stairs, counting them, without heeding the bird's words. "One hundred,"
again said the girl, as she tarried on the next landing, but still no
one was to be seen, but thinking that she might find some one she opened
the first door, which revealed a splendour quite beyond all she had ever
imagined, a sight such as she had never seen before, but still no one
appeared. She went into another room and there amongst other furniture
she also found three bedsteads, "this is the three young men's bedroom,"
she thought, and went on. The next room into which she stepped was full
of weapons of every possible description; the girl stared and went on,
and then she came to a large hall which was full of all sorts of
garments, clerical, military, civilian, and also women's dresses. She
went on still further and in the next room she found a female figure,
made up of razors, which, with extended arms as it seemed, was placed
above a deep hole. The girl was horror-struck at the sight and her fear
drove her back; trembling she went back through the rooms again, but
when she came into the bedroom she heard male voices. Her courage fled
and she could go no further, but hearing some footsteps approach she
crept under one of the beds. The men entered, whom she recognised as the
three sons of the count, bringing with them a beautiful girl, whom the
trembling girl recognised by her voice as a dear friend; they stripped
her of all, and as they could not take off a diamond ring from her
little finger, one of the men chopped it off and the finger rolled under
the bed where the girl lay concealed. One of the men began to look for
the ring when another said "You will find it some other time," and so he
left off looking for it. Having quite undressed the girl they took her
to the other room, when after a short lapse of time she heard some faint
screaming, and it appeared to her as if the female figure of razors had
snapped together, and the mangled remains of the unfortunate victim were
heard to drop down into the deep hole. The three brothers came back and
one of them began to look for the ring: the cold sweat broke out on the
poor girl hiding under the bed. "Never mind, it is ours new and you can
find it in the morning," said one of the men, and bade the others go to
bed; and so it happened: the search for the ring was put off till next
day. They went to bed and the girl began to breathe more freely in her
hiding-place; she began to grope about in silence and found the ring and
secreted it in her dress, and hearing that the three brothers were fast
asleep, she stole out noiselessly leaving the door half ajar. The next
day the three brothers again visited the countess when the daughter
told them that she had a dream as if she had been to their castle. She
told them how she went up a flight of marble stairs till she counted
100, and up the next flight when she again counted 100. The brothers
were charmed and very much surprised at the dream and assured her that
it was exactly like their home. Then she told them how she went from one
room to another and what she saw, but when she came in her dream as far
as the razor-maid they began to feel uneasy and grew suspicious, and
when she told them the scene with the girl, and in proof of her tale
produced the finger with the ring, the brothers were terrified and
exclaiming, "We are betrayed!" took flight; but everything was arranged,
and the servants, who were ordered to watch, caught them. After an
investigation all their numberless horrible deeds were brought to light
and they were beheaded.

THE SPEAKING GRAPES, THE SMILING APPLE, AND THE TINKLING APRICOT.

There was once, I don't know where, beyond seven times seven countries,
a king who had three daughters. One day the king was going to the
market, and thus inquired of his daughters: "What shall I bring you from
the market, my dear daughters?" The eldest said, "A golden dress, my
dear royal father;" the second said, "A silver dress for me;" the third
said, "Speaking grapes, a smiling apple, and a tinkling apricot for me."
"Very well, my daughters," said the king, and went. He bought the
dresses for his two elder daughters in the market, as soon as he
arrived; but, in spite of all exertions and inquiries, he could not find
the speaking grapes, the smiling apple, and tinkling apricot. He was
very sad that he could not get what his youngest daughter wished, for
she was his favourite; and he went home. It happened, however, that the
royal carriage stuck fast on the way home, although his horses were of
the best breed, for they were such high steppers that they kicked the
stars. So he at once sent for extra horses to drag out the carriage; but
all in vain, the horses couldn't move either way. He gave up all hope,
at last, of getting out of the position, when a dirty, filthy pig came
that way, and grunted, "Grumph! grumph! grumph! King, give me your
youngest daughter, and I will help you out of the mud." The king, never
thinking what he was promising, and over-anxious to get away, consented,
and the pig gave the carriage a push with its nose, so that carriage and
horses at once moved out of the mud. Having arrived at home the king
handed the dresses to his two daughters, and was now sadder than ever
that he had brought nothing for his favourite daughter; the thought also
troubled him that he had promised her to an unclean animal.

After a short time the pig arrived in the courtyard of the palace
dragging a wheelbarrow after it, and grunted, "Grumph! grumph! grumph!
King, I've come for your daughter." The king was terrified, and, in
order to save his daughter, he had a peasant girl dressed in rich
garments, embroidered with gold, sent her down and had her seated in the
wheelbarrow: the pig again grunted, "Grumph! grumph! grumph! King, this
is not your daughter;" and, taking the barrow, it tipped her out. The
king, seeing that deceit was of no avail, sent down his daughter, as
promised, but dressed in ragged, dirty tatters, thinking that she would
not please the pig; but the animal grunted in great joy, seized the
girl, and placed her in the wheelbarrow. Her father wept that, through a
careless promise, he had brought his favourite daughter to such a fate.
The pig went on and on with the sobbing girl, till, after a long
journey, it stopped before a dirty pig-stye and grunted, "Grumph!
grumph! grumph! Girl, get out of the wheelbarrow." The girl did as she
was told. "Grumph! grumph! grumph!" grunted the pig again; "go into
your new home." The girl, whose tears, now, were streaming like a brook,
obeyed; the pig then offered her some Indian corn that it had in a
trough, and also its litter which consisted of some old straw, for a
resting-place. The girl had not a wink of sleep for a long time, till at
last, quite worn out with mental torture, she fell asleep.

Being completely exhausted with all her trials, she slept so soundly
that she did not wake till next day at noon. On awaking, she looked
round, and was very much astonished to find herself in a beautiful
fairy-like palace, her bed being of white silk with rich purple curtains
and golden fringes. At the first sign of her waking maids appeared all
round her, awaiting her orders, and bringing her costly dresses. The
girl, quite enchanted with the scene, dressed without a word, and the
maids accompanied her to her breakfast in a splendid hall, where a young
man received her with great affection. "I am your husband, if you accept
me, and whatever you see here belongs to you," said he; and after
breakfast led her into a beautiful garden. The girl did not know
_whether it was a dream she saw or reality_, and answered all the
questions put to her by the young man with evasive and chaffing replies.
At this moment they came to that part of the garden which was laid out
as an orchard, and the bunches of grapes began to speak "Our beautiful
queen, pluck some of us." The apples smiled at her continuously, and the
apricots tinkled a beautiful silvery tune. "You see, my love," said the
handsome youth, "here you have what you wished for--what your father
could not obtain. You may know now, that once I was a monarch but I was
bewitched into a pig, and I had to remain in that state till a girl
wished for speaking grapes, a smiling apple, and a tinkling apricot. You
are the girl, and I have been delivered; and if I please you, you can be
mine for ever." The girl was enchanted with the handsome youth and the
royal splendour, and consented. They went with great joy to carry the
news to their father, and to tell him of their happiness.

THE THREE ORANGES.

There was once, I don't know where, a king, who had three sons. They had
reached a marriageable age, but could not find any one who suited them,
or who pleased their father. "Go, my sons, and look round in the world,"
said the king, "and try to find wives somewhere else." The three sons
went away, and at bed-time they came to a small cottage, in which a
very, very old woman lived. She asked them about the object of their
journey, which the princes readily communicated to her. The old woman
provided them with the necessaries for the journey as well as she could,
and before taking leave of her guests, gave them an orange each, with
instructions to cut them open only in the neighbourhood of water, else
they would suffer great, very great damage. The three princes started on
their way again, and the eldest not being able to restrain his curiosity
as to what sort of fruit it could be, or to conceive what harm could
possibly happen if he cut it open in a place where there was no water
near: cut into the orange; and lo! a beautiful girl, such as he had
never seen before, came out of it, and exclaimed, "Water! let me have
some water, or I shall die on the spot." The prince ran in every
direction to get water, but could not find any, and the beautiful girl
died in a short time, as the old woman had said. The princes went on,
and now the younger one began to be inquisitive as to what could be in
his orange.

