costan began to search\namong the horses to choose one. When morning dawned after a year, a\nmonth, a week, and a day, Costan mounted his horse, took leave of his\nyoungest brother, and saying to him, \"Come, if I am lost too,\" rode\noff as Florea had done.\n\nThe dragon at the bridge was now still more terrible, his heads were\nmore frightful--and the hero fled still faster. Nothing more was heard\nof the two brothers; Petru remained alone.\n\n\"I am going to follow my brothers,\" he said one day to his father.\n\n\"Then may God go with you,\" replied the emperor. \"He alone knows\nwhether you will have better luck than your brothers.\"\n\nSo the monarch's youngest son also bade him farewell and set off for\nthe frontiers of the empire. On the bridge stood a dragon still larger\nand more horrible, with jaws even more yawning and frightful. The\ncreature now had seven heads instead of three.\n\nPetru stopped when he beheld this monster. \"Get out of the way!\" he\nshouted. The dragon did not stir. Petru called a second and a third\ntime, then rushed forward with uplifted sword. Instantly the sky\ndarkened so that he saw nothing but fire--fire on the right, fire on\nthe left, fire before him, fire behind him. The dragon was spitting\nfire from every one of its seven heads. The horse began to neigh and\nrear, so that our hero could not strike with his sword.\n\n\"Hold! This won't do!\" said Petru, dismounting and seizing the horse's\nbridle with his left hand, while he held his sword in the right.\n\nThat plan would not do either. The hero saw nothing but fire and\nsmoke.\n\n\"I'll go home--to get a better horse,\" said Petru, and he mounted his\nsteed, and went away to come back again.\n\nWhen he reached the place his nurse, old Birscha, was waiting for him\nat the court-yard gate.\n\n\"Ah, my son Petru! I knew you would be obliged to come back again,\nbecause you didn't set out right.\"\n\n\"How ought I to have gone?\" asked Petru, half angrily, half sadly.\n\n\"You see, my dear Petru,\" the old nurse began, \"you can't reach the\nfountain of the Fairy Aurora unless you ride the horse which your\nfather the emperor rode in his youth; go, ask where and whose that\nhorse is, then mount it and depart.\"\n\nPetru thanked her for her directions, and then went off to inquire\nabout the horse.\n\n\"May the light grow black to you!\" said the emperor. \"Who told you to\nask me that? It must surely have been that witch of a Birscha. Are you\ncrazy? Fifty years have passed since I was young, who knows where the\nbones of the horse I rode then are rotting? It seems to me that\nthere's one strap of the bridle lying on the stable floor. It's all I\nhave left of the horse.\"\n\nPetru went off in a rage and told his old nurse the whole story.\n\n\"Just wait,\" cried the old woman, laughing. \"If that's the way things\nare, very well. Go and bring me the piece of the bridle, I shall know\nhow to turn it to some account.\"\n\nThe floor was covered with saddles, bridles, and straps; Petru chose\nthe most tattered, rusted, and blackest, and carried it to the old\nwoman, that she might do with it what she had promised. The old nurse\ntook the bridle, smoked it with incense, muttered a short spell over\nit, and then said to Petru. \"Now take the bridle and strike the\npillars[4] of the house with it.\"\n\n[Footnote 4: Roumanian peasant cottages usually have several pillars\nin front, which support the projecting roof.]\n\nPetru did as he was told. The old woman's charm worked well. Scarcely\nhad Petru struck the pillars when something happened--I don't know\nhow--that utterly amazed him. A horse stood before him, a horse whose\nsuperior the world never saw. Its saddle was made of gold and jewels,\nits bridle glittered so that one dared not look at it for fear of\nbeing blinded. A beautiful horse, beautiful saddle, and beautiful\nbridle for the handsome prince!\n\n\"Jump on the bay's back, my young hero,\" cried the old woman, making\nthe sign of the cross over horse and rider; then she repeated a short\ncharm and went into the palace.\n\nAfter Petru had leaped on the horse he felt thrice as much strength in\nhis arm and thrice as much courage in his heart.\n\n\"Hold fast, master, for we have a long journey and must go swiftly,\"\nsaid the bay, and the hero soon saw that they galloped, galloped,\ngalloped, as never horse and hero had galloped before.\n\nOn the bridge now stood a dragon whose like had never been there, a\ndragon with twelve heads, each one more terrible, more fiery than the\nothers. Ah, but the monster found its match. Petru did not quail, but\nbegan to roll up his sleeves and spit upon his hands. \"Out of the\nway!\" he shouted. The dragon began to spit fire. Petru wasted no more\nwords, but drew his sword and prepared to rush upon the bridge.\n\n\"Hold, calm yourself, master,\" said the bay, \"do as I tell you; press\nthe spurs into my flanks, draw your sword, and be ready, for we must\nnow leap over the bridge and the dragon. When you see that we are\ndirectly over the monster, cut off its head, wipe the blood from your\nsword on your sleeve, and put it in the sheath, that you may be\nprepared to fight when we touch the earth again.\"\n\nPetru struck in the spurs, drew his sword, hacked off the head, wiped\nthe blood away, thrust the blade into its sheath, and was ready when\nhe again felt firm ground under the horse's hoofs. So they crossed the\nbridge.\n\n\"Now we must go on,\" Petru began, after he had cast one more glance\nback to his native land.\n\n\"Forward,\" replied the bay, \"but you must now tell me, master, how we\nare to hasten. Like the wind? Like thought? Like longing? Or like a\ncurse?\"\n\nPetru looked before him and saw nothing but sky and earth--a\nwilderness which made his hair bristle with horror.\n\n\"We will change our pace and ride like each in turn,--not too fast\nthat we may not grow weary, and not too slow lest we should be late.\"\n\nThey rode on,--one day like the wind, one like thought, one like\nlonging, and one like a curse, until in the gray dawn of the morning\nof the fourth day, they reached the end of the wilderness.\n\n\"Now stop and go on at a walk, that I may see what I have never\nbeheld,\" cried Petru, rubbing his eyes like a person waking from sleep\nor one who beholds something that seems like an illusion. Before the\neyes of the young prince stretched a copper forest--trees, saplings,\nshrubs, bushes, ferns, and flowers of the most beautiful varieties,\nall made of copper. Petru stood staring, as a man gazes who beholds\nsomething he has never seen or heard of. He rode into the wood. The\nblossoms along the wayside began to praise themselves and tempt Petru\nto gather them and make a garland:\n\n\"Take me, I am beautiful and give strength to him who breaks me,\" said\none.\n\n\"Oh, no, take me, for whoever wears me in his hat will be loved by the\ngreatest beauty in the world,\" said another. Then a third and a\nfourth, each lovelier than its companions, stirred, and in sweet tones\ntried to persuade Petru to gather it.\n\nThe bay sprang aside whenever it saw its master stoop toward a flower.\n\n\"Why don't you keep quiet?\" cried Petru, somewhat sternly.\n\n\"Pick no blossoms, you will fare badly if you gather them,\" replied\nthe bay.\n\n\"Why should I fare badly?\"\n\n\"A curse rests on these flowers--whoever gathers them must fight with\nthe Welwa[5] of the wood.\"\n\n[Footnote 5: Welwa, an indescribable monster that exists in the\nimagination of the Roumanian peasantry.]\n\n\"With what sort of a Welwa?\"\n\n\"Now let me alone! But listen; look at the flowers and gather none of\nthem, keep quiet.\" Having said this the horse went on at a walk. Petru\nknew by experience that he would do well to heed the bay's advice. So\nhe turned his thoughts away from the flowers. But it was all in vain!\nIf one is unlucky, he can't get rid of his ill-fortune even if he\ntries with all his might. The flowers still offered themselves to him,\nand his heart grew weaker and weaker.\n\n\"Come what may,\" said Petru after a while, \"I shall at least see the\nWelwa of this wood, that I may know what the monster is like and with\nwhom I have to deal. If I am fated to die by its hands, it will kill\nme in some way, and if not I shall escape, though there should be\nhundreds and thousands like it.\" Then he began to pull off the\nflowers.\n\n\"You have done wrong!\" said the bay anxiously. \"But as the thing has\nhappened it can't be changed, so gird yourself and prepare to fight,\nfor here is the Welwa.\"\n\nThe bay had scarcely spoken and Petru had hardly twined his wreath,\nwhen a light breeze blew from all quarters of the compass and soon\nrose to a gale. The gale increased until everywhere there was naught\nsave gloom and darkness, gloom and darkness. The ground under Petru's\nfeet trembled and shook, till he felt as though somebody had taken the\nworld on his back and was dragging it away at full speed.\n\n\"Are you afraid?\" asked the bay, shaking its mane.\n\n\"Not at all,\" replied Petru, summoning up his courage, though chills\nwere running down his back. \"If a thing must be, all right; let it be\nas it is.