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ISLE OF RÜGEN
:
T

ERNST MORITZ ARNDT.
UNIV
OF
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ми
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Embrace.
Druck und Verlag
des lth Inst & Ph-Friedr With Universdal v Henry & Cohen in Bann
Frontispiece
FAIRY TALES
FROM
THE ISLE OF RÜGEN
BY
ERNST MORITZ ARNDT
(1817)
SELECTED AND TRANSLATED BY
ANNA DABIS
WITH FOUR OF THE ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS
PORTRAIT OF E. M. ARNDT, AND MAP
LONDON
DAVID NUTT, 270-271, STRAND
1896
F Dedicate
THIS TRANSLATION TO
FRIDA MOND
THE GREATEST LOVER OF FAIRY TALES-
AND THE KINDEST OF FRIENDS
:
!
Folk Arre
pegar
10-18-29
20232
INTRODUCTION
THESE fairy tales from Rügen are reminiscences of the
youth of Ernst Moritz Arndt. They had not been
written down before his time, but were handed down
by word of mouth in the Isle of Rügen, and were
related to Arndt chiefly by his parents and their
farm-servants. He made early notes of them, but by
an unlucky accident these were lost with his books
when Arndt had them shipped to Bonn; and he was
thirty-seven years old when he wrote them down from
memory for his youngest sister Dorothea, to whom he
dedicated them.
The tales have long been out of print, and they are
so quaint and simple that I think they deserve to find
readers among English children. For the benefit of
those children who like chapter and verse for what
they read, I have added a map of the Isle of Rügen,
on which most of the villages and farms mentioned
in the stories, are marked.
vii
Fairy Tales
I should like to add for those who, after having
finished the book, care to read the preface (but I
think there are few who will), some notes about Ernst
Moritz Arndt.
He was born about Christmas 1769, at Schoritz, a
large estate which his father farmed for a local earl.
At that time the Isle of Rügen belonged to Sweden,
although German in population, language, and cus-
toms. He was one of a large family, and received a
good education from parents, tutor, public school, and
university. Self-indulgence was unknown to him,
and the simple and hardy way of living in which his
parents brought him up, stood him in good stead
during the troublous years through which he had
to pass. Although he had studied divinity with the
view of entering the Church, religious scruples caused
him to abandon this intention, and devote himself to
history. In 1795 he was seized with the German
"Wanderlust," and he travelled by Vienna to North
Italy, France, and the Netherlands, gaining experience
on various subjects. On his return he got an appoint-
ment in the University of Greifswald.
Then came the troublous times of the Napoleonic
Wars, and the deepest degradation of the German
nation. After the battle of Jena, Arndt published
an anonymous pamphlet, trying to rouse the people
viii
from Rügen
against Napoleon. The publisher, Palm, of Nürn-
berg, who would not betray the author, was shot by
Napoleon's orders, and Arndt only escaped the same
fate by fleeing the country. He sought a refuge in
Sweden, and continued writing against Napoleon, but
after a few years he returned in disguise; and when
Napoleon prepared for the invasion of Russia, and
compelled the Germans to fight on his side, Arndt
preceded him there, at the call of the fugitive
Minister, Von Stein. As Secretary to the latter,
Arndt saw the crushing defeat and flight of Napoleon
and his armies.
Returning to Prussia, he helped enthusiastically to
rouse the nation against the Corsican invader, and
saw his country liberated, though it grieved his soul
that diplomatic intrigues prevented Germany from
becoming once more a united country, and reaping
the full benefit of the Wars of Liberation.
In 1817 he was appointed Professor of Modern
History at the newly-founded University of Bonn,
but after a few years he was suspended from office on
account of his too liberal ideas, of which the re-
actionary Government was afraid. Nothing could be
found against him, and he was pensioned off with his
full salary, but reinstated in 1840, when more liberal
ideas prevailed. In 1848 he was elected Deputy to
ix
Fairy Tales
the German Parliament, in which he strove to repre-
sent the "German Conscience." With others, he
tried in vain to persuade the then King of Prussia to
accept the Imperial crown of Germany from the hands
of the people, and place himself at the head of a United
Fatherland. Other counsels prevailed; and Arndt
gave up politics and devoted himself till the end of
his life to his professorial duties, adored by his
students. He died in January 1860, without having
seen fulfilled the dream and ideal of his whole life,
a United German Fatherland.
Besides his political books and pamphlets, Arndt
is the author of charming ballads and many stirring
patriotic songs, which will ever keep his memory
alive, for they are sung
"As far as the German tongue resounds,"
being simple as the Volkslied of the sixteenth
century, and essentially reproducing the spirit of that
great time in the beginning of the nineteenth cen-
tury, when the whole Teutonic nation rose to
throw off both the political slavery in which Napo-
leon had bound them down, and the mental bondage
and imitation of French manners and morals which
had prevailed since the time of Louis XIV.
Although contemporary with the Classic and
X
from Rügen
Romantic school of poets, Arndt belongs to neither,
but is with Körner and Schenkendorf foremost
among the patriotic national poets. Their poetry is
the poetry of reality, simple and popular in form and
language, as different from the cosmopolitan char-
acter and refined form of the Classical poetry as
from the dreamy, unreal character and undecided
form of the Romantic school.
Throughout Arndt's songs there breathe his simple
piety, enthusiastic love for his country, and holy
wrath against tyranny and oppression.
London, 1896.
Original Dedication
ΤΟ
DOROTHEA
Thou writest, sweet child, to me, 66
Oh, if the beautiful
Isle of Rügen and the beautiful Rhineland could only meet
as easily as our thoughts."
Indeed, it is sad, that those who love must live so far
apart, and can only reach each other by spiritual, aye,
even mostly invisible messengers. I send thee here a
packet of playful thoughts, which can come and go as such
light-winged messengers do. Many of them are known
to thee, and thou hast played thy part in them. Others,
who also have played theirs, gaze no longer through the
oft-darkened windows of this earth; but already look
down with heavenly eyes from the pure, clear firmament,
me, and
on to the blind crowd of moles below. They, too, have
been present in my thoughts and have assisted
will bless thee with the best of gifts which the earth can
give.
Born, 1817.
xiii
CONTENTS
THE UNDERGROUND FOLK
THE NINE MOUNTAINS NEAR RAMBIN
THE SILVER BELL
THE MIRACULOUS PLOUGH
•
Page
I
51
бл
THE FORGED DEED
•
THE FREE SHOT
65
70
THE LILY MAIDEN
THE STORY OF THE SEVEN COLOURED MICE
72
116
BIRLIBI, THE RAT-KING
121
•
PRINCESS SVANVITHA .
133
THE SERPENT-KING
148
THE BURNING MONEY
165
WOLF AND NIGHTINGALE: A SWEDISH STORY
169
SNOWFLAKE
184
EARTHWORM
204
BIG JOACHIM
219
THE HOOPOE
226
HOW THE MICE ARE WHISTLING FROM THE Low
GERMAN
229
XV
戆
​
BALTIC
DORN-
BUSCH
HIDDENSOE
TORHE
UMMANZ
WIEKER
BODDEN
WITTOW
ALTENKIRCHEN
WIEK
BARCONA
TROMPER
WIEK
RAPPIN
GINGST
PATZIG
PROHNER
WIEK
IGIESENDORF
/ RAMBIN
UNRUH
ROTHEN
KIRCHEN
STRAL
SUND
TRE
POMMERANIA
BERGEH
GROSSER
JASMUNDER
BODDEN
HERTHA
SEE
JASMUND
-BOBBIN
SAGARD
STUBBEN-
KAMMER
SASSNITZ
PRORER
WIEK
BINE
CRANIT
LANKEN
SCHMÄCHTER:
SEEL
LONVITE
PUTBUS
VILMNITZ
SAMTENS
CASNEVITZ
KRAKEVITZ
GARZ
I. VILM
SUND
REINBERG
PUDDEMIN
SCHORITZ GREIFSWALDER
BODDEN
ZUDAR
MAP OF THE ISLE OF RÜGEN
BALTIC
MÖNCH:
SANDRANK
BOUT
میه
[p. xvii
THE UNDERGROUND FOLK
The Nine Mountains near Rambin
IN the western point of the Isle of Rügen in the
Baltic, about a mile from the village of Rambin,
there lie nine little hills or barrows which are
popularly called the nine mountains, and of which
the folks tell all sorts of stories. This is said to be
their origin: In ancient time there lived a powerful
giant in the isle of Rügen, called Balderich, who
was annoyed to think his land was an isle, and that
he had to wade through the sea to get to Pomme-
rania on the continent. Therefore he had a huge
apron made, tied it on and filled it with earth, for
he meant to make a path on an embankment from
the isle to the continent. But when he had got
with his load as far as Rambin, which is about three
miles from the sea, his apron tore open, and the earth
which fell out through the hole became the nine
mountains. He stopped the hole up and walked
on, but there the apron tore again and thirteen
I
A
Fairy Tales
little mountains fell out.
With what was left him
he arrived at last at the sea and poured it in. But
there was still a narrow channel left between
Rügen and Pommerania, and that vexed the giant's
soul so much that he dropped down in a fit and
died. And thus the way across was never finished
and Rügen remains an isle to this day. Now in
these nine mountains near Rambin there live the
dwarfs, the little underground folks, and in the
night they dance about in the woods and fields
and carry on their dance and music in the moon-
light at midnight, particularly during the merry
spring and summertide, when everything is in
flower, for the little folks love nothing better than
springtime and flowers. They also have many
pretty boys and girls with them, but they don't let
them out, but keep them underground in the moun-
tain; for most of them they have stolen or caught
by a lucky chance, and they are afraid they might
run away. For formerly many children were
charmed in the morning or at night by the sweet
music and singing that sounded through the
bushes, and they ran thither and listened, for they
fancied it to be the singing of little forest-birds in
praise of God, and thus they were entrapped by the
dwarfs, who took them into the mountain, that they
should wait on them. But since the human beings
know that the place is uncanny, they are more
2
from Rügen
careful. Yet still many a child was caught by
the artful dwarfs and must needs stay fifty years
in the mountain and serve them. For 'tis an
ancient law underground, that every fifty years they
must give those whom they have caught back to
the daylight. But even if any one has spent fifty
complete years underground to serve the little
folks, he won't get older than twenty years, and
in this way all that come out are still young, and
mostly have good luck in the world, either because
they get clever and skilful underground, or because
the dwarfs help them invisibly at their work, and
bring them secretly gold and silver.
The little folks that live in the nine mountains
belong mostly to the brown ones, that are not a bad
sort; in two mountains there live the white ones,
those are the kindest and prettiest fairies, who have
no evil thoughts in their hearts, and wish men well
and do them all sorts of kindnesses. But there are
also some black ones; they are arch artificers and
smiths, skilled and clever in every work, but at
the same time great sorcerers and magicians, full of
cunning and deceit, and there is no trusting them.
Now I will tell a few stories of these nine
mountains that have happened ages ago, and which
my father's old bailiff, Henry Vierk, often told me in
my boyish years. Henry knew a lot about the under-
ground folks, and about gold cups, silver dishes,
3
Fairy Tales
glass slippers, and such like, with which men may
make their fortune; so the following is really not
being told by myself, but by Henry Vierk.
There lived once upon a time in Rambin a
working man, called Jacob Dietrich, a plain, just,
and God-fearing man, who had a good and pious.
wife. The couple owned a little house and garden,
and lived honestly by the work of their hands.
They had a number of dear children, the youngest
of whom, Johann Dietrich, was the pet of all.
For he was a handsome, cheery boy, wide-awake
and sharp, industrious at school and obedient at
home, who well remembered all the lessons and
stories he was taught by his parents. But he also
learnt from other people, and would stop everybody
who could tell a story, and not let them go until he
had heard it.
Johann had completed his eighth year, and lived
during the summer with his uncle, a farmer in
Rothenkirchen, where he had to mind the cows,
which they drove into the fields towards the nine
mountains, which were more wooded at that time
than now. There an old cowherd, Claus Starkvolt
by name, would often join the boys, and they would
drive their herds together and sit down to tell
stories. Now Claus knew a great many, and could
tell them well, so that he soon became Johann
Dietrich's best friend.
4
from Rügen
'
He knew an extra amount of stories about the
dwarfs in the nine mountains. Johann always
listened to them with the greatest delight, and
although he felt occasionally creepy when he had
to turn out into the fields at early dawn or late of a
night, he grew so fond of these fairy tales, that very
soon he heard and saw and talked of nothing but.
golden cups and crowns, of glass slippers, pockets
full of ducats, golden rings and diamond bridal
garlands. And when he would shout in his
childish delight, old Starkvolt would shake his head
and call out: "I say, Johann, where are you off to ?
Spade and scythe will be your sceptre and crown,
and your bride will wear a homespun gown and a
wreath of rosemary."
But Johann was not daunted,
and evermore desired to descend into the mountain;
for old Claus had told him what one had to do in
order to become master below, and not servant, so
that they could not keep one there for fifty years
to wash the cups and sweep the floor. It was this:
whoever was clever or lucky enough to catch or
find the cap of a little dwarf, could descend with
them in safety; they could not hurt him, but had to
do his bidding, and especially the one to whom the
cap belonged had to wait on him and get him what
he wanted. Johann had made a note of that, and
laid his plans.
""
It was Midsummer, the best season of the year,
5
Fairy Tales
when days are longest and nights shortest. Old and
young had enjoyed the festive days, played games
and told stories. Then Johann could not restrain
himself any longer, but the day after St. John's
day he went away on the sly, and when it grew
dark, he laid himself down on the top of the highest
of the nine mountains, just where, according to
Claus Stark volt, the dwarfs had their principal
dancing-ground. And he was so excited that his
heart beat like a hammer and he gasped for breath,
and he listened in fear and hope from ten o'clock
till midnight. And as it struck twelve, there began
a singing and ringing in the mountain, and soon he
heard whispering and whistling and rustling about
him, for some of the little folks swung round in
merry dances, whilst others played and had games
in the moonshine and carried on all sorts of fun.
A secret shudder crept over him, for he could not
see them, as they wore the caps that make them
invisible. He lay perfectly still, his face pressed
into the grass, his eyes firmly closed, and pretending
to snore in his sleep. Yet he would now and then
just look a wee bit round, but he could see nothing
of the dwarfs, however bright the moon shone.
He did not wait long, when three of them saun-
tered his way. They paid no heed to him, threw their
brown caps into the air and caught them one from
the other. Suddenly one of them in mischief snatched
6
from Rügen
the cap out of his mate's hand and threw it away,
and the cap flew just on to Johann's head; he felt
it, grabbed it, gave up all pretence of sleep and
started up.
He swung the little cap round with
delight, so that the little silver bell sewn on to it
rang, and then put it on his head, and-oh marvel!
-in the same moment he saw the numberless
merry crowd of little folks. Three of them rushed
forward in great haste, to get the cap back, but he
held it tight. And as he was a giant in size and
strength compared to them, and they hardly reached
up to his knee, the dwarf whose cap it was stepped
humbly forward and implored him, as if his life
depended on it, to return the cap. But Johann
said: “No, indeed not, you sharp little fellow; this is
not a thing to be given away for a piece of bread
and butter. I should be sorry to get nothing out
of you for this, for now you have no power over me,
but must just do as I please. I want to descend
with you into the mountain and see what you are
doing, and you shall be my servant, for you know
as well as I that you are bound to!" The little man
behaved as if he had neither heard nor understood;
he began to whine and worry and cried bitterly
over his lost cap; but when Johann in a deter-
mined voice said: "It shall be as I said; you are
my servant and I want to descend with you!" he
gave in, particularly as the others all talked to him
7
Fairy Tales
and said it would have to be so.
Johann threw his
old hat away, put the cap on and fastened it well
to his head, that it should not slip off, for in the
cap he carried the mastery.
And he tried its strength at once, ordering his
servant to bring him food and drink, as he was
hungry. His little servant hurried off and in a
wink he was back, carrying bread and wine and
luscious fruit. Johann ate and drank, looked on
at their games and was highly pleased, and in all
ways he behaved as cleverly as if he had been born
to rule.
Well, when the cock had just crowed the third
time, and the little larks began to trill, and the
young day to dawn in the east, there was a rush
through grass and bush and flowers; and the moun-
tain rang out and opened again, and the little
folks descended; and Johann paid good attention to
what happened, and found everything just as Claus
had told him; for on the summit of the hill where
they had just been dancing on grass and flowers,
there suddenly rose a glass point on which those
who wanted to go down would step; then it opened
and they glided down gently one after the other,
and when they had all got in, it disappeared without
a trace. Now those that entered were gliding
gently into wide silver tubs, each of which could
harbour about a thousand of little folk. When Johann
8
from Rügen
with his servant dropped into a tub, they all shrieked
with fear and begged him not to step on them, as
his weight would have crushed them. So he took
great care and was very kind to them. These silver
tubs went up and down like lifts (suspended by
silver chains), until every one of them had come
down. During his descent Johann was astonished
at the marvellous sheen on the walls, which glittered
and sparkled as if they were studded with diamonds,
and all the while lovely music sounded from the
distance underneath, so that he was in the most
charming way lulled to sleep and knew no longer
what happened to him.
When he awoke at last, he found himself in a
luxuriously soft bed, and this bed stood in the
prettiest room that you can imagine. And in front of
him stood his little brownie, busily driving away
the gnats and flies which might have disturbed his
slumber. Johann had hardly opened his eyes when
the little man brought him towel and basin with
water, and the daintiest new clothes to put on, all
made of brown silk, and a pair of new black shoes
with scarlet bows such as Johann had never seen in
Rambin or Rothenkirchen. There also stood some
glittering glass shoes for festival days. The little
boy was very pleased to see such light and clean
clothes and had no objection to be dressed in them.
Immediately after his toilet was finished, the
9
Fairy Tales
brownie went off and returned with a golden tray,
on which was a jug of milk, rolls and fruit, and
other things that little boys like to eat. And his
servant was obedient and attentive, and would,
without a word from Johann, guess from his looks.
what he wanted, and bring it. But I must describe
Johann's room to you.
His little bed was white,
with the softest mattress covered with snow-white
sheets, satin pillows and a satin quilt. A prince
might have slept in it. Beside the bed stood very
pretty chairs, carved with birds and animals, some
also inlaid with precious stones.
Marble tables
stood along the walls and two small emerald tables
with shining mirrors over them, the frames of which
were studded with precious stones, faced each other
at the opposite ends of the room. The very walls
were panelled with emerald, and in this splendid
room lived little Johann Dietrich !
Of course they never saw the sun, the moon, and
the stars underground, and that seems to imply a
want, yet they did not need their light here, nor
that of candles and lamps; they had plenty of
other light, for they regularly lived among the
precious stones, and the passages and walls were
faced with these precious stones, and gold and
silver, so that there was a perpetual sparkling light,
as if it were day for ever. Thus Johann had also a
shining stone in his room, an exquisite diamond as
ΙΟ
from Rügen
large as a cricket-ball, which was fixed on the ceil-
ing, and shone as bright as day.
After breakfast the little valet opened a small
cupboard door let into the wall, and Johann saw in
it the daintiest gold and silver things, and fairy tale
books with pictures, such as he had never seen
before, so that he could not tear himself away all
the morning.
At noon a bright and sonorous bell sounded, and
the little dwarf asked:
Master, do you wish to dine alone or in the
big company?"
"In the big company," replied Johann, and conse-
quently he was led through various passages and rooms
into a large lofty hall, the vaulted ceiling of which was
covered with thousands of diamonds. At the same
moment he perceived a large crowd of daintily-clad
folks, men and women, streaming in through various
doors; and the floor opened and a number of
tables came up, set with precious plate, tasty dishes,
and fruit and wine; chairs arranged themselves
round the tables, and the company sat down; the
biggest swells came and bowed to Johann and led
him to their high table, where they made him sit
between their prettiest children, so that he enjoyed
himself immensely. It was a very merry meal, for
the dwarfs are lively, jolly folks, and can't keep
silent long. Besides lovely music sounded through
II
Fairy Tales
the air, and coloured birds flew about and sang in
thrilling tones. Yet they were not living birds but
artificial ones, wrought so ingeniously by the little
folks that they could fly and sing, so that Johann
stared with amazement at all the marvels he saw.
The servants and maids who waited at table and
sprayed attar of roses and other scent about, handed
the golden dishes and cups round, and so on, were
children of men, who out of curiosity or by accident
had got among the little folks without possessing
themselves of a pledge, and thus had come under
their dominion. These were dressed differently.
. Both boys and girls wore white frocks and glass
shoes, so that their step could be heard, blue caps
and silver belts round their waist. That was the
garb of service. At first Johann was sorry for
them, when he saw how they had to jump about
and wait on the underground folks, but as they
looked cheerful, were nicely dressed and had rosy
cheeks, he thought: They are not so badly off after
all, I was worse off when I had to run after the
cows and bullocks. Of course I am now a master,
and they have to run about as servants, but the
time will come when they get free. Thus he felt
comforted, and played and enjoyed himself with his
small companions for about two hours, eating and
drinking and listening to the music in the air.
Then the president rang his bell again, and at the
12
from Rügen
sound the tables and chairs sank beneath the floor,
and after another ring there arose palms and laurels,
and orange trees with flowers and fruit, and other
birds sat in the branches and sang. They sang to-
gether in a regular tune and measure, and Johann
soon noticed at the end of the hall a little grey
man who gave them the time and tune; not that
he ever uttered a word, but he played a dance on
his fiddle and all the birds joined in and warbled,
and the merry little crowd got up and hopped and
skipped and danced around, as if the world were to
whirl asunder. And the pretty little girls that sat
by Johann's side, took hold of him and made him
dance round, which he much relished, for about two
hours. As long as he remained underground, he
joined every afternoon in this jolly dance, and would
remember it with keen delight even in his old age.
He used to say that the heavenly delights, the
singing and harp-playing of the angels, to which
the blessed looked forward in heaven, might be very
beautiful, but he could not imagine anything love-
lier than this music of the pretty little folks, the
marvellous birds with their enchanting notes, and
the ringing silver bells in the caps. No man who
had not seen it could imagine what it was like.
When the music and dancing had finished, it was
about the time which we call 4 P.M., the airy little
folks disappeared hither and thither to their work.
13
Fairy Tales
After supper they would generally again play and
dance, but in the night, especially on fine starlit
nights, and when they had anything particular to do
up there, they all slipped out of the mountain. But
at that time Johann would quietly go to bed and say
his prayers like a good Christian boy, nor would he
ever forget his morning prayers. Before I tell you
anything of his further adventures in the succeeding
years, I must tell you something more of the little
folks he was among.
That such little folks whom one calls by different
names: brownies, whities, elves, white elves, black
elves, goblins, pucks, mandrakes, Trolls, &c., exist
since prehistoric times, and live inside the moun-
tains and hills in marvellous crystal and glass
houses, is certain. But how they came there
and what sort of spirits they are, and for what
purpose God has created them, nobody has been
able to tell. They are, like the souls and hearts of
men, of very varied kind; some evil, some good,
some kind, others mischievous; but of them all,
without distinction, it is said, that they are very
ingenious and clever, and can execute the most
artistic work and jewellry, which for that very
reason are often taken for witches' work. All this
Johann Dietrich has reported, and told it to his
friends and children, who in their turn have told
others; and so the tale has come down to our day.
14
from Rügen
The little folks among whom Johann had descended
belonged to the brownies. They were full of tricks,
but on the whole a good-natured and pleasant race.
They were called brownies, because they wore brown
jackets and skirts, and had brown caps with silver
bells; some wore black shoes tied with red ribbons,
but most of them had fine glass slippers, and these
they all used in dancing. Their dwellings were in
the mountains, but they kept them very secret, and
as long as he was there Johann did not see any of
their private rooms. He and his servant had their
apartment close by the place where the splendid hall
and ballroom would always appear and disappear;
he saw also in many other places beautiful halls,
open squares, and lovely fields and pastures, but
nowhere any dwellings. The little folks would be
about in groups or singly, dancing, promenading, or
passing by him quickly. And how they came out
of the rocks in which they dwelt, or disappeared
into them, his eyes could never see, however much
he lay in wait to watch for it. They would just
appear to his eyes, and vanish again like a flash of
lightning or a ray of light. Some of the small girls
who were fond of him whispered to him, that each
had his or her own little house in the rock, and
that the mountain was in reality transparent from
end to end and surrounded by glass, but that his
eyes were not able to see it.
15
Fairy Tales
The biggest of these little folks were hardly two
feet high, and the boys and girls were thus very
small, but they were of pretty shape and pleasant
mien, with beautifully graceful hands and feet. And
it was this very loveliness and pleasantness which
would tempt many a human being, so that they
descended among them without a pledge or token
and had to remain and serve for years. If you have
a pledge from them, it matters not if you descend
with them in their silver barrel, they must let you
out when you want it. Nor do they like to give
a pledge, and the best thing is to take it from
them by stratagem, for then they have to wait on
one, although they like best to rule. In fact, their
principal fault is that they are too fond of power.
They are particularly desirous of ruling over
human beings, and are very conceited if, with their
cunning, they can make those their servants who
are much bigger and stronger than themselves. The
best pledge to obtain from them is a brown cap with
the little bell, or a glass slipper, or a silver buckle
with which they fasten their belt. He who can get
the latter becomes a great ruler over them and has
plenty of everything.
One does not know if they ever die; some people
say that on getting old they creep into stones and
trees and grow into one with them, and turn to
those strange sounds, sighs, and groans which one
16
from Rügen
occasionally hears without knowing whence they
come; or that they turn into those odd excrescences
and interlaced loops, through which witches are said
to escape, when the wild huntsman is after them.
No man ever saw a corpse among them, and when
one asked after it, they answered as if they did not
understand the meaning of the word. It is certain
that some of them are over two thousand years old,
and thus it is no wonder that such clever folks are
found amongst them.
They have a great advantage over us in not
having to trouble and toil for their daily bread, for
food and drink comes to them by itself, as it were,
or through some marvellous trick, and their table
never lacks bread and wine and roast meat.
In
the same way you never see in their domain corn
growing in the fields or cattle grazing on the pastures ;
all that grows there is luxuries for their enjoyment ;
trees and vines with exquisite fruit and grapes;
lovely flowers on which such a variety of butterflies
flutter as you never see in the land of sun and moon ;
and the most lovely shimmering birds, who resemble
the paradise bird and the phoenix, rock themselves
in the branches and sing sweet songs. Other live
things are not seen there, unless you call the foun-
tains of milk and honey alive, which here and there
bubble out of the crystal rock walls. Thus it would
seem as if these little folks were very happy and
17
B
Fairy Tales
only born for pleasure and enjoyment, and it must
be agreed that they well understand the art of enjoy-
ing their life; but you must not imagine that they
do nothing but eating, playing, dancing, then slip
into their chambers and sleep, or play through the
night on the earth. Oh dear, no! They are prob-
ably by far the busiest and most industrious beings
one has ever seen. Nobody understands as well as
they the interior of the earth, the secret powers of
Nature, and what grows in mountains, stones, and
metals, and what works in the colours of flowers
and in the roots of trees. For their senses are
much more acute and sharper than those of the
brightest human being. Our little children often
have acute senses and fine thoughts, which grown-
up people do not always understand, because their
senses have got coarse and hardened through their
surroundings.
These underground folks have much delight in
precious metals and stones, and make charming
works from them, so that even our greatest and
cleverest goldsmiths marvel, when they have the
chance of seeing such a piece of work. For that
reason they are sometimes called the keepers of
gold and silver, and it is thought that they are
possessed with evil greed and are wicked spirits of
the metals. But they who think that wrong them,
for the white and brown dwarfs, at least, are not
18
from Rügen
greedy, for they give plenty of presents to men,
which they would not do if they were over fond of
gold and jewels. They love it for its sheen and
sparkle, for light and glamour is above everything
in their eyes. The dwarfs with black caps are
avaricious and of a less kind nature.
How they slip out of their glass hills at night
and amuse themselves in moonlight and starlight,
I have already told you. They can also slip
invisibly into the houses of man, for nobody can see
them if they have their caps on, unless he himself
wear such a cap. Therefore people say that they
practise all sorts of mischief, exchange infants in
their cradles, even steal them. But that is untrue
of the whities and brownies; God has not given.
them the power of practising mischief in human
habitations. It is true they get in, and no keyhole
is so small that they could not slip through; but
they do no evil to men, they are only curious to
see what men are doing. Sometimes they bring
pretty presents with them, especially for children,
of whom they are very fond. And when children
at their play find ducats or golden rings, as some-
times happens, or when they find dainty shoes or
a wreath or a new dress on their beds and cradles
on waking up, it is not always the angels that have
brought them, but more often the brownies.
at least, say many people who know that they often
So,
19
Fairy Tales
invisibly surround the children and guard them
from perishing in fire or water. If ever they tease
and frighten any one, it is lazy men and dirty maid-
servants whom they frighten with bad dreams or
nightmares, or bite in the shape of fleas, or bite
and scratch them like invisible dogs and cats; or if
there are thieves and wicked men who walk for-
bidden ways at night, they may, as owls, poke them
in the back, or, as will-o'-the-wisps, entice them
into swamps and bogs, or even bring them into
the arms of their pursuers. But that I consider
no sin.
The black dwarfs, on the other hand, are malig-
nant and spiteful. But they may not come near the
houses of men, nor even on the surface of the
world, unless it be in deserts and barren wastes.
They never come near men, unless the latter have
given themselves into their power and pawned and
pledged themselves to them. In fact, these subtle
and melancholy spirits rack their brains night and
day how they may ensnare poor fools and artful
knaves, and make fun of their misery afterwards.
These blackies are not as pretty as the others, but
exceedingly ugly. They have dull bleared eyes, like
charcoal burners and blacksmiths; are silent and
secret about their work; live singly, or, at most, two
and three together; know neither dancing or music,
but only howling and whining. And if at night, in
20
from Rügen
forest or bog, one hears a noise like of a crowd of
screaming children, or meowing cats, or screeching
wailing owls, that is their nightly gatherings, that is
their music, that is they.
Naturally all human beings feel strange about
the underground folks; for man is born unto the
light and the love of all that is light and bright, and
he shudders at the dark and hidden things, aud
at secret powers, who walk and rule unseen. Also
does one know that they may be anywhere, and can
change and transform themselves at will. Of course,
most of their powers are magnified; they achieve
most by art, by being able to spin and weave a
woof as fine as cobwebs, and producing all sorts of
phantasms and legerdemain before men. But that
they do for fun and play, and not for evil purpose.
The black dwarfs, however, practise witchcraft, and
when they change themselves, it is into the most
noisome beasts and vermin-snakes, bears, wolves,
hyænas, tigers, cats, serpents, toads, scorpions, crows,
and owls—and woe betide the poor men that have
had dealings with them! For of them one ought to
demand at least triple pledges, and even the most
acute is outdone by them if he does not look out
sharp. They weave witches'-caps and fog-caps, with
which one can make himself invisible and ride over
land and sea in a trice. It was they who wove Dr.
Faustus' cloak, with which he rode in a second from
21
Fairy Tales
Strassburg to Rome and from Mayence to Paris.
But how fared this poor Dr. Faustus? Because he
wanted to become too wise, he became, with these
black artists, a necromancer himself, and was for-
feited in the end to the Prince of Blackness.
They also forge magic arms; armour that is proof
against cut and blow; swords that never get notched,
and which can pierce any helmet and coat of mail;
coats of mail, as fine as cobweb, which no shot can
pierce. But these have rather fallen out of use
since men became Christians. Yet they certainly
are artful smiths and armourers, who know how to
temper their steel like no earthly smith; for their
blades are pliant like grass and sharp as diamond.
They also make other witches' tools of steel and
iron, that are used for hidden purposes, and have
the strangest and most incomprehensible qualities.
The brownies, on the other hand, are the jewellers.
of the mountains, and work in gold and silver and
precious stones. But the cleverest of all are the
whities; their work is so fragile and dainty that
many eyes can hardly discern it, and they can
weave garments of gold and silver that look like
rays of sun and moon, and are lighter than cobweb.