They had just sat down to luncheon on a plain, under a tall, leafy tree,
when it appeared to them that they could see a lake not very far off.
"Supposing there is a girl in the fruit, I can fulfil her wish," he
thought to himself, and not being able to restrain his curiosity any
longer, as to what sort of girl there could be inside, he cut his
orange; and lo! a girl, very much more beautiful than the first, stepped
out of it, and called out for water, in order to save her life. He had
previously sent his brother to what he thought was a lake; and, as he
could not wait for his return with the water, he ran off himself, quite
out of breath, but the further he ran the further the lake appeared to
be off, because it was only a mirage. He rushed back to the tree nearly
beside himself, in order to see whether the girl was yet alive, but only
found her body lifeless, and quite cold.

The two elder brothers, seeing that they had lost what they had been
searching for, and having given up all hope of finding a prettier one,
returned in great sorrow to their father's house, and the youngest
continued his journey alone. He wandered about until, after much
fatigue, he came to the neighbourhood of some town, where he found a
well. He had no doubt that there was a girl in his orange also, so he
took courage, and cut it; and, indeed, a girl, who was a hundred times
prettier than the first two, came out of it. She called out for water,
and the prince gave her some at once, and death had no power over her.
The prince now hurried into the town to purchase rich dresses for his
love; and that no harm might happen to her during his absence, he made
her sit up in a tree with dense foliage, the boughs of which overhung
the well.

As soon as the prince left, a gipsy woman came to the well for water.
She looked into the well, and saw in the water the beautiful face of
the girl in the tree. At first she fancied that she saw the image of her
own face, and felt very much flattered; but soon found out her mistake,
and looking about discovered the pretty girl in the tree. "What are you
waiting for, my pretty maid?" inquired the gipsy woman with a cunning
face. The girl told her her story, whereupon the gipsy woman, shamming
kindness, climbed up the tree, and pushed the pretty girl into the well,
taking her place in the tree, when the pretty girl sank. The next moment
a beautiful little gold fish appeared swimming in the water; the gipsy
woman recognised it as the girl, and, being afraid that it might be
dangerous to her, tried to catch it, when suddenly the prince appeared
with the costly dresses, so she at once laid her plans to deceive him:
the prince immediately noticed the difference between her and the girl
he had left; but she succeeded in making him believe that for a time
after having left the fairy world, she had to lose her beauty, but that
she would recover it the sooner the more he loved her: so the prince was
satisfied and went home to his father's house with the woman he found,
and actually loved her in hopes of her regaining her former beauty. The
good food and happy life, and also the pretty dresses, improved the
sunburnt woman's looks a little: the prince imagining that his wife's
prediction was going to be fulfilled, felt still more attached to her,
and was anxious to carry out all her wishes.

The woman, however, could not forget the little gold fish, and therefore
feigned illness, saying that she would not get better till she had eaten
of the liver of a gold fish, which was to be found in such and such a
well: the prince had the fish caught at once, and the princess having
partaken of the liver, got better, and felt more cheerful than before.
It happened, however, that one scale of the fish had been cast out in
the courtyard with the water, and from it a beautiful tree began to
grow; the princess noticed it and found out the reason, how the tree
got there, and again fell ill, and said that she could not get better
until they burnt the tree, and cooked her something by the flames. This
wish also was fulfilled, and she got better; it happened, however that
one of the woodcutters took a square piece of the timber home to his
wife, who used it as a lid for a milk jug: these people lived not very
far from the royal palace, and were poor, the woman herself keeping the
house, and doing all servants' work.

One day she left her house very early, without having put anything in
order, and without having done her usual household work; when she came
home in the evening, she found all clean, and in the best order; she was
very much astonished, and could not imagine how it came to pass; and it
happened thus on several days, whenever she had not put her house in
order before going out. In order to find out how these things were
accomplished, one day she purposely left her home in disorder, but did
not go far, but remained outside peeping through the keyhole, to see
what would happen. As soon as everything became quiet in the house, the
woman saw that the lid of the milk jug which was standing in the window,
began to move with gentle noise, and in a few moments a beautiful fairy
stepped out of it, who first combed her golden tresses, and performed
her toilet, and afterwards put the whole house in order. The woman, in
order to trap the fairy before she had time to retransform herself,
opened the door abruptly. They both seemed astonished, but the kind and
encouraging words of the woman soon dispelled the girl's fear, and now
she related her whole story, how she came into the world, how she became
a gold fish, and then a tree, and how she used to walk out of the wooden
lid of the milk jug to tidy the house; she also enlightened the woman as
to who the present queen was. The woman listened to all in great
astonishment, and in order to prevent the girl from slipping back into
the lid, she had previously picked it up, when she entered, and now
threw it into the fire. She at once went to the prince, and told him
the whole story.

The prince had already grown suspicious about his wife's beauty, which
had been very long in returning, and now he was quite sure that she was
a cheat: he sent for the girl and recognised her at once as the pretty
fairy whom he had left in the tree. The gipsy woman was put into the
pillory, and the prince married the pretty girl, and they lived ever
after in happiness.

THE YOUNGEST PRINCE AND THE YOUNGEST PRINCESS.

There was once, I don't know where, an old petticoat a hundred years
old, and in this petticoat a tuck, in which I found the following story.
There was once a king who had seven sons and seven daughters: he was in
great trouble where to find princesses of royal blood as wives for his
sons and princes as husbands for his daughters. At last the idea struck
him that the seven sons should marry the seven daughters. They all
consented to their father's wish with the exception of the youngest son
and daughter: "Well, if you won't," said the father, "I will give you
your inheritance and you can go and try your fortune, and get married as
best you can." The two children went, and came to a strange land, where
they were overtaken by darkness in a wood. They chose a bushy tree for
their resting place, whose leafy boughs bent down to the ground and
afforded shelter. When they woke next morning, the girl told her brother
that she had dreamt that there was a town not far off, where a king
lived who had been ill for a long time, and thousands upon thousands of
doctors had failed to cure him. He again dreamt that an old man with
snow-white hair told him that the tree under which they slept gave
water: in this water the king was to be bathed, and he would be cured.
They at once examined the tree, and from a crack in the bark sap as
clear as crystal was dripping; they filled their flasks with the fluid
and continued their journey. When they reached the outskirts of the
forest, they saw a town in front of them.

Having arrived there they went into an inn to find out whether their
dream was true, and asked the host what the news was in the town; he, in
his conversation, mentioned the illness of the king, and the many
unsuccessful attempts of men to cure him, and that he had strict orders,
under a heavy penalty, to report at once every doctor that came to his
inn. "I also am a doctor," said the prince, "and this youth is my
assistant," he continued, pointing to his sister, who was dressed in
male attire. The innkeeper at once reported them, and they went to court
to try their remedy on the king. The king's body was covered with sores,
and the doctor bathed his hand with the juice of the tree. To his great
joy, the king discovered next morning that the place which had been
bathed was visibly improving; he therefore, the very same night, sent a
huge wooden vessel on a cart to the tree, to bring him sufficient water
for a bath. After a few baths the king actually recovered; and the
doctor, having received a handsome present, requested a favour of the
king, viz., to pay him a visit and to do him the honour of dining with
him. The king cordially granted the request, and the prince received him
with great splendour in his spacious apartments, which were decorated
with a lavishness becoming a sovereign. As the king found the doctor
alone, he inquired after his assistant, and at this moment a charming
pretty girl stepped from one of the side rooms, whom the king at once
recognised as the doctor's assistant. The strangers now related to him
their story, and the king became more affable, especially towards the
pretty assistant, who at once gained possession of his heart and soul,
and the short acquaintance ended with a wedding. The prince, not
forgetting the object of his journey, started soon after the wedding
festivities were over.

He passed on till he came to the boundary of the king's realm, and then
went on as far as the capital of the next country. He was riding about
the streets on a fine horse, when he heard a voice coming from a window
close by, "Hum, you, too, won't get on without me," and looking in the
direction from which the voice came, he discovered an old man looking
out of the window. He didn't take any notice of the voice, but went on;
and, having arrived at an inn, made sundry inquiries, when he was told
that adventurous young men in this town might either meet with great
fortune or with a great misfortune; because the king had a daughter whom
no one had as yet seen, with the exception of her old nurse. The girl
had three marks on her, and whoever found out what they were, and where
they were, would become her husband; but whosoever undertook the task
and failed, would be impaled, and that already ninety-nine young fellows
had died in this manner.