\"\n\n\"You need not fear,\" replied the bay, to encourage him. \"Take the\nbridle from my neck and try to catch the Welwa with it.\"\n\nThe horse had just time to say this and Petru had not even a chance\nto unfasten the bridle properly, when the Welwa stood before him, a\nmonster so frightful, so terrible, that he could not look at it. It\nhas no head, yet it is not headless, it does not fly through the air,\nyet neither does it walk on the earth. It has a mane like the horse,\nhorns like the stag, a face like the bear, eyes like the polecat, and\na body that resembles every thing except a living being! Such was the\nWelwa which rushed upon Petru.\n\nPetru rose in his stirrups and began to strike, sometimes with his\nsword, sometimes with his arm, till the perspiration ran down his body\nin streams.\n\nA day and night passed away; the battle was not yet decided.\n\n\"Stop, so that we can rest a little while,\" said the Welwa, panting\nfor breath.\n\nThe hero let his sword fall.\n\n\"Don't stop!\" cried the bay quickly, and Petru set to work again with\nall his might.\n\nThe Welwa now neighed once like a horse, then howled like a wolf, and\nagain rushed upon Petru. The battle went on for another day and night,\nand was even more terrible than before. Petru grew so weary that he\ncould scarcely move.\n\n\"Stop now! I see I am dealing with a person who understands fighting.\nStop!\" said the Welwa for the second time. \"Stop and let us settle our\nquarrel.\"\n\n\"Don't stop!\" cried the bay.\n\nPetru fought on, though he could scarcely breathe. But the Welwa no\nlonger rushed so fiercely upon him and began to act with more care and\ncaution, as people do when they feel they have not much strength. So\nthe fight lasted till the dawn of the third day. When the rosy light\nof morning began to glimmer, Petru--how, I don't know, it's enough\nthat he did it--threw the bridle over the head of the wearied Welwa,\nwhich instantly became a horse--the handsomest horse in the world.\n\n\"Sweet be your life, for you have delivered me from enchantment,\" said\nthe transformed Welwa, and began to caress the bay charger. Petru\nlearned from their conversation that the Welwa was a brother of the\nbay horse, and had been bewitched many years before by Holy\nWednesday.[6]\n\n[Footnote 6: Miercuri-Mittwoch (Wednesday) and Mercuria, that is,\nfeminine form of Mercury.]\n\nPetru tied the Welwa to his horse, sprang into the saddle, and\ncontinued his journey. How did he ride? That I need not say. He rode\nswiftly till he got out of the copper forest.\n\n\"Stand still, and let me look at what I have never seen before,\" said\nPetru again, when they came out of the copper forest. A still more\nmarvelous one now stretched before him, a forest of glittering bushes\nbearing the handsomest and most tempting flowers--he was entering the\nSilver Wood. The blossoms began to talk still more sweetly and\nenticingly than they had done in the Copper Forest. \"Gather no more\nflowers,\" said the Welwa that was tied to the bay, \"for my brother is\nseven times stronger than I.\"\n\nBut did my fearless hero restrain himself? Scarcely two minutes had\npassed ere he began to gather flowers and twine them into a wreath.\nThe tempest howled louder, the darkness was greater, and the earth\nquaked still more than in the Copper Forest; the Welwa of the Silver\nWood rushed upon Petru with seven-fold greater fierceness than the\nother Welwa had done. But he was not idle either. The battle again\nlasted for three days and three nights, and at dawn on the fourth\nmorning our hero bridled the second Welwa.\n\n\"Sweet be your fortune, for you have delivered me from enchantment!\"\nsaid the Welwa, and they pursued their journey along the road by which\nthey had come.\n\n\"Stop, stand still, go on at a walk, and let me gaze at what I have\nnever seen before,\" cried Petru for the third time; then he covered\nhis eyes with his hand lest he should be blinded by the rays streaming\nfrom the Gold Forest. He had already beheld marvelous things, but\nnever even dreamed of a sight like this.\n\n\"We will stand here or we shall fare badly,\" cried the horses in one\nbreath.\n\n\"Why should we fare badly?\" asked Petru.\n\n\"You'll pluck the flowers again. I know your heart will give you no\nrest until you do! And our youngest brother is seven times seven times\nstronger and more terrible than we three together. So let us go round\nthe forest,\" said the bay.\n\n\"Certainly not,\" replied Petru; \"let us go through it! Let us see all,\nsince we have seen something, and experience all, now that we have\nexperienced part. Have no fear, I have none!\"\n\nI need not tell you that Petru did again what he had already done\ntwice. Oh dear! How could he help it?\n\nScarcely was the wreath twined when something began which had never\nbeen experienced before. It was not a more furious tempest or greater\ndarkness, neither did the earth quake more violently. No! I don't know\nhow or what it was, but it seemed to Petru as though somebody had got\ninto the middle of the earth to overturn it. What happened was\nsomething awful, and may Heaven preserve any one from it!\n\n\"You see!\" said the bay angrily, \"why couldn't you keep quiet?\"\n\nPetru saw that he saw nothing more, began to feel that he felt nothing\nmore, and understood that he could understand nothing more, so he made\nno reply, but girded his sword tighter and prepared to fight. \"Now the\nWelwa can come,\" he cried, \"I will die or throw the bridle over its\nhead.\" He had scarcely uttered the words when something whose like he\nhad never beheld before approached him. A dense fog surrounded Petru,\na fog so dense that he could not even see himself in it.\n\n\"What's this?\" cried the champion, somewhat startled, when he began to\nfeel that he was aching all over. But he was still more alarmed when\nhe perceived that he could not hear his own voice through the mist. So\nhe began to strike about him with his sword to the right and left,\nbefore and behind, in every direction, and with all the strength he\nhad--as a man does when he sees that matters are growing serious. So\nhe fought on during a day and a night, without seeing any thing\nexcept thick darkness, or hearing any thing except his own\nperspiration trickling down his horse's flanks. For some time he had\neven felt as if he were no longer alive, but had died long before.\nSuddenly the fog began to scatter. At dawn on the second day it\ndisappeared entirely, and when the sun rose in the sky Petru's eyes\nagain saw the light. He felt as if he had been born anew.\n\nThe Welwa? it seemed to have vanished from the earth.\n\n\"Get your breath now, for the battle will begin again presently,\" said\nthe bay.\n\n\"What was that?\" asked Petru.\n\n\"The Welwa,\" replied the horse, \"the Welwa changed into fog. Get your\nbreath, it is coming again.\"\n\nThe bay had hardly spoken and Petru had hardly had time to breathe,\nwhen he saw approaching from one side something,--but what it was he\ndid not know. Water, yet it was not like water, for it did not seem to\nflow on the earth, but in some queer fashion to fly, or move in some\nway--Enough, it left no trace behind and did not fly high. It was\nsomething that appeared to be nothing.\n\n\"Oh, dear!\" cried Petru.\n\n\"Take courage and defend yourself, don't stand still,\" said the bay,\nbut could not utter another word, for the water filled its mouth.\n\nThe fight began again. Petru struck about him without stopping for a\nday and a night, not knowing at what he was aiming, and fought without\nknowing with whom. When the next day dawned he felt that his feet\nwere paralyzed.\n\n\"Now I am lost!\" he cried somewhat angrily; yet he began to show\nhimself doubly brave and dealt still stronger blows. The sun rose and\nthe water vanished, one could not tell how or when.\n\n\"Get your breath!\" said the bay, \"get your breath, for you haven't\nmuch time to lose. The Welwa will come back directly.\"\n\nPetru made no answer; the poor fellow was so tired that he did not\nknow what to do. So he settled himself more firmly in the saddle,\nseized his sword with a tighter grip, and thus prepared awaited the\napproach of the foe he saw advancing.\n\nSuch a thing, how can I describe it? It was like a man dreaming that\nhe sees something which has what it has not, and has not what it\nhas--this was the shape in which the Welwa now appeared to Petru. Oh,\nheavens! how could the Welwa now be a gold forest after having twice\nleft it in disgrace? It flew with its feet and walked with its wings,\nits head was behind and its tail was before, its eyes were in its\nbreast and its breast was on its forehead--and as for the rest, no\nmortal could describe it.\n\nPetru shuddered in every limb, and crossed himself twice, then he\nplucked up courage and began to fight as he had already fought once,\nand also as he had never yet fought before. The day passed and Petru's\nstrength failed. Evening came, and Petru's eyes began to grow dim.\nWhen midnight arrived he felt that he was no longer on horseback. He\nhimself did not know how and when he had reached the earth, but he\nwas on foot. When night was yielding to day Petru could not keep up,\nbut sank on his knees.