During the first weeks of Johann Dietrich's life
in the glass mountain, he walked no further than
from his bedroom to the dining-hall and back. He
could not get tired of looking at and praising the
22
from Rügen
dainty objects which were placed about his room
and in the cupboards. His greatest delight were the
pretty pictures and the book-case, in which stood
many hundreds of prettily bound books with gold
edges, wherein he found the jolliest fairy-tales, which
he never got tired of reading. But after a few
weeks he would take walks with his servant, who
showed and explained things to him. There were
such pretty walks in every direction, and he could
walk about for miles; this proves how big the
mountain was, although at the top it only appeared
like a small hill with a few trees and shrubs on it,
and this also shows how many miles it went down
into the interior of the earth. There was something
peculiar about these walks; between every field and
pasture, of which there were plenty, strewn with
hills and trees and flowers, islets and lakes, in the
greatest variety, there were narrow lanes through
which one had to walk like through crystal rock
walls to get from one place to the other. Each field
extended a few miles in length. The fruit trees
and fountains I have already mentioned, and the
wanderers need never be exhausted without finding
something for refreshment. But his greatest delight
was to watch the birds hopping from branch to
branch, singing like heavenly nightingales, and the
flowers of such miraculous beauty and scent, such as
Johann had never met with on earth. In short, it
23
Fairy Tales
agreeable life, and,
There blew a fresh
keen wind; it shone
was a charmingly merry and
with all the pleasure, so quiet.
breeze, but you felt no
brightly, and you did not suffer from heat; the
waves rolled and roared, and you feared no danger,
but dainty skiffs and gondolas, shaped like snow-
white swans, came of their own accord if you wanted
to cross the stream, to take you to the opposite bank
or to an eyot. Whence came the light he never
knew, and the servant was not allowed to tell him;
but Johann saw plainly, that the big carbuncle
and diamonds which ornamented the high vault
which served as sky, and which adorned all the
walls inside the mountain, shone instead of the sun,
moon, and stars. These charming fields and commons
were generally unpeopled. They saw few brownies.
on them, and those whom you saw seemed to slip
past, as if they were in a great hurry. On rare
occasions a few were seen dancing here in the open,
by threes, or, at the most, half a dozen of them.
Johann never saw more of them together. But it
was lively when the troop of human servants, who
might amount to a few hundreds, were taken out
for a walk. However, that occurred only twice a
week; on other days they were at work in the big
hall and adjoining rooms, or had to sit in school.
Another peculiarity added to the diamonds doing
duty for sun and moon and stars was, that they had
24
from Rügen
no real difference of seasons; the temperature was
always the same—a mild, gentle, spring air, perfumed
with flowery scent and filled with the singing of
birds.
The day was divided into day and night, and
again subdivided into morning, noon, evening, and
night; yet noontime was no hotter than the other
times of day, and night neither as dark, nor day as
light, as in our world above ground.
Johann had spent many months here—about ten,
I fancy-and they had passed to him like one day.
Then something happened which brought him to
school. He walked one day as was his wont, with
his servant, when in the twilight of evening he saw
something snow-white slip into the crystal rock and
disappear. It seemed to him to be one of the little
folks, whose hair was hanging in snow-white curls
over his shoulders. He inquired from his com-
panion: "What was that? Are there some among
you that wear white robes like the little human
servants you have caught?"
The servant : Yes, there are some, but not
many, and they never come to table or to dance
but once a year on the birthday of the big
mountain-king, who lives many thousand miles
further down in the interior. That is why
you have not seen them yet. They are the most
ancient among us, some of them even a few thou-
25
Fairy Tales
sand years old, and they know all about the begin-
ning of the world and the origin of things, and are
called the wise men. They live very much by
themselves and only leave their chambers to in-
struct our children and the servants, for whom they
keep a big school; otherwise they are busy with
the contemplation of heavenly things, astronomy and
alchemy."
here!
"What!" exclaimed Johann, "there are schools
How wrong of you not to tell me that
before. I have always had a great desire to go to
school and learn properly."
"You can, if you like," answered his valet; "you
are master here, and we must do as you please.
You may order one of the wise men to come to
your room if you like, or you may go to one of the
schools."
"That I will do at once from to-morrow," said
Johann, “and I will go to the school where the ser-
vants are being taught. I prefer to learn with
those who are born on the earth, for your children
would probably be far ahead of me. I should not
get along with them, and it would not be nice to be
at the bottom of the class."
And the very next morning Johann made the
servant take him to school, and he liked school so
well, that he never missed a day after that. Now
it is very creditable that the brownies should teach
26
from Rügen
these children so well, that they always come as
well-instructed men and women out of the moun-
tains. Here there were teachers of all sorts of arts.
The children learned the three R.'s, drawing, paint-
ing, the art of writing and relating stories and fairy
tales, and were also instructed in many a handi-
craft. The abler ones were, in addition, taught
natural science and astronomy, and were practised
in poetry and guessing riddles, of which two arts
the little folks are very fond, and with which
they delight each other at mealtimes and festivals.
Little Johann was very industrious and soon became
one of the cleverest among the draughtsmen and
painters; he also executed fine works in silver, gold,
and stone; indeed, he was soon able to make such
delicate fruit and flowers, that you could hardly find
them surpassed in Nature, which after all is the
most perfect and artistic Worker. He also made
pretty rhymes, and in their riddle and conundrum
competitions he became so skilled, that he was
always ready with an answer, and often they found
no answer to his riddles.
Many a year Johann had spent here without any
thoughts of the beautiful world above, and those
whom he had left behind there; thus plea-
santly his time went by and soon he preferred the
school to dancing and the other pleasures. He
found here among the children many nice play-
27
Fairy Tales
fellows. The only thing that grieved him was, that
they had to serve for certain hours and could not be
with him then; although certainly, they were not
treated harshly and had a very light service, more
like play; for heavy, dirty, or troublesome labour
did not exist here below.
Among these companions and playfellows, Johann
liked nobody better than a little fair maiden, called
Lisbeth Krabbe. She was of his village, the
daughter of the parson, Frederick Krabbe, in Ram-
bin. She had been lost when four years of age, and
Johann well remembered having heard about her
disappearance. She had not been kidnapped by the
brownies, but one summer's day she had run with
other children into the field. They had gone to the
nine mountains, and there little Lisbeth had dropped
asleep and been left behind by the others, and in
the night when she woke up, she just chanced to be
among the brownies and to descend with them.
Johann not only liked her because she was of his
village, but because she was an exceedingly pleasant
and nice child, with blue eyes and fair curls, and
the most angelic smile; and as she grew up, she
became very handsome.
Thus Johann played through his child years and
quite forgot that there were people living above the
mountains. He was now eighteen years of age and
Lisbeth sixteen. And what had been innocent
28
from Rügen
child's play, became now sweet love. They could
no longer live apart, called themselves betrothed,
and would rather be alone together, than among the
others. The brownies were pleased to see it, for
they all liked Johann and would have been glad to
have him as their servant, for greed of power is a
vice they possess among their virtues. They argued
thus: Through this pretty maid we shall catch him
in the end and he will be content to wait at table,
gather fruit from the trees, and to sweep the floor.
But they were mistaken. The little servant, whose
cap he had, and who often found the time pass
heavily, had told him too much that he only need
had to obey; for
give orders here, and they all
he who had become master of one brownie, was in
so far master of all that they had to do everything
in their power to please him. Now Johann walked
frequently with his sweet little Lisbeth and left the
servant at home, for there were no longer any roads
or paths which he did not know. And they would
walk far into the night without noticing the time;
Johann was talking merrily and cheerily, but Lis-
beth was often sad and silent, reminding him of the
world above, where human beings live, and sun and
moon and stars are shining. But as he would
always try to make her talk of other things, she
would only sigh by herself, and even forget it over-
the happiness of being with him. Now one night
29
Fairy Tales
they had utterly forgotten the time in their walk,
and sauntered, goodness knows how far, when it
was midnight and they just happened to be at the
place where the top of the glass-mountain usually
opened, and where the brownies were in the habit
of slipping out and in.
some earthly cocks crow loudly. This sweet sound,
which they had not heard for twelve years, moved
little Lisbeth deeply; she could not restrain herself,
embraced Johann, and wept bitterly.
All of a sudden they heard
recovered herself, she begged him to
But when she
unlock their
underground prison, saying something like this:
“Dear Johann, I agree, it is pretty down here and
the little folks are pleasant and won't hurt anybody,
but I have never felt at home here and have never
been happy until I loved you, and yet this is not
perfect happiness, for this life is not what it ought
to be for human beings. I have no peace day and
night, and I will tell you about something which
hitherto I have kept to myself. Every night I
dream of my dear father and mother and of our
churchyard where the people stand so reverently at
the church doors and wait for my father, and then
I feel a longing in my heart that my tears might
turn to blood, because I can't go to church with
them and pray and praise God as men ought.
For this below is no Christian life, only an artificial
humdrum life, half Pagan. And further, dear
30
from Rügen
Johann, reflect that we can never become husband
and wife here, for there is no priest to marry us, and
so we shall have to remain betrothed until we are
old and grey. Therefore consider and find means
for us to get away from here. I yearn indescrib-
ably to be with my father and good Christians.”
For Johann too there had been something strange
in the crowing of the cocks, and he felt for the first
time homesick for the land where the sun shines.
So he replied to his sweetheart: "Dear, sweet
Lisbeth, you admonish me rightly. I, too, feel now
that it is a sin for Christians to remain here. I
feel sad at heart, and see that it was great forward-
ness and even a sin for me to have descended among
the brownies, but I was a child and knew not what
I was doing, so God will forgive me; but now I
won't wait another day, but make haste to get out.
They have no power to keep me here."
And in his excitement and emotion he hurried
her away with him, without noticing how deadly
pale Lisbeth had become at his last words, and how
they affected her; for he had not considered that
she was one of the servants, and had to stop her
fifty years ere she could get out. But her grief and
pain was so strong that she burst into tears and loud
sobs, and when he asked what was the matter, as he
was willing to go away with her through the whole
world, if it pleased her so, she replied: "Yes, you
31
Fairy Tales
are master here and can go; but I am a servant,
and according to the strict law that prevails here, I
must stop till fifty years have gone by. And what
use is it then to me to return to the earth, when
father and mother are dead, and all my playmates
old and grey? And you, too, will be old and grey.
What good is it, then, to me to remain young and
not get older than twenty years? O woe to me!
""
She said these words so pitifully that they could.
have moved a rock. But in her lover's ears they
sounded like a thunderclap, and it saddened him,
for he knew he could not go from here without her,
and yet he found no way out of the difficulty.
they parted in sorrow. Johann pressed her hand to
his heart and kissed her tenderly, saying: "No, dear
Lisbeth, I shall never go without you, believe me.”
And these words comforted her.
So
All night long Johann tossed about on his pillows
and found no rest, for his thoughts flew round and
round like birds pursued by a hawk. At last when day
dawned he jumped out of bed, and cried exultingly :
"I have it! I have it! Servant, you have told me too
much!" He rang his bell, the servant came, and
he ordered him to bring Lisbeth to him directly.
In a few minutes the servant brought the pretty
maid in, whereupon he sent the servant out and
told Lisbeth to rejoice, as he had found a way out
of the difficulty and she was to cheer up; he felt
32
from Rügen
sure he could deliver her. Then he bade the
servant to lead her back and to call the six chiefs
among the little folks to him. The servant was
astonished at this message, and the six chiefs more
so when the message came to them, and they tried
to guess what he wanted with them, and whispered
among themselves; but they came to him. Johann
received the six pleasantly, for they were the men
among whom he daily sat at table, and he spoke
thus to them:
(6
of one of you,
During the ten
Dear gentlemen and friends, you are aware in
what way I have come amongst you; not as a
prisoner and servant, but as master
and consequently over all of you.
years I have lived here, you have received me and
treated me like a gentleman, for which I owe you
thanks. But you owe me greater thanks, for I
might have worried and plagued you much; aye, I
could have been a spiteful, unkind tyrant, and you
would have had to suffer it obediently without com-
plaining. But I have not acted thus; rather have I
treated you as equals, and played with you instead
of lording it over you. Now I beg that you will be
kind in return and grant my request. Among your
servants there is a dainty maid, whom I love,
Lisbeth Krabbe, from Rambin, whence I also come.
Give her to me, and let her go with me. For I
want to go back to where the sun shines and the
33
C
Fairy Tales
plough draws furrows in the field. I ask for nothing
else but this fair maid, and the furniture and orna-
ments from my room."
Thus he spoke with strong and lively accent, and
they well noted how seriously he meant it. But
they looked down embarrassed and thoughtful, and
were silent. At last the eldest of them lisped
out: "Master, you demand what we cannot give;
we are grieved you should ask for something im-
possible. It is an inviolable law, that no servant
can be released here before the proper time.
If we
break the law, our whole subterranean empire would
fall. Anything else, for we are proud of you and
respect you, but Lisbeth we cannot give unto you."
"You can give her up, and you shall! cried
Johann in anger.
Go and consider till to-morrow.
I no longer beg, I demand it. Come back at this
same hour to-morrow. I will show you if I cannot
conquer your flattering, foxy tricks.
(C
""
The six bowed and went, but they scolded
Johann's servant that he had let out so much.
The latter excused himself and denied it, saying:
"You know how artfully he outwitted me with
the cap, and how he knew all our secrets before,
through the old herdsman from Rothenkirchen; it
is he who has told him this." And they believed it,
and scolded no longer.
Next morning when the six came back at the
34
from Rügen
appointed hour, Johann received them kindly, and
said: "I addressed you severely yesterday, but I did
not mean any harshness. Still, I will and must
have Lisbeth. I stick to that.
I know you will be
sorry to miss me, because you are fond of human
beings when they are merry and jolly like myself.
But I cannot help it. I must get back among
Christians to live and die as a Christian, and it
would be a sin for me to tarry longer here. That is
why I want to leave, not for hatred or dislike of
you. And I will take my dear Lisbeth with me.
And now, pray, do not be obstinate and obdurate
any longer, but behave as friends to a friend, and do
voluntarily what you will otherwise be compelled to
do, give my pretty sweetheart up to me and let
us part pleasantly, so that we may keep kindly
memories on either side."
The six behaved very agreeably, and talked one
after the other with well-set phrases, by which
they meant to entrap him, for they are very skilled
in that. But it availed them nothing, and their
words were like chaff before the wind, and moved
Johann no more than chaff. And the end of it was,
that after all their fine speeches he reiterated :
"Give up Lisbeth! I shall not go without her."
For he was too much in love to forsake her. Still
the six refused steadfastly, and behaved as if they
were in their right and should never give in.
35
Fairy Tales
Johann in the end said smilingly: "Go now, fare-
well till to-morrow at the same hour. This is
your third and last chance. If you won't give in
then in kindness, you shall see how I can be
master." For when he saw them so obdurate he
had resolved to torment them unless better thoughts
should prevail.
They came again the third morning. Johann
looked at them severely and sternly, did not
respond to their bows, but asked curtly: "Yes or
no?" They answered unanimously: "No." Then
Johann ordered the servant to fetch another forty-
four of the nobles and their wives and daughters,
as well as the wives and daughters of these six.
The servant went off like a whirlwind, and in a few
minutes the forty-four had come with their wives
and daughters and the families of the other six, so
that in all there were about five hundred men,
women, and children. Johann bade them go and
fetch hatchets, hoes, and stakes, and return to him.
They did as they were told.
a rocky hill in a field, and
beings, who were not made
to cut and break stones.
know that if they would
would be worse for them. They worked away most
patiently, and made no sign, but behaved as if they
found it easy play. And so he made them slave
Then he led them to
these tender, delicate
for rough work, had
This was to let them
not yield for love, it
36
from Rügen
from morning till night, and they had to perspire
and work breathlessly, and he stood behind and
urged them on. They were hoping he would lose
patience and be overcome by pity at the sight of
their wives and children getting pale and worn, who
used to be so pretty and cheerful. And in fact,
Johann was not born to be the like of King
Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar, for after having carried
on like that for a few weeks, he lost patience, because
they did not give in, being an obstinate race.
And they cunningly contrived so that the prettiest
had always to work nearest to Johann, particularly
the pretty little girls who had been his fellows at
table, and they would note his expression, and soon
perceived that he would secretly turn away, to wipe.
the tears from his eyes. So in the end Johann
thought of some other punishment which would
lead him to attain his end quicker. He hardened
himself, called them together one evening and said:
"I see you are a stiff-necked race, but I will be
harder than you. To-morrow when you come to
work let each bring a new whip." And he bade them
undress and whip one another until the blood flowed.
And he put on the most cruel and bloodthirsty
looks, as if a tigress had suckled him, or a gallows-
bird reared him. But the little folks thrashed each
other and laughed in scorn, without fulfilling his
request. This took place for three or four days.
37
Fairy Tales
Then he could not stand it any longer for pity and
disgust, and he sent them home, and thought of
some other means to wear their obstinacy out. But
being by nature soft and tender-hearted, and having
felt their punishments more than they themselves,
he gave up the thought of further tormenting them.
He became so melancholy that his Lisbeth had now
to comfort and cheer him, who used always to be so
hopeful. And he took a dislike to the little folks.
and separated himself from their society, their feasts
and dances, and lived alone in his room, and saw
nobody but his Lisbeth, so that he became almost a
hermit and sank into deep melancholy.
One evening as he walked alone in this sullen
mood, he kicked in his temper little stones against
other stones to break them. Perhaps it relieved
his feelings, for when a man is unhappy and sore
in himself he would like to break the whole
world to pieces. In short Johann, who had no
inclination for anything better, broke the poor
stones to bits, when it chanced that out of a rather
big stone that was thus hit there crept a creature
that was to deliver him. This was a toad, whose
house in the stone had grown around her and who
may have been inside since the creation. When
Johann saw the toad, he jumped for joy, caught her
and said: "Now I shall get my Lisbeth Now
you defiant little folks will catch it. If whipping
38
from Rügen
with rods could not teach you obedience, I shall now
whip you with scorpions and toads." He concealed
the toad in his pocket as if she were a valuable
treasure, hurried home and put her in a solid silver
tureen, so that she could not escape. He shouted
for joy and behaved quite madly and then rushed
out into the field, taking the vessel containing the
toad under his arm, in order to test the remedy if
it were genuine. He saw a couple of brownies not
far off, and as he approached them, they fell to the
ground as if struck with deadly disease and whined
and cried miserably. He was satisfied with the
trial, and eased them at once by running away with
his toad and hurrying home, where he sent for
Lisbeth, embraced her, who had not seen him so
cheerful for six months, and said to her:
Sweet Lisbeth, darling Lisbeth, now you will be
mine; we shall start from here the day after to-
morrow, and hurrah! we shall soon have a merry
wedding!
She was still more surprised and said:
"Dear
Johann, are you out of your mind? How could that
possibly happen ?"
But he smiled, saying, “No, I am not mad, but
I will madden the little folks if they won't give in.
Look! here is what shall deliver you and me!" Thus
he showed her his find and told her how he found
it and how successful it had proved at the first trial.
39
Fairy Tales
Now I must reveal to you the secret of the toad.
Klas Starkvolt had often told Johann that the
little folks could not stand an evil smell, and that
the sight and smell of toads would make them faint
and suffer intolerable pain, so that by bad smells
and these horrible animals one could compel them
to everything. Consequently you never find any-
thing smelling in their realm, and toads are unheard
of there, and it would really appear that this same
toad had been miraculously placed in the stone
and got out of it in such a strange manner for the
purpose of delivering Johann and Lisbeth out of the
mountain.
These two were quite ready to believe in a miracle,
especially Lisbeth, who was a most religious child.
And when Johann had explained all his plans to
her, she fell gratefully on her knees to thank
God, and she went home cheerfully and had the
sweetest dreams in the night. Nor did Johann go
sad to bed.
Next morning he ordered his servant to call the
fifty elders with their wives and children, and when
they appeared, he addressed them as follows: "You
all know how I got here and have lived among
you not as lord and master but as your friend and
companion, and you seemed to be fond of me, but
when I came to ask you a small favour, you refused
it defiantly as if I had asked for your life and
40
from Rügen
empire. And the means I took to make you see
your wrong seemed to confirm you only in your
obstinate defiance, and when in sheer pity I left
off punishing you, you laughed at me for being so
stupid that I knew no means to compel you. But
I know a way and means now and will soon show
it you, if you remain obdurate and won't give up
Lisbeth. Therefore for the last time I give you a
minute to reflect. If you persist in refusing, you
shall be made to feel the pain which is most terrible
to you and your children."
But they did not hesitate, and with one voice
said "No!" wondering in their minds what new
stratagem he meant to frighten wise men with. And
they smiled as they said "No."
This enraged Johann even more than the refusal.
He cried: "If you won't hear, you shall feel!" ran
quickly to where he had hidden the vessel with the
toad, and fetched it. He came back, and as he was
still about a hundred steps distant from them, they
all fell down thunderstruck and began to howl and
scream and wriggle, as if they were tormented by the
most unbearable pain. They stretched out their
hands and implored him: "Leave off, master; leave
off! Be merciful! We feel that you have a toad
and that there is no escape! Take the horrid
plague away; we will do all you order us to do." So
he just let them struggle a few seconds longer and
41
Fairy Tales
then took the vessel with the toad away, whereupon
they rose and their faces resumed their cheerful
looks, for the pain had gone as soon as the toad was
removed.
Then Johann retained six of the men and left the
women and children and the other men to go where
they liked. But to the six he thus proclaimed his
will: "This night between midnight and one o'clock,
I mean to set out with Lisbeth, and you will load
three waggons with silver, gold, and precious stones
for me; for although I might take all you have, I will
be more merciful to you than you have been to me.
The ornaments, pictures, books and furniture from
my room are also to be loaded on two waggons, so
that there will be five altogether. For myself you
will, please, prepare the best travelling coach, with
six black horses harnessed to it, in which my bride
and I will drive home to our people. At the same
time I order you to release all those servants who
are twenty years old or more, according to earthly
reckoning, and you will please give each of them
sufficient gold to take to make them rich in the
world. And in future the law shall be, and you will
confirm it by your oath, that no human being is to
be kept here after they have attained their twentieth
year."
The six took the oath and went away sadly. But
Johann took the toad and buried it deep down in
42
from Rügen
the ground. In the meanwhile all the preparations
were made and Johann and Lisbeth put on their
best clothes, so as to appear at once as bride and
bridegroom. The little folks went to work very
quietly, but all the louder were the troop of servants,
whom Johann's new law had set free. They exulted
with joy about him and Lisbeth at the prospect of
returning home.
It happened to be just about the same time of
year as when Johann had descended into the moun-
tain, the midsummer time, called the summer-solstice,
and he had been over twelve years below and Lisbeth
over fourteen, he was going on for twenty-one years,
and Lisbeth eighteen.
When all the waggons with treasure had gone up,
and the released boys and maids, Johann and Lis-
beth were the last to go up in the silver tub. And
it was about an hour after midnight and seemed the
same as when he had descended. They were sur-
rounded by sweet music and saw the glass mountain
open and the first rays of heavenly light shine down
upon them, and soon they were out and saw the
day dawn in the east. Johann saw a crowd of the
brownies, who were busied about him and Lisbeth
and the waggons, move hither and thither. Then
he bade them a last good-bye, took the brown cap,
swung it thrice round his head, and threw it among
them. And instantly they vanished out of his sight
43
Fairy Tales
and he saw nothing but a green hill, and well-
known bushes and fields, and heard the church-
clock in Rambin strike two. Then he knelt down
with Lisbeth and the boys and girls who had been
released through his intervention, and they prayed
devoutly and vowed to lead a good and Christian
life for their miraculous delivery from the elves
underground.
When they had finished the sun rose and Johann
arranged the procession of his waggons. In front came
two waggons, each drawn by four bay horses, which
were so heavily laden with pure gold that the horses
groaned under the weight; then followed a waggon
with six snow-white horses, which carried all the
silver and crystal; behind this came the two last
waggons, each drawn by four grey horses; these
were loaded with splendid furniture, vessels, precious
stones, and Johann's library. Last came he with
his sweetheart in an open landau, made of pure
green emerald, and decorated in front with large
diamonds, and drawn by six high-bred black
horses. The released boys and girls in glass.
slippers and white frocks with silver belts, walked
in front of, beside, and behind the waggons, some of
the boys leading the horses. For they all wanted
to accompany their deliverer as far as Rambin,
before they went off to their homes. There were
about fifty or sixty of them, all singing with joy;
44
from Rügen
and some had fiddles, fifes, and trumpets with which
they accompanied the singing. And thus they went
with ringing sound down the hills to the high road that
leads from Gartz to Rambin. A strange emotion over-
came Johann and Lisbeth when they saw in the distance
the spire of Rambin and the pastures of Drammen-
dorf and Giesendorf, where they had played so much
as children. Just as they passed Rothenkirchen, the
herd of cows crossed the road, and Klas Starkvolt,
with his faithful dog, Quick, walked slowly after
them. Johann saw him, recognised him at once,
and said to himself that he would not forget the
good old man. Thus they moved on with their
procession, and everybody that met them on the
road stopped or ran after them, some even ran
before them, to announce in Rambin what a beau-
tiful procession was coming along the road, so that
they excited the whole village. Of course the pro-
cession proceeded but slowly on account of the
heavily-laden waggons.
About four o'clock they arrived in Rambin and
stopped in the midst of the village, a few steps
from the house where Johann had been born.
Among the crowd that had run together to stare
at the wonder, Johann soon detected his old father
and mother, and even his brother Andreas and his
sister Trina. Old Parson Krabbe stood there, too,
in bedroom slippers and nightcap; but Lisbeth did
45
Fairy Tales
not recognise him, as she had been too young when
she had left home. They stopped for about ten
minutes, without making a sign, and I may well
say that such splendour had never been seen in
Rambin before this day, nor is it likely to have
such another sight till doomsday. Johann and his
sweetheart literally shone with diamonds and pre-
cious stones; the carriage, the waggons, the horses,
and the harness were beautifully decorated, the
accompanying boys and girls, in the flower of life,
were dressed in beautiful white clothes, and with
strange caps and glass slippers, it all seemed to
belong to a different world, so that the school-
master, who had in his young days followed the
trade of a shoemaker and had wandered as far as
Moscow and Constantinople, said: "If they are not
princes from Tartary, or Persia, or Asia, they must
have come down from the moon; for in the lands
of Europe I have never seen their like, although I
have been in many towns where kings and emperors
live." The good schoolmaster was mistaken; they
did not come from Persia or Tartary, but quite
from the neighbourhood, although from an undis-
covered world.
When Johann thought they had feasted their
eyes to their satisfaction, he jumped out of his car-
riage, lifted Lisbeth out and passed through the
crowd, who respectfully made way. Without delay
46
from Rügen
1
he hurried towards the low thatched cottage where
Jacob Dietrich and his wife stood, embraced them
and kissed them, who wanted to kneel down and
kiss his knees. But he prevented them, saying:
"On no account! Do you not recognise me? I
am your lost son Johann Dietrich, and here is my
sweetheart!" And the two old people stared and
knew not were they waking or dreaming; but all
the crowd who stood round were surprised and
called out: "Johann Dietrich has come back from
the underground folks, and see what he has brought
with him."
Johann did not stand idle for long, but hurried to
the old parson and drew him almost forcibly forward,
for the old man did not understand what the youth
wanted of him. And he led the venerable old
gentleman to Lisbeth asking: "Do you know her?"
And before he could reply, he gave her into his
arms and said: "This is your lost daughter, whom I
bring back to you as my bride-elect. And now you
shall bless us and betroth us in Christian fashion,
we who have come back to our families in such
a marvellous way!" The old man was speechless
and wept for joy on his daughter's bosom; for
she was his only child and he had long mourned
her as dead. And when he had recovered himself
a little, he took her hands and laid them into
Johann's hand, and bade Jacob Dietrich and his
47
Fairy Tales
wife come near, and he betrothed them and thanked
God that He had allowed him to see this day.
When this was done, and enough questions and
answers had been given, and when all the neighbours
and old playmates had looked at Johann and Lisbeth
and recognised each in their own fashion, the two
went home to their families, and Johann settled
that the wedding was to be in eight days. And he
sent a hundred carts into the forest to fetch trees
and leafy branches in great quantity, and sent for
carpenters and joiners and decorators, and where
now the convent of St. George stands, a few hundred
yards outside the village, he had a lofty leafy tent
erected, with tables round the sides and a dancing-
gallery in the centre, and the place was large enough
to hold five thousand people.
At the same time he sent to Stralsund and
Greifswald and bought whole boatloadsfull of wine,
sugar, and coffee.
And whole herds of oxen, pigs,
and sheep were killed, and I can't say how many
stags and deer and hares were shot, just as little as
I can name the quantity of fish that were ordered
and caught. And there was not a single musician
in Rügen and Pommerania who was not engaged to
come and play, for Johann was rich and wanted to
let the people see it. He also asked the whole
parish to the wedding, and kept the boys and girls
there to help him celebrate his wedding.
48
from Rügen
This was the order of the wedding :
In the morning all the guests went to church,
and old Parson Krabbe thanked God and related the
story of the miraculous preservation and release of
the children. Then he blessed them and joined.
them solemnly together. After church they went in
proper order to the leafy tent, Jacob Dietrich and
his wife having the bride between them, and the
bridegroom following, led by Parson Krabbe and his
old friend Klas Stark volt. This latter had been sent
for at once by Johann, who gave him rich gifts and
a beautiful new suit of clothes for the wedding.
And he made Klas promise that he would come and
stay with him as much as he liked, which promise
he honestly kept. After these couples followed the
white girls and boys from the mountain, in pairs,
and then all the other friends, neighbours, and
parishioners according to their rank, dignity, and
age, as was proper. And they celebrated a wedding
that was still talked about by their great-grand-
children. For fourteen entire days and nights they
were feasting and dancing, and forty couples danced
in glass slippers, a thing which had never been
heard of before and after. And the people wondered
at the graceful dancing which they had learned
among the elves, who certainly are the best dancing-
masters.
After the wedding celebration, Johann and his
49
D
Fairy Tales
pretty wife travelled about the country and bought
towns and villages and estates, so that Johann
became lord of almost the whole island, and was
made a very noble earl in the land. And his father
was made a nobleman, and his brothers and sisters
were called lords and ladies. For what can you not
get for gold and silver? Almost everything except
eternal bliss; otherwise poor people would have
nothing left to comfort them. Still, in all his prosperity
Johann never forgot the experience of his youth, and
he lived a good and pious life, and his wife Lisbeth
even more so. They both did much good to the Church
and the poor, and built many churches.
The very
church that is now in Rambin was built by them,
and richly endowed. It was erected as a memorial
of Johann's birth in the place where Jacob Dietrich's
cottage stood. And he presented it with many
valuable vessels of the most delicate workmanship
that had been made by the little folks underground,
and also with his glass slippers and those of Lisbeth.
But these were lost in the time of the great King
Charles XII. of Sweden, when the Russians occupied
the isle of Rügen and laid everything waste. At
that time the Cossacks plundered also the church in
Rambin and carried all the treasures away.
50
from Rügen
The Silver Bell
LITTLE Johann Dietrich had from a poor herdsman
become a rich and grand lord, because he had the
courage to descend into the mountain and get
treasures for himself. But others have become rich
by merely obtaining a pledge from the little under-
ground folks. By these means, they have got them
so far in their power, that they have been obliged
to give them presents or do what they asked.
To others again they give voluntarily presents
and teach them all manner of fine arts and
secrets. Now I will tell you some more stories
about them.
A shepherd boy in Patzig, about two and a half
miles from Bergen, where there are also dwarfs in
the hills, found one morning a silver bell on the
green heath between the giants' graves (barrows),
and put it in his pocket. This was the bell off a
brownie's cap who had lost it during their dance
and had not at once perceived that the tinkling on
his cap had ceased. He had thus descended without
his bell and was very sad at his loss. For the worst
thing that can happen to them is to lose their cap
or their shoe, but even the loss of their bell or the
buckle of their belt is no small grief to them, for he
51
Fairy Tales
who has lost it gets no sleep until he has it back,
and to be without sleep is a sad state of affairs. In
this great trouble, the little brownie pried and spied
about, but how could he learn who had the bell?
For they could only get out at stated times into the
broad daylight, and then they might not even appear
in their true shape. Often already he had changed
himself into all sorts of shapes, human or animal,
and had sung of his bell and groaned, lowed and
wailed and talked, but not the least trace of it had
he found yet. For the worst of the affair was that
on the very day when he found the bell, the shepherd
boy left Patzig and was now minding sheep at
Unruh, near Gingst. After many a day a lucky
chance occurred, by which the poor little brownie
should recover his bell and his rest.
It occurred to him that a raven or jackdaw, or
crow, or magpie might have found the bell, and
owing to its thievish instinct, which delights in
shining objects, have carried it to its nest. So he
changed himself into a pretty little bird, flew to all
the nests of the island and sang to the birds, that
they might betray to him, if they had found the
treasure, that he might recover it and sleep again.
But the birds gave no sign. Thus he was at even-
tide flying over the water by Ralow and across the
Unruh pastures, where the boy, Fritz Schlazenteufel
minded his sheep. Some of his sheep wore bells.
52
from Rügen
that would ring when the dog drove the sheep
about. The bird overhead thought of his bell and
sang in his sad mood:
Little bell, little bell,
Little ram, little ram,
And, oh, little sheep,
If thou hast my little bell
Art the richest in the dell,
Hast taken my sleep.