Upon hearing this, it became clear to the prince what the meaning of the
old man's saying was; he thought, that no doubt the old man took him for
another adventurer, and the thought struck him that the old man must be
acquainted with the secret, and that it would be advantageous to make
his acquaintance. He found a plea at once; the old man was a goldsmith,
and, as the prince had lost the rowel of his golden spur on the road, he
called on him, and, having come to terms about the spur, the prince
inquired of him about the princess, and the old man's tale tallied with
that of the innkeeper. After a short reflection, the prince told the old
man who he was, and, with a look full of meaning, inquired if the
goldsmith could help him in case he tried his luck. "For a good sum with
pleasure," replied the goldsmith. "You shall have it," said the prince;
"but tell me how, and I will give you this purse on account." The old
man, seeing that there was good opportunity for gain, said, "I will
construct a silver horse in which you can conceal yourself, and I will
expose it for sale in the market. I am almost sure that no one will buy
it but some one attached to the royal court, and if once you get in
there, you can get out of the horse by a secret opening and go back
whenever you like and, I think, you will succeed."

And so it happened; on the following market-day a splendid silver horse
was exhibited in the vicinity of the royal palace: there were a good
many admirers, but on account of the great price there was no buyer,
till at last a person belonging to the royal court enquired the price;
after a few moments he returned and bought the horse for the king, who
presented it to his daughter, and thus the prince managed to get into
the chamber of the princess, which was the most difficult of all things,
and he listened amidst fear and joy to the silvery voice of the pretty
girl, who amused herself with the horse--which ran on wheels--and called
it her dear pet.

Evening drew on, and the mysterious girl went to rest; everything became
quiet, and only her old nurse was sitting up not far from her bed; but
about midnight she, too, fell asleep; hearing that she was fast asleep,
the prince got out of the horse and approached the girl's bed, holding
his breath, and found the mark of the sun shining on the girl's
forehead, the moon on the right breast, and three stars on the left.
Having found out the three secret marks, the prince was about to retire
to his hiding-place when the princess woke. She tried to scream, but at
an imploring gesture of the youth she kept silence. The girl could not
take her eyes off the handsome prince, who related to her how and for
what reason he had dared to come. The girl, being tired of her long
seclusion, consented to his scheme, and they secretly plotted how the
prince should get out of the palace; whereupon he went back to his
hiding-place. In accord with the plot, next morning the girl broke one
of the horse's ears off, and it was sent back to the goldsmith's to be
repaired, and the prince was thus able to leave his dangerous position.

Having again splendidly remunerated the goldsmith, he returned to his
new brother-in-law, so that he might come back with a splendid suite and
royal pomp, and appear as a king to try his fortune. The prince returned
with many magnificently-clad knights and splendid horses, and reported
himself to the king, and informed him by message that he was anxious to
try his luck for the possession of his daughter. The king was very much
pleased with the appearance of the youth, and therefore kindly
admonished him not to risk his life, but the prince seemed quite
confident, and insisted on carrying out his wishes; so a day was fixed
for carrying out the task. The people streamed out to the place where
the trial was to take place, like as to a huge festival. And all pitied
the handsome youth, and had sad misgivings as to his fate.

The king granted three days to those who tried their fortune, and three
guesses. On the first and second day, in order not to betray the plot,
and in order to increase the éclat the prince guessed wrongly on
purpose; but on the third day, when everyone was convinced that he must
die, he disclosed in a loud voice the secret marks of the princess. The
king declared them to be right, and the prince was led to his future
wife, amidst the cheers of the multitude and the joyous strains of the
band. The king ordered immense wedding festivities all over the town,
and resigned his throne in favour of his son-in-law, who reigned happy
for many years after!

THE INVISIBLE SHEPHERD LAD.

There was once, I don't know where, a poor man who had a very good son
who was a shepherd. One day he was tending his sheep in a rocky
neighbourhood, and was sending sighs to Heaven as a man whose heart was
throbbing with burning wishes. Hearing a noise as of some one
approaching he looked round and saw St. Peter standing in front of him
in the guise of a very old grey man. "Why are you sighing, my lad?"
inquired he, "and what is your wish?" "Nothing else," replied the lad,
respectfully, "but to possess a little bag which never gets full, and a
fur cloak which makes me invisible when I put it on." His wish was
fulfilled and St. Peter vanished. The lad gave up shepherding now and
turned to the capital, where he thought he had a chance of making his
fortune. A king lived there who had twelve daughters, and eleven of them
wanted at least six pairs of shoes each every night. Their father was
very angry about this, because it swallowed up a good deal of his
income; he suspected that there was something wrong, but couldn't
succeed by any traps to get to the bottom of it. At last he promised the
youngest princess to him who would unveil the secret.

The promise enticed many adventurous spirits to the capital, but the
girls simply laughed at them, and they were obliged to leave in
disgrace. The shepherd lad, relying on his fur cloak, reported himself;
but the girls measured him, too, with mocking eyes. Night came, and the
shepherd, muffling himself in his fur cloak, stood at the bedroom door
where they slept, and stole in amongst them when they went to bed. It
was midnight and a ghost walked round the beds and woke the girls. There
was now great preparation. They dressed and beautified themselves, and
filled a travelling bag with shoes. The youngest knew nothing of all
this, but on the present occasion the invisible shepherd woke
her--whereupon her sisters got frightened; but as she was let into their
secret they thought it best to decoy her with them, to which, after a
short resistance, the girl consented. All being ready, the ghost placed
a small dish on the table. Everyone anointed their shoulders with the
contents, and wings grew to them. The shepherd did the same: and when
they all flew through the window, he followed them.

After flying for several hours they came to a huge copper forest, and to
a well, the railing round which was of copper, and on this stood twelve
copper tumblers. The girls drank here, so as to refresh themselves, when
the youngest, who was here for the first time, looked round in fear. The
lad, too, had something to drink after the girls had left and put a
tumbler, together with a twig that he broke off a tree, in his bag; the
tree trembled, and the noise was heard all over the forest. The youngest
girl noticed it and warned her sisters that some one was after them, but
they felt so safe that they only laughed at her. They continued their
journey, and after a short time came to a silver forest, and to a silver
well. Here again they drank, and the lad again put a tumbler and a
silver twig into his bag. In breaking off the twig the tree shook, and
the youngest again warned her sisters, but in vain.

They soon came to the end of the forest and arrived at a golden forest,
with a gold well and tumblers. Here again they stopped and drank, and
the lad again put a gold tumbler and twig in his bag. The youngest once
more warned her sisters of the noise the quivering tree made, but in
vain. Having arrived at the end of the forest they came to an immense
moss-grown rock, whose awe-inspiring lofty peaks soared up to the very
heavens. Here they all stopped. The ghost struck the rock with a golden
rod, whereupon it opened, and all entered, the shepherd lad with them.
Now they came to a gorgeous room from which several halls opened, which
were all furnished in a fairy-like manner. From these twelve fairy
youths came forth and greeted them, who were all wonderfully handsome.
The number of servants increased from minute to minute who were rushing
about getting everything ready for a magnificent dance. Soon after
strains of enchanting music were heard, and the doors of a vast dancing
hall opened and the dancing went on without interruption. At dawn the
girls returned--also the lad--in the same way as they had come, and
they lay down as if nothing had happened, which, however, was belied by
their worn shoes, and the next morning they got up at the usual hour.

The king was impatiently awaiting the news the shepherd was to bring,
who came soon after and told him all that had happened. He sent for his
daughters, who denied everything, but the tumblers and the twigs bore
witness. What the shepherd told the youngest girl also confirmed, whom
the shepherd woke for the purpose. The king fulfilled his promise with
regard to the youngest princess and the other eleven were burnt for
witchcraft.

THE THREE PRINCESSES.

There was once, I shan't tell you where, it is enough if I tell you that
there was somewhere a tumble-down oven, which was in first-rate
condition barring the sides, and there were some cakes baking in it;
this person (the narrator points to some one present) has eaten some of
them. Well then, on the mountains of Komárom, on the glass bridges, on
the beautiful golden chandelier, there was once a Debreczen cloak which
had ninety-nine tucks, and in the ninety-ninth I found the following
tale.