\n\n\"Stand up, gather your strength once more!\" cried the bay, seeing that\nhis master was losing his vigor.\n\nPetru wiped away the perspiration with his shirt-sleeve, strained\nevery nerve, and once more stood erect.\n\n\"Now strike the Welwa on the mouth with the bridle?\" said the bay.\n\nPetru did as he was bid. The Welwa neighed so loudly that Petru\nthought he should be deafened, then, though so tired that it was\nscarcely able to move, rushed upon the hero. The fight was now not\nlong. Petru managed to throw the bridle over this Welwa's head, too.\n\nWhen broad day came, the hero was riding on the fourth horse. \"May you\nhave a beautiful wife, for you have delivered me from enchantment!\"\nsaid the Welwa.\n\nThey rode on, and when night was shrouding the day, they reached the\nborders of the Gold Forest.\n\nWhile pursuing their way Petru began to get tired, and, in order to\nhave something to do, examined the beautiful wreaths. \"What shall I do\nwith the wreaths?\" he said to himself. \"One is enough for me. I'll\nkeep the handsomest.\" So he threw down the copper one, then the silver\none, and reserved only the gold garland.\n\n\"Stop,\" said the bay horse. \"Don't throw the wreaths away. Dismount\nand pick them up, they may yet be useful to you.\"\n\nPetru did as he was told and rode on. Toward evening, when the sun was\nonly a hand's breadth above the horizon and the little flies were\nbeginning to swarm, our rider reached the edge of the forest. Before\nhim stretched a wide moor, on which as far as the eye could wander\nnothing was visible. The horses stopped.\n\n\"What is it?\" asked Petru.\n\n\"We may fare badly here,\" replied the bay.\n\n\"Why should we fare badly?\"\n\n\"We are now entering the domain of Holy Wednesday. So long as we ride\nthrough it, we shall experience nothing but cold, cold, cold. Fires\nare kept burning all along the roadside, and I'm afraid you will go\nand warm yourself.\"\n\n\"Why shouldn't I warm myself?\"\n\n\"You'll fare badly if you do,\" said the bay anxiously.\n\n\"Forward,\" said Petru fearlessly, \"I will be cold, too, if necessary.\"\n\nThe further Petru entered Holy Wednesday's kingdom the more he felt\nthat it was no pleasant region. At every step the air grew colder and\nfrostier, there was so much cold and ice that it froze even the marrow\nin one's bones. But Petru was no coward, he proved as brave in\nenduring hardship as he had been in battle. Along the roadside one\nfire after another was burning, and beside these fires were gathered\ngroups of people who called to him in the sweetest, most enticing\nwords. Petru's very breath froze, yet he did not yield, but ordered\nthe bay to go on at a walk. How long our hero battled with the cold\nand frost can not be told, for every body knows that Holy Wednesday's\nkingdom is longer than one stone's throw or even two. The cold there\nis not moderate, but bitter, so bitter that even the rocks are split\nby the frost. That's the way it is in that country. But Petru had not\ngrown up without some hardships, so he only ground his teeth, though\nhe was so benumbed that he couldn't even wink.\n\nThey reached Holy Wednesday. Petru dismounted, flung the bridle over\nthe bay's head, and entered the house.\n\n\"Good morning, mother.\"\n\n\"Thank you, my frozen hero!\"\n\nPetru laughed, but made no answer.\n\n\"You have proved yourself a brave fellow,\" said Holy Wednesday,\npatting him on the shoulder. \"Now I'll give you the reward.\" She went\nto an iron chest, opened it, and took out a little box. \"See,\" she\nsaid, \"this casket has been destined from the earliest times for the\nperson who penetrated the realm of the cold. Take it and guard it\ncarefully, for it may be of great service to you. When you open it,\nyou will receive news from whatever place you desire and truthful\ntidings from your native land.\"\n\nPetru thanked her for her words and her gift, mounted his horse, and\nrode on. After he was a good stone's throw away, he opened the magic\nbox. \"What do you command?\" asked something inside.\n\n\"Give me news of my father,\" replied Petru rather timidly.\n\n\"He is sitting in the council chamber with the elders of the kingdom.\"\n\n\"Is he prospering?\"\n\n\"Not especially; he has troubles.\"\n\n\"Who is annoying him?\" asked Petru, somewhat sharply.\n\n\"Your brothers, Costan and Florea,\" the voice in the box answered. \"As\nit seems to me, they are trying to wrest the scepter from him and the\nold monarch says that they are not yet worthy of it.\"\n\n\"Forward, bay, we have no time to lose,\" cried Petru. Then, shutting\nthe box, he put it into his knapsack.\n\nThey hurried as ghosts flit when whirlwinds are blowing and vampires\nhunting at midnight. How long they rode can not be told, but it was a\nlong, long time.\n\n\"Stop! Let me give you another piece of advice,\" said the bay after a\nwhile.\n\n\"Well, tell me,\" said Petru.\n\n\"You have been tormented by the cold, now you'll have to encounter\nheat such as you never felt before. Keep up your courage, and don't\nlet yourself be attracted to the cool places.\"\n\n\"Forward!\" replied Petru. \"Don't be anxious--if I didn't freeze, I\nshan't melt.\"\n\nIndeed! This heat was enough to melt the very marrow of one's bones, a\nheat that exists nowhere except in the kingdom of Holy Thursday.[7]\nThe further they went the greater the heat became. Even the iron of\nthe horses' shoes began to melt, but Petru would not yield. The\nperspiration ran down his body in streams, he wiped it away with his\nsleeve, and rode swiftly on. As for the heat, intense as it became,\nthere was something else that tortured Petru more. Along the roadside,\nalways a good stone's throw apart, were cool valleys with cold springs\nready to quench the traveler's thirst. When Petru looked at them, he\nfelt as if his heart was shriveled and his tongue dried up with\nthirst. Lilies, violets, and roses grew in the soft grass around the\nsprings, and on these beds of flowers reclined girls so beautiful that\nheaven only knows how it would have been possible for them to be\nlovelier. Petru would fain have shut his eyes in order not to see such\nbewitching creatures any longer.\n\n[Footnote 7: Joi--Thursday and Jupiter.]\n\n\"Come, hero, come to the cooling waters, let us amuse you,\" called the\nenticing maidens.\n\nPetru silently shook his head, he had lost the power of speech.\n\nThey rode on so for a long, long time. Suddenly they felt that the\nheat was beginning to lessen, and on a distant hill-top a hut\nappeared. This was the dwelling of Holy Thursday. Petru approached,\nand when almost at the door Holy Thursday came out and welcomed him.\nPetru expressed his thanks, as is customary among distinguished and\nwell-behaved people, and they entered into conversation as people who\nhave never seen each other are in the habit of doing. Petru brought\nnews of Holy Wednesday, related his adventures, and mentioned the\ngoal for which he had started, and then bade her farewell, for he\nreally had no time to lose. Who could tell how far he still had to go\nto reach the Fairy Aurora?\n\n\"Wait a little while, until I can say a few words to you,\" said Holy\nThursday. \"You are now about to enter the domain of Holy Friday;[8] go\nto her and tell her that I wish her health and happiness. When you\nreturn, come to me again, and I'll give you something that will be\nuseful to you.\"\n\n[Footnote 8: Vineri means Friday as well as Venus.]\n\nPetru thanked her and rode on.\n\nHe had scarcely ridden long enough to smoke a pipeful of tobacco, when\nhe entered a new country. Here it was neither hot nor cold, but like\nthe climate in spring when the lambs are being weaned. Petru began to\nbreathe easily, but he was on a desolate moor consisting of sand and\nthistles.\n\n\"What can this be?\" asked Petru, when he saw an object something like\na house, but a long, long distance off; just where his eyes beheld the\nend of the dreary heath.\n\n\"That is Holy Friday's house,\" replied the bay; \"if we ride on, we may\nbe able to reach it before dark.\"\n\nAnd so it happened. Night was just closing in as the hero slowly\nneared the distant house. On the moor was a throng of phantoms\nflitting on Petru's right and left hand, before and behind him.\n\n\"Don't be afraid,\" said the bay. \"Those are the Whirlwind's\ndaughters; they are dancing in the air, waiting for the moon eater.\"\n\nSo they reached Holy Friday's house. \"Dismount and enter,\" said the\nbay.\n\nPetru was about to do what he had been told.\n\n\"Stop, don't be in such a hurry,\" the horse continued. \"Let me first\ntell you what you are to do. You can't go into Holy Friday's house so\nunceremoniously; she is guarded by the Whirlwinds.\"\n\n\"What am I to do?\"\n\n\"Take the copper wreath and go with it to the hill you see yonder.\nWhen you reach the top, begin to call: 'Good Heavens, what beautiful\ngirls, what angels, what fairy-like creatures!' Then hold the garland\naloft, and say: 'If I only knew whether any body would take this\nwreath from me--if I only knew! If I only knew!' and hurl the garland\naway.\"\n\n\"Why should I do that?\" asked Petru, as a man is in the habit of\nquestioning, when he wants to know the cause of his acts.