The boy listened to this strange song which came
from above, and saw the coloured bird, which
appeared still stranger to him. He said: "Ah! if
I had that bird! Why, he sings as we can hardly
talk. What may be the meaning of his strange song?
Perhaps he is possessed of witchcraft. My rams
have only pinchbeck bells and he calls them rich,
and I have a silver bell; of me he makes no mention."
Thus saying, he fumbled in his pocket, took his little
bell out and rang it. The bird saw at once how
matters stood and was pleased beyond measure;
he instantly disappeared behind the nearest bushes,
sat down, took off his feather dress and changed
himself into an old woman poorly clad. The old
woman, provided with sighs and groans as if she
carried bags full of them, stumbled across the field
to the shepherd boy who was still ringing his bell
and wondering what had become of the pretty bird.
She hummed and hawed, coughed a few times and
53
Fairy Tales
then bade him a pleasant good evening and inquired
after the way to Bergen. Only after that she pre-
tended to see the bell and cried: "O dear, oh dear!
what a little pet of a bell, I have not seen anything
as pretty in all my life! I say, my boy, will you sell
me the little bell? and for how much? I have a
little grandson, for whom it would be a very con-
venient toy."
"No, the bell is not for sale," said the boy, in
rather a dry tone. Then he added: "It is rather
an unusual bell and has not its like anywhere. I
need but ring it to make the sheep run where I want
them; and just listen at its lovely sound. Listen,
mother! Is there any bother in the world that would
not pass away at this sound? However low and
dull I may feel, this makes the time have wings."
Thought the old woman: "Let's see, if he can
resist something shiny!" And she held out to him
a handful of silver coin.
But he : "I shan't sell the bell."
Then she offered him five gold ducats.
He said: "The bell remains mine.”
She offered a handful of ducats, and he for the
third time refused, saying: "Gold is rubbish; it
does not ring like my bell."
Then the old woman turned the conversation and
tempted him by mentioning secret arts and incanta-
tions which make the cattle and sheep thrive and
54
from Rügen
told him marvels about it. That made him desirous
and he gave her his ear. The end of the story was,
that she said; "Look here, my boy, give me the
bell for this white staff," and she produced a white
staff on which there were Adam and Eve carved
out, tending the flocks in Paradise, with the fattest.
rams and lambs capering in front of them; also
David, the shepherd boy, how he cast his sling-stone
at the giant Goliath. "I will give you this
staff in return for the bell, and as long as you
mind your sheep with this staff, they will thrive
and you will become a rich man. Your mutton
will always be fat a month before other people's
mutton, and your sheep will always carry two
pounds more of wool than others, without anybody
being aware of it."
She handed him the staff with a most mysterious
air, and smiled so insinuatingly and bewitchingly
that the boy was in her power. He greedily grasped
the staff, shook her by the hand and said: “Agreed,
done the bell is yours for the staff."
She returned the handshake, took the bell and
like a gentle breeze she floated away over pasture
and heath. And he saw her pass and vanish like a
mist, and his hair stood on end with wonder.
The little man, who in the disguise of the old
woman had coaxed him to give up the bell, had not
deceived him. For the little folks may not lie, but
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Fairy Tales
must keep their word and fulfil the promises they
give, else they are at once changed into the nastiest
beasts, toads, snakes, dung-beetles, wolves, lynxes,
and monkeys, and have to crawl and rove about for
a thousand years, ere they can be delivered; there-
fore they hate lies.
Fritz Schlagenteufel paid close attention to his
staff and soon found out that the old woman had
told the truth about it, for all the work he put his
hand to succeeded, and he was wonderfully lucky
with his flock, so that all masters of sheep wanted
to hire him as a shepherd-boy. But he did not always
remain a shepherd-boy. Before he was eighteen
years of age, he had started a sheepfold of his own,
and in a few years he had become the richest sheep-
owner in all the Isle of Rügen so that he could
purchase a gentleman's estate, and that happened to
be Grabitz near Rambin, which now is in possession
of Lord
There my father has still remem-
bered how the shepherd-boy became a squire and
always behaved like a clever and pious man, how
his sons and daughters were brought up as ladies and
gentlemen, and some of them are still alive and are
people of quality. And hearing such tales I often
wished that the same might happen to me, and that
I might find a silver bell lost by the brownies.
56
from Rügen
The Glass Slipper
Others
A PEASANT from Rothenkirchen, called Johann
Wilde, chanced to find on one of the hills where
the little folks are in the habit of dancing, a glass
slipper. He put it at once in his pocket, ran away
with it, and kept his hand well on his pocket, as if
he had a pigeon in it. For he knew he had found
a treasure which the little folks underground would
have to buy from him, and pay dear for it.
say that Johann Wilde had taken the little folks in
at night and pulled the shoe off one of them, whilst
he had pretended to lie there dead drunk. For he
was a cunning and bad man, and had deceived many
a man by his shrewdness; therefore his neighbours
did not care for him, and nobody liked to have any
dealing with him. Again, others said that he
practised forbidden arts, and was having secret
intercourse with fiends and witches. Well, when
he had the slipper he made it at once known to the
folks that live underground, by going at midnight
to the Nine Mountains and calling at the top of his
voice : Johann Wilde in Rothenkirchen has a
beautiful glass slipper. Who will buy it? Who likes
to buy it?" For he knew that the little man who
loses his shoe has to keep barefooted on one foot
57
Fairy Tales
until he recovers it. And that is no joke, as the
little folks mostly walk on hard and rocky ground.
Nor did the little owner tarry to redeem his slipper.
As soon as he had a holiday, when he might go up
in daytime, he knocked, in the disguise of a tidy
pedlar, at Johann Wilde's door, and inquired whether
he had any glass slippers to sell. For those were
much in demand in all the markets.
The peasant replied that he had a tiny, weeny,
pretty glass shoe, so tiny it must even punish a
dwarf's foot, and that God would have to create
special people to fit it, but that it was a very rare
and expensive shoe, and not every merchant could
pay for it.
The pedlar asked to see it, and upon its being
shown him, said: "Glass slippers are not quite as
rare as you believe in Rothenkirchen, because you
don't get out into the world." Then after some
humming and hawing, he added: "I don't mind
paying you well for it, as I have a slipper to match
it." And he offered 1000 thalers for it.
((
Hum!" sneered the peasant, a thousand thalers
is money, as my father would say, when he drove
fat bullocks to market; but for such a shabby
price it won't leave my hand. I'd rather see it first
on the paw of my daughter's Danish dog. My good
man, if you don't know the art to make me find a
ducat in each furrow that I plough up, the shoe
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will remain mine, and you must inquire in other
markets after glass slippers."
The pedlar made still many attempts to talk him
over, but seeing that the peasant would not give in
he let him have his way, and promised on oath what
he wanted. The peasant believed him and gave up
the shoe, knowing with whom he was dealing.
off went the pedlar with his slipper.
And
Johann Wilde went speedily to his stables,
harnessed horses to his plough, and drove off to a
field, where he chose a piece with the shortest
turnings. As the plough broke up the first furrow
a ducat came jumping out of it, and the same
happened with every succeeding furrow. Now there
was no end of ploughing, and the farmer soon
bought eight new horses in addition to the eight in
his stables, and their manger was never empty of
oats, so that he might every two hours have two
fresh horses to put in, and drive his plough all the
quicker. He became insatiable and would go out
before sunrise and plough sometimes till after mid-
night, and thus on and on, summer and winter, as
long as the ground was not frozen hard as stone.
But he always ploughed alone, and did not allow
anybody to go with him or come to him in the field;
for he wanted nobody to know why he did so much
ploughing.
And he was much more of a drudge than his
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horses, who had plenty of the best oats to feed on,
and took their task in proper turns; he became
pale and thin with all his working and waking.
His wife and children had no pleasure in his
company. He never went to the inn and to
parties, but withdrew from other people's company,
and hardly ever spoke a word, but walked silently
and thoughtfully by himself, and during the day he
ploughed for his ducats, whilst during the night he
would count them and ponder how he might invent
a faster mode of ploughing. His wife and the
neighbours had pity on him on account of his
funny behaviour, his silent and melancholy bearing,
and thought he had become mad; and everybody
pitied his wife and children, for they thought that
he was ruining himself by keeping so many horses
in his stables, and by his mad farming and incessant
ploughing. But this was not how it turned out,
only they were right in so far that the poor peasant
knew no happiness since he ploughed the ducats up,
and the old saw: "He who yields himself to love of
gold, is already half in the devil's claws," could
rightly be applied to him. Nor could he bear up
long with this running in the furrows by day and
night. When spring came round a second time he
dropped down dead one day behind his plough, like
a fly in November, shrivelled up and faded through
his greed of gold, although he had been a strong and
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merry fellow before he got possession of the glass
slipper.
But his wife found after his death a great
treasure, two big nailed-up chests, full of bright
and brand-new ducats. So his sons could buy
large estates, and become gentlemen and lords.
Thus the devil will sometimes create noblemen.
But what advantage was it to poor Johann Wilde?
The Miraculous Plough
ANOTHER peasant did better than Johann Wilde.
He became master of one of the little black folks
who are smiths and armourers. Now this happened
in a very strange way.
In front of this peasant's field there stood an iron
cross by the road. When he went to work in the
morning he would kneel before this cross and say a
prayer. One day he saw on the cross a beautiful
shiny worm; he had never, to his recollection, seen
one like it. He wondered, but left the worm alone;
yet the worm did not remain quiet for long, but ran
restlessly up and down, as if he were frightened and
wanted to get away. Next morning the peasant saw
the same worm there, just as restlessly moving about
hither and thither, and he felt creepy at the sight
and wondered: "May he be one of the little
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sorcerers? for he certainly is not all right. He runs
like one that has an evil conscience, like one that
wants to get off and can't." And he recollected that
he had heard his father and other old folks say, that
when the underground folks chanced to come against
something consecrated, they are kept at the place and
cannot get away, wherefore they always carefully
avoid such places.
But then he fancied it might be something else,
and a sin to disturb the little worm or to take it
down. When he found it still there the two
following days, and running about frightened, he
said: "No, there is something wrong! Now for it,
in the name of God!" So he seized the worm, who
resisted and stuck to the cross. But he held it
firmly and pulled it off by force, and behold! there
he held between his fingers an ugly little black
fellow, about the length of six thumbs, who screamed
and struggled miserably. The peasant shuddered at
this sudden transformation, but he held his prey
fast, and giving him a few slaps behind, he said:
"Patience, patience, my little fellow! If screaming
did it, we should look for heroes in the cradles. I
will take you home with me for a change, and see
what use you may be."
The little fellow trembled and shivered in every
limb and began to whine pitifully, and implored the
peasant to let him loose.
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"Oh, no," said the peasant, "I won't let you go
before you have told me who you are, what arts you
practise, and how you earn your daily bread."
The little man grinned, shook his head, and said
never a word, and left off asking and begging. And
now it was the peasant's turn to beg, if he wanted
to get any information out of him. But that was
no use either. Then he took hold of him and beat
and thrashed him until he had big weals, but it was
no go; the little blackie remained as silent as the
grave, for his kind is the most obstinate and spiteful
of the dwarfs.
And
The peasant waxed wrathful, and said, “ Patience,
my pet! It would be foolish to lose my temper
over such a little shrimp; I will make you tame!"
And he ran home with him, put him inside a black
and sooty saucepan, put the lid on top, laid a big
heavy stone on the lid, and placed it in a cold dark
cupboard, saying, "Stay there and freeze till you are
blue! You will end by eating humble-pie."
twice a week he went to the cupboard and asked
his black prisoner if he would speak, but the little
fellow remained dumb. Thus had he asked him in
vain for six weeks, when at last his prisoner
submitted. As the peasant opened the door, he
called to him of his own accord, and begged him to
release him out of his nasty, musty prison, saying,
he would do all the farmer wanted him to do.
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Fairy Tales
1
Our friend bade him first to tell his tale.
Said the blackie, "Dear sir, you know that as
well as I; else you would not have got me here.
By inadvertence, I came too near the cross, which
we small folks must not do, and there I was held
fast and became at once bodily visible; so as not to
be recognised, I changed myself into a worm. But
you guessed the thing. For when we stick fast to
holy and consecrated objects, we can't get loose
unless a human being takes us off. That is never
done without pain and trouble, but to sit fast there
is not a pleasure either; and so I resisted you,
because we have a natural horror of being caught by
human hands."
((
Indeed, is that the tune?" said the farmer.
"You have a natural horror, you say? O, believe
me, friend, we have the same of you, and therefore
I will get rid of you quickly, and we will make our
bargain at once, short and sweet; but first you must
make me a present."
(C
Say what you want; you need only ask,” replied
the little man. Silver, gold, precious stones,
valuable furniture—anything you ask shall be
yours instantly.”
"Silver and gold, precious stones, and such like,
I do not want," said the farmer. "They have
already disturbed too many hearts—aye, and broken
many a man's neck; and few people enjoy life with
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them. But I know you are artful smiths, and know
many crafty tricks, which other smiths don't know.
Swear to me, to forge me an iron plough, which the
youngest colt can draw without fatigue, and then
run as fast and far as your legs will carry you!"
<<
The blackie took the oath; the farmer said, Now
thou art free!" and the little dwarf vanished.
Next morning, before sunrise, a new iron plough
stood in the farmer's yard. He harnessed his big
dog Water to it, and the dog pulled the plough,
which was of the usual size, through the heaviest
loam, and it ploughed up deep furrows. He used it
many a year, and, to the astonishment of everybody,
the smallest colt and the leanest horse could pull it
through the field without straining their strength;
and this plough made him a well-to-do man, for it
cost no horseflesh, and the farmer led a jolly and
contented life.
Thus you see that moderation goes farthest, and
that it does one no good to ask for too much.
The Forged Deed
THE black dwarfs are confined more closely to their
mountains than the brown and white ones, and may
rarely leave them in the daytime and never go far
away. It is said, that in summer they sit much
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Fairy Tales
under the elder trees, of which they love the smell,
and that whoever wants anything from them, must
look for them there and call to them. But few
men will do it. One does not care to have dealings
with them, as they are crafty and rather wicked
than good by nature. In Rügen they mostly
live in the downs that rise by the sea between
Ahlbeck and Mönchgut, and there they hold their
gatherings and nightly games.
Not far from Ahlbeck lies a small manor named
Granitz, in the large wooded forest, which is also
called the Granitz. Not many years ago there
lived on this manor a Baron von Scheele. In his
latter days he had sunk into deep melancholy and
would not see any visitors, though formerly he had
been a very lively and sociable man and a vigorous
sportsman.
The solitary life of the old baron was caused thus.
He had three lovely daughters, called the three fair
beauties, who had grown up here in the solitude of
the forest among the herds and birds. They had,
all the three, run away in the same night, and never
returned. This the old man had taken to heart,
and abandoned the world and its turbulent plea-
şures. He had much intercourse with the blackies
and spent many a night away from home, and
nobody knew where he had been; but when he
came home at daybreak, he would whisper to his
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housekeeper: "Pst, pst, I supped this night at a
">
fine table! This old Baron Scheele would tell
his friends, and affirm it with a thorough sports-
manlike oath, that the Granitz firs near Ahlbeck
and all along the strand were crowded with under-
ground folks. And he would point out to people,
whom he took for a walk there, lots of small spoors,
as of tiny babies who might have left the imprint
of their feet in the sand, and he would often call
out: "Listen, how they whisper and chatter."
Another time, when he walked with friends along
the shore, he suddenly stopped short with astonish-
ment, pointed to the sea and called out: Upon
my soul! there they are again in full work, and
thousands of them busied about a few sunken hogs-
heads of wine, which they roll to the shore. That
will be a jolly banquet to-night! Then he told
his friends that he was enabled to see them by day
and night, that they would never hurt or injure him,
that they even were particular friends of his, that
one of them had saved his house from being burnt-
he woke him out of his sleep after midnight and
showed him a firebrand that had fallen from the
stove and was setting light to wood and straw
which lay on the ground. He could see some almost
every day near the shore, and in rough tempestuous
weather, when the sea was raging furiously, they
never failed to be there, watching for amber and
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shipwrecks, and he was sure that no ship was wrecked
without their saving the best part of its cargo and
hiding it underground. And how beautiful it was to
live there underneath the sandy downs among them,
and what crystal palaces they had, no man could
realise who had not been there.
This old gentleman had otherwise the reputation
of being a good and kindly man, and nobody could
say that he did anything that implied a connection
with evil spirits. But commerce with the blackies
is not always so innocent, and thereby hangs another
tale.
Near the village of Lanken, not far from the
Granitz forest, there lived a farmer called Matthias
Pagels, a quiet, industrious man who lived alone
and whom people took to be very rich. Some
would even whisper that he was a sorcerer. Still
many a man is called that who earns his money by
the most natural witchcraft: industry and attention
to detail. However, this same Pagels was not a
nice man. He had a disagreement with a neigh-
bour, because the latter accused him of ploughing
some of his field off. And Pagels had really done
it, but he cursed and swore that the whole field
belonged to him as far as he had ploughed, and
even ten paces further to the high beech that stood
at the top of the ridge; and that he would prove it
by an oath and title-deeds.
And he did prove it by
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oath and title-deeds, and produced a scrip according
to which the field was adjudged to him. But the
people say that two of the little blackies, who also
brought him his money, have forged the title-deed
and written and sealed it in the big chancery of the
devil. But Matthias Pagels suffered even in his
life-time the punishment for it, as he had no rest
or peace from his little spirits. Every night at 12
leave his bed and
he was forcibly compelled to
And
walk round the field and climb on the high beech
and stop there two full hours in the cold.
there one may still chance to see him as a little
man in a grey coat with a white night-cap on; but
generally he sits in the shape of a white owl on the
tree as soon as midnight has struck and screeches
pitifully. And no man likes to go near the tree,
and you can't get a horse past it, but it will snort
and blow and rear and run away across fields even
with the best rider. When my dear mother, who
had been born in the village of Lanken, was a
child, the old folks still used to sing of Matthias
Pagels and his beech-tree:
Pagels with your white hat,
How cold and high you sit
On the highest beech,
On the knotted oak,
Behind the hollow fence,
Why can't you rest?
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Fairy Tales
That's why I can't rest-
The deed lies in the chest,
And my poor soul
Burns fast in hell.
The Free Shot
THE little blackies often turn poachers, for they are
fond of game.
But they dare not kill the game
with a gun, and have to weave peculiar nets which
no man can perceive, in which they catch the deer.
Therefore they are sworn enemies to the keepers,
and have bewitched many a sportsman's gun, so
that it can't hit anything. This had happened to a
keeper called Joachim Schulz, who finally died as
constable in the town of Barth.
He had hitherto been a very good shot, but all
of a sudden he was like one bewitched, could hit
nothing, and lost all the good situations he had as
keeper.
In this trouble he asked advice from many people,
and they gave him plenty of it, for that is the only
thing they are pleased to give, even unasked; but
it was no good to him, and his gun was be-
witched as before. One day an old beggar-woman,
whom he had met in the forest, told him that she
knew for certain it was a blackie who had bewitched
his gun, and nothing in the world could help him,
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unless he got something belonging to them in his
power. At the same time she showed him a spot,
a small hill in the wood, through which the blackies
were leaving their mountains at night, and where
they kept their revels. There he was to go in
secret, take his pouch full of shot, and say a Christ-
ian prayer over it; then take a handful of shot
and sow it out quickly like peas, and call out: "In
the name of the Almighty, avaunt Satan." And
if only one grain of shot falls on something belong-
ing to the dwarfs, they must leave it there, but he
would have to stand there and wait till sunrise.
Then they would all disappear, and the object that
was hit would become visible. He was to pick it
up and take it away with him. Its owner would
have to come in great anxiety, and make his bargain
with him. Joachim Schulz did exactly as the old
woman told him, and next morning he found on the
hill a beautiful silver belt with a silver buckle, on
which were still visible the two bumps which his
shot had made. And it was not long before a
blackie appeared and bargained about his belt, and
the crafty huntsman stipulated for a free shot, so
that at stated times, in whatever direction he might
be shooting, whatever game he wanted, should be hit.
And he became the first among all keepers, and
such a lucky shot, that many took him for a
magician.
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Fairy Tales
And to this very day people believe that nothing
has greater power over these blackies, than iron over
which a prayer has been said, or which has been
handled by good Christians. So that in Sweden
there is still an old custom in use: viz., to put
scissors or a knife on the breast of infants in the
cradle, before they are baptized, so that neither little
nor big monsters can hurt them nor exchange them,
and put changelings in their place. And many
folks there won't go bathing in deep water, unless
they have placed some metal handy in the water
by the shore; this is to prevent the water-fairies
and the sea-god Neck from fetching them and pull-
ing them down into the deep. Huntsmen in Sweden
have also when they have blundered unusually
often, and in an incomprehensible way, to throw a
steel or knife through the air. For if the bewitch-
ing sprite or the beautiful nymph chanced to be
there, and the huntsman succeeded in throwing
this same piece of metal over them, the spell would
be broken, and they could never again dare to touch
him.
The Lily Maiden
THE daintiest and prettiest of all the little folks are
the white elves, delicate and graceful in shape and
movement, and just as nice and amiable in their
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way of thinking. They are quite harmless and
innocent, and teaze nobody, not even in fun; but
their life is light and gentle as that of the flowers
and stars with whom they converse and commune.
These pretty children sit during the winter, when
the earth is rough and barren and cold, inside their
mountains, weaving the most refined work in gold
and silver, which mortal eyes are mostly too coarse
to see; only particularly subtle and sensitive souls
see it.
But when spring comes, and all through the
summer, they live above in the sunshine and star-
light very merrily, and do nothing but enjoy them-
selves and give pleasure to others. As soon as the
first buds on trees and flowers begin to swell and
burst, they step out of their secret chambers in the
hills, and swing themselves on to the stems and
stalks, and from them into the blossoms and flowers,
in which they sit most charmingly and gracefully
and wait. And at night, when human beings sleep,
they come out and lead their merry dance in the
green round hill, and by brooks and burns, and make
the charming music, which travellers hear so often
and marvel at, because they cannot see the players.
These little elves also go about in daytime, when-
ever they like, only not in company but singly, and
then they must transform themselves. Many of
them, for instance, fly about as coloured birds or
butterflies or white doves, and bring pretty things to
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come.
babies, and tender thoughts and dreams to big folks,
who can't imagine whence these thoughts and dreams
It is well known that they often assume
dream-shape when they have to carry secret mes-
sages. And they have comforted many a sorely-
stricken man, and refreshed many a true lover. He
who wins their affection is specially fortunate, and if
they do not enrich people with treasures and goods,
as the other little folks do, they make them rich in
songs and dreams, in merry visions and fancies.
And are not those the best treasures a man can
win ? You may say for certain, that whoever is
protected by them, is safe from many a trouble.
I will tell you the story of the lily-maiden with
reference to this assertion.
Between high Alps on which ice and snow could
never melt, even if the sun would shine on them at
midsummer, when the days are longest, for twenty-
four hours, there lay in deep seclusion a green valley
where it never snowed nor froze, where eternal
spring seemed to reign, and where the nightingales
never ceased their love-songs and complaints. In
this valley there was a beautiful garden with a
bright crystal palace, and flowers so fair as were
nowhere else to be seen. The rose-bushes stood
here as high as oaks, and the lilies tall as fir-trees,
and everything was exceedingly dainty and marvel-
lous. But the greatest marvel in the wonderful
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garden was a lovely maiden, called the lily-maiden,
because she liked best to walk among the lilies, and
often sang a song of snow-white lilies and angels.
Her mother had sung this song to her when she
rocked her in her cradle, and it was the only
recollection of her childhood. The child had not
been born here, but led by strange means into the
garden. And this was the song which she would
sing in a plaintive voice:
Hush, my baby, sweet and white,
That know'st nought of care and spite,
Sleep in quiet! rest in sleep!
Close your eyes and never weep!
Out of doors white lilies grow,
On whom we beauty's boon bestow;
In the brilliant blue above
Snow-white angels float and rove.
Come ye angels, sweet and white,
Guard my babe from any fright;
Rock my child with gentle lays,
As the wind the lilies sways.
Sleep, my baby, hush-a-bye,
The peace of God abide with thee!
For the angels from above
Come to guard thee and to love.
And this was her story: She was the daughter
An
of a very rich king and his beautiful queen.
old witch was there, who knew that this young
princess would inherit the kingdom and be its
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Fairy Tales
queen one day. Now she had an only son, lame
and very plain, not to say ugly. But she thought
him handsome and that it would be a fine thing if
he could one day marry the beautiful princess and
get the kingdom given as dowry with her. So she
laid her plans. One day as the king and queen
were walking with the little princess, who was three
years old, in their rose-garden, the old witch changed
herself into a she-wolf, jumped into the garden, took
the little princess in her jaws and ran away with
her. The king and queen cried for help and ran
after her, but the wolf with the child was already
over the hills and far away and nobody could catch
her and save the child. Everybody thought she
had devoured the princess, and the king and queen
mourned for her as if she were dead. But thank
God, the child was living and living in a very happy
fashion. In a wild valley, about a thousand miles
from the town where the king and queen resided,
the old witch had conjured up a garden like a
paradise, whither no road or path led, and into
which one could only send letters on the wings
of an eagle or such like bird. She changed her-
self into a griffin when she carried the child thither
over the high, snow-covered Alps. This garden had
not only the prettiest roses and lilies, but also the
most splendid trees, on which an abundance of
luscious fruit hung, and vines with grapes, and
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Of
shrubs with sweet berries, and springs of milk and
honey, and fountains spouting precious wine.
all these the child might eat and drink to her heart's
content. And merry birds sat in the boughs and
made music. And in the crystal house there was a
quiet and cool chamber with a cosy bed in which
the child went to sleep when it grew night, and in
an adjoining room invisible servants spread the table
with the most delicious food and drink, and cleared
it again in due time. In short, the child lacked
nothing, only human companions; and thus she had
to speak to birds and flowers, and would tell them
stories and whisper to the flowers and twitter and
chatter many an hour with the birds who tamely
flew on her shoulders and hands, and would also sing
with them for the lily-maiden soon learned the
tunes of all the different birds.
When the old witch brought the child here, she
thought she would be quite safe, for who could
come here to steal her? She meant to let her grow
up here, and every time she came to the garden,
she rejoiced at seeing the child get taller and
handsomer. Then when the maiden was full grown
she meant to marry her to her son, and when they
had sons and daughters, she would take all the
family back to the king and queen and say: “Be-
hold, this is your beautiful daughter, whom the she-
wolf ran away with, and whom God has preserved in
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Fairy Tales
a miraculous way, and this is your worthy and
handsome son-in-law, and these are your pretty
grandchildren; and they will have to be reconciled
with the facts and I shall be a grandmother to
kings and queens! Hurrah!" Thus hoped the old
witch, but it did not all turn out as she wished.
The name of the princess was Gunhilde, and she
was daughter to the King of Sweden. As she soon
forgot her parents and the faint recollections of her
childhood, she played merrily among the flowers.
and trees, and living in everlasting spring, she knew
naught of the trouble and worry and wickedness of
this evil world. Only when she sang the lullaby
of lilies and angels would she become sad, but this
impression passed as lightly as raindrops before a
sunny breeze. And among pleasure and play with
flowers and birds, the months went by like seconds
and the years like minutes and she had become
twelve years old and was a beautiful flower, slender
as a lily and fresh as a rosebud. In her innocence
she might have married the lame and ugly witch's
son, if God had not turned it otherwise; for He
caused a coloured bird to be blown into the garden,
and this birdie turned, what might have become
bitter sorrow, into sweet joy. Now I must tell you
what happened to this bird and what more occurred
through it.
Beyond those high snow-covered Alps, which
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surrounded the valley in which Gunhilde's garden
flowered, there lived a couple of charcoal burners,
good and simple folks, beloved by God. They also
had some good and pious children, of which the
little white elves had become aware; these came in
all manner of disguise and brought bliss into the
charcoal-burner's house. They often brought presents
to the children, of which the parents could not
understand whence they came, for the children
would say they had found them, and so they had.
One day a little white elf, in the guise of a snow-
bunting, came flying over the Alps, on his way to
the cottage. As it was usually very cold up there,
they would take the shape of such animals as can
well bear the cold. But when the snow-bunting
was on its journey there arose a terrible tempest
with snowdrifting and whirlwind, and in the dark-
ness the bird was drifted, it knew not where, until
it suddenly found itself in a brilliant clear air and
saw underneath, deep down in the valley, a beautiful
garden. It flew down to see what that was in the
midst of this barren region, settled among the other
birds on the branches, and twittered and sang among
them with all its might. Then it saw the fair lily-
maiden walk in the charming avenue of lilies, which
stood as high as lime-trees and birches elsewhere, and
instantly realised that there was some witchcraft at
play. It just chanced to be a day when the old
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Fairy Tales
witch had come to see and rejoice at the quick growth
of Gunhilde. She crept as an ugly toad about a
corner of the garden. The birdie did not yet know
the object of the enchantment, but when it saw the
toad with its acute-listening ear and the bright
cunning eyes, it could explain everything. But the
witch perceived nothing of the bird, and fortunately,
for if the witches knew everything, no soul they
had ensnared could ever be delivered.
The
When the little snow-bunting had looked at and
inquired into everything, it took flight again on its
feathery wings and flew high over the Alps to the
charcoal-burner's house, where not far off, in a
meadow, it found its mates. Those were already
merrily dancing in the starlight round a spring, for
it had become night and the moon had risen.
little Elf took his feathery garment off and related
his adventure to his companions to explain his
delay. And they put their heads together and con-
sulted what was to be done, as it would be a sin to
let this pretty girl, who was surely the daughter of
noble parents, become the prey of this vile witch.
And so they spied and inquired about, and on the
wings of the wind they sent out many messengers
and soon found out that the lily-maiden must be
the little Gunhilde, the daughter of the King of
Sweden, with whom a cruel she-wolf had run away.
And in a few days more they had found out the
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whole plot of the old witch, and knew that she
planned nothing less, than that her nasty son should
become the consort of the princess, and thus become
prince and later on king. And they resolved
unanimously that this should never happen, and
from this day they kept watch over the princess,
and relieved each other in the following way:
Two of them would always be in the enchanted
garden. They flew as snow-buntings, or ravens,
crows, eagles, or any other bird hardened to the
cold, over the Alps, then let themselves be wafted
down into the valley, where they would at once turn
to coloured birds or butterflies, who sang and flew
about the garden in such numbers and such variety
of colours that the old witch could not possibly find
out whether there were a few more or less. In
this way there were always some white elves about
Gunhilde by day and by night, who would not lose
sight of her, so that no evil could happen to her.
To begin with they were sorry for the child to
grow up so ignorant in all her innocence and beauty,
and they began to whisper all sorts of thoughts into
her heart, and to teach her all sorts of arts and
sciences, without Gunhilde becoming aware of it.
For this was mostly done during her sleep, so that
Gunhilde took what she had learnt to be a dream;
for they never became visible to her, nor were they
allowed to be seen. But when they flew before her
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as birds or butterflies she did not distinguish them
from others, although they sang and whispered very
different things to her to what the others could.
And certainly the princess became under their tuition.
much more intelligent and reflective; so that even
the old witch, when she chanced to come into the
garden, stood before her in astonishment, and mar-
velled what a strange child she must be, to become so
clever without being taught. So she muttered one
day: “I must bring my little cock quickly, before
the little hen gets too clever and flies away." The
bird messengers had heard this, and instantly one of
them flew home to report it. And in great anxiety
the whities held counsel and
hit upon a particular
stratagem to mar the wicked plot of the witch with
regard to her lame son. With their greatest art
and with unremitting industry they worked day and
night to forge a golden ring. As soon as they had
finished it, one of them turned to a crow, who took
the ring in its bill and flew over the snowy mountains
right into the garden. And when night came and
the sweet princess lay asleep, the birdie fluttered
on to her bed and in a dream instructed the child
about her fate, and in this dream the elf appeared in
his true form as a tiny white man with snow-white
garment and a white cap with a silver bell on his
head. And thus he whispered to her:
<<
Dear little lily-maiden, I am one of those under-
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ground elves of whom you know nothing, but who
are your friends, and I come to instruct you about
your fate, and to caution you against the evil arts
and malice of an old witch, who got you into her
power, we know not how. Your father is a great
king who rules in a northern land, and your mother
a queen. She had robbed them of you, and carried
you away to this garden and crystal house. She is
a very ugly old woman, wrinkled and blear-eyed,
and has an ugly lame son, about whom she has
made a plan regarding you. She means to marry
you to him; that is, he will come and pretend to
play with you to pass away the time, and he will
make himself as agreeable to you as such a fellow
But he is a rogue in disguise like his mother
he will only ensnare you, so that you should accept
him as lover and marry him. After that, they
think to have you quite under their thumb, so that
they can do as they like with you. And the old
woman hopes that your father and mother will
accept her limping son for their son-in-law, so that
he may rule the kingdom after their death.
can.