There was once a king with three daughters, but the king was so poor
that he could hardly keep his family; his wife, who was the girls'
stepmother, therefore told her husband one night, that in the morning
she would take the girls into the wood and leave them in the thicket so
that they might not find again their way home. The youngest overheard
this, and as soon as the king and queen fell asleep she hurried off to
her godmother, who was a magic woman, to ask her advice: her
godmother's little pony (tátos) was waiting at the front gate, and
taking her on its back ran straight to the magic woman. She knew well
what the girl needed and gave her at once a reel of cotton which she
could unwind in the wood and so find her way back, but she gave it to
her on the condition that she would not take her two elder sisters home
with her, because they were very bad and proud. As arranged next morning
the girls were led out by their stepmother into the wood to gather chips
as she said, and, having wandered about a long time, she told them to
rest; so they sat down under a tree and soon all three went to sleep;
seeing this, the stepmother hurried home.

On waking up, two of the girls, not being able to find their mother,
began to cry, but the youngest was quiet, saying that she knew her way
home, and that she would go, but could not take them with her; whereupon
the two elder girls began to flatter her, and implored her so much that
she gave in at last. Arriving at home their father received them with
open arms; their stepmother feigned delight. Next night she again told
the king that she would lead them deeper still into the wood: the
youngest again overheard the conversation, and, as on the night before,
went on her little pony to her godmother, who scolded her for having
taken home her bad sisters, and on condition that this time she would
not do so, she gave her a bag full of ashes, which she had to strew over
the road as they went on, in order to know her way back; so the girls
were led into the wood again and left there, but the youngest again took
her sisters home, finding her way by the ashes, having been talked over
by many promises and implorings. At home, they were received, as on the
first occasion; on the third night their stepmother once more undertook
to lead them away; the youngest overheard them as before, but this time,
she had not courage to go to her godmother, moreover she thought that
she could help herself, and for this purpose she took a bag full of peas
with her, which she strewed about as they went. Left by their mother,
the two again began to cry, whereas the youngest said laughing, that she
was able to go home on this occasion also; and having again yielded to
her sisters she started on her way back, but to her astonishment could
not find a single pea, as the birds had eaten them all. Now there was a
general cry, and the three outcasts wandered about the whole day in the
wood, and did not find a spring till sunset, to quench their thirst;
they also found an acorn under an oak under which they had lain down to
rest; they set the acorn, and carried water in their mouths to water it;
by next morning it had grown into a tree as tall as a tower, and the
youngest climbed up it to see whether she could not discover some
habitation in the neighbourhood; not being able to see anything, they
spent the whole day crying and wandering about. The following morning,
the tree was as big as two towers, but on this occasion too the youngest
girl looked in vain from its summit: but at last, by the end of the
third day, the tree was as tall as three towers, and this time the
youngest girl was more successful, because she discovered far away a
lighted window, and, having come down, she led her sisters in the
direction of the light. Her sisters, however, treated her most
shamefully, they took away all her best clothes, which she thoughtfully
had brought with her, tied up in a bundle, and she had to be satisfied
with the shabbiest; whenever she dared to contradict them they at once
began to beat her; they gave her orders that wherever they came she had
to represent them as daughters of rich people, she being their servant.
Thus, they went on for three days and three nights until at last they
came to an immense, beautiful castle.

They felt now in safety, and entered the beautiful palace with great
hopes, but how frightened were they when they discovered a giantess
inside who was as tall as a tower, and who had an eye in the middle of
her forehead as big as a dish, and who gnashed her teeth, which were a
span long. "Welcome, girls!" thus spoke the giantess, "What a splendid
roast you will make!" They all three were terrified at these words, but
the youngest shewed herself amiable, and promised the giantess that they
would make all kind of beautiful millinery for her if she did them no
harm; the woman with the big teeth listened, and agreed, and hid the
girls in a cupboard so that her husband might not see them when he came
home; the giant, who was even taller than his wife, however, at once
began to sniff about, and demanded human flesh of his wife, threatening
to swallow her if she did not produce it. The girls were fetched out,
but were again spared, having promised to cook very savoury food for the
grumbling husband.

The chief reason of their life having been spared, however, was because
the husband wanted to eat them himself during the absence of his wife,
and the woman had a similar plan in her mind. The girls now commenced to
bake and roast, the two eldest kneaded the dough, the youngest making
the fire in the oven, which was as big as hell, and when it got red hot,
the cunning young girl called the giant, and having placed a pot full of
lard into the oven, asked him to taste it with his tongue to see whether
the lard was hot enough, and if the oven had reached its proper heat.
The tower of flesh tried it, but the moment he put his head inside the
oven, the girl gave him a push and he was a dead man in the fiery oven;
seeing this, the giantess got in a rage, and was about to swallow them
up, but, before doing so, the youngest induced her to let herself be
beautified, to which she consented; a ladder was brought, so that the
young girl might get on to her head to comb the monster's hair; instead
of combing, however, the nimble little girl knocked the giantess on the
head with the huge iron comb, so that she dropped down dead on the spot.
The girls had the bodies carted away with twenty-four pair of oxen, and
became the sole owners of the immense castle. Next Sunday, the two
eldest dressed up in their best, and went for a walk, and to a dance in
the royal town.

After their departure their youngest sister, who remained at home to do
servants' work, examined all the rooms, passages, and closets in the
castle. During her search she accidentally found something shining in a
flue. She knocked it off with a stone, and found that it was a most
beautiful golden key. She tried it in every door and cupboard, but only
succeeded, after a long search, in opening a small wardrobe with it;
and, how great was her surprise to find that it was full of ladies'
dresses and millinery, and that every thing seemed made to fit her. She
put on a silver dress in great haste, and went to the dance. The
well-known little pony was outside waiting for her, and galloped away
with her like a hurricane. The moment she entered the dancing hall all
eyes were fixed on her, and the men and youths of the highest dignity
vied with each other as to who should dance with her. Her sisters who,
till her arrival, were the heroines of the evening and the belles of the
ball, were quite set aside now. After a few hours' enjoyment the young
lady suddenly disappeared; and, later on, received her sisters on their
return in her servant's clothes. They told her that they had enjoyed
themselves very well at first, but that later on some impudent female
put them in the back-ground. The little girl laughed and said,
"Supposing that I was that lady;" and she was beaten by her sisters, and
called some not very polite names for her remark. Next Sunday the same
thing happened again, only this time the young girl was dressed in gold.
Everything happened the same, and she was again beaten at home.

The third Sunday the little girl appeared in a diamond dress. At the
dance, again, she was the soul of the evening; but this time the young
men wanted her to stay to the end of the ball, and watched her very
closely, so that she might not escape. When, therefore, she tried to get
away, she was in such a hurry that she had no time to pick up a shoe she
accidentally dropped in the corridor; she was just in time to receive
her sisters. The shoe came into the possession of the prince, who hid
it carefully. After a few days the prince fell very ill, and the best
physicians could not find a cure for him; his father was very nearly in
despair about his only son's health, when a foreign doctor maintained
that the patient could only be cured by marrying, because he was
love-sick. His father, therefore, implored him to make him a full
confession of his love, and, whoever the person whom he wished might be,
he should have her. The prince produced the shoe, and declared that he
wanted the young lady to whom the shoe belonged. So it was announced
throughout the whole realm, that all the ladies of the country should
appear next Sunday to try on the shoe, and whosoever's foot it fitted
she should become the prince's wife. On Sunday the ladies swarmed in
crowds to the capital. Nor were the two eldest of the three sisters
missing, who had had their feet previously scraped with a knife by their
youngest sister, so that they might be smaller. The youngest sister also
got ready after their departure, and, having wrapped the mate of the
lost shoe in a handkerchief, she jumped on the pony's back in her best
dress, and rode to the appointed place. She overtook her sisters on the
road, and, jumping the pony into a puddle, splashed them all over with
mud. The moment she was seen approaching 100 cannons were fired off, and
all the bells were rung; but she wouldn't acknowledge the shoe as her
own without a trial, and, therefore, tried it on. The shoe fitted her
exactly, and when she produced its mate, 300 cannons greeted her as the
future queen. She accepted the honour upon one condition, namely, that
the king should restore her father's conquered realm. Her wish was
granted, and she became the prince's wife. Her sisters were conducted
back to their royal father, who was now rich and powerful once more;
where they live still, if they have not died since.

CINDER JACK.

A peasant had three sons. One morning he sent out the eldest to guard
the vineyard. The lad went, and was cheerfully eating a cake he had
taken with him, when a frog crept up to him, and asked him to let it
have some of his cake. "Anything else?" asked the lad angrily, and
picked up a stone to drive the frog away. The frog left without a word,
and the lad soon fell asleep, and, on awaking, found the whole vineyard
laid waste. The next day the father sent his second son into the
vineyard, but he fared like the first.