\n\n\"Silence! Go and do it,\" replied the bay curtly, and Petru, without\nfurther words, did as he was bid.\n\nScarcely had the hero flung the wreath aside, when the Whirlwinds\nrushed upon it and tussled around it.\n\nPetru now turned toward the house.\n\n\"Stop,\" cried the bay again, \"I haven't yet told you every thing. Take\nthe silver wreath and knock at Holy Friday's window. When she asks\n'Who is there?' say that you came on foot and have lost your way on\nthe moor. She will rebuff you. But you mustn't stir from the spot. Say\nto her: 'I won't go away, for ever since I was a little child I have\nalways heard of Holy Friday (Venus) and--I didn't have steel shoes\nmade with calf-skin straps, did not travel nine years and nine months,\ndid not fight for this silver wreath I want to give her, did not do\nand suffer all these things merely to turn back now that I have\nreached her.' Act and speak as I have told you--what follows must be\nyour own care.\"\n\nPetru made no reply, but went up to the house. As it was perfectly\ndark, the hero did not see the dwelling, and was guided only by the\nrays of light streaming through the window. When he reached the house\nseveral dogs began to bark, because they knew some stranger was near.\n\n\"Who is fighting with the hounds? May his life be bitter,\" cried Holy\nFriday angrily.\n\n\"It is I, Holy Friday!\" said Petru, with laboring breath, like a man\nwho likes and yet is not quite satisfied with what he is doing. \"I\nhave lost my way on the moor, and don't know where I can spend the\nnight.\" Here he stopped, not daring to say more.\n\n\"Where did you leave your horse?\" asked Holy Friday rather sharply.\n\nPetru reflected; he did not know whether he ought to tell a lie or\nspeak the truth, so he made no answer.\n\n\"Go, in God's name, my son, I have no room for you,\" said Holy Friday\nretiring from the window.\n\nPetru now repeated what the horse had told him to say. Scarcely had he\ndone so, when he saw Holy Friday open the window.\n\n\"Let me see the wreath, my son,\" she said sweetly, in a gentle tone.\n\nPetru gave her the garland.\n\n\"Come into the house,\" said Holy Friday, \"don't be afraid of the dogs,\nthey know what I want.\"\n\nIt was even so. The dogs began to wag their tails, and followed Petru\nas they follow a master returning home from the fields at night. Petru\nsaid \"good evening\" as he entered, laid his hat on the oven, and when\nHoly Friday invited him to sit down took his place on a bench by the\nstove. They now talked about everyday matters, the world, the\nwickedness of mankind, and similar things, without any special reason\nor purpose. It appeared from her talk that Holy Friday was very much\nincensed against men; but Petru agreed with her in every thing--as is\nproper for a person who is sitting at another's table.\n\nHeavens, how old the aged dame looked! I don't know why young Petru\ndevoured her so with his eyes, that he might have given her the Evil\neye. Was he counting the wrinkles in her face? He would have needed to\nbe born seven times in succession, and each time live seven times as\nlong as an ordinary human life, to have leisure to number them all.\nBut Holy Friday's heart laughed with joy, when she saw Petru\ncompletely absorbed in gazing at her.\n\n\"When the present state of things had no existence,\" Holy Friday\nbegan, \"before the world was made, I was born, and was so beautiful a\nchild that my parents created the earth, in order to have somebody to\nadmire my loveliness. By the time the world was made I had grown up\nand, amid all the marveling at my beauty, the Evil eye fell upon me.\nSince then every century a wrinkle has formed on my face. And now I am\nold!\" Holy Friday's grief and anger would allow her to say no more.\n\nIn the course of the conversation Holy Friday told Petru that her\nfather had once been a great and powerful emperor, and once, when a\nquarrel broke out between him and the Fairy Aurora, who ruled the\nadjoining country, he had been shamefully mocked at by his neighbor.\nThen she began to say all sorts of things about the Fairy Aurora. What\nwas Petru to do? He listened in silence, now and then saying: \"Yes,\nyes, it is really too bad.\" What else could he do?\n\n\"But I will set you a task, if you are a brave champion and will\nperform it,\" said Holy Friday, when both began to be sleepy. \"At the\nFairy Aurora's is a spring--whoever drinks from it will bloom like the\nrose and the violet. Bring me a jug of the water, and I shall know how\nto show you my gratitude. It's a difficult task, heaven knows! The\nFairy Aurora's kingdom is guarded by all sorts of wild beasts and\nterrible dragons. But I want to tell you something else, and give you\nsomething too.\"\n\nAfter Holy Friday had said this, she went to a chest bound with iron\non every corner and took out a tiny little flute.\n\n\"Look,\" she said to Petru, \"an old man gave me this when I was young.\nWhoever hears its notes falls asleep and sleeps till they are heard no\nlonger. Take the instrument, and play upon it so long as you remain\nin the Fairy Aurora's kingdom. No one will harm you, for every\ncreature will be asleep.\"\n\nPetru now told his hostess what he meant to do, and Holy Friday was\nstill more delighted. They did not talk much more. Why should they? it\nwas already long past midnight. Petru said \"good night,\" thrust the\nflute into its case, and went up to the garret to get some sleep. When\nmorning dawned, the hero was already awake and the morning-star had\nhardly risen in the sky ere he was up. He took a large manger, filled\nit with red-hot coals, and went out to feed his horses. After the bay\nhad eaten nine and each of the other horses three full cribs of fire,\nPetru led them to the spring, watered them, and prepared to continue\nhis journey.\n\n\"Stop,\" Holy Friday called from the window. \"I have a word more to\nsay. I want to give you a piece of advice.\"\n\nPetru went to the window.\n\n\"Leave one horse here, and go on with only three. Ride slowly until\nyou have reached the Fairy Aurora's kingdom. Then dismount and enter\nher country on foot. Then, when you return, come so that you will\nleave all three steeds lying in the road and arrive here on foot.\"\n\n\"I will obey every word,\" said Petru, trying to go on.\n\n\"Don't be in a hurry, I haven't finished yet,\" Holy Friday continued.\n\"Don't look at the Fairy Aurora, for her eyes bewitch, her glances rob\na man of his reason. She is ugly, too ugly to be described. She has\nowl's eyes, a fox's face, and cat's claws. Do you hear? Don't look at\nher. And may the Lord bring you back to me safe and sound, my son\nPetru.\"\n\nPetru thanked her for her counsel and lingered no longer. Where should\nhe find time to gossip with old women? He left the bay horse in the\nmeadow and continued his journey.\n\nFar, far away, where the sky meets the earth and the stars talk to the\nflowers, appeared a bright rosy glow, almost like that of the sky in\nearly spring, only still more beautiful and wonderful. This was the\nFairy Aurora's palace. The whole space between was filled with flowery\nmeadows. Then, too, it was neither warm nor cold, neither light nor\ndark, but midway between, just as it is on St. Peter's day when one\nrises early in the morning to drive the cattle to pasture. Petru rode\nthrough this beautiful region with a happy heart. How long he rode can\nnot be told in human language, for in that country night does not\nfollow day and day night; it was always early morning with soft, cool\nbreezes, a viewless sun, and a dim light--the reign of day and night\nfirst began in Holy Friday's land. After a long journey, Petru saw\nsomething white appear amid the rosy glow of the sky. The nearer he\napproached the more distinctly he saw what was now before his eyes. It\nwas the fairy-palace. Petru gazed and gazed, then drew a long breath\nlike a man who says, \"Oh, Lord, I thank thee!\" But ah, how beautiful\nthis palace was! Lofty turrets stretching far above the clouds, walls\nwhite as sea-shells, and brighter than the sun at noon-day, a roof of\nsilver--but what kind of silver? it did not even glitter in the\nsun--and the windows were all spun from air and set in frames of dull\ngold. Over all these things the merry sunbeams played, as the wind\nplays with the shadows of the branches in the spring, when it is so\nindolent that it scarcely stirs.\n\nPetru could not stay long, for he was in a hurry; so he dismounted,\nlet the horses graze on the dewy grass, took his flute, as Holy Friday\nhad directed, and saying, \"God be with me!\" commenced his tremendous\ntask. He had scarcely walked three stones' throws when he saw a giant,\nlulled to sleep by the sweet notes of the flute. This was one of the\nguardians of the Fairy Aurora's palace. As he lay there on his back\nPetru began to measure him by paces. I won't exaggerate, but he was so\nbig that when Petru had walked from his feet to his head he heaved a\nsigh, he did not exactly know whether from fatigue or fear. It would\nhave been no wonder if he was astounded. The rising moon is not so\nlarge as the giant's eye. And this eye was not even like other\npeople's, but in the middle of the giant's forehead. Such was the eye!