But it
;
were an everlasting pity for your youth and beauty
to fall a victim to such a misshapen, ugly, wicked
monster. And we have come to warn you of their
cunning, artful flattery. For you are growing up
into a maiden, and will soon have completed your
thirteenth year, and the old witch means to arrive
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soon with her son.
possible, therefore.
Beware of them as carefully as
But this you shall know; here
is a small gold ring which I put on your finger ;
mind it well and preserve it as your most valuable
treasure. When you are in dire trouble and know
not where to turn, then take this little ring off
your finger and rub it against your forehead and
you will suddenly be changed into two objects, a
grain of sand and a cobweb, and they will not be
able to hurt you.
For all witches and sorcerers
have a horror of a grain of sand which this ring
has touched, and cobwebs they may not come in
contact with or they get paralysed. We have
arranged this twofold change so that, if anything
happened to the grain of sand, the cobweb would
be left, or if anything happened to the cobweb,
the grain of sand would be left to change back
into Gunhilde. But you need never remain longer
than twenty-four hours a cobweb and a grain of
sand; for twenty-four hours is the longest time
the old witch may spend in the garden; then she
must be off and not come back for ten days,
for witches have also strict laws to which they
are subject. If that were not so, who could fight
against them? And now cheer up and remember
these words well! We shall always remain about
you and assist you!"
This dream was repeated several times so that it
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all became clear to the child, and she understood it
as if she had always lived in the world among men,
where good and evil try to keep the balance. Also
many things which she was to see afterwards were
shown to her in their natural size and form, and
when she awoke she found the little gold ring ou
her finger and viewed it with pleasure and sang the
little verse which had also been whispered to her in
her dream:
Little ring, gold circlet mine,
Make me tiny, render me fine;
Grain of sand the tiniest is,
Cobweb the daintiest is.
Hoohoo, what a wight!
Little grain, keep tight!
Little cobweb, do not tear!
Hoohoo, how slender my luck is there!
The little white elves had foreknown or rightly
foreseen what would happen. It was not a fortnight
later when, what they had predicted in the dream,
happened. Hitherto the old witch had never come
in human form, but had run into the garden or
house as a mouse, or crept into it as a toad or
lizard, or flown over the wall as a dung-beetle.
Under these masks she had spied on the princess,
and had never appeared in her true shape.
wicked intention was that she would surprise her
all the more by the sight of her son, if she had
never seen a human form before. But the elves
Her
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had provided against that, and showed her in her
dreams the loveliest prince and knight, so that she
would already walk among her flowers and dream
and long for him. This they had all arranged in
order to make the ugliness of the old witch and her
lame cripple appear all the more repulsive to the
lily-maid.
Now the old witch had resolved to finish up, and
came, therefore, for the first time, in her true living
form.
Gunhilde had just reached her fifteenth birthday,
and the day had dawned so charmingly and beauti-
fully as if heaven itself wanted to celebrate it with
her. She had dreamt a lovely dream of a fair
youth, who had stepped to her bedside and, with
humble obeisance, had placed a large green wreath
on her bed. This sweet vision awakened her, and
in vain did she look through house and garden for
the fair garland-bearer, whom she fancied she had
seen living and tangible before her. And full of the
sweet yearning feelings which the fair vision had
excited in her bosom, she walked up and down
in her lily avenue and heard the nightingales sing
to greet the morning. There was particularly one
nightingale who delighted her, who, fluttering hither
and thither, accompanied her and sang, as larks and
hedge-sparrows will do, in flying. Now this was, of
course, none of the old witch's nightingales, but one
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of the little elves disguised among the birds. As
she walked thus, in innocent longing among her
flowers, there came suddenly from the other end of
the garden an old woman in a brown frock and
snow-white head, which was covered with a black
bonnet and bent almost to the ground; she rather
crept than walked, and coughed at every step she
took. As she came nearer, Gunhilde saw what a
fright she was. Her forehead and cheeks were
wrinkled like wet gloves that have been put on the
stove to dry; her squinting eyes glowed like embers,
and ran like a chimney in rainy weather; there was
no tooth left in her ugly mouth, and where whilom
had been a round chin, there was a sharp pointed
bone with a few white stubbly hairs like a tom-cat's
beard. The lovely Gunhilde shuddered at the first
sight of her, and yet she felt in a way attracted to
her; for that is a quality of witches, that they even
attract those who detest them. The old witch
greeted the young beauty, and bade her a pleasant
good-morning, smirked insinuatingly, and was as
sweet as a bag of thyme; then, after some humming
and throat-clearing, she began:
"I see, my dear pet, that you are surprised at
the apparition before you. I do not wonder at
your astonishment, for it is very natural, as you
have never seen a human being except yourself.
But don't be frightened of me. I love you more
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But
than my own life, and have come to make you very
happy. You do not know, nor may you yet know,
the miracle by which you have come into this
garden, and have spent here ten solitary years
among trees and flowers; but that much you may
know, that I am the one who brought you here to
keep you safe from much ill-fortune and temptation
of the wicked world. I have been your nurse and
guardian to this day, and your beauty and merry
temper are the result of my watchful care.
I fancy it is not good for you to remain thus longer
alone, and to-morrow you shall have a companion,
the most amiable and graceful youth on whom the
sun ever shone, who shall be with you by day and
night, and help you to while away the time and
sweeten it; and he shall become your lover—what
other people call a bridegroom-and you shall be
his bride, But that you will not understand yet,
until you have seen how sweet and lovely the
youth is.”
This and many like stories the loquacious old
crone would tell the princess all day long, with the
flattering, insinuating tone in which witches talk,
and fancied she had quite caught her, and the
young and inexperienced birdie would easily go into
the snare in which it was already half way. For
Gunhilde, who perceived how cunning and crafty
the old woman was, also used a ruse, and pretended
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to be delighted at the prospect of the companion
whom she promised to bring to her, and behaved
altogether in such a childlike, and careless way that
the old witch was delighted.
Next morning, as Gunhilde stepped from her
chamber into the garden, over which the sun was
just rising, the old woman was there, and said:
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Farewell, my pretty child; in a few minutes
your lover will be here. Now, play nicely till I
come back, and don't let the time be long. In ten
days I shall come back to you. But to herself she
said, "Ha, ha! this will be a fine game, and the
old king in the land of the midnight sun will have
tears in his eyes when he will have to greet my son
as son-in-law. However, he is my son, and any
descendant of Adam may, if occasion warrants,
become king or emperor. And is not he a dainty
boy? Pshaw! I should think he need not give in
before royal blood."
With this merry soliloquy she left the garden
and vanished through the gate; and in a few
minutes there appeared, instead of her, her little
son—or, rather, he limped in there. And what did
he look like ?
He
He was a youth of nineteen years, not much over
a yard high, and as broad as he was long.
showed in front-for his head seemed to protrude
about a foot in front of his body-a broad head
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pointed at the top like a sugar-loaf or cone, with a
flat face, a squeezed-in snout, and small blinking
grey eyes, and what might have been smooth in his
face was pockmarked. Sparse white hair covered
his pate, and where a manly beard should have
been, there were a few bristles, like thistles on a
barren sandhill. This elegant figure was dressed in
the oddest, most ridiculous fashion-about the style
in which royal pages used to be dressed a century
or two ago. He wore a scarlet, gold-braided coat,
a silken, gold-embroidered waistcoat, white satin
breeches, and white silk stockings, and had on black
shoes with red silk bows the size of a peony.
He
carried his hat under his arm, a gold-headed malacca
cane shone in his right hand, and a big hair-bag,
out of which the powder would blow, wobbled on a
peaked hump which grew on his back, sharp enough
to serve as a peg for hats and cloaks.
This agree-
able and pleasant youth hobbled slowly along the
lily-avenue, groaning with love-sighs and want of
breath. He made towards the princess, and she
allowed this new adventurer to come to her without
frightening her, for, owing to his small size, he
looked more ridiculous than dangerous.
He stepped in front of her and bowed thrice,
and his looks alternated between her and himself.
He evidently observed himself with great delight
from head to foot, especially his big calves in the
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shining silk stockings, his wedding shoes with the
red ribbons of the colour called lovers' flames, and
his scarlet coat abounding with gold, and self-com-
placently he smiled, as if he meant to say: "Beauti-
ful princess, come along! here you see the most
graceful prince; take him for your lover and bride-
groom." Yet he did not utter these sentiments,
but after having recovered his breath-for the hump
on his back pressed heavily on his lungs, especially
when he had walked at what was a quick pace for
him-he addressed her thus:
'Much beloved princess, or snow-white lily-
maiden, or Princess Tulip, or Snowflake, or what-
ever name you like to hear, I come from afar,
carried by a miraculous fate over Alps and high airs
on a winged chariot, to devote my youth and beauty
to you.
For my lady mother, whose wisdom had
read in the stars that we were from all eternity
destined for each other, and that great kings and
rulers should descend from us, has brought me up
in solitude the same as you, so that no other
maidens, attracted by my charms, might tempt me,
and that I might become your bridegroom in all the
innocence and lovableness of my heart. Now come,
my snow-white blossom, come my lily, my narcissus,
my lily of the valley, my snowflake, my feather out
of the paradise-bird's crown, and tail feather of the
phoenix, which every thousand years rises rejuvenated
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from its ashes, come and fondle me, embrace and
kiss me, play with me, and be my sweet bride, and
I will be your sweetest bridegroom."
With that he bent forward and stretched his arms
out, as if he meant to embrace her; but she shud-
dered and started back. Thus the poor prince lost
his balance, having only one reliable pedestal, for the
lame leg dragged listlessly behind, and fell on his
nose and made it bleed. She laughed outright at
the sight of his tumbling full breadth on the gravel;
yet she had pity on him, stretched out her hand
and helped him up, but when he was back on his
legs she gently withdrew her hand and said:
(C
Dear Prince Taliquo, or Qualiquo, or Quiproquo
(for I once dreamt of a prince who looked like
you, and was called by a name sounding something
like that), if your courtship is to consist of kisses
and embraces, you have no chance; he who wants
to embrace ine must look differently, so please keep
at a distance with your kisses, and don't fancy that
I would become your bride. I would rather kiss toads
and snakes than your misshapen person. Look, there
is room enough in this large and beautiful garden;
there we may both walk, and I won't begrudge you
any of its beauties, but allow me to prefer the con-
versation of my lilies and nightingales to yours."
Prince Qualiquo-we may as well call him that
with the princess--was not the least taken aback
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by these words; he smiled and said to himself:
((
Ha, ha, ha! This is just as mother told me before
she let me into the garden? Did not she say:
'She will do like all other maidens; if you talk to
them of kissing and marrying, she will behave as if
it were a terrible danger, and will pretend you are
ugly; she will escape from you and say, you could
never be her bridegroom, and she would rather
embrace death than you. Don't be disturbed by
that; that is the way of coy or affected maidens.
Cheer up! be bold, my boy, stalk proudly about, as
if you wore an imperial crown, bear yourself with
pride and majesty! and majesty itself will bow at
your feet. Courage and pride will pierce rocks,
will tame lions and tigers. How much more so the
heart of a tender maiden ? All maids behave like
that at first; they flee from what they are most fond
of, they pretend to detest what they desire. Hold
on, keep firm, and don't let her go till she is your
wife. It would be very strange if she, who has
lived in such simple solitude, should not find out
that a playmate is charming and a bridegroom
more so!"""
Thus Prince Qualiquo consoled himself, and
would always come back, however much the prin-
cess ran away from him. It is true she was amused
at his funny gestures and pantomimes, and the
strange speeches in which he indulged from time to
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time.
Then her joke was to escape from him
quickly to the opposite end of the garden, which it
took him half an hour to reach with his limping.
Thus she would carry on till he was checkmated, and
would drop down groaning and fall asleep. Then
when he lay there miserably in the midday-sun she
had pity on him, and tickled him with a lily-stalk
on chin and nose till he woke up, when she would
make him rise and lead him to a wine-fountain,
that he might refresh himself. This he would do
so amply that he would drop asleep by the fountain,
and she had peace for the rest of the afternoon and
evening, until night came, when she locked herself
in her room and went to bed.
And as it happened on the first day, so it did on
the following ones, and the lily-maiden began to be
right tired of Prince Qualiquo. For though she
could easily manage to escape from him, she always
saw him coming on again, and his everlasting
twaddle and whining of love became unbearable.
All the more so as this hunchback, with his squeak-
ing, squealing voice, seemed to act as a scarecrow,
for the birds which used to sing so merrily in the
branches were silent when he appeared. Her only
consolation was that towards afternoon he was
generally so far gone that he could not distinguish
moon from sun. So she also used an innocent
stratagem; when his hobbling in pursuit of her
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annoyed her too much, she stopped at some fresh
wine-spring which he had not tried yet, and pointed
it out to him, and as a rule his greed would keep
him there.
But it became very unpleasant when he had
ferreted out her room.
Then he would come as
soon as the cold of night or the morning breeze
stirred him up from his drunken slumber, would go
to the arbour that led to her room, would knock
at her door and lisp and whisper, groan and sigh,
coo and woo, make ardent speeches, or sing more
ardent songs, until he fell asleep again and snored
till the sun was high in the heavens. This was the
greatest nuisance, for it had been her delight to
walk in the early morn under the lilies, and see the
sun rise over the Alps; and now she had to wait in
till it pleased him to get up.
Yet she pitied him, because she considered him
as stupid as he was ugly. And the poor knave
really was very stupid, for the pretty phrases and
exclamations and the sighs expressed in words, his
mother, the old witch, had made him learn by heart.
In the end the lily-maiden grew really angry with
him, and put him in bonds like an evildoer. This
is how it happened. She found him one day lying
very low. In his fuddled state he had slipped by a
brook and fallen so that his lame leg hung in the
water. In this position he had gently dropped
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asleep, and lay so that the least false movement,
such as a gnat's sting might cause, might have rolled
him over into the water, and in his helpless state he
might have slept never to wake again. So Gunhilde
went softly up to him and pulled him from the
bank on to the dry land. At her gentle touch,
which seemed like a sweet dream to him, he suddenly
awoke, took one of her hands and pulled her down
so quickly, that his ugly mouth was able to press a
kiss on her pretty cheeks. She screamed as if stung
by an adder, pushed him angrily away and freed
her hand, whilst he dropped off again in his drunken
sleep and snored loudly. She called out angrily :
"You wait, my prince!" then ran and undid the
cords by which some young trees were tied up, tied
the same round his wrists and bound him to the
tree near which he had dropped down. There she
let him lie and said: "Good-bye, my sweet lover!
here you may lie to doomsday, my hands won't un-
bind you!"
The prince had slept beautifully through the
night and dreamt divine dreams. The arms of the
princess which pulled him away from the brook,
the kiss he had pressed on her cheeks, her turning
him over when she tied him to the tree, all this had
got mixed up in his drunken imagination to a merry
dream, of which the princess formed the centre. In
short, he woke up with the sweetest thoughts and
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his arms moved about in a delighted movement, as
if they would catch something; but alas! the poor
wretch lay on the damp ground and was bound and
cold, and at last he groaned and whined.
For no
merciful hand came to loosen his bonds, the sun
burnt him, he felt hungry and thirsty. From the
other extremity of the garden, he had heard the
princess singing her morning hymn with the birds,
but his weak voice could not reach her.
Noon was past and the sun went on his down-
ward way, when the princess came to see how her
prisoner fared. He felt cheered in his heart, think-
ing she meant to release him. But she reproached
him with all that happened the previous day of
which he now knew nothing, and said: "I have said
it; here you may lie till doomsday, my hands won't
unbind you, and I shall keep my word." He hoped
his supplications would move her heart; he begged
and implored, groaned, sighed, wept, howled and
roared so as to move a stone, but she remained un-
moved, jumped away singing merrily and called
out: Burn, scorch, starve, famish, you nasty
monster, who dares to love me!
That is what you
have deserved for your impudent kiss.”
(C
Yet she had so far pity on him as to throw him
some apples and pears, and to fill a wooden bowl with
water from the brook and hold it out to him. She
considered herself very happy to have got him fast.
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Thus he had lain three days, when the tenth day
had come and the old witch appeared, who looked
very surprised, on seeing Gunhilde alone, and in-
quired after the prince.
"O, he is in good keeping," replied the child.
"Come! I will show him to you." She took the
old woman by the arm and led her to the prisoner,
saying: "Look here, this prince Taliquo, or Qualiquo,
has had the impudence to make love to me and call
me his bride; his insolence went so far that he has
kissed me. Therefore this has happened to him.
And now, say, does he not lie there prettily?
not he charming? Poor doggy, can you bite?"
And then she teased him by tickling his nose with
a flower-stalk and laughed as heartily as if a hundred
birds had sang together.
Is
But the old witch frowned darkly and hit the
Prince Qualiquo severely with her stick, saying :
"You blockhead, you duffer, you idiot! Thus you
allow yourself to be bound and lie like a poor sinner
on the earth, wriggling like a worm in the dust?
And I thought to greet you as a merry bridegroom!
No, all my arts are wasted on you ! "
After that she turned to the lily-maiden and her
looks became terrible, like as if a thousand toads
had sprung together out of her glaring eyes, and as
if ever so many serpents were hissing out of her
ugly mouth.
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[To face p. 98
GUNHILDE AND PRINCE TALIQUO
from Rügen
The child was so frightened at this horrible sight,
that her innermost soul trembled, and she had only
just time, before the worst could happen, to rub her
forehead with the ring and to say the little rhyme.
And she had hardly murmured the first four lines,
when she dropped as a grain of sand and a cobweb
on the ground and the witch started back a few
steps in fright. When Gunhilde saw herself so
small, she whispered the rest of the magic verse.
The most peculiar thing in this metamorphosis was,
that the grain of sand and the cobweb hid the golden
ring in the ground and laid themselves on the top.
The old witch knew too much herself not to
know that another's art was struggling against
hers. So she untied her stupid son and then began
to search. She flew about as a bird, she crawled as
a toad, she lurked as a cat, she watched as an owl,
she crept as a snake, she slipped as a mouse into
every corner and left no grass or herb untouched,
if she might get enlightened; she looked into every
hole and crack, and found nothing. For as a witch
she had that in her art, if she had touched the
transformed object, she must have become aware of
it. Only she could not touch it, for she had a
creeping horror of the grain of sand and the cobweb.
Thus she had searched the whole day and night and
discovered nothing. And day dawned in the east
and she had to leave, but when she closed the
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garden-gate, she called back: "Patience, my tender
plant! you won't escape me; what I have not
achieved to-day, I shall another time."
Cobweb and sand-grain had listened, and when
they heard the gate go, they raised themselves up,
looked about and saw the witch had gone. Instantly
they uncovered the golden ring, rubbed against it,
and behold! they had disappeared, but the beautiful
Gunhilde stood there in all her loveliness, and the
gold ring jumped in delight and put itself on her
finger.
And she played as before among the birds and
flowers and was refreshed by sweet dreams, and
Prince Qualiquo tormented her no longer, but kept
out of her way and seemed frightened of her. He
just kept to one corner of the garden which he did
not leave, but meandered from one wine fountain to
the next. Most of his time he slept away in his
intoxication and seemed to have quite forgotten
crown and throne, bride and wedding-feast, and the
royal children and grandchildren. But the little
whities were in sorrow and trouble about their dear
lily-maiden, for they feared, if the witch came for
the second time, she would attack the poor child
with craft and cunning; and how easily might the
maiden forget to use her gold ring in time, so that
the witch might change her into some horrid beast
or noisome monster! So they held a fresh council
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and sent her, in consequence of it, a horrid dream,
which frightened her for several hours.
In this dream Gunhilde saw herself one morning
walking among her flowers, enjoying the sunshine
and the beauty of spring, when it seemed to her
that her flowers suddenly changed into thorns and
thistles, and all the flowering trees and fruit trees
turned to bare shrubs, and instead of the pretty
singing-birds, owls and crows sat on the barren
branches and crowed and screeched, and tigers and
lions roared, and snakes and dragons hissed through
the bushes. And the poor child ran and looked for
the gate, for she wanted to escape in her anxiety.
But she could not get out, for the garden-wall turned
to high rising flames, which prevented her escape and
scorched her so much that she had to run back, in
order not to be burnt and singed. And as she was
running, she knew not where, she came in what
had been her lily-avenue and where now barren
thistles stood upon the old witch, who limping and
coughing came towards her and grew in size and
horribleness to the height of a giantess; and when
she stood close in front of her, she changed to a huge
toad who with open jaws snapped at her, to devour
her. On that the princess awoke and was pale with
fright and much disturbed as she got up.
She went out into her garden and found it un-
changed, as beautiful as ever, and she saw no
ΙΟΙ
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monster but Prince Qualiquo, who lay again by a
fountain, sipping sweet wine.
Yet she had no rest
and was tormented by sad thoughts, and she thought
any minute the lilies might turn to thistles, and the
orange-trees to thorns, and the lovely nightingales
might as crows and ravens forebode misfortune,
and she walked about in indescribable anxiety.
And an impulse which she could not resist com-
pelled her to rub her forehead with the gold ring
and say the little verse, whereupon she dropped
down as grains of sand and cobweb.
Now that was just what the little elves, her
friends, had wanted to effect by means of the
anxious dream. Instantly three white doves flew
down; the first swallowed the grain of sand, the
second hid the cobweb under her wing, the third
slipped the gold ring round her neck.
And quickly
they flew away and sang in the air together:
We carry the tiniest,
We carry the finest,
We carry the purest,
In love away.
Oh, hurry! oh, hurry!
Ye helpful winds,
And blow us swiftly
O'er hills and away.
And the winds helped them and opened their quick
and rushing wings and carried the doves away in
speedy flight. But the old witch, who was lurking
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high up in the snow-capped Alps, had got wind of
something going on, put her black feather-coat on so
quickly that her wings whizzed in the air, and she
flew after the white doves. These had just reached
the highest peaks, when she had almost overtaken
them. One minute longer, and the doves would
have been lost together with the precious treasure
they carried. But here the witch's power ended;
she durst not pursue them further than these Alpine
peaks. So she flew back in a rage, rushed down
into the beautiful garden and changed it into the
barren desert that it had formerly been; and her
son she changed to a crow and they flew both
together elsewhere, to think of and practise fresh
knaveries; for here there was nothing left for them
to do.
Meanwhile the doves flew all through the day
and night, about five hundred miles, until they
found themselves over a large meadow, where their
likes were assembled together, it being springtime
on earth, when everything and everybody rejoices.
Here they floated gently down and sang:
We carry, we carry,
We must not say,
You must not inquire,
A lovely maid.
Gold circlet ring,
Sand-grain spring,
Cobweb swing,
Together grow.
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Then they settled down on the green ground; the
first spit out the grain of sand, the second produced
the cobweb from underneath her wing, and the
third pulled the gold circlet off her neck, and they
placed the three objects in touch. And these three
did not wait for a second asking—but in a moment
there stood the pretty lily-maiden on the green
meadow, and the three doves had vanished. Yet
with all the other white elves they hovered invisibly
about the child and flew round her as butterflies.
and ladybirds on the grasses and flowers, so as to
have a good look at her and feast their eyes on her
loveliness, or they sang as birds in the branches and
soon sang the sweet child to sleep, and then they
danced their merry star dance round her, and pro-
duced the most charming music.
And here Gunhilde lived a pleasanter life even
than in the enchanted garden. The green meadow
was situated in the middle of a fine grove by a big
lake. There was a wonderful variety of trees and
flowers and a charming alternation of mountains,
hills and dales, through which the child could
ramble at will. Nightingales, blackbirds, larks, and
other singing-birds abounded in it, and silver and
gold-fish swam in the lake, and majestic swans
moved on its mirror-like surface.
A boat was
always ready waiting on the bank when the child
wanted to go on the lake, would take her in and
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float her about the water as long as she liked, and
bring her back to shore when she willed it. This
shortened the time most pleasantly, and in her idle
hours she would pass the time with beautiful needle-
work, in which she soon gained mastery; she had
already practised some in the enchanted garden, for
the little elves had also taught her this in her
dreams, and would always give her new ideas, so
that she became one of the cleverest and most in-
genious princesses that ever lived. This idea of
using dreams as teachers was as ingenious as it was
innocent, and made the nights the most interesting
part of Gunhilde's life, for then the whities would
whisper all sorts of things to her and mirror human
life with its varied and complicated relations so
clearly before her, that she readily understood and
moved about in it with grace and ease when she
left the enchanted world in which her childhood and
youth had been spent. The elves had even wrought
her a golden lute, which she struck beautifully to
accompany her singing. It was natural she should
be fond of playing and singing as she was sur-
rounded in the day by the most marvellous singing-
birds and in the night by the delicate supernatural
music of the elves. The latter also provided her
with food and drink; whenever she was hungry and
thirsty the table was laid for her. But she ate and
drank very little, and only of the lightest food:
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milk and sweet wine, white bread and honey, fruit
and such like, so that one might almost say she had
the soul of a flower or bird and touched no heavy
and coarse food.
In this meadow and grove, and the lake that
bordered it, Gunhilde had spent four happy months,
had been very industrious and learned beautiful arts.
The four months had only been to her as four
minutes. But the little elves concerned themselves
about her, and said: "We are wrong to keep her
longer for ourselves; she must be taken to her
parents, for the summer will soon be at an end, when
we shall have to return to our mountains and what
would then become of her?" And again they showed
her in dreams, what they wanted to be done, and
showed her the town of Stockholm in Sweden,
where her parents lived, and the palaces and park
and the Målar lake with its rushing current that
the beautiful town is built on, and created in her
heart a great longing after all the things they repre-
sented to her, so that for days she could think of
nothing else, but how she might leave this grove
and get to the beautiful Stockholm; and for several
nights she dreamt of the same thing. When she
had thus been prepared, they showed her three
nights running a pretty coloured bird, a goldfinch,
and during the intervening days they made this gold-
finch flutter about her, so that she got used to it.
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And it happened as they wished: she got fond of
the little bird and ran after him over the meadow
and made a song about the bird which she sang to
her lute. And when the two had grown thus
familiar with each other, they sent her another
dream, wherein it seemed to her that the little gold-
finch flew in front of her and kept calling: "Gun-
hilde! Gunhilde! To Stockholm! To Stockholm !
Follow me, I lead the way!" And in her dream
she followed the bird and came safely to Stockholm
and saw her father and mother again, and was so
joyful that overgreat happiness awakened her.
And when she left the pretty little shell-grotto
which the elves had prepared as a bedroom for her,
and stepped out on the green meadow, the goldfinch
flew before her. This reminded her of her dream,
and she hurried back into her chamber, picked out
among her things what she liked best, and packed
them into a small bundle, slung her golden lute
over her shoulder, and began to walk, as if to tempt
the bird and try if the dream had only been an
empty phantasm. When the elves thus perceived
that they had worked her up to the mark, one of
them entered the bird and flew merrily before her
from branch to branch, calling "To Stockholm! To
Stockholm!" and with light step she followed.
And other elves surrounded her, for never had they
oved a human child like this angelic maiden. Thus
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the bird flew and the maiden walked from morning
till night; and when she was hungry she found
food, and when she grew thirsty she found drink,
and when she grew tired she found a little couch.
And at night the elves would prepare her a dainty
bed of grass and flowers under sheltering trees, and
would sit about her bed and whisper sweet dreams
to her, or dance round her and sing charming
serenades. And the journey itself was like a
delightful dream, such as never had been heard of
before, and it probably will never be heard of again,
that a little bird should guide and call out "To
Stockholm!" and that a delicate maiden should
have the courage to believe in such a little bird,
who, after all, might have flown away any moment
and left her in the wilderness, and to wander with
him such a long way over hill and dale and field
and moor.
The journey to Stockholm was about
six hundred hours, and they always walked from
south, or noon, to north, or midnight, for the King
of Sweden rules in the north, in the land of the
midnight sun. And Gunhilde walked from ten to
twelve hours per day, and did not get tired, for the
bird guided her mostly on pleasant paths and short-
cuts through shady woods and over green meadows.
But when she sat down to rest she would take the
lute from her shoulder and sing a cheerful song, or
occasionally a song of the unknown longing and
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yearning which the dreams had stirred up in her
breast. The bird would then sit on the lute and
listen, and flap his wings with joy, or join in with
merry twittering; and if she dropped asleep, as
would sometimes happen, the birdie would wake her
when it was time to continue the journey. She
would almost daily sing the little song she had
made on the bird, and it seemed to her as if he
understood its contents and nodded his head more
trustingly than before. And the song fell charmingly
from her lips. When she had finished, the bird
would fly up and flap his wings and sing, "To
Stockholm ! To Stockholm!" And she put her
lute back on her shoulder, took her bundle under her
arm, and followed confidingly. Thus they had walked
for nearly two months, when they came into the forest
which lay not far from the palace of the Swedish
king, and soon they were in the very garden where
the king and queen used in old times to walk with
their little daughter. It was a fine October's day,
bright and light as they are in Sweden, and not cold.
As Gunhilde stepped into the garden, strange feelings
rushed to her heart; it all seemed so well known to
her, and yet strange. Still, they were not recollec-
tions of her childhood-she was too young to
remember when the she-wolf had kidnapped her-
but images from the dreams in which the little elves
had shown her the palace and garden and other
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things. So it seemed to her as if she had really seen
these places before. She was tired with walking, and
sat down on the seat which stood under a lofty oak-
tree, took her lute and sang; and the bird fluttered
on to her hand and moved his wing as her fingers
touched the strings. She sang her very oldest song
of the lilies, her cradle-song, the only thing that she
had retained from her childhood. And when she had
come to the last verse, it chanced that the king and
queen just came out of a sidewalk by the seat where
she sat. And the queen was startled, and tears came
into her eyes, and she said to her consort, "My dear
lord, what song is that? The cradle-song of my
little Gunhilde? Alas! my sweet and only daughter,
this was the place where the she-wolf robbed me of
her!" So said the poor queen, and turned pale as
snow, and sorrowful thoughts oppressed her heart, so
that the king had to support her with his arms, lest
she should fall down fainting. And she cried
repeatedly, in deep sorrow," My daughter Gunhilde,
my only daughter, thou canst never, never return!"
Gunhilde, who had sat in deep and melancholy
thoughts as she sung her song, looked up, and was
astonished when she saw the king and queen: the
same shape, the same garments, the very same seat
under the oak-tree which the dream had often
shown her. And now it dawned upon her, she
started up and ran to her royal parents and called
JIO
from Rügen
out,
" I am
your daughter! Take your only
daughter back. I have been enchanted, and have
sat and played for many years in an enchanted
garden, and now I hardly know how I have come
here to Stockholm, for I have been strangely
guided by a little bird."
And the king and queen looked at her and
wondered at her youth and beauty, and the queen
recollected a dream, which the little elves must have
sent her, wherein she had found her daughter
looking like this very maiden. She had taken it
for a delusion of the night, of no more import than
most dreams, but now she believed in it and
embraced the sweet child and pressed her to her
heart with delight, and exclaimed, “Yes, you are
my daughter." And she untied her neckerchief and
saw on her left breast a red mark, like a full-blown
rose, which she had brought with her into the
world. And she showed it to the king, and said
with joy, "Behold here your Rosehilde! for you
wanted to have her christened Rosehilde on account
of this birth-mark, and I had my way and had her
christened Gunhilde."
And now the king took the fair child to his
heart and kissed her a thousand times, and they led
her into the palace and took her to the apartments
in which she had played as a child. But she had
no recollection of them except from her dreams.
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And when Gunhilde had told them all her story,
and they had heard and rejoiced to their heart's
content, they proclaimed that Princess Gunhilde had
returned, and was as fair and lovely as the day.
And all the town and all the country rejoiced with
them, for they had grieved at the king's being child-
less, and at the thought of the misery and war that
might occur about the succession. And now all the
people belonging to the court who had seen and
waited on Gunhilde in her childhood came, also her
old nurse and the maids, and they all recognised
her. But they all looked for the rose; only the
nurse would say she should have known her even
without this mark, for she had always imagined her
like this, slim and graceful and bright, a fit bride
for the mightiest emperor. And she wept with joy,
and so did Gunhilde, at the love she was shown by
all. And the very evening before each retired to
their own chamber, the king and queen took her
apart, and the king addressed her thus: "Dear
Princess Gunhilde, my beloved only child! God
has shown me more grace and mercy than I deserve,
and given me a bright star of joy for my declining
years, which had been darkened by the sorrow of
being childless and having lost you. You are living
and have come back in the flower of beauty, and
your return will spread joy and glory in this palace
and town, aye, over all the land of the Goths and
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from Rügen
་
Swedes. See, my dear child, the people had looked
upon me as on a barren branch, and the last of my
line; but now I have got you back, and the branch
that seemed barren will sprout and bud again,
and your mother and I will be crowned with
joy and honour. We are both longing to have
grandchildren, and I know of a handsome and
worthy bridegroom for you, a man of noble descent
and incomparable fame, the pride of my army,
the support of my throne. To-morrow I shall
bring him to you, and he shall become my son-
in-law."