The father was very angry about it, and did not know what to do;
whereupon his youngest son spoke up, who was always sitting in a corner
amongst the ashes, and was not thought fit for anything, and whom for
this reason they nicknamed Cinder Jack. "My father, send me out, and I
will take care of the vineyard." His father and his brothers laughed at
him, but they allowed him to have a trial; so Cinder Jack went to the
vineyard, and, taking out his cake, began to eat it. The frog again
appeared, and asked for a piece of cake, which was given to him at once.
Having finished their breakfast, the frog gave the lad a copper, a
silver, and a gold rod; and told him, that three horses would appear
shortly, of copper, silver, and gold, and they would try to trample down
the vineyard; but, if he beat them with the rods he had given him they
would at once become tame, and be his servants, and could at any time be
summoned to carry out his orders. It happened as the frog foretold; and
the vineyard produced a rich vintage. But Cinder Jack never told his
master or his brothers how he had been able to preserve the vineyard; in
fact, he concealed all, and again spent his time as usual, lying about
in his favourite corner.

One Sunday the king had a high fir pole erected in front of the church,
and a golden rosemary tied to the top, and promised his daughter to him
who should be able to take it down in one jump on horseback. All the
knights of the realm tried their fortune, but not one of them was able
to jump high enough. But all of a sudden a knight clad in copper mail,
on a copper horse, appeared with his visor down, and snatched the
rosemary with an easy jump, and quickly disappeared. When his two
brothers got home they told Cinder Jack what had happened, and he
remarked, that he saw the whole proceeding much better, and on being
asked "Where from?" his answer was, "From the top of the hoarding." His
brothers had the hoarding pulled down at once, so that their younger
brother might not look on any more. Next Sunday a still higher pole,
with a golden apple at the top, was set up; and whosoever wished to
marry the king's daughter had to take the apple down. Again, hundreds
upon hundreds tried, but all in vain; till, at last, a knight in silver
mail, on a silver horse, took it, and disappeared. Cinder Jack again
told his brothers that he saw the festivities much better than they did;
he saw them, he said, from the pig-stye; so this was pulled down also.
The third Sunday a silk kerchief interwoven with gold was displayed at
the top of a still higher fir pole, and, as nobody succeeded in getting
it, a knight in gold mail, on a gold horse, appeared; snatched it down,
and galloped off. Cinder Jack again told his brothers that he saw all
from the top of the house; and his envious brothers had the roof of the
house taken off, so that the youngest brother might not look on again.

The king now had it announced that the knight who had shown himself
worthy of his daughter should report himself, and should bring with him
the gold rosemary, the apple, and the silk kerchief; but no one came. So
the king ordered every man in the realm to appear before him, and still
the knight in question could not be found; till, at last, he arrived
clad in gold mail on a gold charger; whereupon the bells were at once
rung, and hundreds and hundreds of cannons fired. The knight, having
handed to the princess the golden rosemary, the apple, and the kerchief,
respectfully demanded her hand, and, having obtained it, lifted his
visor, and the populace, to their great astonishment, recognised Cinder
Jack, whom they had even forgotten to ask to the king's presence. The
good-hearted lad had his brothers' house rebuilt, and gave them presents
as well. He took his father to his house, as the old king died soon
after. Cinder Jack is reigning still, and is respected and honoured by
all his subjects!

THE THREE BROTHERS.

There was once a poor man who had three sons. "My sons," said he to them
one day, "you have not seen anything yet, and you have no experience
whatever; it is time for you to go to different countries and try your
luck in the world; so get ready for the journey, and go as far as your
eyes can see." The three lads got ready, and, having filled their bags
with cakes specially prepared For the occasion, they left home. They
went on and on till at last they got tired and lay down,--the two elder
then proposed that, as it became good brethren, they should all share
equally, and that they should begin with the youngest's provisions, and
when they were finished should divide those of the second, and lastly
those of the eldest. And so it happened; on the first day the youngest's
bag was emptied; but the second day, when meal-time came, the two eldest
would not give the youngest anything, and when he insisted on receiving
his share, they gouged out his eyes and left him to starve. For the
present let us leave the two eldest to continue their way, and let's
see what became of the poor blind lad. He, resigning himself to God's
will, groped his way about, till, alas! he dropped into a well. There
was no water in it, but a great deal of mud; when he dropped into it the
mud splashed all over his body, and he felt quite a new man again and
ever so much better. Having besmeared his face and the hollows of his
eyes with the mud he again saw clearly, because the healing power of the
miracle-working mud had renewed his eyes once more, and his whole face
became of a beautiful complexion.

The lad took as much mud in a flower pot with him as he could carry and
continued his journey, when suddenly he noticed a little mouse quite
crushed, imploring him for help; he took pity on it, and, having
besmeared it with the miraculous mud, the mouse was cured, and gave to
his benefactor a small whistle, with the direction that if anything
happened to him he had to blow the whistle, and the mouse, who was the
king of mice, would come to his help with all his mates on earth. He
continued his way and found a bee quite crushed and cured it too with
the mud, and obtained another whistle, which he had to blow in case of
danger, and the queen of the bees would come to his aid. Again going on
he found a wolf shockingly bruised; at first he had not courage to cure
it, being afraid that it would eat him; but the wolf implored so long
that at last he cured him too, and the wolf became strong and beautiful;
the wolf, too, gave him a whistle to use in time of need.

The lad went on till at last he came to the royal town, where he was
engaged as servant to the king. His two brothers were there already in
the same service, and, having recognised him, tried in every way to
destroy him. After long deliberation as to how to carry out their plan
they went to the king and falsely accused their brother of having told
them that he was able to gather the corn of the whole land into the
king's barn in one night; the lad denied it, but all in vain. The king
declared that if all the corn was not in the barn by the morning he
would hang him. The lad wept and wailed for a long time, when suddenly
he remembered his whistles, and blew into the one that the mouse had
given him and when the mice came he told them his misfortunes: by
midnight all the corn of the country was gathered together. Next day his
brothers were more angry still, and falsely said to the king that their
brother was able to build a beautiful bridge of wax from the royal
castle to the market place in one night; the king ordered him to do this
too, and having blown his second whistle the bees, who appeared to
receive his command, did the task for him. Next morning from his window
the king very much admired the beautiful arched bridge; his brothers
nearly burst in their rage, and spread the report that their brother was
able to bring twelve of the strongest wolves into the royal courtyard by
the next morning. They firmly believed that on this occasion they were
quite sure of their victory, because either the wolves would tear their
brother in pieces, or if he could not fulfil the task the king would
have him executed; but again they were out of their reckoning: the lad
blew his third whistle and the king of wolves arrived to receive his
orders. He told him his misfortune, and the wolf ordered not only
twelve, but all his mates in the country, into the royal courtyard. The
lad now sat on the back of the king of wolves, and drove with a whip the
whole pack in front of him, who tore everything in pieces that crossed
them. There was a great deal of weeping, imploring, and wailing in the
royal palace, but all in vain; the king promised a sack full of gold,
but all in vain. The king of the wolves, heedless of any words, urged on
the pack by howling at them continually: "Drive on! Seize them!" The
king promised more; two sacks, three sacks, ten, or even twenty sacks
full of gold were offered but not accepted; the wolves tore everyone in
pieces; the two brothers perished, and so did the king and all his
servants, and only his daughter was spared; the lad married her,
occupied the king's throne, and lives happily to this day if he has not
died since. In his last letter he promised to come and see us to-morrow.

THE THREE VALUABLE THINGS.

There were once two kings who lived in great friendship; one had three
sons, the other a daughter. The two fathers made an agreement, that in
case of either of them dying, the other should become guardian of the
orphans; and that if one of the boys married the girl he should inherit
her property. Very soon after the girl's father died, and she went to
live with her guardian. After a little time the eldest boy went to his
father and asked the girl's hand, threatening to commit suicide if his
request was refused; his father promised to give him a reply in three
weeks. At the end of the first week the second son asked the girl's
hand, and threatened to blow out his brains if he could not wed her; the
king promised to reply to him in a fortnight. At the end of the second
week, the youngest asked for the girl, and his father bade him wait a
week for his answer. The day arrived when all three had to receive their
reply, and their father addressed them thus: "My sons, you all three
love the girl, but you know too well that only one can have her. I will,
therefore, give her to the one who will show himself the most worthy of
her. You had better go, wherever you please, and see the world, and
return in one year from this day, and the girl shall be his who will
bring the most valuable thing from his journey." The princes consented
to this, and started on their journey, travelling together till they
came to a tall oak in the nearest wood; the road here divided into three
branches; the eldest chose the one leading west, the second selected the
one running south, and the third son the branch turning off to the east.
Before separating, they decided to return to the same place after the
lapse of exactly one year, and to make the homeward journey together.