\nWhat could the rest have been! Petru was a brave hero, but he heartily\nthanked God, the flute, and Holy Friday, that he had not got into a\nfight with this monster of a man, and softly continued his way. The\nprince had walked about as far as a man usually goes before he feels\ninclined to sit down in the shade, when he encountered still more\nterrible foes. Dragons, each with seven heads, were stretched out in\nthe sun sound asleep, some on his right hand, others on the left. How\nthese dragons looked I can not describe: nowadays every body knows\nthat dragons are not things to be trifled with or laughed at. Petru\nhurried swiftly past them, but I really don't know whether it was from\nhaste or fear. And it would have been no wonder if he was afraid! A\ndragon is a dragon!\n\nThe prince now reached a river. But let nobody suppose it was an\nordinary stream; milk flowed instead of water, not over sand and\ngravel, but over gems and pearls, and it ran neither slowly nor\nquickly, but both slowly and quickly at the same time, like the days\nof happy mortals. This was the river that flowed around the palace\nwithout ever stopping or moving. On the bank, each one leap from the\nother, lions were sleeping. And such lions! They had golden hair, and\nteeth and claws tipped with iron. These were the guardians of the\nother bank of the river, where there was a beautiful garden, as\nbeautiful as gardens can only be in the Fairy Aurora's realm. On the\nshore grew the fairest flowers and upon these blossoms fairies, each\nmore beautiful and bewitching than the others, slept sweetly side by\nside. Petru did not even dare to glance that way. The prince now asked\nhimself how he was to get across the stream. It was broad and deep and\nhad only one bridge, and this bridge, too, was unlike any other in the\nworld. On each bank was a bridge-head, each guarded by four sleeping\nlions! But as to the bridge--no human soul could cross it. One saw it\nwith the eyes, but felt nothing but empty air if he tried to set foot\non it. Who knows of what material it was made! Perhaps a little cloud.\n\nEnough, Petru remained on the river bank. Cross? That he could not do.\nSwim over it? That was not to be thought of! What should he do? Well,\nwe needn't worry about Petru, he isn't easily frightened. He turned\nand went back to the giant. \"We'll run the risk,\" he thought, \"we'll\ntalk to each other. Wake up, my brave fellow,\" he shouted, pulling the\nmonster by the sleeve of his coat. When the giant awoke he stretched\nout his hand toward Petru--just as we do when we try to catch a fly.\nPetru blew upon the flute, and the giant fell back to the ground. So\nPetru waked him and put him to sleep again, three times in\nsuccession,--that is, he waked him three times and made him go to\nsleep three times. When this was to be done for the fourth time, Petru\nunfastened his cravat, tied the giant's two little fingers together\nwith it, then drew his sword, and, tapping the monster on the breast,\ncried, \"Wake up, my brave fellow!\"\n\nWhen the giant saw what a sorry jest had been played upon him, he said\nto Petru: \"Hark ye, this is no fair fight! Fight honestly, if you are\na hero!\"\n\n\"Wait a while, I want to talk with you first,\" said Petru. \"Swear that\nyou will carry me over the river, then I'll release you for a fair\nfight.\"\n\nThe giant took the oath, and Petru let him rise. When he was fairly\nawake he rushed upon the prince to crush him at a single blow. But he\nhad met his match. Petru was more than a day old, and he, too, dashed\nboldly on the foe. They fought for three days and three nights; the\ngiant seized Petru and hurled him on the ground so that he drove him\ninto the earth up to his knees, but Petru buried the giant to his\nwaist; then the giant thrust him into the ground to his breast, and\nfinally Petru forced the giant down to his neck. When the giant found\nhimself cornered in this way he cried out in terror, \"Let me go, let\nme go, I own myself conquered!\"\n\n\"Will you carry me over the river?\" asked Petru.\n\n\"I will!\" he replied from the hole in the ground.\n\n\"What shall I do to you if you break your promise?\"\n\n\"Kill me; do whatever you choose with me, only let me live now!\"\n\n\"Be it so!\" said Petru, then taking the giant's left hand he tied it\nto his right foot, stuffed a handkerchief into his mouth so that he\ncould not cry out, bandaged his eyes to prevent him from seeing, and\nled him to the river.\n\nWhen they reached the stream the giant put one foot on the opposite\nbank, took Petru on the palm of his hand and set him carefully on the\nfurther shore.\n\n\"That's right!\" said Petru; then he blew on his flute and the giant\nsank down on the river bank.\n\nWhen the fairies, who were bathing in the milky waves of the river,\nheard the sound of Petru's flute they felt sleepy, came out, and fell\nasleep on the blossoms along the shore, where Petru found them when he\ngot down from the palm of the giant's hand. He did not venture to\nlinger long with them. They were beautiful, heaven knows! What must\nthe Fairy Aurora herself be? Or was she the ugliest among the fair\nones? The prince did not stop to ask himself many questions, but set\noff to see.\n\nWhen he entered the garden, he began to wonder again. Much as he had\nseen and experienced, he had never beheld any thing so beautiful. The\ntrees all had golden branches, the waters of the fountains were\nclearer than dew, the wind blew with a musical sound, and the flowers\nwhispered sweet, loving words. Petru wondered still more when he found\nthat there was not a single unfolded blossom in the garden, nothing\nbut buds. It seemed as if the world had stood still here, and it was\nalways spring. Yet when did the flowers bloom, if they had not yet had\ntime to open? And, if they did not bloom, why was it? This question,\nand many another one, Petru asked himself on his way to the palace. No\none barred his progress, no one interfered with his thoughts, every\nbody was asleep; the nymphs beside the fountains, the birds on the\nboughs, the deer in the thickets, and the butterflies on the flowers,\nall were sunk in dreams by the music of the flute. Nay, even the wind\nno longer played with the leaves, the sunbeams no longer drank the\ndewdrops from the grass, and the river had ceased to flow. Petru alone\nwas awake, awake with his thoughts, and his wonder at these thoughts.\nHe reached the court-yard of the palace. Around it stretched a thick,\nbeautiful grass-plot--a grass plot that swayed like the wind. Before\nhim was the gate--a gate made entirely of flowers and other beautiful\nthings. Below and beside the gate were more flowers, each one more\nbeautiful than the other, so that Petru fancied he was treading upon\nclouds as he passed over them. On the right and left slept fairies,\nwho should have guarded the entrance of the court-yard. Petru looked\naround him in every direction, said once more, \"God be with me!\" and\nentered the palace.\n\nWhat Petru saw I can not describe; surely every body knows that the\npalace of the Fairy Aurora can be no ordinary place. Around it were\npetrified fairies, trees with golden leaves, and flowers made of\npearls and gems, columns wrought of sunbeams, steps as soft and\nlustrous as the couches of princesses, and a sweet, soothing\natmosphere. Such was the court-yard of the Fairy Aurora's palace, and\nit could have been no different. Why should it? Petru went up the\nsteps and entered the palace. The first twelve rooms were hung with\nlinen, the next twelve with silk; then came twelve decked with silver\nand twelve with gold. Petru passed swiftly through the whole\nforty-eight, and in the forth-ninth apartment, which was the most\nmagnificent of all, he found the Fairy Aurora. The chamber was large,\nbroad, and high, like one of the finest churches. The walls were\ncovered with all sorts of silk and beautiful things, and on the floor,\nwhere one sets one's foot, was something, I don't know exactly what,\nbut something as glittering as a mirror and as soft as cushions,\nbesides many other beautiful things, such as a Fairy Aurora must have.\nWhere should there be lovely things, if not in her palace! As has been\nsaid, Petru fairly held his breath when he saw himself in the midst of\nso much beauty. In the center of this church, or whatever it was,\nPetru saw the famous fountain on whose account he had taken so long a\njourney, a fountain like any other, with nothing extraordinary about\nit. One couldn't help wondering that the Fairy Aurora allowed it to be\nin her room. It had staves such as were used in ancient times, but\nthey had evidently been allowed to remain for some special purpose.\n\nAnd now I will tell a wonderful thing. Beside the fountain lay the\nFairy Aurora herself--the real Fairy Aurora! The couch was made of\ngold and heaven knows what else, but it was a beautiful one, and on it\nslept the Fairy Aurora, resting on silken cushions filled with spring\nbreezes. Of course she was not beautiful. Why should she be? Had not\nHoly Friday said that she was a combination of hideous things? Why\nshould we delay in our words? Perhaps Holy Friday was right! It might\nbe so. Enough--when Petru looked at her as she slept there on her\ncouch, he held his breath and no longer played on the magic flute--he\nwas petrified by this wonder of wonders. No, she was beautiful, far,\nfar more beautiful than one would expect the Fairy Aurora must be!