The princess bowed at these words, blushed and
said: “My king and lord, your will shall be mine.
May God turn it to our mutual joy as he has mer-
cifully turned my fate before this!" Thus she
replied, and went into her chamber, and when the
waiting-maids had undressed her, and she was alone,
she knelt down, folded her white hands, and wept
and prayed with many a sigh. The prayers were
addressed to God, and the sighs to a beautiful, fair
youth, whom she had often seen in her dreams
during the last two years, and she said: "Oh, my
sweet, fair youth! Oh, if he would only look like
my fair youth!
""
Next morning the king sent his Mistress of the
Ceremonies to Gunhilde, and bade her put on her
best attire, and her most precious jewels, and to
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And
appear before him in his apartment at noon.
about noon the queen herself came with all the
ladies of her court, and they fetched the princess
and led her to the hall where the king sat en-
throned, with all the great nobles of his land
standing by his side. He rose from his high seat
and led his daughter up the steps of the throne,
and seated her by his side, saying: "I present you
to the heiress of our throne, our only daughter,
whom God has preserved in a miraculous way and
given back to us." And now all the lords and
ladies stepped forward, one after the other, accord-
ing to birth and rank, and bowed thrice at the feet
of the throne and did homage to the princess. After
this the king beckoned to a herald, who opened a
side-door, and in stepped, in shining armour, a stately
man of splendid growth and noble bearing, whose
fair curls fell over the armour on his shoulders.
And the king motioned him to the feet of the
throne, and he came forward and bowed reverently.
Then spoke the king to the princess: "This is to be
your husband and my son-in-law!" And turning
to the nobles, he continued: "This shall be your
king and master after me!"
And the princess could contain herself no longer,
but exclaimed: "It is he! it is he!" meaning it
was the beautiful, fair youth she had so often seen
in her dreams. The king and queen and all the
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Court marvelled at these words, but nobody asked
what they meant.
So there was joy in the palace and the capital,
and all the kingdom, and they soon celebrated a
grand and splendid marriage feast, and the bride
and bridegroom danced in glass slippers, which they
found beside their beds on the wedding morn; there
were also seen many pretty white masks with glass
slippers among the dancers, and many people said they
must be the white elves, the guardian-spirits of Gun-
hilde. And when, after the dancing, Gunhilde came
into her bridal chamber, she found there many
precious jewels and ornaments and costly vases,
and work so fine and dainty, that no man knew
whence it came and who had brought them there.
And they guessed this and that. Gunhilde alone
knew, but she said nothing.
And Gunhilde lived a very happy life with her
fair prince to a good old age, and saw children and
grandchildren. She had luck in all things, and art
and wisdom before all women. That was the gift
of the elves who had taught her, and remained about
her and her children so that they became a fortunate
and victorious race. The old witch was never again
able to gain any power over her and her descendants,
and fortune followed them for many centuries, as
long as they preserved the little gold ring.
115

Ĉ
THE STORY OF THE SEVEN
COLOURED MICE
I OFTEN made my father tell me this story, and,
therefore, I remember it well, and you may listen
to it :
In the Isle of Rügen, far away in the Baltic Sea,
is a village called Pudmin. There lived once upon
a time an industrious, kind-hearted peasant woman
with her seven children-seven little maids, the
eldest of whom was twelve years old, and the
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youngest but two. And they all were dressed alike
in coloured frocks and coloured pinafores and red
hoods. They wore neither shoes nor stockings, for
that would have cost too much, and so they all ran
about barefooted and did not mind it at all. Their
mother kept them tidy and clean, taught them to
pray and sing, and brought them up to fear God
and be well mannered. Whenever she had to work
in the field, or to go a long way, she deputed Bar-
bara, the eldest, to mind the little ones, to sing to
them and tell them fairy-tales.
Now Good Friday came round, and the mother
wanted to go to church. She told the children to
be good and play nicely together, but on no account
to look behind the tiled stove. The little girls pro-
mised all they were asked, and the mother went to
church.
For a long while the children were very good and
enjoyed themselves with playing, singing, and story-
telling, but in the end they got tired of it, and one
pert little thing crept secretly to the stove and
beckoned to her sisters. They were all wishing to
know what might be hidden behind the stove, so
they crept nearer and nearer and the most venture-
some of them stretched her head forward and called
out: There hangs a beautiful big white bag!
And now they all made bold to look, and even Bar-
bara, the eldest, got up and looked at it; and they
"1
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whispered and said this and that and tried to guess
what might be in the bag.
pulled the bag down.
They were dying to
know, and one of them plucked up courage and
Barbara opened the string
which tied it up, and behold! apples and nuts fell
out of it. When they saw the apples and nuts roll
about the floor, they clean forgot everything, sat
down, cracked the nuts and ate the apples until not
one was left. At dinner-time the mother came
home; she saw the nut-shells on the floor, then she
looked for the bag; but it was gone. Thereupon
she turned very angry and scolded the disobedient
children, and forgot herself so far as to say: "I
wish you little thieves would all turn into mice."
Now this was a great sin, the more so as it was
on such a holy day, and hardly had she said the
wicked word, when the seven pretty little children
were gone, as if the wind had blown them away, but
seven coloured mice with red heads ran about the
room, who were the same colours as the children's
frocks and hoods had been. The mother was so
frightened that she could not move. That very minute
the farm-boy opened the door and through the open
door the seven coloured mice ran out across the
passage and the farmyard and they ran as quick as
lightning. When the woman saw that, she could
not stop but ran after them.
The seven coloured mice ran along the road
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through the village, over meadows and fields to a
little oak-wood, and breathless the peasant woman
followed them. But in the middle of the wood
there lay a pond as clear as a mirror. There the
little mice stopped, they turned round and looked
at their mother, just as if they meant to say good-
bye, and then they jumped all at once into the pond
and did not swim but went straight down to the
bottom. Now it was bright noon-day when this
happened, and the mother remained dumbfounded at
the place where the seven mice had disappeared.
She no more moved hand or foot, nor was she a
human being any longer, but had straight turned
into stone. And this big stone lies still in the
same place, and the place is called Mousecorner to
this very day. But at midnight, when all the world
is quiet and asleep, the seven coloured mice come
out of the water and dance round the stone for an
hour, until the church clock in Pudmin strikes one.
Then the stone rings as if it could talk, and that is
the only way in which the mother may commune
with her children.
But they who know of this tale and tell it, they
also know, that one day the seven coloured mice
may be turned back into human beings. And this
is the way in which it will happen.
One day a woman will come who will be the
same age as the peasant woman was on that Good
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Friday when she came from church, and with the
woman there will come her seven boys to the oak-
wood. And as she sits down on the stone, it will
come to life and the peasant woman will stand there
just as she was, in the same clothes in which she
ran after the mice to the Mousecorner. And the
seven coloured mice will turn again into seven little
maids in coloured frocks, with red hoods on their
heads. Each one of the little maids will then go to
the boy of her age and take his hand. And when
they have grown up, they will become bride and
bridegroom and have a merry wedding. And they
will be the prettiest and richest and most respected
people in all the island, and many estates and farms
will belong to them.
And now, my dear children, I am sure you wish
with me that the poor little mice may very soon be
delivered.
120

BIRLIBI, THE RAT-KING
THIS is a story which Baltazar Tiers has often told
me. Baltazar was a farm-servant on my father's
estate, a man of many quaint ideas, who knew
plenty of stories and fairy-tales. This is how the
story of the Rat-king goes: In the Isle of Rügen
there was, once upon a time, a rich peasant in a
village which lies between Gartz and Putbus, a
little off the road by the sea-shore, and this peasant's
name was Hans Burwitz. He was an exceedingly
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clever man, who succeeded in everything he started.
He owned sixteen cows, forty sheep, eight horses
and two colts, as sleek as eels and of such good
strain that he always got good prices if he sold any
at the horse-fair. Add to that a good wife and six
fine children, boys and girls, and he fared so well
that folks only called him, "The rich peasant."
Yet this man lost all he had through his nightly
wanderings in the forest, for he was a great
sportsman. In particular, he had a fine scent for
foxes and martens, and was therefore often in the
forest where he had set his traps and waited for a
catch. There in the twilight of dawn and moon-
shine he may have heard and seen many things
that he did not care to talk of; yet he let out what
he knew of the Rat-king Birlibi. In his childhood
Hans had often heard about the rat-king, who was
said to wear a golden crown on his head and to
reign supreme over all the stoats, badgers, rats,
mice and the like vermin, and to be a most powerful
forest-king; but he would never believe it. And
year after year he had gone his rounds in the forest
after fox and marten and had neither heard nor seen
aught of the rat-king. Maybe the latter was in
some other land, for he has many castles under the
hills and moves year by year on to another of his
strongholds, where he enjoys himself with his court
and lives in splendour and magnificence.
1
I22
from Rügen
Well, it happened that Hans Burwitz went once
after midnight into the wood on the look-out for
a fox.
All of a sudden he heard in the distance
a confused noise and screeching, of which he could
only make out the one word: "Birlibi! Birlibi!
Birlibi!" Then he bethought himself of the Rat-
king Birlibi, that he had so often been told of, and he
thought "Let's go and see what is up," for he was a
brave man and knew no fear, even in a pitch-dark
night. He was on the point of going after the
noise when he remembered the old saying: "Mind
your own business if you want to keep your nose
on your face," but he heard the sounds of Birlibi as
long as he stopped in the wood. And next night
and the following night it was just the same. But
he was unconcerned and said: "Let the old gentle-
man and his rabble carry on as they like. They
can't hurt him who has no intercourse with them!"
Would to God Hans had always stuck to that;
but alas on the fourth night the temptation over-
came him and he really fell into the snare. It
happened to be Walpurgis night, that is the night
of the first of May, and his wife begged him not to
go out into the forest this night, for it was supposed
to be an uncanny night in which all the witches
and sorcerers were abroad, and all the powers of
darkness let loose, and many a good Christian had
come to grief during Walpurgis night. Yet Hans
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laughed at his wife and spoke of womanish fear, and
went his way as usual into the forest after the
others had gone to bed. But this once King Birlibi
became too strong for him. At first everything was
as on the previous nights; there was noise and
shouting in the distance, and "Birlibi" rang out
clearly above the noise. Hans Burwitz did not.
mind the whizzing and whistling and rustling over-
head in the tree-tops, for he did not believe in
witchcraft, and said they were only night-elves of
which man was afraid because he did not know
them, and all sorts of delusions and phantasms of
the kingdom of darkness, which could not hurt him
who did not believe in them. But when midnight
came on and the clock had struck twelve, such a
“Birlibi” came out of the forest, that his hair stood
on end and he wanted to run away. But they
were too quick for him and soon he was in the
midst of the rush and could not get out any more.
When it struck midnight, the whole forest re-
sounded as with drums, trumpets and whistles, and
it was as light as if suddenly thousands of lamps
and candles had been lit. For this night was the
festival of the Rat-king, and all his subjects and
vassals were bidden to its celebration. All the
bushes seemed to whistle, and the rocks and stones
appeared to dance and jump, so that Hans became
downright frightened; but when he tried to run
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away, so many animals ran and barred the way,
that he could not get through and must needs stay
where he was. There came the foxes, martens and
pole-cats, the weasels, marmots and badgers, the rats
and mice in such numbers that it looked as if they
had been called together from all the world to this
festival. They ran and jumped and sprang and
danced like mad, moving on their hind-legs and
carrying green boughs in their fore-feet, and they
shouted, howled, screeched and whistled each to his
own tune. In short all the thieves of the night
were together, and created an awful noise between
them. In the air it was no better than on the
ground, for the owls and crows, bats and beetles, flew
about in crowds and proclaimed with shrill and
screeching voice, and buzzing, whirring wings the
delights of the great festival.
Now as Hans stood quite frightened in the midst
of this noisy crew, and knew not where to turn, he
perceived all at once a still brighter light and many
thousand voices sang:
Open your gates far and wide,
Come hither from every side;
Invited are you, big and small,
To see the king pass through his hall.
Behold in me the king of rats,
Come here to me, the lean and fat;
In gold and silver I do abound,
Bushels of money I offer all round.
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This was chanted in a solemn slow measure,
interrupted now and then by screeching voices
calling out, "Birlibi, Birlibi," and all the crowd
echoed, "Birlibi, Birlibi," and the very forest gave the
echo, "Birlibi." This was the Rat-king who came
driving along. He was as big as an ox and sat in a
golden chariot and had a golden crown on his head,
a golden sceptre in his hand; and by his side sat his
queen, who also wore a golden crown, and was so fat
that she shone like a mirror. And their long hair-
less tails were entwined, and they played with them,
for they felt very jolly. Their carriage was drawn by
six lean wolves who showed their teeth, and two big
tom-cats stood behind them as footmen, who carried
big torches and mewed terrifically. Yet the Rat-king
and his queen were not frightened of them, but seemed
to be rulers of them all. Twelve quick drummers
preceded the carriage and beat their drums, and
they were hares; they have to beat the drum to give
others courage, because they have none themselves.
Hans had been frightened enough before, but
when he thus saw the Rat-king, queen, wolves, cats,
and hares together, his skin began to creep all over,
and his otherwise bold heart failed within him, and
he said to himself: "Let whoever likes it remain
here where everything is against Nature! I have
often heard of, and read of, miracles, but they always
happened in a natural fashion. I can see that this
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is the evil one's game, and his hellish rabble. If I
were but out of it!"
And another attempt he made to force his way
through, but it was no good; the rabble rushed on
through the forest and carried him along, until they
came to the farthest end of the wood. There was an
open field in which stood many hundred waggon-loads
of bacon, meat, corn, and nuts, and other eatables.
Each waggon was driven by a peasant and his
horses, and the peasants carried the sacks of corn,
the bacon, the ham and sausages, and whatever else
they had on their carts down into the wood, and
when they saw Hans Burwitz stand there, they
called to him: "Come and help us carry!"
And Hans went and helped unloading and carry-
ing, but he was so confused he did not know what
he was doing. Only he fancied that he saw in the
twilight a few known faces among the peasants, the
bailiff from Krakevitz, and the smith from Casne-
vitz; but he pretended not to know them, and they
pretended not to know him either. But these were
the facts about them. They had yielded to tempta-
tion, and given themselves up to the Rat-king and
his rabble, and in the spring, in the Walpurgis
night, when he had his great feast, they had to
drive the booty and spoil to the forest, which the
Rat-king's subjects had plundered and stolen all over
the world. As soon as the sacks had been carried
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into the forest, the wild rabble fell to and grips,
graps, rips, raps, everybody helped himself and
dragged his share away, so that they grew fewer
and fewer. But the king stopped there in his
gorgeous chariot, and a few rats still danced and
jumped about him. But when all the waggons
were empty, a hundred big rats came along and
poured bushels full of gold into the field and on the
road, and called out:
Hands open, caps held out!
Who wants more, look about.
Hurrah, hurrah, gold untold!
Take what hands and caps will hold!
And then the peasants pounced upon the gold like
hungry wolves, and grasped and snatched and pushed
and crushed one another; and every one took as
much as he could get of the red gold, and Hans
was not idle, but helped himself like the rest. But
when they were in full work, like pigeons among
the peas, behold! the cock crowed. The morning
had come, when the heathenish and hellish king-
dom has no more power on earth, and in a wink
all had disappeared as if it had been a dream, and
Hans stood there all alone in the wood. Day
dawned in the east, and he went home with a
heavy heart, but also with heavy pockets, for they
were full of beautiful red gold coins.
His wife was
already awake and alarmed, and when she saw him
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so pale and troubled she was frightened, and began
to question him. But he put her off with a joke as
was his wont, and did not tell her a mortal word of
what he had seen and heard.
When he was alone, Hans counted his money,
and a jolly heap of ducats it was that he emptied
out of his pockets and put away in a box. For a
few months he did not go into the wood, for he
shuddered at the recollection. But by degrees, such
is the way of men, he forgot Walpurgis night and
its horrible noise and tumult, and went as before in
moonshine and starlight to catch foxes and martens.
He saw and heard no more of the Rat-king, and
thought less and less about him. But when spring
came round all was changed; he would sometimes
at midnight hear the "Birlibi, Birlibi" in the dis-
tance, and his hair would stand on end. Then he
would rush home from the wood, but nevertheless
he kept thinking of Walpurgis night; and what
people think secretly in the day, will be reflected in
their dreanis at night, so Hans dreamt often that he
heard a knock at the door, and when he opened it
there was the Rat-king in person, just as he had seen
him that once in his chariot. But he was no longer
ugly as then, but of pure gold, and he would sing to
him in a most seductive voice, so that one would
not fancy it to issue from a rat-throat:
Behold in me the king of rats, &c.
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Or another time he would come close to Hans'
ears and whisper: "I say, Hans Burwitz, you will
come again on Walpurgis night and help to carry
sacks, and in return fill your pockets with ducats.'
""
It must be acknowledged that when Hans awoke
from such a dream, he shuddered, and would say:
“Not if I know it, King Birlibi, will I come to your
feast! ! "
But what has happened to many others also
happened to him, and the proverb became true in
his case, that if you give the Evil One one finger, he
soon holds you by both hands.
The nearer Walpurgis night came, the greater
grew the desire in Hans to be present. Yet he
firmly resolved to resist the tempter, and went
quietly to bed with his wife on Walpurgis night.
Still he could not go to sleep; he must needs think
of the waggons loaded with sacks, and the peasants,
and the big rats, who poured gold out of bushel
measures, so that at the last he could not remain in
bed, but must get up and sneak away from his wife
and run into the dark forest. And there everything
happened as last year, only that he had brought a
bag with him, and gathered still more gold than last
time.
Now he thought he had enough money, and he
swore a deep oath that he would no more yield to
temptation, and would never again go into the forest.
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And he kept his oath, however much he dreamt of
the golden Rat-king. With earnest prayer he over-
came himself and resisted the tempter. Thus many
years passed by. Hans was called a very rich man ;
he had bought a large estate with his golden ducats,
and lived like a lord. It is true, that among the
country folk there were rumours about his riches
having been earned by witchcraft, but nobody could
bring a proof against him. Yet the proof came in
the end.
The Rat-king lay in wait for Hans, over whom he
had at first gained some power; he was enraged at
having lost this power because Hans no more came
to his feast on Walpurgis night. And when Hans
one day chanced to think of it, and did not drive
the thought away, but indulged in it so greedily
that he forgot to say his evening prayer, the Rat-
king was allowed to revenge himself, and Hans
learned what was the real meaning of the golden
bait. For from this day he had no more luck in his
farming. However much he worked and laboured,
everything went backwards. And yet there was
neither drought nor failure of crops, nor disease
among the cattle, but the mice devoured his corn in
field and barn, the weasels, rats and martens killed
his fowls, ducks, and pigeons; the foxes and wolves
carried off his lambs and sheep, his calves and colts.
In short the vermin attacked him on every side, and
:
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in a few years ate him out of house and home,
horses and cows, sheep and calves, and at last he
had not a chicken left to call his own.
And as a
poor man he had with wife and children to leave
his house and home, to earn his living in his old age
as a farm-labourer.
But in his trouble and poverty he remained strong
and firm and resisted all temptation; yea, he thanked
God for having allowed the rats and mice to deliver
him from the evil gold, so that he need not in the
next life dance to the Rat-king's whistle, but might
gain everlasting peace. And he would often say,
that the gold by which he came in such a strange
manner, carried no happiness with it, for among all
his riches he had never felt so happy and easy at
heart as later on when he lived in poverty with a
penitent and god-fearing heart, and had often to be
thankful when he had only potatoes with salt for his
supper.
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PRINCESS SVANVITHA
I SUPPOSE you have heard the legend that here in
Gartz, where the rampart still is standing by the
lake, there was many thousand years ago a large and
splendid heathen palace, surrounded by fine houses
and temples, in which they kept and worshipped
their gods. Long, long ago, the Christians have
taken the castle, killed the heathens, overturned
their temples, and burnt the idols in them, and now
nothing is left of the old splendour but the old
rampart, and a few stories, which are told among
the people, especially of the rider in helmet and
armour who rides on a white horse over the town
and the lake. Some, who have seen him of a night,
relate that he is the old king of the castle and wears
a golden crown, but that is not certain; whilst it is
a certainty that at Christmas and midsummer-time
there is a sounding in the lake, as if bells were
rung in church, and many people have heard it, my
father among them. It comes from a, church that
is buried in the lake; some people say it is the old
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Pagan temple, but that I cannot believe, for why
should the heathens ring bells on Christian festivals?
But the sounding and ringing in the lake is as
nothing, compared to what happens inside the ram-
part, and thereof I will tell you a tale. Inside
there sits a beautiful princess with streaming hair
and weeping eyes and waits for him who is to
deliver her, and this is a very sad case. In the
ancient time, when the heathen castle of Gartz was
besieged by the Christians and those inside were
much troubled and pressed, when many of their
towers had been pulled down and they had not much
food left, so that lots of the poor in the town died
of hunger, there was inside a very old man, the
father of the king who ruled over the isle of Rügen.
This old man was so old, that he could hardly hear
or see, but it was his delight to potter about the
gold and precious stones which he and his ancestors
on the throne had collected, and which were kept
deep underground in a roomy vault, built of marble
and rock crystal. There were big heaps piled up of
them, bigger than the rye and barley heaps piled up
in your father's granary. Now when the castle of
Gartz was severely pressed during the siege, and
many of the bravest men-the king, the old man's
son, among them—had been slain on the rampart
and before the gates, the old man would no more
budge from this marble vault, but stayed there day
t
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and night, and had all the stairs and doors that led
to it walled up; but he had still a tiny secret pas-
sage underground, many hundred feet lower than
the basement of the castle, which had an exit on
the other side of the lake, of which no living man
knew anything, and through which he could slip out
and buy food and drink outside among men. When
finally the castle was taken and destroyed by the
Christians, and the men and women were slain, and
the houses and temples burnt, so that not a stone
remained standing on another, the tower and walls
fell helter-skelter and hid the door which led to the
treasure-chamber, and not a man was left alive who
knew where the dead king had hidden his treasure.
But the old king sat below by his heaps of gold, and
had his secret passage open and lived still many
centuries after the castle was destroyed; for it is
said, that men who set their heart upon gold and
silver, cannot be delivered from life and do not die,
however much they pray God to let them die. So
the poor old man lived there many a year, watching
his gold, until he was as dry and bony as a skeleton.
Then at last he died, and was transformed, and now
he must lie as a lean black dog among the gold
heaps and guard them, lest any one come to lift the
treasure. But between midnight and one o'clock, in
the spirits' hour, he has to walk about like an old
grey man, with a black fur cap on his head and a
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white stick in his hand. Thus many people have
met him near the wood on the road to Poseritz; he
even walks sometimes round the churchyard, for in
ancient times there were heathen tombs in the
place, and the heathens would always bury gold
and silver with their dead. That is what he is
after and why he sneaks about there, but he cannot
get it, as he dare not touch consecrated ground. It
is as a punishment for his avarice that he has to run
about when other folk sleep in their beds or in their
graves.
Now long after this, it happened that there lived
at Bergen a king of Rügen, who had a most beauti-
ful daughter, called Svanvitha; and she was the
loveliest princess far and wide, so that kings and
dukes and princes came from everywhere to woo
her. And the king, her father, did not know what
to do with all the suitors, and had at last not enough
house-room to put them up, nor enough stables for
their grooms and horses, and the country even ran
short of oats for their horses and space for all the
coachmen and servants they brought with them, so
that the isle of Rügen was full of people as it has
never been since.
The king would have been glad if the princess
had taken a husband, and the other suitors could
have departed. But this is not as easy for royal
people as for common folk, and everything must be
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done with great etiquette and nicety. The princess,
after having remained almost six months alone in
her apartments without seeing any man or saying a
word, found at last a prince whom she liked and
whom she preferred for a husband. The king liked
him also and desired him for a son-in-law. They
exchanged rings, and there was great joy in the land
at the news, that the beautiful Svanvitha was going
to be married, and all the tailors and shoemakers
had plenty of work to make the fine clothes and
shoes to be worn at the wedding. The bridegroom-
elect was Prince Peter of Denmark, and he was an
exceedingly handsome and nice gentleman and had
few equals.
Then, as everything grew and flowered in hope
and love, and the whole island was replete with joy,
and only a few days were wanting before the wedding
feast, the devil came and sowed his ill weeds, and all
the joy was turned to sorrow. For I must tell you
there was at court a prince from Poland, a deceitful,
wicked man, although good looking and of knightly
bearing. He had wooed the princess many a year,
and tormented her with his suit; but she always
declined him, as she did not like him. When this
Polish prince saw that there really would be a wed-
ding, and that Prince Peter of Denmark had been
chosen bridegroom for the beautiful Svanvitha, his
evil heart conceived a wicked plan, and by his arts
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he managed to make the king and everybody else
believe that Svanvitha was not a modest lady at
all and had flirted outrageously with him before
her engagement. Prince Peter of Denmark was
silly enough to believe it, and left in a hurry, the
Polish prince having left before, and all the kings
and princes departed, and the palace in Bergen was
empty and deserted and all the joy had departed
with the guests, and the fiddlers and bagpipers and
harpists, who had been preparing for tournaments
and festivals. And the disgrace of the poor princess
was bruited about everywhere, and even told in
Sweden and Denmark and Poland. And yet she
was as innocent and pure-minded as a new-born
babe; and it was all owing to the wickedness of the
infamous Polish prince, whose suit she had scorned.
Thus fared poor Svanvitha, and the king her
father was for some days beside himself and quite
out of his mind, and he wanted to kill himself
on account of his daughter and the disgrace she had
brought over the royal house. And when he was
again in his right mind, he became furious, and sent
for Svanvitha, and struck her and tore her hair and
drove her forth from his presence, and commanded
his servants to take her to a secret chamber, that
he might never again set eyes upon her. And in a
high-walled, thickly-wooded enclosure he had a
strong, dark tower built, into which neither sun nor
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moon could shine; there he had the princess locked
up. The tower had but one tiny weeny hole in the
door, into which a ray of light fell, and through which
they handed her food to her. There was neither bed,
nor table, nor seat in this sad prison, and she, who
used to sleep on velvet and silk, had to lie on the
hard floor, and had to walk barefooted, after having
been used to the daintiest shoes.
Poor Svanvitha would have died of her misery if
the consciousness of her innocence had not kept her
up, and if she had not been able to pray.
She was
a very young girl when she was locked up-only
sixteen--beautiful as a rose, and slender and white
as a lily; and those who loved her, called her the
King's Lily. This sweet lily, then, was doomed
miserably to fade in dark and dreary solitude.
Thus passed three years. The old king also had
known no joy since the day when the Polish prince
brought such a disgrace over his daughter; his hair
had turned snow-white with sorrow; but before
other people he carried himself upright and proudly,
and pretended that his daughter had long been
dead and buried. Yet she sat unknown to the
world in her misery, and her only consolation was
that God would some day prove her innocence. As
she had plenty of time for reflection, she remembered
the legend about the rampart in Gartz, which she
had been told in her childhood, and she thought
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this might be the means of proving her innocence
and the infamous lie of the Polish prince. And
when her keeper came to hand her food through the
little hole, she said to him, "Dear keeper, go to the
king, my lord and yours, and tell him that his poor
only daughter wants to see him and speak to him once
again, and pray him not to deny her this last favour.”
And the keeper said "Yes," and ran, and thought
to himself, "If the old king would but listen to her
prayer!" For he was exceedingly sorry for the poor
princess, and so was everybody, for she had always
been kind to all the people, and most of them
suspected that she was wrongly accused by the lying
Polish prince, for she had ever lived in modesty
among them.
And as the keeper came to the king with the
request of the princess, the old gentleman got very
wrathful, and scolded, and threatened to cast him
also into prison if ever he dared take the name of
the princess again in his mouth, and the frightened
keeper went out. But the king laid himself down
to sleep, and had a marvellous dream which nobody
could interpret; and he woke early and was very
restless, and kept thinking of his daughter, and at
last he gave orders to have her taken from the
tower and brought to his presence.
As Svanvitha stepped before the king she looked
pale and haggard; her clothes and shoes were in
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rags, and she stood almost naked before him, more
like a beggar child than a king's daughter. At the
sight of her the old king grew pale as the whitewash
on the wall, but otherwise he showed no sign of
emotion. And Svanvitha bowed low before him
and spoke thus:
(C
But I affirm before God
My king and master, I appear before you as a
poor sinner, who is said to have no claim to divine
grace and heavenly light.
and yourself, that I am suffering innocently and
that the Polish prince, out of sheer wickedness and
malice, has accused me wrongly. And now God,
who will have pity on me, has inspired me with a
plan, by which I can prove my unstained virtue
and bring riches and honour to your majesty, to
myself, and the entire realm. You know there is a
tradition of a large treasure being buried under the
old castle-rampart at Gartz, where our ancestors
once resided. This tradition, which was often
told me in my childhood, goes on to say that the
treasure can only be lifted by a princess that has
descended from those old kings, and who is a pure
and chaste virgin; that is, if she has the courage to
ascend the rampart naked and solitary in mid-
summer-night between twelve and one. There she
must walk along backwards until she hits on the
spot where the gates and stairs that lead to the
treasure-chamber are filled up with earth. As soon
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as she touches those with her feet, they will open
beneath her, and she will gently sink down into the
midst of the treasure, and may pick out as much as
she likes and return thence at sunrise. And what
she cannot carry, the old ghost who guards the
treasure, and his servants, will carry after her.
Upon this I have set my hope of new happiness, if
such is destined to me; therefore allow me, my lord
king, to make the attempt with the help of God. I
am, as it is, like to a dead person, and it must be
the same to you whether I am buried here or there."
She looked as if she meant to say more, but the
words stuck in her throat, and she sobbed and cried
bitterly. The king gently beckoned to her keeper,
and soon there came ladies and maidservants and
carried her out into an adjoining room. And by the
king's order the keeper brought her food and drink
to strengthen her, and the message that his majesty
would grant permission for her midnight expedition.
Then the servants took a bath in to her, and fine
clothes to cover her. And she lived again in
comfort, although she sat quite alone and opened
her mouth to nobody. Also the men and maid-
servants were forbidden to talk to her, nor did they
know who she was, and how she came to the castle.
For nobody that knew her was admitted to her
presence, except the old keeper that used to bring
her food to the tower. And her beauty came back,
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however pale and haggard she looked when she left
the prison; and all who saw her were startled at
her grace and loveliness, and she seemed to them
like an angel come from heaven to the palace.
When forty days had passed by, and it was mid-
summer-day, she went into the chamber of her
father, the king, and bade him farewell. And the old
king bent his white head over hers and wept bitterly,
and she knelt down and embraced his knees and
wept even more. Thereupon she went out and
disguised herself, so that nobody would have taken
her for a princess, and went on her journey. It is
only a few miles from Bergen to Gartz, and she
walked in the attire of a knight's groom. As it
struck midnight from the church tower in Gartz she
stepped alone on the rampart, took her clothes off,
so that she stood there as God had created her, and
took a St. John's wand in her hand, with which
she beat on the ground behind her. Then she
walked silently backward, as it was prescribed. She
had not gone far, when the earth opened underneath
her, and she dropped gently down as if a dream
were rocking her, and she fell into a large and
beautiful hall, lit up by thousands of wax-lights and
lamps, the walls of which were of marble and
glistening diamond mirrors, and the floor covered
with gold and silver and precious stones, so that
there was not room to walk past. But she dropped
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so gently down on the gold that it did not hurt her.
And she looked at all the sparkling splendour in the
hall where the treasures and valuables of her
ancestors of many centuries were gathered; then she
saw in the farthest corner, in a golden armchair, the
little grey man, who gave her a friendly nod, as if
he would like to talk to his latest descendant. But
she said not a word to him, but only gently beckoned
to him with a motion of her hand. Upon this
beckoning the ghost vanished, and there came in his
stead a long row of elegantly dressed servants, who
stood in dumb respectfulness behind her as if
awaiting the orders of their mistress. Svanvitha
did not tarry long, but reflecting how short the
midsummer-night is, she picked up diamonds and
other precious stones and beckoned to the servants
to do the same; and they also filled their hands and
pockets and the gussets of their dresses with gold
and stones and precious vessels. And she beckoned
again, and the whole number followed the princess
up the stairs to go out. And they were almost at
the top, and she saw the dawning daylight and
heard the lark sing and the cock crowing to announce
the break of day, when she felt anxious, whether the
servants were following her with the treasure. She
looked round, and what did she see? She saw the
little grey man suddenly transform himself into a big
black dog, who jumped up at her with glistening
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eyes and fiery jaw. And she got so frightened that
she cried, "O dear!" Hardly had she uttered a
sound, when the door in front of her closed with a
loud bang, the stairs sank down, the servants
vanished, the lights in the hall were extinguished,
and she was below on the floor and could not
get out.