The eldest looked at everything that he found worthy of note during his
travels, and spared no expense to get something excellent: after a long
journey hither and thither, he at last succeeded in getting a telescope
by the aid of which he could see to the end of the world; so he decided
to take it back to his father, as the most valuable thing he had found.
The second son also endeavoured to find something so valuable that the
possession of it should make him an easy winner in the competition for
the girl's hand: after a long search he found a cloak by means of which,
when he put it on and thought of a place, he was immediately transported
there. The youngest, after long wandering, bought an orange which had
power to restore to life the dead when put under the corpse's nose,
provided death had not taken place more than twenty-four hours before.
These were the three valuable things that were to be brought home; and,
as the year was nearly up, the eldest and the youngest were already on
their way back to the oak: the second son only was still enjoying
himself in various places, as one second was enough for him to get to
the meeting place. The two having arrived at the oak, the middle one
appeared after a little while, and they then shewed each other the
valuables acquired; next they looked through the telescope, and to their
horror they saw that the lady for the possession of whom they had been
working hard for a whole year, was lying dead; so they all three slipped
hurriedly into the cloak, and as quick as thought arrived at home; the
father told them in great grief that the girl could belong to no one as
she was dead: they inquired when she died, and receiving an answer that
she had been dead not quite twenty-four hours, the youngest rushed up to
her, and restored her to life with his magic orange. Now there was a
good deal of litigation and quarrelling among the three lads: the eldest
claimed the greatest merit for himself, because, he said, had they not
seen through his telescope that the girl was dead they would have been
still lingering at the oak, and the orange would have been of no avail;
the second maintained that if they had not got home so quickly with his
cloak the orange would have been of no use; the third claimed his orange
as the best, for restoring the girl to life, without which the other two
would have been useless. In order to settle the dispute, they called all
the learned and old people of the realm together, and these awarded the
girl to the youngest, and all three were satisfied with the award, and
the two others gave up all idea about suicide. The eldest, by the aid of
his telescope, found himself a wife who was the prettiest royal princess
on earth, and married her: the second heard of one who was known for her
virtue and beauty, and got into his cloak, and went to her, and so all
three to their great satisfaction led their brides to the altar, and
became as happy as men can be.

THE LITTLE MAGIC PONY.

Once a poor man had twelve sons, and, not having sufficient means to
keep them at home, he sent them into the great world to earn their bread
by work and to try their fortunes. The brothers wandered twelve days and
nights over hills and dales till at last they came to a wealthy king,
who engaged them as grooms, and promised them each three hundred
florins a year for their wages. Among the king's horses there was a
half-starved looking, decrepit little pony; the eleven eldest boys
continually beat and ill-treated this animal on account of its ugliness,
but the youngest always took great care of it, he even saved all the
bread crumbs and other little dainties for his little invalid pony, for
which his brothers very often chaffed him, and in course of time they
treated him with silent contempt, believing him to be a lunatic; he bore
their insults patiently, and their badgering without a murmur, in the
same way as the little pony the bad treatment it received. The year of
service having come to an end, the lads received their wages, and as a
reward they were also each allowed to choose a horse from the king's
stud. The eleven eldest chose the best-looking horses, but the youngest
only begged leave to take the poor little decrepit pony with him. His
brothers tried to persuade him to give up the foolish idea, but, all in
vain, he would have no other horse.

The little pony now confessed to his keeper that it was a magic horse,
and that whenever it wanted it could change into the finest charger and
could gallop as fast as lightning. The twelve brothers then started
homewards; the eleven eldest were proudly jumping and prancing about on
their fine horses, whereas the youngest dragged his horse by its halter
along the road: at one time they came to a boggy place and the poor
little decrepit pony sank into it. The eleven brothers who had gone on
before were very angry about it, as they were obliged to return and drag
their brother's horse out of the mud: after a short journey the
youngest's again stuck in the mud, and his brothers had to drag it out
again, swearing at him all the time. When at last it stuck the third
time they would not listen any more to their brother's cries for help.
"Let them go," said the little pony, and after a short time inquired if
they had gone far? "They have," answered the lad. Again, after a short
time, the pony inquired whether he could still see them. "They look like
flying crows or black spots in the distance," replied his master. "Can
you see them now?" asked the pony in a few minutes. "No," was the reply;
thereupon the pony jumped out of the mud and, taking the lad on its
back, rushed forth like lightning, leaving the others far behind. Having
arrived at home the pony became poor and decrepit as before, and crawled
on to the dung heap, eating the straw it found there, the lad concealing
himself behind the oven. The others having arrived showed their wages
and horses to their father, and being asked about their brother they
replied that he had become an idiot, and chosen as his reward an ugly
pony, just such a one as the one on the dung heap, and that he stuck
fast in a bog, and perhaps was now dead. "It is not true," called out
the youngest from behind the oven, and stepped forth to the astonishment
of all.

Having spent a few days in enjoying themselves at their father's house,
the lads again started on a journey to find wives. They had already
journeyed over seven countries and seven villages as well, and had not
as yet been able to find twelve girls suitable for them, till at last,
as the sun was setting, they came across an old woman with an iron nose,
who was ploughing her field with twelve mares; she asked of them what
they sought, and, having learned the object of their wanderings, she
proposed that they should look at her twelve daughters: the lads having
consented, the old woman drove her twelve mares home and took the lads
into her house and introduced them to her daughters, who were none
others than the twelve mares they saw before. In the evening she bade
each lad go to bed with one of the girls; the eldest lad got into bed
with the eldest girl and so on, her youngest, who was the favourite
daughter and had golden hair, becoming the youngest lad's bedfellow.

This girl informed the lad that it was her mother's intention to kill
his eleven brothers; and so, in order to save them, on their all falling
asleep, the youngest lad got up and laid all his brothers next to the
wall, making all the girls lie outside, and having done this, quietly
crept back into his bed.

After a little while, the old woman with the iron nose got up and, with
a huge sword, cut off the heads of the eleven sleepers who were lying
outside, and then she went back to bed to sleep. Thereupon the youngest
lad again got up, and, waking his brothers, told them how he had saved
them, and urged them to flee as soon as possible. So they hurried off,
their brother remaining there till daybreak. At dawn he noticed that the
old woman was getting up, and that she was coming to examine the beds,
so he, too, got up, and sat on his pony, taking the little girl with the
golden hair with him. The old woman with the iron nose, as soon as she
found out the fraud, picked up a poker, turned it into a horse, and flew
after them; when she had nearly overtaken them, the little pony gave the
lad a currycomb, a brush, and a piece of a horse-rug, and bade him throw
first the currycomb behind him, and in case it did not answer, to throw
the brush, and as a last resource the piece of horse-rug; the lad threw
the currycomb, and in one moment it became a dense forest, with as many
trees as there were teeth in the comb; by the time that the old woman
had broken her way through the wood, the couple had travelled a long
distance. When the old woman came very near again, the lad threw the
brush behind him, and it at once became a dense forest, having as many
trees as there were bristles in the brush. The old woman had the
greatest difficulty in working her way through the wood; but again she
drew close to their heels, and very nearly caught them, when the lad
threw the horse-rug away, and it became such a dense forest between them
and the old woman, that it looked like one immense tree; with all her
perseverance, the old woman could not penetrate this wood, so she
changed into a pigeon to enable her to fly over it; but as soon as the
pony noticed this he turned into a vulture, swooped down on the pigeon,
and tore it in pieces with his claws, thus saving both the lad and the
pretty girl with the golden hair from the fury of the hateful old woman
with the iron nose.

While the eleven elder brothers were still out looking after wives, the
youngest married the pretty little girl with the golden hair, and they
still live merrily together, out of all danger, if they have not died
since.

THE BEGGAR'S PRESENTS.