\nI'll say no more.\n\nOn the right and left of the couch slept twelve of the prettiest\nfairies in the kingdom, who had evidently been overtaken by slumber\nwhile waiting on their queen. Petru was so absorbed in gazing at the\nFairy Aurora that he did not notice them till, no longer hearing the\nflute, they stirred in their sleep. Petru, too, trembled, and began to\nplay again. The whole palace was once more sunk in slumber, and the\nprince advanced three paces.\n\nBetween the couch and the fountain was a table on which were a tender\nwhite loaf, kneaded with roe's milk, and a goblet of red wine, sweet\nas a morning dream. This was the bread of strength and the wine of\nyouth. Petru looked once at the bread, once at the wine, and once at\nthe Fairy Aurora, then with three steps more reached the couch, the\ntable, and the fountain. When he stood beside the couch he fairly lost\nhis senses--he really could not control himself, and stooping bit the\nFairy Aurora. She opened her eyes, and looked at the prince with a\nglance which made him lose his senses still more. He played upon his\nflute that she might fall asleep again, placed the golden wreath on\nher brow, took a piece of bread from the table, drank a sip of the\nwine of youth, then bit the fairy again, ate another mouthful of\nbread, and drank more wine. This he did three times in succession.\nThrice he bit the Fairy Aurora, thrice he ate of the bread, and thrice\nhe tasted the wine. Then he filled the jug with water from the\nfountain and vanished like a piece of good news.\n\nWhen the hero entered the garden he found an entirely new world. The\nflowers were flowers, the buds had opened, the fountains played\nfaster, the sunbeams danced more cheerily on the palace walls, and the\nfairies' faces looked more joyous. All this was due to the three\nbites.\n\nPetru went away by the same road that he came, amid the fairies and\nflowers, on the palm of the giant's hand, past lions, dragons, and\nother monsters. Then, seated in his saddle, he cast one glance back\nand saw that the whole world behind him was in motion. Hi! But they\nhad somebody before them worth chasing. Not like the wind, not like\nthought, not like longing, not like a curse, but even faster than\nhappiness vanishes, Petru hurried on his way. The pursuers were left\nbehind, and the prince reached Holy Friday on foot. Holy Friday knew\nthat he was coming by the neighing of the bay horse, which had felt\nits master's approach three days off, so she came to meet him,\nbringing some white bread and red wine.\n\n\"Welcome back, prince!\"\n\n\"Good morning, thank you kindly, Holy Friday.\"\n\nPetru then handed her the jug of water from the Fairy Aurora's\nfountain, and his hostess thanked him most warmly. They exchanged a\nfew words about the prince's journey, the Fairy Aurora's palace, and\nthe beauty of this sister of the Sun--then Petru saddled the bay, for\nhe really had no time to lose. Holy Friday listened sometimes\njoyously, sometimes bitterly, sometimes merrily, sometimes angrily,\nbut when she saw that Petru was surely going, to carry home his\nportion of the water from the fairy fountain, she wished him health\nand happiness.\n\nPetru did not stop till he reached Holy Thursday. Here he dismounted\nand entered as had been agreed, but did not stay long, merely greeted\nher, talked a little while, and then said farewell.\n\n\"Stop, let me tell you something else before you go on,\" said Holy\nThursday anxiously. \"Take care of your life; enter into conversation\nwith no one, don't ride too fast, don't let go of the water, believe\nno promises, and fly from lips that speak sweet words! Go as you came,\nthe way is long, the world is wicked, and you have something very\nvaluable in your hand, so listen to me. I give you this handkerchief,\nit is made neither of gold, silver, silk, nor pearls, but striped\nlinen; take good care of it, it is enchanted. Whoever carries it no\nthunderbolt can strike, no lance stab, no sword slay, and no bullet\npierce.\"\n\nSuch were Holy Thursday's words. Petru took the handkerchief and\nlistened to her counsel; then dashed off on the bay, hurrying as fairy\nprinces do hurry, when seized by homesickness. Petru did not dismount\nat Holy Wednesday's, but said, \"How do you do,\" from his horse's back\nand rode on. Just at the right time he remembered his enchanted box,\nand, wishing to know what was going on in the world, drew it out of\nits case. He had barely pulled it out and not wholly opened it, when\nthe voice inside said:\n\n\"The Fairy Aurora is angry because you took the water away. Holy\nFriday is angry because she has broken her jug, your brothers Florea\nand Costan are angry because you have wrested the empire from them.\"\n\nPetru began to laugh when he heard of so much anger. He did not\nexactly know what else to ask. \"How did Holy Friday break the jug?\" he\nsaid at last.\n\n\"She began to dance with joy, and fell down with it.\"\n\n\"How have I wrested the empire from my brothers?\"\n\nThe box now began to relate how Florea and Costan, as the emperor was\nnow old and blind in both eyes, had gone to him and begged him to\ndivide his kingdom between them. The emperor had replied that no one\nshould rule the land except he who brought water from the Fairy\nAurora's fountain. \"As the brothers understood his meaning they went\nto old Birscha, who told them that you had been there, accomplished\nthe feat, and set out on your way home. Your brothers consulted\ntogether and are now on their way to meet you, kill you, take the\nwater from you, and reign over the country.\"\n\n\"You lie, you accursed box,\" cried Petru furiously, when he heard all\nthis, and dashed the casket upon the ground so that it broke into\nseventy-seven pieces. He had not ridden much further, ere he saw the\nclouds of his own country, felt his native breezes, and beheld here\nand there, in the distance, one of the mountain peaks on the frontiers\nof his home. Petru stopped, that he might see more distinctly what it\nseemed to him that he only fancied he perceived.\n\nHe was just going to cross the bridge on the borders of the empire,\nwhen he thought he heard a distant sound, as though some one were\ncalling him, and even shouting his name: \"Ho! Petru!\" He wanted to\nhalt.\n\n\"Forward, forward,\" cried the bay. \"You'll fare badly if you stop.\"\n\n\"No, no, stop! Let us see who and what it is, and what is wanted. Let\nme look the world in the face!\" So saying, Petru turned the bay's\nbridle.\n\nOh, Petru, Petru! Who told you to stop? Wouldn't it be better for you\nto remember what Holy Thursday said to you? Wouldn't it be better for\nyou to heed the bay's counsel? That's the way of the world, you can do\nnothing to change it!\n\nWhen he turned, he saw his brother Florea and his brother Costan. They\nwere both there, and approached Petru. Forward, Petru, hurry on! Or\ndid not Holy Thursday tell you that you must enter into conversation\nwith no one? Or do you no longer remember the tidings Holy Wednesday's\nbox brought you? The brothers drew near with fair words and honey on\ntheir lips. What did Holy Thursday say? Petru, Petru, have you\nforgotten?\n\nWhen Petru saw his dear brothers, he leaped from the bay's back and\nrushed into their arms. Dear me! how could he help it? How long it was\nsince he had seen a human face or heard one word of human speech! The\nconversation flowed as it flows among brothers. Petru was gay and\nhappy; Florea and Costan were full of sweet words, there was honey on\ntheir lips. Only the bay was sad and hung his head mournfully. After\nthe brothers had talked a long time about the old emperor, the\ncountry, and Petru's journey, Florea began to frown.\n\n\"Brother Petru, this is a wicked world!--wouldn't it be better for you\nto give us the water to carry? People will come to meet you, but\nnobody will know any thing about us, whence we come, where we are\ngoing, or what we have.\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed,\" said Costan, \"Florea speaks sensibly.\"\n\nPetru shook his head once or twice, and then told his brothers about\nhis charmed handkerchief. They now perceived that there was only one\nway to kill the hero, so Florea began to talk to Petru over Costan's\nshoulders. About three stones'-throws off was a well of clear, cold\nwater.\n\n\"Aren't you thirsty, Costan?\" asked Florea, winking at Costan.\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Costan, understanding what Florea meant. \"Come, Petru,\nlet us quench our thirst, and then may God help us on our way. We'll\nfollow you to protect you from annoyance and danger.\"\n\nDon't go, Petru, don't go, or you'll fare badly! The bay horse neighed\nbut once. Ah, but the hero did not understand. What happened then!\nWhat should happen? Nothing!--\n\nThe well was broad and deep.\n\nThe two brothers went home with the water, as if they had brought it\nfrom the Fairy Aurora.