But this misfortune happened to her on account
of her having looked round and spoken. For you
have no power over the spirits, if you turn round or
speak; your enterprise must needs fail then, of which
I could quote many stories and examples.
As she did not return, the poor king was sorely
grieved; for he thought that she had either perished
in her descent to the treasure through the malice
of evil spirits, who have power under the earth, or
that she had not ventured down at all and was now
walking through the world as a poor forsaken adven-
turess. He lived but a few weeks after her dis-
appearance, then he died and was buried. And
many years passed by, a century or more, and all
the people who had lived at the time of the old king
and the beautiful Svanvitha died; and here and there
people would still talk of them as of an old fairy-
tale, when suddenly it was rumoured that the
princess was still living and sitting underneath the
rampart at Gartz in the treasure vault, where she
had to assist her old grey ancestor in guarding the
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treasures.
And nobody can say where this report
had its origin. Perhaps the little grey man, who
walks round at times, has betrayed it to somebody,
or she may have been seen by one of those clair-
voyant people who have been born on great holidays
at particular hours, who can hear the grass and the
gold grow inside the earth and whose eyes can see
through the thickest walls and ramparts.
And there was much noise about this story and
the miraculous sinking down of the princess, and that
she was still sitting in the dark chamber, and living
and waiting to be delivered. And they say she can
be delivered if a person will venture, in the same
way as she did, to descend into the forbidden cham-
ber. This person will have to bow thrice before
her, kiss her, take her hand and lead her out without
saying a word. He who succeeds in bringing her
out, will live in joy and splendour with her and will
have enough treasure to buy a kingdom. Therein
he will sit on the throne as king for fifty years, and
Svanvitha as his queen by his side, and they will have
many beautiful children; but the little grey spook
will disappear for ever when they have ridded him
of his treasure.
Now there have been many bold and daring
princes and handsome youths who by means of a
St. John's wand have descended to her; but they
always blundered in some way, and the princess is
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not yet delivered. Of course, if it were so easy, a
good many would like to marry such a beautiful
princess and become king! People say that the
horrid black dog is at the bottom of each failure;
nobody has been able to stand the sight of him, and
on seeing him, every one has cried out, then the
door has closed, the staircase has sunk down, and all
chance of delivery has been over.
Thus poor Svanvitha sits there in all her innocence
and must shiver and mind the cold gold, and nobody
but God knows when she will be delivered. There
she is sitting, bent over heaps of gold, her long hair
hanging down her back and weeping incessantly.
Already there are six young fellows sitting around
her, who have to assist her in minding the gold.
They are those who have not succeeded in delivering
her. But he who succeeds will marry the princess,
get all the treasure and release at the same time the
other poor prisoners. They say the last one only
disappeared twenty years ago, a shoemaker whose
name was Joachim Fritz. He was a handsome
young fellow and always fond of walking on the
rampart. All of a sudden he had disappeared and
nobody knew whither he had drifted or flown, and
his parents and friends inquired after him all the
world over, but they found him not.
Most pro-
bably he is now sitting there below among the
others.
147
THE SERPENT-KING
SERPENT-KING lived on a distant island in the Baltic,
which lies near Denmark, and had his castle there.
The castle lay again on a smaller isle which was
contained in the big island, something like a set of
small boxes which a pedlar puts into a big one.
This islet lay in a big lake. There Serpent-king
had constructed his castle in the ground under-
neath a big hill, and it was beautiful in there and
everything shone and sparkled with silver and gold
and precious stones, and there were splendid apart-
ments. In these sat Serpent-king, a poor, enchanted
prince, and waited for his deliverance.
Now he had been enchanted on account of his
vanity, for he had been a most handsome prince
who had attracted many charming princesses and
queens and empresses with his beauty, but he had
not loved any of them, and forsaken one after the
other with his fickle heart.
As a punishment he had been transformed, so that
he should himself taste how it felt to live without
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love, and it is very likely that he will have to creep
about as Serpent-king till doomsday. For because
he has jilted and betrayed so many poor princesses,
the word went out to him : "Be thou the Serpent-
king and remain as such and eat the earth and suck
poison from roots and herbs; be an object of horror
to men and beasts until an innocent young girl will
have pity on thee and marry thee and kiss thee
without shuddering. But mind, if thou become
unfaithful to her, thou wilt be lost for all eternity."
In his transformation Serpent-king had kept the
colour of the dress he wore as prince, that is, he wore
a green and yellow striped satin coat, and thus he
crawls about as a handsome green and yellow striped
serpent, with a golden crown on his head, and
whistles and hisses like a serpent, but cannot speak.
There are only a few days in the year when he may
sing, and then he sings with such a sweetly enticing
voice that many a poor girl has been tempted to go
with him to his castle, yet he has not found one
among them who would kiss him. However, those
that have gone with him to his castle must remain
there until he finds one who will have the heart to
love and kiss him. She who does that will become
his queen, and all the other girls become her hand-
maidens. And this is the only way in which they
can be released.
Not far from the lake in which lay the islet with
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The
his castle, was a village called Thorstorp.
meadows and common pastures of this village ran
down to the lake, and the children would drive their
cows thither and tend them there. Among these
little shepherds there were two who were very fond
of each other, and would always drive their herds
together. One was a little girl called Margaret and
the other a boy, Jacob. Margaret was fourteen
and Jacob sixteen. They were almost grown up,
but as innocent as little children and did not know
why they were so fond of each other; but it is a
fact that they loved each other above anything.
The
They, as well as the other boys and girls, had often
seen the Serpent-king about, and liked him for his
beautiful colouring and his sparkling crown.
rogue came often swimming over the lake and curled
about the grass, and wreathed his lithe, handsome
body round the trees and bushes, when the children
looked on and enjoyed his play. But they never
ventured quite near to him, for they had an uncanny
feeling about him, because he was in serpent shape,
although they knew that he would never bite nor
hurt any one. Nor had they ever heard his singing,
although the tale went that he could sing, and had
enticed many a pretty maiden who now sat weep-
ing in his castle. In their hearing he had only
hissed like other serpents. He was of course not
allowed to sing every day, and was, moreover, much
+
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too cunning to sing before company where it would
not have availed him anything, but rather, when his
singing-days came round, he would try to surprise a
pretty girl by herself, and generally succeeded in
luring her away.
One day it happened that as Margaret and Jacob
sat under a bush telling each other fairy tales, whilst
their cows grazed in front of them, and the other
shepherds had driven further inland, there came a
message to call Jacob home. He kissed his little
Margaret and said: "Please, take heed of my cows
until I return, and should the Serpent-king come,
don't remain by yourself, but drive your herd towards
the others; else he might get you away with his
singing, for the rogue is said to have a bewitching
voice." She promised readily and laughingly called
after the boy:
Oh, that is only a fable; the Serpent-king can't
talk. You may be sure he won't be able to sing
me away."
Jacob had hardly gone out of sight, when the
Serpent-king came swimming over the lake and
curled about the meadow in the merriest circles, and
made such pretty figures all the while, raising his
head with its golden crown with a bright smile to-
wards Margaret, so that she enjoyed it immensely
and quite forgot her promise to Jacob. Serpent-
king came nearer and nearer, and crept on to a
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green tree in front of Margaret to swing for a few
minutes in its boughs. And then he sang with, oh!
such a sweet and flexible voice, as if a hundred
nightingales were fluting together, and Margaret
could not move from the spot, but needs must listen
to him as if she were enchanted, although she
thought of Jacob's warning. He sang her a song
called the Serpent-king's bridal hymn, with which
he had already wooed and enchanted many a
maiden. His song finished, he smiled at the girl,
came down from his tree and curled about her in
the grass, singing softly with an insinuating tone:
"Come with me! go with me!" And Margaret
went with him. She had hardly gone ten paces
with him, when she recollected herself and wanted
to return, but it was too late! She was now in the
Serpent-king's power: he encircled her and carried
her across the meadow. In vain did she cry:
،،
Jacob, Jacob, help me, save me!" and called to
the other shepherds. None heard her, and Serpent-
king did not mind it, and rolled away with her
quicker than lightning, and swam across the lake.
When he landed her on the islet he disappeared,
but Margaret had fainted in her fright and knew
not how she got across the lake, for there was not
a drop of water on her clothes and in her curly
hair. When she came to she found herself in a
beautiful garden, full of splendid trees and gay
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flowers; everything was as Serpent-king's song had
described it; sweets and comfits and rosy apples
hung on the branches, a river of milk flowed through
the garden, springs and fountains with wine bubbled
and flowed from the hill. But the castle was much
finer than the bridal hymn had described it, and, in
fact, quite beyond a man's power of description,
however much time he might have to think of words
to describe and paint it in.
As Margaret came to the castle there were about
a hundred maids carrying candles and lamps, wait-
ing for her. They led her into a lofty marble hall
which was decorated with silver and gold and
precious stones, and they attired her in gold-em-
broidered garments and put a golden crown on her
head, and called her queen and mistress, waited on
her and brought her everything she desired. These
maids were all young girls in snow-white garments
and green wreaths in their hair, but most of them
looked sad and sorrowful. And when night came,
other maids appeared and led Margaret to a chamber
made of pure gold. In it stood a golden bedstead,
on which lay blue and pink silk cushions and
coverings. And with great show of respect they
took her dresses and shoes off, and lifted her gently
into the bed. Then they put out all the lights but
one, curtseyed in silence and left her.
And after a little while there was a whispering
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and soft talking at the door, the door opened and
the Serpent-king came in and crept to Margaret's
bed, and whispered in soft accents: "Be welcome,
my queen-elect! be welcome, my sweet bride! Now
I come to thee as bridegroom, sweet Margaret;
what I have sung to thee under the green tree,
will all come true now. Kiss me and love me!
Then I shall be delivered, and thou wilt be a
rich and great queen. For alas! it is my sad fate
to creep on the ground as Serpent-king, until an
innocent child embraces me with affection and
changes me back into the prince I have been."
And he hissed gently, and looking at her with
sparkling eyes he raised his head.
But Margaret screamed out loud: "Away, thou
coloured monster! No, no, never-never will I
be thy queen, even if thou wert as handsome as
thou now art horrid. I will never have another
lover than my dear Jacob." And Serpent-king had
to bend down and sneak away.
And when daylight came, the same white maidens
who had undressed Margaret entered and dressed
her again in the regal robes, with the crown on her
head, and all the other maids in the hall and in
front of the castle bowed before her and waited on
her. And she walked about the castle and the
garden to look at all the splendour. But she could
not walk beyond the garden, for a high crystal wall
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surrounded it, and the gates were locked. All day
long she saw nothing of the Serpent-king, of which
she was glad. But she often thought of her Jacob,
and bitterly weeping in the midst of all the grandeur
and splendour she would cry out: "O my dear
Jacob, if I could only sit in my poor old dress
with thee under a green tree, how much happier
I should be! Shame on the horrid Serpent-
king, how he has tempted and betrayed me by
his singing!"
At night-time she was again taken to the gold
chamber and put to bed as yesterday. And the
Serpent-king came in the same way and crept to her
bed and implored her to love him and be his queen.
But she was even angrier than yesterday, and drove
him away with sharp words. And he had sadly
to creep away and sleep again on the cold damp
earth. Thus it went on three days longer, and
thrice again the Serpent-king tried if the child
would love him and marry him. But she kept
on calling: "Away, away with thee, hypocritical
deceiver. I will never wed any one but Jacob in
all eternity."
With the fifth day the trials Margaret had to
endure were over, and the sad Serpent-king called
the maidens to disrobe her and lead her from the
golden chamber, and turning to Margaret he said:
"Now thou art no longer the bride-elect of a king,
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Fairy Tales
and canst never become one, even shouldst thou
desire it. Such is the order of Fate here, hence-
forth thou art a poor serving-maid. Therefore, go
to the other maids and wait for the high lady who
will come to deliver me." He meant of course the
maiden who would have pity on him, and kiss him
and love him and become queen and mistress of all
the others that had scorned his wooing.
So now Margaret wore a white dress and a green
wreath and had to stand with the others at the door
and in the big hall and wait. They were all young
children, the waitresses and the chambermaids,
between fourteen and seventeen years of age, more
than one-hundred-and-fifty in number and all pretty
and gentle. Every one of them the Serpent-king
had tempted the same as Margaret, but not one
had loved him and listened to his entreaties. Of
course these pretty children were nicely dressed,
had food and drink and all necessaries in plenty,
had no trouble or work, could sing and dance all
day long if they liked, or run about in the beautiful
garden to pick flowers, or listen to the merry birds
singing in the trees, but in all this ease and
splendour they found time hang heavy on their
hands and most of them were full of sadness and
longing. Some longed for father and mother, others
for brother or sister, others for their sweethearts.
Margaret longed for nobody but her dear Jacob,
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from Rügen
from whom she had allowed herself to be enticed
away.
Jacob had returned soon after Margaret had been
kidnapped by the Serpent-king; he looked for her in
the wood and on the pastures among the other
shepherds. He found her nowhere and the shepherds
surmised that she had been caught by the Serpent-
king. Also a man, who was ploughing by the lake,
said he had heard some plaintive sounds in the
distance, and they might have proceeded from the
kidnapped Margaret. Little Jacob was deeply
grieved, and every day, aye every hour, he thought
of Margaret and looked across to the islet near
which no man would venture; for the legend said,
"that he who ventured without a safe pledge into
the domain of the Serpent-king was doomed to
sudden death.” So Jacob looked across sadly and
longingly and would sigh: "O Margaret, why did
you not stop your ears when the lying, hypocritical
knave sang?" And sometimes he would call out:
Keep firm, Margaret! Do not become queen,
Margaret." This was surely not necessary, for
Margaret was true as gold. But his greatest trial
was when he saw the Serpent-king in his striped
coat glide about the meadows and could not punish
him.
Thus Jacob had spent two years in grief and
sorrow, when an old shepherd gave him some
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counsel how one could get the mastery over en-
chanted princes and princesses and even of witches
and sorcerers, let them be ever so bad and wicked.
Jacob went at once into the wood and cut a big
thorny stick from a buckthorn, which is also called
crossthorn, and on this stick he carved a cross.
Next time when the Serpent-king was gliding and
meandering over the meadow, Jacob took courage
and rushed at him so that he wondered what the
peasant-boy wanted, for he was rather used to the
people running away from him instead of rushing at
him. And he thought by himself, "I will soon.
drive this clodhopper off and make his hair stand
on end." With that he raised himself up and
darted sparks from his fiery eyes, hissed his tongue
out and his crown got red with anger, whilst he
rounded his back as if he would jump at Jacob.
But Jacob met him boldly and said: "Come along,
thou wicked king! Come along! I am not afraid of
thee, I will teach thee manners. And as the
monster jumped at him, he just touched him with
his stick, when, oh wonder! Serpent-king curled
and wound round the thorn as a tendril will curl
round a staff. Jacob was delighted and called out
joyfully, “Hold tight, my prince, I will try a trick.”
So he took the stick and swung it thrice round
about his head, so that it whizzed through the air,
and Serpent-king clung tight, as if he had grown
""
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from Rügen
:
Next
fast to it. "The stick is taut and the shepherd is a
clever fellow," said Jacob and asked: "Serpent-king
wilt thou give back my little Margaret? If so, I
will let thee loose at once and thou mayst go where
thou listest?" Serpent-king shook his head. Jacob
went on "Then fare thee well for to-day, my prince!
Thou mayst shiver here through the night and
reflect till to-morrow." So he took the stick and
thrust it into the ground, with Serpent-king sus-
pended round it, which looked very funny.
morning Jacob returned to the charge: "Serpent-
king, wilt thou give me back my little Margaret?"
Serpent-king shook his head more determined than
yesterday. So Jacob grew wrathful and went to cut
a strong hazel-switch, saying, "I must inquire what
thy smart coat will say to the joke; perhaps that
will yield a better answer." With that Jacob gave
him a good thrashing so that he wriggled like a worm
and hissed his tongue out; but he did not nod his
head so as to say, "I will give Margaret up.
When Jacob thought that he had beaten him
enough for that once, he went off, saying, "Enough
for to-day; reflect till to-morrow." The third day
Jacob returned and said, "Serpent-king, yesterday
and the day before I asked thee, wilt thou return
my Margaret? To-day you will not come off so
cheaply; to-day the question is, wilt thou give up
my Margaret and all the poor maidens that are
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confined in thy castle and garden?" Serpent-king
shook his head twice. Then Jacob took his hazel-
switch and gave him an unmerciful thrashing, so
that he felt almost sorry for him, yet Serpent-king
would not nod his head to acquiesce. Thereupon
Jacob: "This is the last time that I will have
patience. Thou mayst rot on the thorn if thou
wilt not give in, for unless I release thee, thou canst
not come off. So for the last time I say: consider
it till to-morrow."
When Jacob returned on the fourth day, he
asked: "Serpent-king, wilt thou give free my
Margaret and the other maidens, so that they may
go away unhampered from thy domain, and wilt
thou let them take away as much as they can carry
in their hands?
""
By this time Serpent-king had been conquered,
for it had been freezing in the night and he was
faint with hunger and thirst; besides he saw that
Jacob brought a fresh stick in his hand, twice as
thick as the first; so that he did not run the risk
but nodded his head thrice for "Yes." Then Jacob
said,
"Swear to me by thy salvation and by the
hope thou hast of being one day delivered out of
this ugly striped skin." And Serpent-king nodded
thrice his acquiescence.
After this Jacob took his knife and cut the cross.
smoothly off the thorn stick, round which Serpent-
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from Rügen
king was suspended, and directly he had done so, the
Serpent-king was gliding off the stick and curling
about on the grass as if to stretch his frozen
and bruised body and make it supple. Then he
crept to Jacob's feet, raised himself up and bent
down again, just as a clever and docile horse first
raises and then lowers himself that his rider
may mount.
knew that neither bridge nor boat went to the islet;
he crossed himself, repeated a prayer, and saying:
"In the name of God!" he got on his strangely
coloured steed. In a wink Serpent-king had whisked
him off over the meadow and across the lake.
There he jumped at the iron gates, which none but
he could open and they unlocked themselves and
both went in. Jacob found his Margaret; and who
could describe their delight? But the joy became
universal in the castle and garden, and rung and
sounded to heaven from every voice, when Jacob
proclaimed that all the imprisoned maidens were
to be free and to go out with himself and Margaret
from their captivity. And he told the pretty girls to
make haste and pack up what each of them wanted
to carry away, for in two hours they were to leave
the isle. So they ran hither and thither and were
very busy; but Serpent-king was sad and looked on
with tears in his eyes. When Jacob saw him so
mournful, he was sorry for his fate, that he should
Jacob understood the hint, for he
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Fairy Tales
-
have to creep about in a serpent's coat for the sake
of his former guilt and sin, until an innocent young
girl would have pity on him and love him. So he
consoled him, saying: "Do not be sorry, Serpent-
king, that these are leaving thee to go home, for
not one of them can deliver thee now. And what
matters it to thee, that they clear thy castle out?
Thou hast still enough and to spare of treasure and
splendour. I pity thee and will give thee good
advice; do not despise it. Drop thy proud and
defiant ways and do not be so cunning. For with
thy cunning and stratagems thou wilt not gain any-
thing, as thou must have seen thyself ere this; and
although thou art named Serpent-king, I am sure
thou hast not been transformed to be a master but
to be a servant, to serve in penitence for thy sins,
so that thou mayest obtain mercy from the Lord of
Kings. Thy wearing of the serpent's coat means
that thou shalt be humble and obedient and then
thou mayst find love and deliverance. But a proud
and cunning heart without humility can have no
love in it, and how canst thou imagine that an
innocent young heart shall embrace the Serpent-
king if it does not perceive love and piety in him?
Thus Jacob talked quite touchingly to the Serpent-
king, and when Margaret and the maidens were
ready he called to him to open the gates. Serpent-
king knocked with his head against the iron gate
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from Rügen
and it opened and they all went out together.
When they came to the lake, there was neither
bridge nor boat, and Jacob said: "Make haste, Ser-
pent-king, and get the bridge ready!
""
Serpent-king could not help himself, he must try
another stratagem, so he stretched a fine shiny cob-
web like an arch from one bank to the other, and
said smilingly, "I can't help you. This is the only
bridge by which one can get from the isle across
the lake."
He was hoping in his heart nobody would
step on to it for fear of drowning, and that by this
ruse he would keep all the maidens as servants and
Jacob into the bargain. But Jacob, who had heard
of such tricks before, took his Margaret by the hand,
and saying: "In the name of God, follow me!" he
jumped on to the cobweb bridge with Margaret and
instantly it became the most beautiful wide marble
bridge, and he and Margaret with the other maidens
got safely across. As soon as they were on land
the bridge disappeared and not a trace of it was
left, not even a cobweb. And they were all de-
lighted and astonished and saw and heard nothing
but the low whining of the Serpent-king who was
weeping at his loss.
Jacob ran across the meadows with his Margaret
and the white-clad maidens he had released, and
with singing and exultation they came into Thor-
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storp. And everybody stood astonished at the story
of his adventure, and they called it " Jacob's exodus,"
and told it everywhere.
But the pretty maidens thanked him and Mar-
garet and said good-bye to go to their homes, and as
they had brought gold and silver and valuable
dresses from the Serpent-king's castle, they soon
found young and handsome lovers, and married.
Also Jacob and Margaret soon celebrated their
marriage, but they did not remain in Thorstorp, for
the neighbourhood of Serpent-king's isle seemed too
dangerous; so they moved further inland and
bought a handsome estate for the gold they had
brought with them and lived happily ever after.
But they never heard anything more of the Ser-
pent-king, and whether he got delivered at last.
164
THE BURNING MONEY
ONE autumn night, or rather towards morning, three
farmers were riding home from a wedding feast in
Lanken. They were neighbours, and rode the same
way. When they came out of the forest they saw
by a little bush in a field a big fire which now
looked like glowing embers, and then would burst
up in bright flame. They stopped and wondered
what it might be, and came to the conclusion that
cowboys or shepherds had lit it to protect themselves
from the sharp night air. But then they recollected
that it was towards the end of November, and that
in this season there are usually no herdsmen and
cowboys in the fields. The youngest of them, a
daring fellow, said: "Listen, neighbours, there burns
our luck! Be quiet, let us ride there and each fill
his pocket with coals, then we have enough fortune
for life, and may ask the earl for how much he will
sell us his castle."
But the oldest of them said: "God forbid that I
should ride out of my way so late! I know the
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huntsman well who cries: 'Hoho! Halloa! keep
the middle-road!""
Neither was the second farmer inclined to ride
there, but the youngest rode to the place. Notwith-
standing his horse snorting and rearing he brought
him close to the fire, jumped off and filled his
pockets with the embers. The two others were
seized with fright and rode off at a mad gallop, and
he raced after them and caught them up near
Vilmnitz. They rode another bit of the way
together and arrived silently at their village, and
too breathless to utter a word.
The horses were white with foam, they had
trembled and raced so fast. The farmer, too, had
almost felt as if the evil fiend had already caught
him by the hair. The bright day broke when they
arrived at home. Of course they wanted to see what
treasure the youngest one had got, for his pockets
hung heavily down as if full of weighty ducats. He
puts his hand inside, but alas! he brought out
nothing but dead mice. The two others laughed
and said: “There, you've got a nice devil's Christ-
mas box! that really was not worth the fright we
suffered." But they shuddered at the mice and
promised their fellow that they would tell nobody
a single word of this adventure.
You would have thought that the dead mice had
cured the farmer's desire for gold; but he kept on
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from Rügen
pondering over the glowing embers, and said to
himself: "If you had only had a few grains of salt
in your pocket and sprinkled it quickly on the coals
the treasure would have had to remain, and could
not have slipped away." And so he rode out again on
the following night, with great fear and shuddering,
yet he could not stay at home, for the greed of money
was more powerful than his fear. And again he
saw it burn in the same place, but there was nothing
to show in the day-time, and green grass grew on it.
So he rode to the fire, sprinkled the salt over it,
raked up the coals to fill his pockets, and raced home
at a mad gallop, taking care not to utter a sound,
nor to meet with anybody, for that would have broken
the charm. And yet he had nothing but coals in
his pockets, and a few shillings which were blackened
by the coals. Then he was as happy as a king, as
if this were the beginning of fortune and the
earnest money which the spirits had given him.
Probably he had a few shillings loose in his pocket
ere he left home, but these miserable shillings left
the poor farmer, who was formerly an industrious,
respectable man, no rest or peace; every night he
rode out, and rode his best horses to death with the
racing. And nobody could see that he found a
treasure trove; on the contrary his property went
backwards from year to year, and at last he dis-
appeared altogether on one of his nightly rides.
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And nobody ever saw him or his horse again, only
his hat was found in the Schmachter lake. Probably
the Evil One enticed him as Will-o'-the-Wisp into
the lake, for such arts he uses against those who
meddle with him and seek him.
168
WOLF AND NIGHTINGALE
A SWEDISH STORY
IN ancient times when everything was different in
the world to what it is nowadays, there lived in
the north a king who had the loveliest, hand-
somest queen that could be found far and wide.
This queen had presented the king with two chil-
dren, a son and a daughter; but soon after she died,
in the flower of her youth. The king was exceed-
ingly sad and sorrowful, and though years went by,
he would not hear of a second marriage. Yet a
man's mind is given to change, and after a con-
siderable time, when the children had grown fairly
big, he took another wife. But the new queen
became a bad mother for the prince and his sister.
These two were handsome and of goodly figure, and
so kind to everybody that the people used to cheer
whenever they appeared. This annoyed the queen
extremely, and she conceived evil designs against
the poor children, yet she durst not show this on
any account before the king and the people, but
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hid her spite under the outward show of friend-
liness.
Meanwhile the little princess had grown into a
beautiful maiden, and from all the neighbouring
countries came suitors-dukes, princes, and kings”
sons—who demanded her hand in marriage. The
one she liked best was the prince from a country to
the east, an exceedingly handsome and well-made
gentleman. They soon celebrated a merry betrothal
at the royal court, and the wedding was to follow
very shortly. In the whole country there was joy
at the coming wedding of the Princess Aurora; only
one person was displeased, and said to herself, "This
maiden puts me quite in the shade. The people
adore her and clamour for her, whilst they take no
notice of me, who am their queen; they shall soon
know it!"
Thereupon she reflected day and night as to how
she could ruin the lovely Aurora and her brother,
and get them for ever out of the way. But she did
not succeed, for the royal children were well
guarded by day and by night, because all the
servants were devoted to them. So she had no
chance, and the wedding-day came round. Then
she remembered her wicked witchcraft, and, with
great show of kindness, she came to her stepchildren
and begged them to step out into the garden with
her, as she wanted to show them a beautiful rose.
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Nobody suspected any harm, for it was bright
noontime, and in the banqueting-hall of the castle
the guests were assembled, and the prince from the
eastern country stood beside the throne, for the
wedding ceremony was to take place presently.
The evil queen meanwhile led the prince and the
princess into the most lonely part of the garden
under a dark yew-tree. She broke a branch of that
and touched their shoulders with it whilst she softly
murmured some incantation. And in an instant
the two were changed into animals.
prince, in the shape of an ugly savage wolf, jumped
over the wall into the wild forest; and the poor
princess flew, as an unpretentious little grey bird,
like the nightingale, on a tree and sang a sad
lament.
The young
The queen ran back to the castle screaming, and
behaved as if she were in despair; and, with torn
dress and dishevelled hair, she dropped fainting at the
king's feet, so that he bade her attendants take her
away. When she recovered at last, she seemed very
sad, and kept lamenting : “O, you poor dear Aurora,
what a sad wedding-day you have had! and O,
unhappy prince, what has become of you? And
then she related that a troop of brigands had
suddenly burst upon them and had torn the prince
and princess from her side and carried them off.
She pretended the brigands had nearly killed her
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and then left her on the ground; and she showed a
big bruise, which she had given herself purposely by
knocking against a tree, and played her part so well
that nobody suspected her deceit.
The king called all his knights and vassals
to horse, and sent all his esquires riding after
the supposed robbers, but however carefully they
searched through the forest, on the cliffs, and in the
glens for many miles around, they found not the
least trace of the lost royal children. For weeks
and months the king continued to send out
messengers, but they all came home without bring-
ing him any hope. Then he grieved so much that
his hair turned as white as snow and he died. At
his death he gave the whole kingdom over to the
queen, and admonished his subjects to be loyal and
obedient to her.
Four years went by. The queen ruled with great
severity over the land, and hired foreign soldiers
and mercenaries, for whom she sent beyond the sea,
to guard her. That made her only the more
disliked among the people, and if fear had not
restrained them they would not have allowed the
wicked queen to remain on the throne.
The poor enchanted children fared badly and
sadly meanwhile. The handsome young prince had
run in the shape of a brown wolf into the forest,
and he was compelled to behave as one; he had to
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run through desert and uncultivated places by day
and night, and sneak away like a thief, for the
wolfish cowardice was in him. Like other wolves,.
he had to feed on all sorts of prey, game, and birds,
and find his rest between hard, cold stones. That
was not exactly a princely existence, and very
different to what he had been used to before this
misery. Yet although his reason had become
darkened since he lived in a wolf's skin, he had no-
desire for human prey, excepting the wicked woman
who had enchanted him, and he felt occasionally
urged to go near the castle and park, as if there was
some extra good game for him there. It was only a
dark instinct that urged him, for he had no distinct
recollection of the past, and whenever he had come
within a thousand paces of the castle, a shudder
would creep over him, and he felt bound to race
back into the wilderness. But that was owing to
the queen's witchcraft, which kept him at that
distance, but had no power beyond it. Yet she
caused a great many fox and wolf hunts to be held
in the forest; but however often the dogs were at
his heels, and the shots of the huntsmen whistled
past his head, he always escaped from all danger, He
would for awhile turn aside into the darkest thicket,
and when the noise of the hunt and the sound of
horns had passed, he would come back into the
wood nearest the park and bask in the sun in the
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places where he had rested as a boy and a
youth.
Princess Aurora, who had been changed into a
little singing-bird, had flown up into the green tree-
tops. Under the light feathery dress her soul had
not got darkened like that of her brother. She
remembered still a good deal about herself, about
people and things, only she could not talk. But
she sang in her wood solitude, oh! so beautifully
that all the little birds would listen, the tree-tops
would gently rustle, and the flowers nod their little
heads with delight. And men would have had their
attention drawn to the especially lovely song of the
little grey bird if the queen had not found out some
means to prevent it. She pretended to be so ill that
not only the croaking and screaming of ravens and
crows was unbearable to her, but also that her
nerves could not stand the merry singing and
twittering of the little forest-birds. And to make
the people believe it, she had several times dropped
down in a faint when the little birds in the branches
above her started their tune. Of course, she intended
to have the little bird killed as well as the wolf.
And at the bidding of the all-powerful queen, many
a little bird which had sung lustily was made dumb
for ever; not even the robins and the wrens were
spared, and in the capital as well as in its neighbour-
hood no winged creatures remained alive.
And as
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it was now very dull and quiet in the wood, nobody
liked to walk there any longer. Thus it happened
that nobody could listen to the marvellous sounds
of the nightingale except here and there a lonely
huntsman, and he would not say anything so as to
avoid being punished for having spared the little
bird; for it goes against the nature of honest
sportsmen to shoot at a harmless singing-bird, only
they had to pop off their guns in the forest so that
the sound could be heard in the palace. And many
birds flew away for that reason and returned no
more. But the nightingale, whom God protected in
all danger, could not bear to leave the forest of her
home; and although witchcraft kept her at the
distance of a thousand paces from the paternal castle,
she always returned thus far when the noise of the
hunting and shooting was over. It pleased her to
sing her sadly sweet songs to the brook, the stars,
and the flowers, and she was only unhappy when
the autumn came and she had to fly to foreign lands.
But was she not glad when the spring came and she
could return to the fields and places where she had
played as a child, where she had wound wreaths as
a maiden among her companions and led the dance
with them! She liked best to dwell in the top of a
green oak-tree, at whose roots a clear brook flowed.
In her happy days she had often sat there with
her lover, and here she now occasionally saw the
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wolf, who would stretch himself quietly under the
tree and listen to her singing as if he understood it.