There was once a very poor man, who went into the wood to fell trees for
his own use. The sweat ran down his cheeks, from his hard work, when all
at once an old beggar appeared and asked for alms. The poor man pitied
him very much, and, putting his axe on the ground, felt in his bag, and,
with sincere compassion, shared his few bits of bread with the poor old
beggar. The latter, having eaten his bread, spoke thus to the
wood-cutter: "My son, here! for your kindness accept this table-cloth,
and whenever hereafter you feel need and are hungry, say to the cloth,
'Spread thyself, little cloth,' and your table will be laid, and covered
with the best meats and drinks. I am the rewarder of all good deeds, and
I give this to you for your benevolence." Thereupon the old man
disappeared, and the wood-cutter turned homewards in great joy.

Having been overtaken by night on his way, he turned into a hostelry,
and informed the innkeeper, who was an old acquaintance, of his good
fortune; and, in order to give greater weight to his word, he at once
made a trial of the table-cloth, and provided a jolly good supper for
the innkeeper and his wife, from the dainty dishes that were served up
on the cloth. After supper he laid down on the bench to sleep, and, in
the meantime, the wicked wife of the innkeeper hemmed a similar cloth,
and by the morning exchanged it for that of the woodcutter. He,
suspecting nothing, hurried home with the exchanged cloth, and, arriving
there, told his wife what had happened; and, to prove his words, at once
gave orders to the cloth to spread itself; but all in vain. He repeated
at least a hundred times the words "Little cloth, spread thyself," but
the cloth never moved; and the simpleton couldn't understand it. Next
day he again went to the wood, where he again shared his bread with the
old beggar, and received from him a lamb, to which he had only to say,
"Give me gold, little lamb," and the gold coins at once began to rain.
With this the woodcutter again went to the inn for the night, and showed
the present to the innkeeper, as before. Next morning he had another
lamb to take home, and was very much surprised that it would not give
the gold for which he asked. He went to the wood again, and treated the
beggar well, but also told him what had happened to the table-cloth and
lamb. The beggar was not at all surprised, and gave him a club, and said
to him, "If the innkeeper has changed your cloth and lamb, you can
regain them by means of this club: you have only to say, 'Beat away,
beat away, my little club,' and it will have enough power to knock down
a whole army." So the woodcutter went to the inn a third time, and
insisted upon his cloth and lamb being returned; and, as the innkeeper
would not do so, he exclaimed, "Beat away, beat away, my little club!"
and the club began to beat the innkeeper and his wife, till the missing
property was returned.

He then went home and told his wife, with great joy, what had happened;
and, in order to give greater consequence to his house, he invited the
king to dinner next day. The king was very much surprised, and, about
noon, sent a lackey to see what they were cooking for him; the
messenger, however, returned with the news that there was not even a
fire in the kitchen. His majesty was still more surprised when, at
meal-time, he found the table laden with the finest dishes and drinks.
Upon inquiry where all came from, the poor woodcutter told him his
story, what happened in the wood, about the lamb and cloth, but did not
mention a word about the club. The king, who was a regular tyrant, at
once claimed the cloth and the lamb; and, as the man would not comply,
he sent a few lackeys to him, to take them away; but they were soon
knocked down by the club. So the king sent a larger force against him;
but they also perished to a man. On hearing this the king got into a
great rage, and went in person with his whole army against him; but on
this occasion, too, the woodcutter was victorious, because the club
knocked down dead every one of the king's soldiers; the king himself
died on the battle-field and his throne was occupied by the once poor
woodcutter. It was a real blessing to his people; because, in his
magnanimity, he delighted to assist all whom he knew to be in want or
distress; and so he, also, lived a happy and contented man to the end of
his days!

THE WORLD'S BEAUTIFUL WOMAN.

In the most beautiful land of Asia, where Adam and Eve may have lived,
where all animals, including cows, live wild, where the corn grows wild,
and even bread grows on trees, there lived a pretty girl, whose palace
was built on a low hill, which looked over a pretty, a very pretty
valley, from which one could see the whole world. In the same country
there lived a young king who decided not to get married till he
succeeded in finding the prettiest woman or girl in the world. The
pretty maid lived with her old father, and with only two servant girls.
The young king lived and enjoyed himself amongst the finest young
aristocrats. One day it struck the young king that it would be a good
thing to get married; so he instructed his aristocratic friends to go
all over his vast realm, and to search about till they found the
prettiest girl in the land: they had not to trouble whether she was poor
or rich; but she must be the prettiest. Each of them was to remain in
the town where he found the girl that he deemed was the prettiest and to
write and let the king know, so that he might go and have a look at all
of them and choose for himself the prettiest amongst all the beauties,
the one he liked best. After a year he received letters from every one
of his seventy-seven friends, and extraordinarily all the seventy-seven
letters arrived from the same town, where, on a low hill above a pretty
little valley, there stood a golden palace, in which there lived a young
lady with a nice old man and two maids, and from the four windows of
which palace the whole world could be seen. The young king started with
a large retinue of wedding guests to the place where the prettiest girl
in the world lived: he found there all his seventy-seven friends, who
were all fever-stricken with love, and were lying about on the pavement
of the palace, on hay which was of a very fine silk-like grass; there
they lay every one of them. The moment the young king saw the beautiful
girl he cried: "The Lord has created you expressly for me; you are mine
and I am yours! and it is my wish to find my rest in the same grave with
you."

The young lady also fell very much in love with the handsome king; in
her fond passion she could not utter a word, but only took him round his
slender waist[1] and led him to her father. Her old father wept tears of
joy, that at last a man was found whom his daughter could love, as she
had thought every man ugly hitherto. The ceremony of betrothal and
wedding was very short; at his pretty wife's wish, the king came to
live on the beautiful spot, than which there was not a prettier one in
the whole world! By the side of the palace there was an earth-hut, in
which lived an old witch who knew all the young lady's secrets, and who
helped her with advice whenever she needed it. The old witch praised the
young lady's beauty to all she met, and it was she who had gathered the
seventy-seven young aristocrats into the palace. On the evening of the
wedding she called upon "the world's beautiful lady" and praised the
young king to her, his handsomeness and riches, and after she had
praised him for an hour or two she sighed heavily: the pretty young lady
asked her what troubled her, as she had this very moment spoken of her
husband as being a handsome, rich, and worthy man? "Because, my pretty
lady, my beautiful queen, if you two live sometime here, you will not
long be the prettiest woman in the world; you are very pretty now, and
your husband is the handsomest of all men; but should a daughter be born
to you, she will be more beautiful than you; she will be more beautiful
than the morning star--this is the reason of my sadness, my beautiful
lady." "You are quite right, good old woman, I will follow any advice;
if you tell me what to do, I will obey you. I will do anything to remain
the most beautiful woman in the world." This was what the old witch said
to the beautiful lady: "I will give you a handful of cotton wool; when
your husband sleeps with you, put this wool on your lips, but be careful
not to make it wet, because there will be poison on it. When your
husband arrives at home all in perspiration from the dance, he will come
to you and kiss you, and die a sudden death." The young lady did as the
witch told her, and the young king was found dead next morning; but the
poison was of such a nature that the physicians were not able to find
out what the king had died of.

The bride was left a widow, and again went to live with her maid and
her old father, and made a solemn vow that she would never marry again.
And she kept her word. As it happened, however, by some inexplicable
circumstance, or by some miracle, after a few months she discovered that
she was with child; so she ran to the old witch and asked her what to
do. The witch gave her a looking-glass and the following advice: "Every
morning you have to ask this mirror whether there is a more beautiful
woman than yourself in existence, and if it says that there is not,
there really won't be one for a long time, and your mind may be at ease;
but should it say that there is one, there will be one, and I will see
to that myself." The beautiful lady snatched the mirror from the witch
in great joy, and as soon as she reached her dressing-room she placed
the little mirror on the window ledge and questioned it thus: "Well, my
dear little mirror, is there a more beautiful woman in the world than
I?" The mirror replied: "Not yet, but there will be one soon, who will
be twice as handsome as you." The beautiful woman nearly lost her wits
in her sorrow, and informed the witch what the mirror had replied. "No
matter," said the old hag, "let her be born, and we shall soon put her
out of the way."