\n\nThe bay neighed again, so fiercely and mournfully that even the woods\nshook with fear, then rushed to the well and stood there paralyzed by\ngrief.\n\nThis was the story of Petru, the brave, the heroic prince. It seems as\nif he were destined to arrive at an evil hour.\n\nA banquet was held at the emperor's court, and all sorts of splendid\nceremonies were arranged. All through the land went the news that the\nmonarch's sons, Florea and Costan, had brought the water from the\nFairy Aurora. The emperor washed his eyes with the water and saw as\nnever mortal man had seen before. In the royal chamber behind the\nhearth stood a cask, and in the stave of this cask he saw a worm--the\nemperor could see so well that he looked through the wood. After\ndividing the empire between his two brave sons, he retired to his\nlarge private estates to spend his old age in peace. So ended the\nstory of the water from the Fairy Aurora's fountain. The country\ncelebrated the event for three days and three nights, then the people\nwent to work again as if nothing had happened.\n\nAfter Petru had left the couch, the palace, and the court-yard, and\nthe sound of his flute could no longer be heard, the Fairy Aurora\nrecovered her consciousness, opened her eyes, raised her head, and\nlooked around her in every direction as if searching for something,\nthough she herself did not exactly know what.\n\n\"What was that?\" she asked, half awake, half-dreaming--\"Who?\"\n\nIt seemed to her as if she had seen something in a vision,--no, in\nreality,--something sweet and pleasant. A creature like a human being,\nbut with a more commanding glance, something unlike any thing she had\never beheld before.\n\n\"Don't you know what it was? Did you see it too! Or, have you, too,\nbeen asleep, been dreaming?\"\n\nSuch were the questions the Fairy Aurora asked her attendant fays and\nherself. She felt as if she had had a different soul ever since she\nsaw this wonder. But no one answered her; every one was dumb with\namazement.\n\nThe Fairy Aurora noticed the wreath: \"What a beautiful garland! Who\ngathered the flowers for it, who twined them into a coronal, and who\nbrought the wreath here and laid it on my couch?\"\n\nAnd the Fairy Aurora became sad.\n\nShe saw the bread on the table. Three mouthfuls were missing, one on\nthe right side, one on the left and one out of the middle. It was the\nsame with the wine of youth; three sips were missing, one from the\ntop, one from the bottom, and one from the middle.\n\nSomebody must have been there. The Fairy Aurora grew still more\nsorrowful; it seemed to her as if she missed something, yet she did\nnot know what or where.\n\nThe water in the fountain was turbid. Water! Somebody has taken water\naway from here! And the Fairy Aurora was wrathful. How had any one\nbeen able to enter unperceived? Where were all the sharp-eyed guards?\nThe giants, the dragons, the iron-shod lions, the fairies, the\nflowers, and the sun--what had they all been doing? Nobody had\nwatched! Had nobody been at his post? The Fairy Aurora now fell into a\nperfect rage. \"Lions! Dragons! Giants! set forth, pursue, catch, seize\nand bring him back.\" Such were the orders of the Fairy Aurora in the\nfury of her wrath. The command was issued and set her whole realm in\ncommotion, but Petru had fled so swiftly that not even the sunbeams\ncould overtake him. All returned sorrowfully; all brought sad tidings.\nPetru had crossed the frontiers of the kingdom, had gone where the\nFairy Aurora's guards possessed no power.\n\nThe fairy queen now forgot her anger in her grief, and sent forth the\nSun to make seven days into one, to search, gaze, and bring tidings.\nDuring this seven-fold long day the Fairy Aurora did nothing but watch\nthe course of the Sun; she gazed and gazed till the tears began to\nstream from her eyes, I don't know whether from looking so long or\nfrom her great sorrow and yearning.\n\nLo and behold! On the seventh day the Sun came home,--red, tired, and\nsad. More bad news. Alas! Petru was where the sunbeams could not\npenetrate.\n\nWhen the Fairy Aurora saw that this last trial had also been vain, she\ngave strict orders throughout her whole country that the fairies\nshould no longer smile, the flowers no longer send forth fragrance,\nthe breezes no longer blow, the springs no more pour forth clear\nwaters, nor the sunbeams shine. Then she commanded that the black veil\nof darkness should be let down between the world and her empire, a\nveil so thick that only a single sunbeam should pierce it, to convey\nthe tidings that the sun would not move through the sky until the\nperson who had taken the water from the fountain should come. And this\nnews went through the darkened world. The people agreed that the great\nlight had been solely for the emperor's eye-sight. Nobody in the world\nsaw except the emperor, nobody perceived the annoyances of the\ndarkness except the emperor, and nobody was more unhappy than the\nemperor. So he advised and commanded his sons, Florea and Costan, to\nset out and free the world from darkness.\n\nWhoever lies once, will lie a second time; Florea mounted his horse\nand rode by the way Petru had smoothed to the Fairy Aurora's kingdom.\nWhen he had nearly reached her court, the fairy felt that some\nstranger was approaching.\n\n\"Is any body coming?\" she asked, rather sharply.\n\n\"Some one is coming,\" replied the dragons who mounted guard at the\nbridge.\n\n\"How is he coming? Over or under the bridge?\"\n\nThe bridge was what we know. Florea passed under it.\n\n\"The hero is passing under the bridge!\" replied the dragons, somewhat\namused.\n\n\"See to him, or the light will become black to you,\" said the fairy,\nreceiving Florea at his entrance. Florea was thrilled by the sight of\nso much beauty.\n\n\"Welcome, my hero! Did you steal the water?\"\n\n\"Yes, you are right, I took it.\"\n\n\"Did you drink the wine?\"\n\nFlorea remained silent.\n\n\"Did you eat the bread?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Florea.\n\n\"Did you bite me?\"\n\nFlorea was silent.\n\n\"Then may you lose your sight! I'll teach you to tell another\nfalsehood!\" said the fairy, angrily, giving Florea two cuffs, one on\nthe right ear and the other on the left, till every thing grew as\ndark before his eyes as mortal sin. Two dragons led the blind prince\nout of the palace, and the matter was settled.\n\nCostan now set out to follow his brother's example. He set out for the\nFairy Aurora's palace, reached it, and fared just as Florea had\ndone--he, too, left it a blind man.\n\nThere was now not a single ray of light in the whole earth. The world\nwas deprived of light on account of one emperor's eyes.\n\nAfter the Fairy Aurora had found that she could not recover Petru, she\nsummoned every one in her whole domain; the fairies, the flowers, in\nshort, all her subjects. Even the sun himself was obliged to come down\nfrom the sky, unharness the horses from his chariot, lead them to the\nstable, and go to the Fairy Aurora's palace. When all were thus\nassembled, the beautiful queen gave them no further commands, but in\nher grief and suffering bade farewell to all her subjects, thanked\nthem for their love and confidence, and sent them out into the world,\nthat each one might act according to his own ideas, keeping only two\nlions, two large and two small dragons, and two giants, that she might\nhave somebody to guard the bridge. She sent all the fairies into the\ngarden, telling them not to come back to the court till she was happy\nonce more, then gave orders that the flowers should henceforth cease\nto smell so sweet that every human being would carry them away, the\nwinds wail so piteously that no mortal could help weeping to hear\nthem, the springs send forth bitter waters, and the sun daily cast\nseven times seven cold rays into the world. After saying all these\nthings, she went to the great wheel on which the threads of human life\nare wound, stopped it, so that it could no longer turn, and human\nexistence became changeless. Then the Fairy Aurora hid herself from\nthe world in the darkest and dreariest corner of her whole palace.\n\nThe big and little dragons and the giants went out into the wide world\nand hid themselves for very shame in the most secluded caves and\ndeserts, so that they could no longer be seen by any human eye; the\nlions shook the gold from their manes, the iron from their teeth and\npaws, and became furious with rage; the fairies concealed themselves\nin the garden; the flowers, springs, and winds obeyed the Fairy\nAurora's will; and the cold rays of the sun, lacking both warmth and\nlight, can still be seen in the sky on summer nights. Human life was\nat a stand, time ceased to move. Two lions, two big and two little\ndragons, and two giants mounted guard at the bridge. How long the\nFairy Aurora's kingdom remained in this state is not known and can not\nbe told. Much time passed without moving.