She did not know that this was her brother, but she
got fond of the animal, and was sorry to think he was
but an ugly shaggy wolf and could not flutter from
branch to branch like herself.
However, there was one man who sometimes
listened to the touching singing of the nightingale
in the lonely forest, and that was the handsome
prince her whilom bridegroom-elect. The old king
had loved this prince above all other men, on
account of his virtue and valour, and on his death-
bed he had recommended him to the queen as a
counsellor and helper in important business of State.
Thus, out of love to the late king, the prince
remained after his death with the queen. He soon
became aware, however, that the queen hated him
and desired to put him out of the way, and therefore
he left her court abruptly and returned to his father-
land. This vexed the queen exceedingly; she had
him declared a traitor and outlaw, and caused him
to be pursued, promising that whoever brought her
his head should be royally rewarded. Yet in his
father's kingdom the prince had no rest, for the
grief over his lost bride never left him. Aye, it
happened that at a certain time every year he
disappeared mysteriously, and nobody knew his
whereabouts. He would then put on very plain
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armour, saddle his horse, and ride away so suddenly
that nobody observed which way he took. Then he
would ride to the land of the queen, to the well-
known places where he had walked with his bride-
elect. And that place by the brook, among the
dark green oaks, was his favourite resort. Hidden
from the sight of the queen's spies, he would, in the
close thicket, lament over his lost one, and the little
nightingale would ever sing there to comfort his
heart. And the two, the sad man and the little
birdie, were fond of each other; they knew not why,
for when the prince had ridden back to his father's
kingdom, a great yearning for him seized the
nightingale, and the prince in his turn would
longingly think of her sadly sweet song until he
prepared for another ride to the oak-tree, which
happened always about the anniversary of that fatal
wedding-day when the princess had disappeared.
Many a year went by in this fashion. The queen
had the animals hunted and the birds shot, and was
as cruel to her subjects as to the animals of the
forest. She fancied herself almighty, and thought
her power and glory would never come to an end.
But a secret fear kept her from walking in the
park and adjoining forest. One day she gave a
great banquet in the castle, to which all neighbour-
ing princes and princesses and the great nobles of
the land were bidden. For the afternoon she had
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Fairy Tales
ordered a great wolf-hunt in the forest, and all the
princes begged the queen to ride with them to the
hunt. At first she declined under various pretexts,
but in the end she allowed herself to be talked over.
She went on a high chariot, with three well-armed
knights sitting beside her and many hundred armed
warriors riding in the front, by the side, and behind
her chariot, and an endless row of chariots with the
noble lords and ladies followed her. But the wolf
was ever in her mind; only she thought, "Let him
come; this brave escort will soon finish him off.”
Thus Providence blinds even the cleverest and most
cunning sinners when the time for their punishment
has come; for there was one thing she utterly
forgot all the other masters of her black art had
warned her of the sixth year after the disappearance
of the royal children.
It was a bright and lovely spring day, and with
music and drums they rode into the forest. The
horses neighed, the armour clanked, the spears and
swords sparkled in the sun; but the grandest sight
of all was the queen in her splendid robes and her
jewels glistening as she sat enthroned on her chariot.
And the huntsmen with their shouting and the
leashes of hounds came to meet them. And a big
bear rushed out of the thicket and a strong boar
burst through the throng of hunters, but without
fear they attacked the wild beasts and killed them.
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But shortly after they had a fright, for a terrible
wolf tore out of the thicket with such dreadful
howls that men, dogs, and horsemen tried to escape
from him. And he flew, as an arrow shot from a
bow, through the rows of armed men, who all forgot
that they carried swords and spears or bows, for the
monster looked too awful and enraged. The queen
saw him make for her chariot, and cried for help,
but there was no one to help her. Most of her
escort ran away themselves, and the others cried in
a cowardly fashion. And without hindrance the
wolf jumped up to her, tore the proud woman down,
and buried his teeth in her; and nobody prevented
him! Yet, oh miracle! when at last they recovered
their nerve and wanted to attack the wolf, he had
disappeared, and in the place of the bloodthirsty
monster there stood a beautiful armed youth.
men all stared at the marvellous sight; some even
drew their swords as if he were a second monster to
be attacked, when all of a sudden the old Chan-
cellor of the kingdom, who was in one of the
following chariots, rushed forward and called out,
"Beware, men! You know not whom you are
going to attack!" And he knelt down at the feet
of the beautiful youth, and said, "Be welcome, you
noble branch of a noble tree! Rejoice, O folk; your
lawful prince has returned, and is now your king!'
On hearing these words, many nobles and men ran
The
>>
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1
prince, and did him
forward and recognised the
homage as their lord; and in their joy they thought
no more of the dead queen, whom they never loved.
The young king bade them all follow him for his
entry into his paternal castle. He stopped the
hunt at once, and the cornets and trumpets sounded.
a cheery march to celebrate his entry. And as he
saw the hall of his castle, tears came into his eyes,
for he remembered his misery and the terrible trial
which had lain on him. And his mind became
enlightened, so that he could explain to the Chan-
cellor and the nobles what had happened to him,
and how only the heart's blood of the old witch
who had been his stepmother and their queen was
able to change him back into a human being.
Yet the more he reflected about his transformation
the sadder he became, for it weighed on him what
might have become of his darling sister, and whether
she too was straying about in the guise of an animal.
He inquired all round, but nobody could give him
any news of her. Then he saddened again, but
God turned his sadness into joy very soon. You
must know that, just at the time of the great wolf-
hunt, the prince from the country to the east
happened to be in the forest, sitting under his dear
green oak-tree, in which the nightingale was singing.
When the noise of the hunt had subsided, the forest
had become quiet, and the sun had set, the prince
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moistened the ground with his silent tears and felt
sadder than ever at heart. And it seemed to him
that also the nightingale's song was different, and
sounded full of meaning, almost like a human voice;
for a strange feeling had come over her from the
moment when the wolf had drunk the heart-blood
of the witch. And a strange shudder crept over
the prince, and he called up into the branches:
"Birdie, birdie; tell me, canst talk?"
And the nightingale answered "Yes," and was
herself startled at being able to talk, and wept with
joy. Then she opened her little beak and quite
distinctly told the prince of her own and her
brother's transformation, and that the latter was
now delivered from witchcraft; for all this had
suddenly been revealed to her, only she knew not
to whom she was telling it. The prince rejoiced in
his heart, and called the little bird down in most
endearing and seductive terms, and implored her to
come with him to his flower-garden, where neither
falcon nor hunter should harm her. But birdie
would not hear of it, and praised her splendid
liberty and her green oak-tree. But as she fluttered
round the man and sang without any fear or
distrust, he caught her, mounted his horse in haste,
and carried her in his hand to an inn, where he had
put up, not far from the town. He immediately
went upstairs to his room and locked the door.
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When the nightingale saw that, she was deeply
grieved, and begged and sang and implored him to
let her fly out of the musty room into the merry
wood. But he would not hear of it. Then she
tried to frighten him by changing herself first into
a lion, then a tiger, then a serpent, a scorpion, a
tarantula, and at last into a horrid dragon, who flew
at him with poisonous tongue. Yet the prince
showed and felt no fear, and in the end birdie had
to turn into a bird again. The prince stood lost
in thought, for he remembered an old tradition.
Quickly he pulled his pocket-knife out and cut deep
into his left hand, and as his heart's blood came out
in big drops he took some and smeared it on the
bird's head and breast. Hardly had he finished
when the miracle was done; the poor little grey
nightingale was transformed into the handsomest
maiden, the lovely princess Aurora. She at once
recognised her bridegroom-elect, and you may
imagine how rejoiced and delighted they were in
their hearts. But they did not tarry long at the
inn, but drove straight to the castle and sent in
word to the young king that two foreign princes
desired him to give them hospitality. And as the
king stepped into the hall he recognised his lost
darling sister and his dear friend the prince from
the kingdom to the east. And he rejoiced beyond
measure, and all the nation with him.
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In a few days they celebrated the wedding, and
a splendid wedding it was, with dancing, feasting,
and tournaments.
The princess begged and readily obtained from
her brother, as a wedding-gift, the forest in which
she had flown about so many years. Therein she
had a proud royal castle erected, and the green
leafy oak stood in the middle of her park and
continued to grow many a long year, so that
children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren
played under its shade. But Princess Aurora, with
her husband, lived to a happy old age, just as her
brother ruled as a great and pious king.
Good-night!
183
SNOWFLAKE
SNOWFLAKE was a poor enchanted princess flying
about the world, and seeking love. She was a
beautiful child, snow-white and pretty of complexion,
with eyes of heavenly blue and fair curls, and her
father was a powerful king in India. When she
was six years old her mother died and she got a
wicked stepmother. The latter brought two daugh-
ters to the king, but they were as ugly as crows,
and Snowflake looked all the lovelier by their side.
This vexed the queen, who was an evil witch,
and she pondered how she might ruin the pretty
child who was now twelve years of age. But she
had to be careful before the king, who loved Snow-
flake more than his own life. She might have
killed the child with poison or steel, yet it seemed
too risky; it might be betrayed, and she thought it
safer to mar her by sorcery. One day as she
bathed her and put her a clean dress on, she
anointed her with some salve, moved round her
very quickly, kissed and embraced her, and suddenly
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Fairy Tales
turned into a black fox, who licked the frightened
child all over with her quick tongue, and murmured
the following words:
Snowflake, Snowflake, fly away,
Fly through the wide world away;
Cold to-day, to-morrow warm,
Never rest in lover's arm;
But who with unchanging faith
Five years follows thee apace.
And instantly the pretty princess was turned to
a snowflake; the old witch opened the window
and snowflake was wafted out into the air. This
happened on a cold winter's day, and the wicked
stepmother called mockingly after her: "Now you
may fly and shiver until eternity! It is more
likely that I should become young as you, than that
you will find a man who will be faithful to you for
five years even in his innermost thoughts."
And the sweet little snowflake flew about in the
cold wind with other snowflakes, and was cold and
shivered as they, and made a plaintive noise like
them. But she knew why she grieved, for she had
retained her sweet warm soul, although she was out-
wardly so miserably changed, and even in this guise
she had to fly about the wide and barren world
to look for love. And the saddest things that used
to happen to her were, when she chanced to alight
on a pretty face, or cling to a warm breast or a hot
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Fairy Tales
little hand, and was shaken off unkindly or blown
off, as if she brought only an unpleasant sensation
of cold like other snowflakes. Thus whenever she
had hoped that she might rest a little in somebody's
love, she had to fly off again all through the long
dreary winter, and she lay on the cold breast of
frozen mountains and stones and the icy lakes, and
wept and sighed for love, which she found nowhere.
And as the weather grew warmer and the first little
flowers raised their tiny heads and the first birds
sang again, she was not allowed to remain in the
beautiful air, but had to go into darkness, for old
winter caught her with the other snowflakes and
locked them all up in the depths and caverns of the
old mountains, to lie there until he should return to
the earth.
There Snowflake lay through beautiful spring and
warm summer and autumn, and spent her time in
longing and sadness-in longing, for all her memories
had been retained; in sadness, for she doubted that
she should ever meet with love. Then she
whispered many melancholy sounds and uttered
many sorrowful songs, which only the silent rock
walls heard, and which were like an echo of her
own fate. And at last winter returned and opened
his gates and drove the light-winged snowflakes out
into the world. And she flew among the others,
but again in search of love; and light winds came
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and carried her along over continents and oceans.
Thus she alighted in her travels on the top of cold
Caucasus, and sighed and groaned pitifully in the
bitter feeling of abandonment among her cold and
loveless mates. And as she was here sick to death
with yearning, she heard from below her in a deep
ravine such painful sighs and groans, that they
might have moved a stone, and instantly she flew
to the spot whence the voice proceeded. There she
saw underneath a leafless tree, through whose
branches the winter wind howled and whistled, a
youth of stately bearing and beautiful face. His
coat of mail, helmet and shield lay about on the
snow, his noble horse stood aside and tried to paw
up the snow for some grass, his spurs lay broken
by his side, his coat was torn, and in his right hand
he flourished a shining sword. His hair hung un-
kempt about his face, and his eyes looked troubled,
like some one staring into vacancy, and miserable
wails fell from his lips.
In silent anguish Snowflake fell down at his feet
and thought: “Alas! if the man is as sorrowful as
I am, and unhappy through longing for love, he
may crush me here in his despair, so that I lose life
and consciousness! Such death would be sweet to
me." But thus ran his wail:
"Welcome, ye places of sorrow! ye barren rocks
and bare trees, you rough and dark ravine, and ye
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Fairy Tales
winds which rush along with the snowdrift; ye
are my funeral procession, the dirge I like. Gone
is my strength in which I defied the world; faded
is the beauty which women and maidens have
praised; my poor sick soul, starved and bled to death,
here thou shalt find the rest and peace which the
cold earth could not give thee. O cold earth, soon
thou wilt no longer be cold, but a quiet, cool bed
to the senseless dead. Come, my faithful sword,
true friend and protector in many a battle and
adventure! render me thy last service; pierce this
heart which is already so much cut up, this poor
heart to whom were given all goods and treasures,
save the highest treasure, love. Oh, if this ugly
thorn could love, I would embrace it, press it to my
breast; aye, into my breast that it should bleed
from its many thorns, and yet I would shout with
exultation; yes, this cold snow I would pick up if
its cold would warm to love, would fill my hands
with it and carry it away as my most precious
possession, and heaven and earth should hear my
exulting cry, 'I am being loved! I am happy!'
Even an otter or a toad I would embrace and call
it my darling love, if it would love me. But no !
no! never, never. Come then, my sword! come
on, death thou deliverer from all pain, and make
an end to this miserable farce." And he prepared
to pierce his heart.
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And like lightning a thought flew through the
tender soul of Snowflake. She raised herself and
settled on the hand that was going to heave its last
stroke. He felt a warm sensation as of something
burning. And he looked into his hand and saw a
snowflake lying there in its beautiful fragile form.
And Snowflake, who was herself looking for a loving
soul, grew warmer and burnt his hand.
The man
dropped his sword in wonder and looked at her, as
if he understood the tender child which lay on his
hand no heavier than a breath of air, and with de-
light he exclaimed, "What, is it she? Gracious
Heaven! now I will live! And were it for eternity,
I shall not find time too long!" Hearing these
words, Snowflake melted with delight and became a
glittering drop which lay clear in his hand, like
the heavenly blue eye of an angel, and seemed to
implore his love.
And the man saw the sparkling drop, which
glowed warm in his hand, and ran towards a tree
that had still a few green leaves, picked off the.
freshest leaf and poured the drop into it and hid it
carefully in his bosom.
Then he put on his armour,
swung himself on his horse, and rode at a flying
pace to the nearest town.
Now I have to tell you who this man was,
whence he came, and what had happened to him.
He was a noble prince, the son of the king of
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Arabia, the country where gold grows, and myrrh
and other precious herbs. He had been born under
the most miraculous circumstances, and with such
incomparable beauty, that the king his father and
the wise men of the land paid great attention to
him from his earliest childhood; for they thought
that his life would also be full of unusual events.
They cast the lot, they inquired from the stars
about him, they toyed with riddles and soothsayers;
but the lot would not fall, the stars would not
speak, the soothsayers could not explain; they all
remained in the dark about his future. But they did
not remain in the dark about his disposition. The
prince showed from infancy an unusual tenderness
and softness of heart. In his big black eyes lay so
much sorrow and yearning that the old king was
frightened, and would say to his wise men and
counsellors: "The boy will have to be brought up
severely, and must always be among crowds of men,
else he might become a dreamer or star-gazer, who
make the worst kings; or love, the most pernicious
and dangerous of all passions, might drive him
altogether from the path of virtue." All the
actions and movements of the prince were as gentle
and tender as his little heart, and his voice sounded
softly and lovely, like a summer's breeze when it
plays among the spring flowers. Therefore he was
named Prince Bisbiglio, which means lisping sounds.
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When Prince Bisbiglio was four years of age, his
father did not put him under the care of a wise
man in the desert, as is the custom with Oriental
kings, who fancy that in the noise of the capital
and the glamour and luxury of court-life a man
could hardly be brought up to, and exercised
in, austere virtue; but he sent him to an old
tried warrior, who, with an ever-ready armed
troop, was always on the watch guarding the
frontiers. There he was to be brought up a
warrior, see nothing but horses and arms, hear
only the clang of arms, trumpets, and clarions;
know no other bed but the hard soldier's camp-
bed, and no other field and pasture but the
hard-trodden wrestling-places and drilling-places
whereon men and horses did not allow the grass to
grow.
He was to learn no arts, for the king feared arts
might make him soft and disgust him with hard
work, which is the best art for him who is to rule
as a man over other men. In this camp the prince
lived for ten years, and became a perfect warrior,
practised in all arms, a master in the managing of
horses and throwing of spears; besides, he was slim
and warrior-like in appearance, and strong for his
age. In his fifteenth year his father bade him
return to court, and rejoiced at the sight of the
handsome youth and his wise bringing-up. But
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what availed him the latter?
Whatever nature
has sown in a man must shoot forth sooner or
later; it is indelible like life, and can only be
exterminated with life. Prince Bisbiglio had for
ten years seen nothing but rough and iron men,
masters of war and lances, bow and sword; he had
gazed into no stars, listened not to nightingales, nor
turned in merry dance. And yet there were so
many stars and nightingales and dances in his soul
that they would not be suppressed by all the iron
noise and exercise. No; they became all the more
alive in him the more they were repressed into
the innermost recesses of his mind.
Bisbiglio was a child of longing and love, and
amidst the hard and rude warriors his heart had
unconsciously yearned for love, he had absorbed it
out of every sign and glance, out of every song and
story, however differently they sounded, even out of
every word spoken carelessly before him; his own
heart had early opened him this heaven with its
stars and nightingales. Thus powerful is inborn
impulse.
Bisbiglio was in the flower of his age, the time.
when imagination is liveliest; he longed to get out
into the beautiful wide world, to explore its beauty
and splendour, and he went to the king, his father,
and begged to be allowed to go out as other princes
do, that he might make a name through princely
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and knightly adventures. The king was pleased to
allow it, for, thought he, he is a firm youth, grown
up among iron and steel; the cooing love-doves and
the flattering sirens of tenderness will not tempt him
from the path of heroic deeds. But Bisbiglio's pur-
pose differed from that of his father; he wanted no
adventures but those of love, desired to ride out
after love and to search for it in the wide world,
until he should find that love, the highest and
rarest possession which had always been in his
thoughts. For in the camp on Euphrates he had
often heard the tale of the Persian prince Sospirio,
who had wandered over the world for twenty years
in search of love, and who at last found it in
the shape of a snow-white briar-rose, flowering
secretly and lonely in the midst of the African
desert. This was the high mysterious star towards
which Bisbiglio gazed early in life, this was the
sweet nightingale which sang to him even among the
neighing of war-horses and the clashing of spear and
shield; he had dreamt night and day of marvellous
adventures, of combats with giants and dragons, of
transformations and enchantments-not as knightly
and royal occupations and games, no-all for love,
and again for love. So he had gone out into the
world, and now for four years, with pain and
longing, he had been looking for love and had not
found it.
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Of adventures he had had enough, of combats he
had had plenty, of beautiful women and maidens, prin-
cesses and queens, Amazons and sirens, of marvellous
flowers and birds he had seen abundance; some he
had liked and been fond of, but alas! he had not
found love the heavenly, glowing, feeling, living,
singing, exulting love. He had attracted all that
was beautiful and lovely, as a magnet attracts the
iron; he had also been tenderly loved, but alas! after
a few days, aye, sometimes after a few minutes, he
had felt something was lacking, and had to ride on
to find the true love he was in search of. This had
again occurred a month ago. In Damascus he had
seen the king's daughter, beautiful as a rose, slender
as a lily, lovely as a violet in the hidden valley, and
she had grown very fond of him, as he of her. And
yet the unfortunate prince was compelled to ride
onward, feeling hers was not the love he was search-
ing for; and now he despaired of ever finding it, and
had ridden up to the wild snow-covered mountains,
to the highest top of Mount Caucasus, and there
sweet Snowflake had preserved his life.
When the prince came into the town, he stopped at
the house of a jeweller, bought a tiny phial cut out of
pure diamond, poured his sparkling drop, his snow-
flake, into it, sealed it up and hid it in his bosom,
saying: "Thou wilt surely become a princess some
day like the briar-rose in the desert, and even if thou
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never become one, I shall be the happiest of men
as long as I feel thy flame."
So
For you must know, he had wrought a little bag
that lay close to his heart, into which he put his
phial, and he felt in his heart a gentle pricking,
which he would not have missed for the world.
he rode on merrily through the wood. He had a
foreboding that the drop would be transformed and
could not remain thus; he also knew that he must not
ride home before the fate was fulfilled. And Snow-
flake was as a tiny drop in the diamond phial, and
was overjoyed, for she felt herself beloved; yet
she often trembled at the thought-five years!
how long, five years! Will he stand the test? It
is sweet to rest on his heart, but how much sweeter
would it be to embrace him and press him to
my heart! And she trembled with delight at the
prospect, and at the same time with fear that she
might lose him.
For three years Prince Bisbiglio rode through the
world with her, and they passed to him like three
days. Then came the time of severe tests which he
had to undergo before her fate could be fulfilled.
And this was the first of them:
He rode past a house burning in bright flame.
Then he doubted in himself: if she, who is my love,
were human, instead of being a liquid drop, and I
lay in the flame, would she jump into it and save me?
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And hardly had he conceived the wicked thought,
when he felt the phial with irresistible strength tear
his shirt and coat and burst his iron armour. And
quick as lightning it threw itself into the fire; he
saw the phial bursting, and the pure drop wept and
sighed in the fiery trouble and soon only looked like
a duller flame than the others. Then an unspeak-
able anguish seized his soul, he vaulted from hist
horse and into the fire, seized the small flame and
hid it in his hand. And it burned a deep wound
into his hand, and then resolved itself again into a
drop. But he hurried to the nearest town and pur-
chased another diamond phial in which he confined
it and laid it in its old place. His hair had got
scorched in the fire, his cheeks burnt, and the wound
in his hand was very deep. And he suffered great
pain and lay ill for three weeks before he recovered.
Then he grieved at his want of faith, but Snowflake
was full of joy that he had so faithfully jumped into
the fire for her, yet she wept inwardly to see him
suffer so much pain. And he was well aware of it,
for he fancied often he heard a groaning in the phial,
although in reality he heard nothing.
Then came the second trial:
He rode over a high bridge which crosses a rapid
stream, called Tigris. From there he saw the nest of
a halcyon (or kingfisher) floating on the stream, and
the female sat on the nest, feeding her young. And.
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>
deeply moved by this sight, he said: "Oh, what love!
Are men ever so faithful? Truly, if the current
swallowed this little brood, the mother would dive
after them and save them or die herself." And
Snowflake felt his heart's thought, and in her anguish
of soul she burst again through coat and armour and
the phial dashed against a stone, and the drop poured
itself into the stream and hissed as if one pours hot
water into cold, and away it was carried by the rapid
current. Quick as lightning the prince dashed into
the stream and struggled with current and whirlpool,
dived up and down and wrestled with death and
life and filled his hands again and again with water,
until he had found the gently hissing drop, which he
now felt as a burning coal in his hand. Then he
swam to the bank and sank down exhausted, but the
little drop again burnt a wound in his hand. When
he recovered his senses, he felt bruised all over from
the rocks he had knocked against and the burn in his
hand smarted, but his soul exulted in delight. And
Snowflake was also exulting at this proof of his
valiant faithfulness. In the nearest town he got
another phial, confined his drop in it, laid it on his
heart, and rode on.
Now came the third and last trial:
One morning as the prince was riding through a
thick and high mountain-forest, he perceived a
gigantic rider who rode on a white charger and was
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so tall that his head towered above the tops of the
oaks and beeches. He carried a lance which wavered
like a ship's mast in the air, and lowered it when he
saw the prince. This giant carried an ugly wrinkled
old woman behind him on a pillion, who clung to
him with her bony arms. He carried her along
against his wishes, in consequence of a vow he
had taken, but meant to rid himself of her by
bestowing her on the first comer. Thus, when he
saw Bisbiglio, he called with a voice to make all the
hill-tops and ravines echo as if a hundred thunder-
storms had let off all the heavenly guns, "Stop, my
boy; I have here something for you. You are young
and can do with a sweetheart, which is rather an
inconvenience to a man of my years. Take this lady
on your horse and swear to me that you will give her
knightly treatment and fight anybody you meet who
will not acknowledge her to be the handsomest
princess whom the sun has ever shone upon, On
this condition I will let you pass scot free, other-
wise your mother will soon have to bury a dead
son."
(C
"As long as a warm drop of blood is in my body
that will never happen," cried Bisbiglio, burning with
rage. Beware, you braggart! for I will fight you!"
With these words he jumped off his horse and let it
run away; for he well perceived that he could not
attack the giant and his colossal steed on horseback,
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but that skill and suppleness would have to be his
arms against the latter's superior strength.
And the giant, who felt ashamed to be less brave
than the youth, jumped also from his horse. They
threw their lances away and took to their swords.
And now took place a finer and rarer combat than
was ever seen in the lists. The ground trembled
when the giant moved a foot, and it seemed as if the
rocks must break under his blows. Lightly as on
the wings of the wind the prince moved about, and
skilfully evaded each stroke and blow, owing to the
slow heaviness of the giant. Thus they had fought
a long time, and the giant's blood oozed out of
many a wound, but they were not deep wounds. The
prince was still unhurt, and played nimbly with
his light weapon about the monster. When the
giant saw his own blood flow, he grew furious in his
soul, and called out, "Enough of this; or, rather, too
much! No longer shall the mouse play with the
lion!" And he lifted his arm to strike a terrible
blow with which he meant to cut the prince in two
like a turnip. Yet his sword slipped off the helmet,
but caught on the shield and coat of mail, and the
prince felt the point of the iron touch his heart. In
this extremity he gathered his last strength and
drove his sword to its entire length into the giant's
breast, so that the big warrior fell down swearing and
groaning.
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You may imagine Snowflake's anxiety during this
terrible contest, and how she shivered and trembled
in her phial when the giant rattled with his weapons
and when she heard his blows whistling through the
air. But when she saw the red blood stream down
over the prince's armour, she could no longer contain
herself in her prison; she burst her phial and mingled
with the purple stream of blood on the ground.
And, oh, marvel and miracle! the moment she was
surrounded by the prince's blood, there stood the
most beautiful maiden. Snowflake had returned to
human shape and figure.
The prince was so exhausted from the fight and
loss of blood that he swooned away. Snowflake
threw herself down beside him with a thousand tears,
opened his coat of mail, and dried the blood in his
wound with her beautiful long curls; she wept over
him as over a dead man. But as she wept and wailed,
he opened his eyes and breathed again, and saw his
sweet darling, for whose sake he had travelled so
many years over the world. And at the sight of her,
new strength seemed to rush through his veins; he
felt regenerated, and no longer noticed his wound nor
how the blood streamed down, but only saw the
lovely Snowflake, and embraced her and kissed her.
But she cut up some of her dress and laid it on his
wound, and the blood was stanched. The wound
was deep, but not deadly, which it might easily have
1
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been if slightly deeper, for the giant had hit him
near the heart.
But the monster lay there dead, never to rise again.
They looked at his huge lance and his heavy armour,
which no ordinary mortal could have lifted, and there
they let him lie; the ugly old woman, on whose
account the terrible fight arose, they allowed to go in
peace whither she liked. As a memorial of this fight
with the giant, the prince only took the big white
horse on which the monster rode, and his sword, but
as they lifted the sword from the ground and looked
at it they saw a new wonder: the point had melted
like iron when a smith lays it into a hot fire to soften
it. When Snowflake saw that, her eyes sparkled with
delight, and tears streamed down her cheeks, and she
pressed the prince to her heart with great warmth
and said: “O you most faithful soul, with uncon-
querable love, your heart is so hot with love that it
has melted the giant's iron! Do I now own this
warm heart of which I dreamt in bitter sorrow
during my enchantment? Now I see that every-
thing is fulfilled which my stepmother, the evil
witch, murmured when she made me fly out of the
window." And she related to the prince the history
of her transformation, and how she had miserably
flown about for two winters as a snowflake, until in
his hand she melted to a drop of water.
The day of the combat with the giant happened
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just to be the last day of the fifth year since Snow-
flake met with the despairing Bisbiglio in the barren
ravine of the Caucasus. And as both saw that their
fate was fulfilled, and as they were longing to crown
their true and incomparable love by a wedding,
they rode no further after adventures-for the last
five years had been the very prettiest adventure-but
they took the straightest road to the castle in which
lived the old king of Araby, Bisbiglio's father. And
they arrived there safely, and the prince duly told
his father everything that had happened to him.
And the old gentleman saw now that the wisdom
he fancied he had shown in the education of his
son was not very successful, but he did not grumble
at his adventures, as he brought such a beautiful
daughter into his house; for Snowflake was so hand-
some and lovely that she pleased not only him and
all men, but also the angels in heaven. And when
he had given sufficient scope to his delight, and the
wedding had been celebrated, Bisbiglio and his
Snowflake travelled to the old king in India. And
Snowflake related to him all her story: how the
stepmother had changed herself into a fox, and sung,
"Snowflake, Snowflake, fly away!" and how she had
become a snowflake and been let out of the window,
and had lived seven sad years under the enchant-
ment. And the king grew furious and had the old
witch punished by death; and he disowned her ugly
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daughters, and sent them up into the hills of India,
and had them married to low-born men. But Snow-
flake became Queen of India after his death, and
thus India and Araby were joined in one empire.
But never in the world did one see a more tender
and faithful couple than the faithful Bisbiglio and
his sweet Snowflake; so that their love and faith
is to this day told of in fable and song through
all the Orient. They also had the prettiest and
loveliest children, who had hearts to enjoy the
gracefulness and beauty of heaven and earth and
who were equal to their parents in kindness and
goodness.

EARTHWORM
AT Distelfeld in the Fichtelgebirge, there lived an
honest peasant, Kuntz Bartold, with his pious wife
Katrine. These good folks had many dear children,
but the greatest darling was a little girl who had
been christened Eva Maria. Little Eva was a quiet,
good, and thoughtful child, the most diligent at school,
the most attentive at church, and pleasant and
obedient to every one, and liked to give to the poor.
Otherwise, with all her pleasant ways, the child was
very quiet and reticent, fond of being alone in the
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garden, field, or forest. For as God gives to every-
body their individual tastes and talents, he had given
to this child a great love of nature, and a ready
understanding of things, so that she understood easily
what clever folks only hinted at, and learnt in her
play what nobody had taught her. People will
wonder at such bright children and call them Sunday-
children because they seem to see and understand
everything; others even fancy that there is witch-
craft at play. And yet it is all quite natural that
some know much and learn easily, and that others
are stupid and learn nothing. When little Eva was
ten years old, she knew most of the animals, birds,
flowers, and trees, and had such innocent, trusting
intercourse with them, as if she had lived a hundred
years among them. But she was fondest of coloured
stones and the lower animals, and could play all day
long with lady-birds, gold-beetles, butterflies and
tree-frogs, without being tired. She was now in her
tenth year, and had to mind her mother's cows in
the forest. There she would always gather lots of
coloured stones and beetles, and when she came
home at night her pockets were full of stones, and
she carried little rush baskets which she had plaited,
filled with beetles, butterflies and tree-frogs, with
which she and the other children used to play. To
gather these things she would often dig and rummage
on the ground, roll stones and logs away and pull the
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bark off the trees, and the people who saw her do
this, even her own parents, called her in fun Earth-
worm. And this name stuck so to her that nobody
called her Eva, but only Earthworm.
Now one spring day, when Eva was in her twelfth
year, as she drove her cows and calves into the forest,
and trotted behind them with her little dog, merrily
singing all the while, she met an old woman, almost
naked and looking very pale and miserable. She
complained of the cold, and it being in April it was
rather cold in these wooded mountains. Earthworm
was so touched that she took off her dress and
put it over the old woman's shoulders. The
latter went away saying, "Many thanks, my child!
Your kindness shall not be unrewarded." Now
Earthworm had to walk about all day long with
no dress on and felt cold herself, and at night she
was scolded by her mother for having given away
more than she was allowed to; for her mother was
not rich enough to buy many new dresses for her
children.
When midsummer came and the days were longest,
Earthworm had bathed one day in the forest. When
she came out of the brook and looked for her clothes
behind a bush, she found in their stead the neatest
new clothes, just come from the tailor, and a smart
hood and new shoes. The latter astonished her most,
for in summer she and her brothers and sisters wore
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no shoes but walked barefooted. But she put
all the new clothes on and also the shoes, and in
childish delight she cried, "O, who has given me
these ? "
"I have," came from behind the bushes, and soon
she saw an old woman come, the very same to whom
she had given her frock in the spring, and the old
woman smiled pleasantly and said, "Earthworm,
don't you know me any more? "
And Eva said: "Oh yes, you are the poor old lady
who was so cold in spring, with such ragged clothes,
but now you have got beautiful clothes on."
Yes, my child, that is the way of the world, rich
to-day, poor to-morrow. Because you were such a
kind-hearted child, I have brought you some new
clothes, and if there is anything else you wish for,
speak out and I will grant it."
Earthworm did not consider long, but said: "O,
please let that big beautiful beetle come every day
to play with me. I have seen him once here in the
forest, but I could not catch him."
"I quite believe that," said the old woman, "for
he is a desperately sharp visitor; but he shall come.
And now good-bye, my child!" The old woman
kissed her, took her stick and went off.
She had hardly disappeared, when it buzzed through
the trees, ss, ssum, ssum, and a large shining beetle
came and settled down near Eva; his wings shone
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like pure gold, and his two bright eyes sparkled like
diamonds.
Earthworm was very delighted and played all
day long with him, and when she drove her cattle
home, he also opened his wings and flew away. And
thus he came every day that she was in the forest,
and she played and talked to him, as if he had been a
boy, and she also told the other herds, who sometimes
saw her playing with him, that he was her sweetheart
and understood all she said; that he brought her
pretty toys to play with, and apples and nuts when
she was hungry. The other children were amused
and did not believe it, but they were all fond of the
beetle. I myself could not say if the beetle really
brought her things or if she only said it in fun; but
this much is certain, that the two had grown very
fond of each other, and that he returned next spring
as soon as Eva drove her cattle into the forest,
and they continued their old friendship. Then Eva
learnt too, that he was a rare beetle and knew and
could do more than ordinary beetles.
One day she sat as usual with him under a green
oak tree, playing with him and other beetles in the
grass. Suddenly one of the prettiest lady-birds took
wing, and rose quickly above the oak. Earthworm
looked longingly after it and exclaimed, "Oh! if I
could fly like that and float in the air above the
trees!"
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Gold-beetle whispered to her, "Would you really
like it, Earthworm ?"
And she answered, " Indeed I would.”
Not a second after, the most charming chariot
descended in the air and lowered itself before Earth-
worm, as if to say, "If you please, get in, Earth-
worm!" The chariot was wrought daintily in white
ivory, carved and painted with birds and flowers.
It was large enough for a little girl to sit in it com-
fortably, and was drawn by six blue dragon flies. She
stood before the charming vehicle and clapped her
hands with wonder and delight. Gold-beetle urged
her to get in, and although she was all in a tremble
with delight and desire, she yet laughed and said,
"Where shall I get in? These little horses won't
carry me far!"
"You just get in," said Gold-beetle, "I will be
coachman"; and he settled on the box. Earthworm
laughed again, but got in for fun, as she thought,
for she did not dream this team could raise her from
the ground.
But, behold! Gold-beetle took the ribbons, took
the golden whip plaited out of sunbeams in hand and
cracked it, so that it sounded through the forest, and
the six winged horses started, and in a twinkle they
were high above the beeches and oaks and flew so
quickly that it almost took Eva's breath away and
she held on to her chariot almost frightened. But
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she had not time to cry "Stop, stop," as she would
have liked to. Yet when she saw that there was no
danger, she much enjoyed the flying drive above the
forest to its borders and back. When they came
back to where her cows and calves were feeding,
Gold-beetle directed the chariot down very gently so
that they descended at the same place where they
had started.
These drives were often repeated, and it was
Earthworm's special delight that in her ivory car
and with the dragon-fly team they were flying
faster than the fastest birds, so that she often
could catch pigeons, falcons, and other fast-flying
ones on her way. Sometimes she had a night
drive, and when Gold-beetle invited her, she
stepped quietly out of the house when everybody
was asleep, and the drives by moonlight seemed
the merriest to her. But she never told anybody
of this, only she confided to her mother that the
old woman had presented her with the new clothes
in return for the frock she had given her in the
spring.
Now she was fifteen years of age and grew to be a
big girl, but she was still tending the cattle in the
forest. Gold-beetle's visits became more rare, but then
she used to collect the other girls and boys who
tended cattle in the wood about her and tell them
stories, of which she knew very many, for her mother
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had always shortened the winter evenings by telling
stories and fairy-tales.
One day Eva had told them a sad story of a young
prince who had been mortally wounded in fighting a
dragon, and now sang a dying song to his sweetheart.
This story had so impressed itself on her thoughts
that she kept singing:
Fare thee well, my sweetheart,
Fare thee well, we must part;
and the tears kept coming into her eyes. Thus with
sad musings she sat under the oak, her usual play-
ground, when all of a sudden Gold-beetle, whom
she had not seen for several days, came buzzing
along. He whispered to her: "Earthworm, would
you like a drive? There is the loveliest rainbow in
the sky, we will go and look at it close by; but come
and get ready at once!" She consented, the chariot
came, she got in, and Gold-beetle took his whip and
urged the team on.
Off they went at such a pace that Earthworm
could not distinguish sky and earth, and saw nothing
of the promised rainbow. The coachman was mis-
chievously urging the horses on, they were buzzing,
and the air was rushing as if in a storm, whilst Gold-
beetle sang with a thin, shrill voice:
O weep not, my sweetheart,
Fare thee well, we must part.
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Poor Earthworm could do nothing else but hold on;
she was too breathless to ask, although it seemed to
her as if they were really whirling far away through
the air, when all of a sudden they went down gently
and stopped in an unknown country. Earthworm
was going to ask, "Where are we?" But before
she could utter the question, carriage, coachman, and
team, had vanished; and she never in her life saw
them again.
It was dark, the sun had gone down, and the moon
and the stars shone brightly in the sky. Now she
might have sung, "Farewell! fare thee well!" but
she was not in a singing mood, but wept bitterly,
wringing her hands. Then she sighed and said re-
peatedly: "Oh, what a wicked girl I have been!
Mother has often scolded me for playing so much
with beetles and worms. Now I see what tricky
knaves they are. Just you wait, Gold-beetle! when
I see you again, you shall catch it! Oh, if I
could only find somebody to show me the way
home!"
Now she began to walk through the bushes, but
the quick flight had tired her out so that she had
soon to sit down under a tree to rest. There she fell
asleep and slept till the next morning. Sleep well,
and pleasant dreams, dear Earthworm!
When she awoke, the sun stood high in the heaven.
She looked about with wide-open eyes, for yesterday's
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adventure seemed a dream to her, and she had also
dreamt again of the quick journey through the air,
and of a burning house, of war, and all sorts of
trouble and anxiety. With these thoughts she awoke,
and became aware that she was in an utterly un-
known country, far away from her father's house.
For round about were high mountains with snow-
capped tops. She wept bitterly and said: "Oh,
you wicked Gold-beetle! I shall never get out of
this, and I shall never see my father and mother
again, for how should I get over those mountains
through the deep snow ?"
She walked on aimlessly and listlessly, till she
came to a little orchard where apples, pears, and
plums hung in plenty on the trees. She picked
some and ate, for she was very hungry, and then she
walked on through the trees, for she heard a cock
crowing and a dog barking. These sounds cheered
her, and she thanked God for having brought her to
the neighbourhood of human beings; then she soon
saw a small thatched house and went straight towards
it. A little dog ran to meet her, wagged his tail
merrily, and neither barked nor growled. He was fol-
lowed by a white pussy cat, who rubbed her fur against
Eva's knees and purred comfortably, as cats will do
when they are pleased. These two accompanied her
to the door, in front of which sat an old, white-
haired, little woman spinning and singing a cheerful
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"".
hymn, “Wake up, my heart, to praise the Lord!
and she was not disturbed by the new arrival, and
Earthworm joined in and sang with her to the end,
feeling thankful that she had come to such pious.
folks. After that the old woman rose from her
spinning-wheel, shook her by the hand, and bade
her welcome. But when she looked in the child's
face, she said, "O dear me! Earthworm, is it you?
How in the world have you come here?
The child was startled at being called by her nick-
name, looked closely at the old woman, and recognised
in her the giver of the beautiful new clothes, so she
cheerfully replied: "Yes, mother, I am Earthworm,
but how I have got here I can't tell. I only know
that Gold-beetle is an arch-deceiver; he deluded me
with talk of a beautiful rainbow, and brought me so
quickly through the air that I could neither see nor
hear, and at last put me down here and left me in
the lurch. Now I am glad to find you. I am sure
you can show me the way through the mountains to
get home to father and mother, for they will be very
anxious that I did not come home last night, and
will think that robbers have stolen me, or wolves
devoured me."
"C
The old woman made answer, Be welcome here,
Earthworm! Your parents live very far away
and I could not take you there now. For all
the roads are unsafe, it being war-time, and strange
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from Rügen
soldiers yesterday took possession of Distelfeld. So
do not scold Gold-beetle; it is for that reason that
he brought you away. You could not assist your
poor parents, and you yourself might have come to
sore grief. So you had better resign yourself and
stay with me. We live here in the forest, far from
the high road, and no enemy will come across these
mountains. When all is quiet again, I will take you
home."
So Earthworm yielded and stayed, but she wept
many a tear in the secrecy of her little room, and in
the solitary forest, at being so far away from her
folks. Otherwise she fared well.
Now this was a little farm, lying quite in the
heart of the forest, with some fields, pastures, and
garden; there was plenty of wood, and trout and
carp in the brooks and ponds. Here lived the old
woman with her husband and a man-servant, who
was not young either, and the three tilled and man-
aged the farm. Earthworm helped them as well.
They had two oxen, two horses, eight cows, twenty
sheep and goats, a number of fowls and ducks in the
yard, fruit in the garden and corn in the fields, and
lived comfortably and happily. They were very good
Christians, and Earthworm had ample time to read
the Bible and the hymn-book. During the summer
they were very busy garnering the corn and filling
the house and barns for the winter; in the autumn
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Fairy Tales
and winter the men threshed and chopped wood, and
brought it home from the forest, and the mother and
Earthworm, after attending to the cows and the
kitchen, sat at the spinning-wheel telling stories or
singing sacred songs. Earthworm used to say later
on that the years she spent here had been the happiest
time of her life.
Thus five summers went by without her finding
the time hang heavy on her hands, when one morn-
ing the old woman came into the girl's room and
said "Dear Earthworm, it is time for you to go
home to your parents. There have been troublous
times in Distelfeld and the whole country of Fran-
conia; but now war is over, it is peace, and it is only
fair that you should go back to your parents and try
to make up to them for the care they took of you in
your childhood. I sent for you here, not simply
to have you with me-though you know that I am
very fond of you-but that you should be safe from
the savagery and misery of war; and although I
should be glad to keep you, it would be a sin not to
give you back to your parents. You have become
aware that I know different arts; but I am one of
the women called good fairies, and I never use my
art for evil purposes. Therefore do not be afraid
of me, but remember me, for I have spent my
life in trying to turn mad adventures to right and
to unravel confusion. And now child, get ready,
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from Rügen
pack up your clothes and linen, for we start to-
morrow."
Earthworm did as she was bid and then sat down
alone and cried at the thought of parting from the
old woman who had been so kind to her. Next
morning the waggon and pair stood at the door, with
the old farm servant as coachman, and she got in
with the old woman. They drove for six days, and
on the seventh they came to the village where the
people from Distelfeld go to church. There they
stopped at the inn, and the old woman said: "Now
I must bid you good-bye, my child, I cannot drive
further, for I must get home again. God bless you
and keep you faithfully and securely in His ways,
then you will be happy here and in after life." She
bade the man unload the chests and boxes which
contained Eva's clothes and house-linen, and gave
her a full purse, saying, “This is to be your dowry,
my child; you can buy a small farm with it." Then
she drove off and Earthworm hired the innkeeper to
drive her to Distelfeld, where her parents lived.
When they drove on to the common, she wondered
at seeing so few houses, and some of them quite
new, and asked the driver, "Why, is this Distel-
feld?"
"Of course it is," replied he, "but it is not the old
Distelfeld; that was burnt down in the war, and
they are just rebuilding."
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Fairy Tales
Earthworm was frightened and thought anxiously
about her parents and brothers and sisters, but
she dared not inquire from the man after them.
They drove into the village and saw burnt-out places,
large trees and beams lying about, broken fences and
tumble-down walls, until she got to her father's
house. That was no longer the old one, but a brand
new one, which they had just finished. There she
found her parents alive, though very poor, yet not
discouraged, for they trusted in God. Her sisters
and brothers were alive except one, who had died in
the war.
Her two elder sisters were married and
lived in the next village. And she related to her
parents where she had been so long, and how it had
fared with her, and cheered them by saying, "God
can help you, and I can also." With these words
she opened the purse which her kind foster-mother
had given her at parting, and there were five hundred
new gold ducats in it, and in the chests was the most
beautiful house-linen, which she herself had helped
to spin and bleach, and which the good old woman
had given her for an outfit.
And she soon chose an honest young farmer for a
husband and lived in Distelfeld as a good and
Christian woman. A blessing was on her industry
and piety so that she had means to help her parents
and many others. Her children were diligently in-
structed and sent to church and school, and she did
1
218
from Rügen
not allow them to be much alone in the forest or
roam about in the night. For she held it was not
good for men to get too much attached to the lower
creation, which might only confuse their minds and
take them from the right way, and that it was safest
to hold fast to the Bible, and not inquire over much
what is in the trees and hills and what the birds
and beetles, or flowers and leaves, whisper and talk
about, and that it was a great mercy that her childish
play had not led her all wrong.
219
BIG JOACHIM
FARMER HANS DIEBENKORN-I forget what village he
lived in—had a son called Joachim, who was a very
rough uncouth boy, full of tricks and knavery, and
whom nobody could subdue. His father was a quiet
respectable man who admonished and punished him
often; parson and schoolmaster chiselled and planed
him with serious warning and severe punish-
ment; he was liberally treated to the cane and
hazel switch; but all that could not soften and
tame him; Joachim remained the same defiant, dis-
obedient fellow that he had always been, and when
he could play a nasty trick he was in his element.
The worst of it, and that which caused his father the
greatest anxiety, was his unusual strength. When he
was only fifteen years old he could measure himself
in wrestling and boxing with the strongest farm
servants in the village. Add to this, that Joachim
was a handsome slim fellow, who could talk so well
and make himself so agreeable that no stranger could
guess what a rogue he was. All the better could he
220
Fairy Tales
play his jokes and tricks on other fellows, for he
could pretend so much that the cleverest people
were taken in by him. His father, who knew his
failings, kept him close to work; but as soon as
he had a free minute, he was at his tricks, and
everywhere one heard complaints of him. Yet an
old proverb says, "Oft goes the pitcher to the well,
but at last comes broken home," and that fitted on
Joachim.
His particular pastime was to tease old folks who
passed his way, or poor folks who begged at the doors
of kind-hearted people, and he did this repeatedly,
however hard his father chastised him for it, and
reminded him that there was no greater sin than
mocking those who are in trouble, for God had sent
them their trouble and they are under his special
protection.
One day a poor old beggar woman came along,
with a basket on her head and a sack on her back.
She staggered painfully along, stood still after every
few paces and groaned and coughed. Joachim saw
her coming, made up to her and pleasantly bade her
good day. She felt confidence in him and asked
him how she could get across a deep brook which
flowed between her and the village. "Oh, come
along, mother, come with me," said Joachim; "I
will show you a way." He went in front and she
followed as he led her to a narrow slender plank,
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Fairy Tales
which was laid across the brook.
When the old
woman was in the middle of it, Joachim began
to rock with all his might at one end-pretending
that he was giddy—and he rocked so much that the
plank tipped over and the poor old woman with
basket and sack fell into the water, full length. He
jumped towards her, helped her out of the water, and
pretended to be much concerned, but he smirked and
laughed in his sleeve.
The poor old lady thanked him as if she did not
notice it, and took her wet clothes off and hung
them about the bushes to dry in the sun, and then
to pass away the time she began to sing a few
songs in a touching, plaintive voice. Joachim,
who had run away, came back and listened; he
liked the singing, sat down by her side and said,
laughing, "I say, mother, will you sing a song
for me?"
Certainly, my boy; but you must pay attention
and remember it." And she sang:
Ducats behind the hedge,
Love from a peacock,
Constancy in a sparrow,
Reason in the little finger,
Are as rare things
As roses among the hay.
Pay good heed, my boy,
You play too many tricks,
Which may God forgive;
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from Rügen
But many mice will devour the cat,
You will remember this water,
And your pleasure will turn to wail.
Joachim laughed immoderately when she had
ended, and said, "What a stupid, foolish ditty, old
lady; without rhyme or reason. Listen; I will sing
you one." And, with a bright playful voice, he
began quickly:
Cuckoo sat on the fence,
It came on to rain and he got wet,
And the cuckoo got wet;
Then he cried, Oh, my pet,
How wet, how wet, how wet!
My pet, how you are wet!
Cuckoo, cuckoo !
And he flew thence.
Thereupon he ran away, but not without first
upsetting the old woman's basket and shoes.
This sort of thing he did often, and could never
restrain his wanton malice. One day he came
running from the forest and singing merrily, for he
was always in high spirits. It was a cold wintry
day, and snowing and freezing hard. As thus,
with merry shouts, he ran down a narrow pass,
there stood a tiny old man, who looked very white
and miserable, and groaned and sighed over the effort
of lifting a big basket on his back, which he could
not manage. When he saw Joachim he was pleased,
and begged him, "Dear boy, remember that you also
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Fairy Tales
will one day be old and infirm, and help me to put
this basket on my back."
"With pleasure," said Joachim; he came forward,
raised the basket and put the dosser handles round
his shoulders; but then he pulled the old man
over with his basket, left him to lie in the snow,
and, running away, called out, "Peep, birdie,
peep!"
The old man gathered himself up, picked up the
things that had fallen out of his basket, and, with an
angry voice, he called after the laughing boy, "Yes,
peep, birdie, peep! God will teach you to pipe, you
wicked boy."
And God did teach this bird to pipe. Next
morning, when he had to go with his axe into the
forest to cut trees, he had to walk through this same
narrow pass. As he came near it he had a funny
feeling so uncomfortable, such as he had never felt
in his life. And although it was bright day, for the
wintry sun had just risen in red glory, he felt creepy
as if it had been midnight; but that was his evil
conscience, and he kept fancying that the old man
was coming out of the pass, calling to him, "Peep,
birdie, peep!" He would willingly have taken
another road if there had been one. At last he
ventured into the narrow pass, but he had barely set
his foot on the place where last night he pushed the
old man with his basket into the snow, when it took
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from Rügen
him and shook him, and he was gone; nor did he
ever come back, and no man knew whither he
had flown and drifted. And the folk believed
that the Evil One had fetched him for the sake of
the many wicked, scandalous tricks the boy had
played.
Yet that was not so, but the old man's "Peep,
birdie, peep!" had come true. Joachim was changed
into a bird, into even the smallest bird that lives in
our parts; and he had to learn the piping of a bird.
It is his punishment now that, in the hardest winter,
he has to fly about through the shrubs and hedges
and flutter round the houses, and mostly at the
windows of poor people's cottages, and must be
hungry and cold, and say "Peep, peep!" He wears a
grey coat, like the grey blouse which he wore when he
was transformed, and to this day he must laugh out
of his roguish twinkling eyes even when he feels like
crying. He is called "Little Wren," but in derision
people call him "Big Joachim," or "Short Jan.'
They also call him "Hedgeking," or "Nettleking,"
because the poor wretch has to slip and fly through
nettles and thistles and thorny hedges, and often
builds his nest among the nettles. There he has
time to reflect upon his sins, when the wind whistles
and the snow is drifting, and he has to sit and
pipe in bare bushes and hedges. The children often
hear him sing with his thin voice, and are reminded
""
1
225
P
Fairy Tales
of the old story of Joachim Diebenkorn. But this is
what he sings:
Peep, peep!
The apples are ripe,
The pears are yellow,
The bacon is cured,
The room is warm,
Hans sits in Margaret's arm.
Peep, peep!
How cold is the rime,
How thin is my coat,
How bare is my bed,
How long is the night,
I am in sad plight.
226
THE HOOPOE
THIS is what Henry Vierk once related of the tailor
Hoopoe.
The most marvellous things will happen in this
world. Kings have become beggars, beggars have
become kings, and you cannot judge from a man's
looks what he has once been and what may become
of him. Thus the hoopoe was once a ladies' tailor;
and who would guess now from his appearance that
he had ever been used to good society? He used to
live in a big and rich city, carried himself like a
smart fellow, wore a coloured silken coat, went from
one grand house to another, from one palace to the
next, and carried home expensive materials, out of
which he was to make clothes. And as he was good-
looking and well-mannered, all the great ladies took
him for their tailor, so that he had plenty of work,
and even measured the queen for her coronation-
robe. Thus Master Hoopoe soon became very rich;
and yet he was never satisfied, but would run after
work and carry home his load, which often was so
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Fairy Tales
heavy as to make him groan like a carthorse, and
when he mounted the stairs he would sigh, "Hoop,
whoop!" Now, desire for work could easily be
excused, but it turned in the end to evil greed, and
that the Lord could not overlook in His patience.
The tailor came to steal and thieve some pieces of
all the materials given to him to make up, and for
that reason it happened one night, when, with a
heavy bundle and a heavier sigh of "whoop, hoop!"
he climbed upstairs, he was suddenly changed into
a coloured bird, who, under the name of Hoopoe,
flutters round houses and mews and with insatiable
greed picks up the nastiest things and carries them
to his nest. To this very day he wears a coloured
coat, but its colours remind you of the place where
thieves and knaves go to. Part of it is raven-black,
the other fiery red, to signify the darkness and fire
of hell.
A similar coat to that of Master Hoopoe is worn
by a beetle, called the grave-digger, who runs about
the roads and buries dead moles and beetles. The
coloured bug also walks about in the same colours.
They both have an offensive smell, and no doubt
were at one time thieves. Well, the hoopoe has kept,
from his tailoring time, the habit of crying "Whoop,
hoop!" as if he still carried an ill-gotten burden
which was too heavy for him. Country folks, there-
fore, call him the cuckoo's clerk, because from the
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from Rügen
distance his call sounds as if he would repeat the
cuckoo's call in the same way as the clerk repeats
after the parson.
Only the cuckoo is a jolly rogue, who can enjoy
his tune, whilst the hoopoe is a sad melancholy
knave, who must sigh and utter even his whoopoe
with difficulty.
T
229
HOW THE MICE ARE
WHISTLING
FROM THE LOW GERMAN
"WHERE are the mice whistling?" Do you know
why when one wants to make fun of anybody's
not thriving well, one says, "Where are the mice
whistling?" In Reddebas there lived once upon
a time a farmer called Martin Drews, who was
rather wild and fierce, and would bear no restraint.
The village folks called him "Mad Drews." At
work he was capable, could thresh and mow
as much as two or three others; but of God and
His word he would not hear anything, and every
Sunday and holiday, and many a week-day night, he
would sit in the public-house at cards and gin, and
would behave dreadfully. For he could drink more
than any man, and stand more fatigue than a horse.
If he had sat up through the night, he was yet
quick and fresh at work during the day, and who-
ever sat down to drink with him was lost, and at
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Fairy Tales
cards he was still more dangerous. He made all his
card-party stupid, or tired them out, and thus got
their money. In short, he was a fellow against
whom everybody ought to have been cautioned,
and nobody could do anything against his fists.
Thus Martin went on for many a day, like a
regular heathen, and yet until now he had always
fared well. Now it happened one Christmas Eve
that he sat in the inn at Karnin playing at
cards, and having plenty of trumps. As midnight
drew near, the gamekeeper from Karnin, who
was of the party, rose and said, "Throw the cards
down, Drews, and let us say a Paternoster, so that
the Evil One may not have any power over us this
coming year."
Drews laughed at him and said, "Go along with
your Evil One; that is nothing but parsons' talk, and
spook for children and old women. The Devil has
long been killed, and as far as he is concerned I will
safely go through the world by day and night. What,
you, a fellow that carries powder and shot, can still
believe in these old tales!"
“Yes,” said the keeper, "through the world with
God and His word." And he stood up, folded his
hands, and prayed; and all the others prayed with
him, also the card-players, who had laid down their
cards. But Martin snapped his fingers, shuffled the
cards, and laughed. The game was broken up, for
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Fairy Tales
nobody would go on playing with him, and every-
body went home. At last Drews left also.
As he was halfway between Karnin and Reddebas,
on the big high-road to Hamburg, where the road
turns off to Satel, he saw all of a sudden a red flame
running through the bushes, and however bold he
was, his skin was creepy all over his body, and his
hair stood on end inside his cap. His fear actually
got the better of him, and he could not help it; he
took to his heels. When he had run along for
some time he stood still to take breath, and said
to himself, “Fie, Martin! Is that how you run
away from the Devil? And yet it is nothing but
children's tales-for who has ever seen the Devil?
Go along, be a man and go at him, if he can be
found."
Thus he made himself brave and turned back, and
walked slowly to the place where half-an-hour ago
his legs had become so nimble. Yet his heart beat
under his ribs so loudly that you could have heard it
at the distance of a gunshot. Still he pulled himself
together, set his teeth firmly, and wanted to be a man.
And when he came to the Satel road, where he had
seen the funny flame running over the white snow,
he stood still and called out with such a loud voice
that the trees trembled, "Come out, Devil! come out,
if you have any courage!
""
And what happened? Upon his word the flame
232
from Rügen
leapt like lightning over the snow just towards
him, and he saw that it was like a glowing mouse,
which jumped as if in high glee, and whistled
quite finely, and was no bigger than an ordinary
mouse; but it flickered and flared like hellish fire,
and had a beautifully gilt comb on its head, and
gnashed its fiery teeth as if it meant to bite him.
And whether Martin liked it or not, he could
not stand the flickering and snapping, and in a
trice he took again to his heels. But he had so
outrun his strength in the deep snow, and the fright
had so upset him, that he was laid up miserably
ill for a week or longer. Yet he was silent about
his Christmas adventure, and his run in the snow,
and did not tell a soul how he had got from Karnin
to Reddebas.
And that was not the end of it, for evil things
take their time, just as good things. He had called
out the old black fiend, and now he would not give
him up. Martin was so frightened of the place
near the Satel road, that even in bright daylight
nobody could have taken him there alive. When he
had any journey to make towards Flemendorp or the
sea, he always made a long detour. Yet Old Nick
is very cunning, and knows how to find the way to
where he wants to go. It was very peculiar in this
mouse affair, that in spite of all the fear with which
he remembered the flaming mouse on the snow, yet
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Fairy Tales
he felt a burning desire and impulse in his heart to
see the fiery mouse once more. For thus it is that
fear and desire draw a poor sinner to the Devil. His
desire grew stronger day by day, and tormented
him so much that he had no rest nor peace from
it. And the greatest torment was near the time
when God leaves the road open to the Devil, when
he and all that wear witches' and evil spirits' caps
may carry on their game. When all good Christians
lie in their best sleep at midnight, Martin could
hardly contain himself, however fearful he felt; it
pulled him out of his warm bed, and out of the
house into the sullen, dark, and dreary night, on to
the high-road where it goes uphill from the village
towards Karnin, and only greater fear and trembling
drove him home again.
Thus the craving desire for and fear of the Devil,
plagued him for three months, from Christmas to
Easter, and the formerly merry and wild fellow
became thoughtful and melancholy, so that his friends
and neighbours wondered what might be the matter
with him. Martin bravely resisted for some time,
yet in the end the Devil got the better of him,
and notwithstanding his fear he was driven towards
the road to Satel. And as he came to it, surely there
all was ready for him, and his fate was sealed. The
very instant the fiery mouse was there, and jumped
about him and behaved so nicely, and looked so
234
from Rügen
pleasantly at him with its bright shining eyes, as
if it would make friends; and then it ran in
front of him towards the coppice, and stood still
again and looked back at him, so as to say, "Come-
with me, come with me!" And however much
his heart beat and thumped he could not help it,
he must follow. And as the mouse came into the
coppice, it crept under a round stone and disappeared,
and instantly the stone looked as if it were on fire.
When Martin saw that, his fear was gone, he be-
thought himself of old tales which his father used in
old days to tell him of burning gold, and how one
might conjure the Devil so that he could not pull the
gold down with him.
Martin lost no time; he spread his hands in the
form of a cross over the stone, flourished his hat over
it, and cried, "Avaunt, Satan, thou hast no right
over me!
And he stood boldly and daringly there
until the cock crowed and the larks rose up in the
air, and the bright day broke. Then he set to work,
rolled the stone aside, and there lay a dead mouse
and a big heap of red ducats. And he gathered his
hat-crown full, and filled his pockets and boots, and
then sneaked home without making a noise, and put
the gold in his money-box. And having thus taken
the first earnest-money from Satan, he was doomed.
Many a night when all good people lie in a sweet
slumber which covers all care, poor Martin had to
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Fairy Tales
turn out and stagger to the fatal stone, and stand
shivering by it in fear and trembling.
This went on for a few years, and he had boxes
and chests heaped full of gold, and stalked about
like a lord in a splendid coat, silver spurs, and
a hat with gold galloon. But every Christian could
see that there was something wrong. And at last
there started a rumour of fiery mice, and one
farm-servant, who could no longer remain in his
service for fear and awe, related that he had often
seen the burning mice run over the farmyard,
and that in the barns and stables nobody could
save and hide himself from their whistling and
nibbling.
And so it happened that when the evil fiend had
so ensnared him that he no longer could burst his
bonds, one Christmas Eve, between midnight and one
o'clock, so many flaming mice came running across
the farmyard that it shone like a big fire, and these
jumping Devil's brats set fire to his house and barns
and stables; and Martin Drews, with wife and chil-
dren, with his cattle and horses, was burnt to ashes,
and all the Devil's money with him-unless the mice
have secretly carried it off. Only two or three miser-
able ducats were scratched up among the ashes. And
ever since that time folks say, "Listen, how Martin's
mice are whistling!" And where formerly Martin's
house used to stand, that is behind the publican's
236
from Rügen
orchard, there is ghostly whistling every night; and
on each tree there sits an owl and screams, and I
would not advise any one to go over that place in
the dead, dark night-time.
Printed by Ballantyne, HaNSON & Co.
London and Edinburgh
"The Ideal Gift-Books of the Season."
FAIRY TALES OF THE
BRITISH EMPIRE.
M
Collected and Edited by JOSEPH JACOBS.
Illustrated by J. D. BATTEN.
R. JACOBS' FAIRY TALES, which have been
appearing since 1890, have won immediate and
widespread acceptance. The choice of matter, the sim-
plicity and suitable character of the language of the text,
the beauty, humour, and charm of Mr. BATTEN's illustra-
tions, and the large and legible type have commended the
series alike to children and to lovers of art; whilst the
prefaces and elaborate notes, parallels, and references
added by the Editor have made them indispensable to the
increasingly large portion of the public interested in the
history and archæology of popular fiction.
'Fairy Tales of the British Empire" are published in
two forms-at 6s. and at 3s. 6d. a volume.
In so far as Tales and Illustrations are concerned, the
3s. 6d. Edition will be the same as the original 6s. one.
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are omitted.
A full list of the Series will be found overleaf.
Fairy Tales of the British Empire.
English Fairy Tales. Complete Edition, xvi., 255
pages, 9 full-page Plates, and numerous Illustrations in the
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Celtic Fairy Tales. Complete Edition, xvi., 274
pages, 8 full-page Plates, numerous Illustrations in text.
Designed Cloth Cover, Uncut or Gilt Edges. 6s.
The same. Children's Edition, viii., 236 pages, 7 full-page.
Plates and numerous Illustrations in text. Cloth, Cut.
3s. 6d.
More Celtic Fairy Tales. Complete Edition, xvi.,
234 pages, 8 full-page Plates, numerous Illustrations in text.
Designed Cloth Cover, Uncut or Gilt Edges. 6s.
The same. Children's Edition, viii., 217 pages, 7 full-page
Plates, and numerous Illustrations in text.
3s. 6d.
Cloth, cut.
Indian Fairy Tales. Complete Edition, xvi., 255
pages, 9 full-page Plates, and numerous Illustrations in text.
Designed Cloth Cover, Uncut or Gilt Edges, 6s.
No Children's Edition of the “ Indian Fairy Tales" will
be issued for the present.
DAVID NUTT, 270-271, STRAND,
LONDON.



1
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THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
2
DATE DUE
9 1981

AUG1 81983


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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 05091 8385
Summ
ARTES
LIBRARY
1817
SCIENTIA
VERITAS OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
FERIBUS LAUN
TUEBOR
PENINSULAM-AMŒNAM.
CIRCUMSPICE
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