\n\nHoly Friday, too, at last noticed that the Fairy Aurora was angry; the\nscanty sunbeams, and the whirlwinds which shook the whole world, had\nbrought her the tidings. She was half angry, half pleased,--angry\nbecause she could no longer see around her, and pleased because her\nbrave, handsome prince had escaped and her beautiful neighbor was\nsorrowful. She was provoked, too, because her jug with the wonderful\nwater was broken. But when Holy Friday saw that the darkness did not\nlessen, the light did not return, and even the very last sunbeam\nvanished from the earth, she realized that the Fairy Aurora was not\njesting, and she ordered the whirlwinds to set out together and remove\nthe great veil on the frontiers of the empire, that light might enter\nthe world. The winds departed, each one more furious, more fierce,\nmore terrible than the other--as whirlwinds usually are. It seemed as\nif they were taking the world away with them, and meant to tarry on it\nno longer. They reached the veil and dashed against it. Oh, how strong\nthey were! But the veil did not stir. The whirlwinds blew against it\nagain and again, three times in succession, then they gave up the\nattempt. They saw that the veil was firmer than the earth itself.\nAfter lingering a few moments they returned, wearied and covered with\ndisgrace, and once more circled around the earth in their wild rage.\nYou can imagine what happened to every thing that came in their way.\nNothing good at any rate. Alas! alas!\n\nThe whirlwinds returned to Holy Friday and told her about the veil.\nHoly Friday was now not only half-angry, but wholly enraged, so she\nsent the whirlwinds to the emperor's court to tell Petru he must\nintercede with the Fairy Aurora and promise to do whatever she asked,\nthat light might return to the world. The whirlwinds set out\nagain--this time somewhat more slowly and peacefully, as people depart\nwhen engaged on a good errand to a friendly person. They reached the\npalace. Petru was not there. The whirlwinds began to act somewhat\nmore willfully. Petru had perished on the way. The whirlwinds circled\naround the palace from the left, then from the right, then from the\ncenter, turned it, twisted it, raised it, and hurled it, till there\nwas nothing left of it. Then they returned to Holy Friday's hut with\nthe news of Petru's death.\n\n\"Go into the world, every one of you, move every thing that can be\nmoved, and find Petru. Bring him to me dead or alive!\" said Holy\nFriday, after she had heard the sad tidings.\n\nFor three days and three nights the whirlwinds did not stop blowing.\nThrice they uprooted trees, drove the rivers from their beds,\ndispersed the clouds by beating them against the rocks, swept the\nbottom of the sea and destroyed the surface of the earth. It was all\nin vain. They came back to the house, each one more tired, angry and\nmortified than the other.\n\nOnly one still lingered: the Spring wind, the soft, lazy, warm Spring\nwind. What had become of him? They all knew that he could not have\naccomplished much. Who knows? Weary as he was, he had perhaps lain\ndown somewhere in the shade. Nobody troubled his head any more about\nhim. Suddenly, after a short time, when all were racking their brains\nto discover Petru, the leaves began to stir gently.\n\nHoly Friday felt the soft air, and went out. \"What news do you bring?\"\nshe asked the favorite of all the winds.\n\n\"Sad, very sad, yet good,\"--whispered the young wind. \"After I grew\ntired of so much searching, destroying, and pulling, I reached an\nempty well, and, being rid of my brothers, thought I would rest a\nwhile before setting off for home.\"\n\n\"And you found Petru at the bottom of the well?\" cried Holy Friday,\njoyfully.\n\n\"Yes, and the bay by his side.\"\n\n\"May your speech be sweet, your breezes soft, and may you ever bring\ngood tidings!\" said Holy Friday; then she commanded him to hasten to\nHoly Thursday and tell her she must be ready with the gold crucible,\nfor Petru was in a sad case:--from there the Spring wind was to rush\nto Holy Wednesday and tell her she must come to the well with the\nwater of life. \"Do you understand?\" said Holy Friday. \"And go as fast\nas you can,\" and they all set off together.\n\nThey reached the deserted well. There was nothing left of Petru except\nbones and ashes. Holy Wednesday took the bones and fitted them\ntogether--not a single one was missing. Holy Friday ordered the\nwhirlwinds to search the bottom of the well, turn up all the dust, and\ncollect Petru's ashes. This was done. Holy Thursday made a fire,\ngathered the dew from the flowers into the gold crucible, and set it\non the flames. When the water began to boil, Holy Wednesday repeated\nthree spells, looked once to the east, once to the west, once to the\nnorth, and once to the south, and threw the herb of life into the\nboiling water. Holy Friday did the same with Petru's ashes. Holy\nThursday counted one, two, three, and took the crucible off the fire.\nPetru's ashes and the herb of life were made into a fragrant salve.\nThe Spring wind blew upon it once and stiffened it, then Petru's\nbones were smeared with it seven times from head to foot, seven times\nfrom foot to head, seven times across one way, and seven times across\nthe other, and, when this was done, up sprang the hero, a hundred\nthousand times handsomer, braver, and prouder than before.\n\n\"Jump on the horse!\" said Holy Friday.\n\nAs soon as the bay felt his master on his back, he began to neigh and\nstamp. The animal was more spirited than ever.\n\n\"Where shall we go?\" the horse asked gayly.\n\n\"Home,\" replied Petru.\n\n\"How shall we ride?\"\n\n\"Like a curse.\"\n\nPetru expressed his thanks for the service done him, and set off; he\nrode and rode as fleetly as a curse flies, till he came to the\nemperor's court.\n\nNothing was left of the palace except the ground where it had stood.\nNo trace of any human being who could have uttered a word or given any\ntidings was to be found. At last old Birscha came out of a ruined\ncellar. Petru learned what had happened and its cause, turned his bay,\nand went back even more swiftly than he had come. He did not even stop\nto take breath until he reached the Fairy Aurora's kingdom. The time\nthat had passed since every thing had been in the condition the queen\nhad commanded, can not be told in words. It must have been a long\nperiod.\n\nWhen Petru reached the bridge the sun had only three bright rays,\nseven warm, and nine cold ones left; all the others had gradually been\nlost.\n\nThe Fairy Aurora felt that some remarkable person must be coming, for\nit seemed just as it had done when she woke from the dream that had\nmade her so sad. She was longing for something, she knew not what,\njust as she had then.\n\n\"Who is coming?\" she asked in a low tone.\n\n\"Hold firmly, master,\" said the bay.\n\nPetru struck in the spurs, drew the bridle, and felt nothing until he\nwas on the other side of the bridge.\n\n\"The hero is coming! _Over_ the bridge!\" cried the guards, waving\ntheir hats in the air.\n\nThe Fairy Aurora did not stir nor speak.\n\nPetru suddenly rushed up to her, clasped her in his arms, and kissed\nher--just as fairy princes always kiss bewitching fairies.\n\nThe lovely fairy queen felt as she had never felt before. She said\nnothing more, asked no more questions, but made a sign to have the bay\nled into the stables of the sun, and entered the palace with Petru.\n\nThe fairies began to smile merrily, the flowers to smell sweetly, the\nsprings to pour forth clear waters, the winds to blow cheerily, the\nwheel of life whirled faster than a top, the black veil fell, and the\nradiant sun rose high in the heavens, higher than it had ever done\nbefore. And in the world there was a light like the sun's, so that for\nnine years, nine months, and nine days it was so terribly bright that\nnothing could be seen.\n\nPetru rode home, brought back his old father and mother, had a wedding\nso magnificent that tidings of it spread through ninety-nine\ncountries, and became emperor of both kingdoms.\n\nHis brothers, Florea and Costan, had their sight restored so that they\nmight witness Petru's happiness.\n\nThis, dear children, was the story of handsome Prince Petru and the\nFairy Aurora, queen of the Land of the Sun.\n\nPetru lived and reigned in peace and health, and who knows whether, by\nGod's help, he may not be reigning still.\n\n[THE END.]\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nBY THE\n\n_QUEEN OF ROUMANIA_.\n\nPILGRIM SORROW\n\nA CYCLE OF TALES. TRANSLATED BY HELEN ZIMMERN. SQUARE 16MO. $1.50.\n\n    \"Like a string of amber beads, each one exquisite by itself,\n    but seen in perfection when connected with its fellows. They\n    imprison nymphs of the wood, and naiads of the stream, and\n    all the sweet and tender graces of nature which she reveals\n    only to her devoted lovers.\"--_Pittsburgh Times_.\n\n    \"The heart experiences of a princess and queen who is also a\n    true and noble woman.\"--_Cincinnati Commercial Gazette_.\n\n    \"The charming tales are full of beautiful thought and\n    sentiment, and scarcely lack the metrical form to be true\n    poetry.\"--_Providence Journal_.\n\n    \"Wholly attractive and interesting--beautifully\n    printed.\"--_Boston Gazette_.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *","title":"Roumanian Fairy Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":62900}