The beautiful lady was confined, and a pretty little daughter was born,
and it would have been a sin to look at her with an evil eye. The bad
woman did not even look at the pretty little creature, but fetched her
mirror and said: "Well, my dear little mirror, is there a more beautiful
creature than I?" and the looking-glass replied: "You are very
beautiful, but your little daughter is seven times prettier than you."
So as soon as she left her bed she sent for the old witch to ask her
advice, who, when she took the babe in her arms, exclaimed that she had
never seen such a beautiful creature in all her life. While she gazed at
the beautiful child she spat in her eyes and covered her face, telling
the beautiful woman to look at the child again in three hours, and when
she uncovered it she would be surprised to find what a monster it had
become. The beautiful lady felt very uneasy, and asked the witch whether
she was allowed to question the mirror again? "Certainly," replied the
witch, "for I know that at this moment you are the most beautiful woman
in existence." But the mirror replied, "You are beautiful, but your
daughter is seventy-seven times more beautiful than you." The beautiful
woman nearly died of rage, but the old witch only smiled, being
confident of her magic power.

The three hours passed, the little girl's face was uncovered, and the
old witch fainted away in her rage; for the little girl had become not
only seven times, but seventy-seven times more beautiful than ever from
the very same thing that usually disfigured other babies: when she
recovered she advised the beautiful lady to kill her baby, as not even
the devil himself had any power over it. The old father of the beautiful
woman had died suddenly, broken hearted by his daughter's shame! The
beautiful woman was nearly killed by sorrow over the loss of her father,
and in order to forget her troubles, she spared her daughter till she
was thirteen: the little girl grew more beautiful every day, so that the
woman could not bear her daughter's beauty any longer, and handed her to
the old witch to be killed. The witch was only too glad to avail herself
of the opportunity, and took her into a vast forest, where she tied the
girl's hands together with a wisp of straw, placed a wreath of straw on
her head, and a girdle of straw round her waist, so that by lighting
them she would burn to death the most beautiful masterpiece of the Lord.
But all of a sudden a loud shouting was heard in the forest, and twelve
robbers came running as swift as birds towards the place where the old
witch and the pretty girl were standing. One of the robbers seized the
girl, another knocked the old witch on the head, and gave her a sound
beating. The witch shammed death, and the robbers left the wicked old
wretch behind, carrying off the pretty girl (who had fainted in her
fright) with them. After half an hour the old witch got up, and rushed
to the castle where the beautiful woman lived, and said, "Well, my
queen, don't question your mirror any more, for you are now the most
beautiful creature in the world, your beautiful daughter lies under
ground." The beautiful lady jumped for joy, and kissed the ugly old
witch.

The pretty girl upon her recovery found herself in a nice little house,
in a clean bed, and guarded by twelve men, who praised her beauty in
whispers, which was such as no human eye had seen before. The innocent
little thing, not thinking of any harm, looked at the men with their
great beards, who stared at her with wide open eyes. She got up from her
soft bed, and thanked the good men for having delivered her from the
clutches of the awful old witch, and then inquired where she was, and
what they intended to do with her; if they meant to kill her, she begged
them do it at once, as she would die with pleasure, and was only afraid
of being killed by that horrible old witch, who was going to burn her to
death. None of the robbers could utter a word, their hearts were so
softened by her sweet words: such words as they had never before heard
from human lips, and her innocent look which would have tamed even a
wild bull. At last one of the robbers, who was splendidly dressed, said:
"You pretty creature of the Lord, you are in the midst of twelve
robbers, who are men of good hearts, but bad morals; we saved you from
the hands of the ugly old witch whom I knocked down, and killed I
believe; we would not kill you, for the whole world; but, on the
contrary, would fight the whole world for you! Be the ornament of our
house and the feast of our eyes! Whatsoever your eyes or your mouth may
desire, be it wherever man exists, we will bring it to you! be our
daughter, and we will be everything to you! your fathers! brothers!
guardians! and, if you need it, your soldiers!" The little girl smiled,
and was very pleased: she found more happiness among the robbers than
she ever did in her mother's palace; she shook hands with all, commended
herself to their protection, and at once looked after the cooking. The
chief of the robbers called three strong maidens, dressed in white,
from a cave, and ordered them to carry out without delay the orders of
their queen, and if he heard one word of complaint against any of them,
they should die the death of a pig. The young girl spoke kindly to the
three maids, and called them her companions.

The robbers then went out on to the highway in great joy--to continue
their plundering--singing and whistling with delight, because their home
and their band had the most beautiful queen in the world. The beautiful
woman, the girl's mother, one day felt weary, and listless, because she
had not heard any one praise her beauty for a very long time. So in her
ennui she took her mirror and said to it: "My dear, sweet little mirror,
is there a more beautiful creature in all the world, than I?" The little
mirror replied, "You are very beautiful, but your daughter is a thousand
times handsomer!" The woman nearly had a fit, in her rage, for she had
not even suspected that her hateful daughter was yet alive: she ran to
the old witch like one out of her mind, to tell what the mirror had
said. The witch at once disguised herself as a gipsy, and started on her
journey, and arrived at the fence of the place where the pretty girl
lived; the garden was planted with flowers and large rose bushes; among
the flower beds she could see the pretty girl sauntering in a dress fit
for a queen. The old witch's heart nearly broke when she saw the young
girl, for never, not even in her imagination, had she ever seen any one
so beautiful. She stole into the garden among the flower beds, and on
approaching saw that the young girl's fingers were covered with the most
precious diamond rings: she kissed the girl's beautiful hand, and begged
to be allowed to put on a ring more precious than any she had; the girl
consented, and even thanked her for it. When she entered the house, she
all at once dropped down as if dead; the witch rushed home, and brought
the good news to the beautiful queen, who at once questioned the mirror,
whether there was yet any one who was prettier than she, and the mirror
replied, that there was not.

The pretty woman was delighted, and nearly went mad with joy on hearing
that she was once more the most beautiful creature in existence, and
gave the witch a handful of gold.

At noon the robbers dropped in one after another from their plundering,
and were thunderstruck when they saw that the glory of their house and
the jewel of their band lay dead. They bewailed her with loud cries of
grief, and commanded the maidens with threats to tell them who had done
it, but they were even more stunned with grief, and bewailed the good
lady, and could not utter a single word, till one of them said that she
saw the pretty girl talking with a gipsy woman for a while, and that the
moment the woman left she suddenly dropped down dead. After much weeping
and wailing the robbers made preparations for the laying out of their
adored queen; they took off her shoes in order to put more beautiful
ones upon her pretty feet: they then took the rings off her fingers in
order to clean them, and as at the very last one of the robbers pulled
off the most precious ring from her little finger, the young girl sat up
and smiled, and informed them that she had slept very well, and had had
most beautiful dreams; and also that if they had not taken off that very
ring (which the gipsy woman had put on that day) from her little finger
she would never have waked again. The robbers smashed the murderous ring
to atoms with their hatchet-sticks, and begged their dear queen not to
speak to anyone, except themselves, as all others were wicked, and
envious of her on account of her beauty, while they adored her. Having
partaken of a good supper, the robbers again went out to their plunder
singing, and quite at rest in their minds, and for a couple of weeks
nothing happened to the young lady; but after a fortnight her mother
again felt ennui and questioned her mirror: "Is there any one living
being on this earth more beautiful than I?" The mirror replied: "You
are very beautiful, but your daughter is one thousand times more
beautiful." The beautiful lady began to tear her hair in rage, and went
to complain to the witch that her daughter was alive still, so the witch
again went off and found the young lady, as before, among the
flower-beds. The witch disguised herself as a Jewess this time, and
began to praise the gold and diamond pins with which the young lady's
shawl was fastened, which she admired very much, and begged the young
lady's leave to allow her to stick another pin amongst those which she
had already in her bosom, as a keepsake. Among all the pins the
prettiest one was the one which the witch disguised as a Jewess stuck in
the young lady's bosom. The young lady thanked her for it, and went
indoors to look after the cooking, but as soon as she arrived in the
house she gave a fearful scream and dropped down dead.

The joy of her mother was great when the witch arrived home in great
delight and the mirror again proved that the girl was dead. The robbers
were full of joy, in anticipation of the pleasure of seeing again their
pretty young girl, whose beauty was apparently increasing daily; but
when they heard the cries of sorrow of the three servant maids and saw
the beautiful corpse stretched out on the bier, they lost all their
cheerfulness and began to weep also. Three of the robbers carried in all
the necessaries for the funeral, while the others undressed and washed
the corpse, and as they were drawing out from her shawl the numerous
pins, they found one amongst them which sparkled most brilliantly,
whereupon two of them snatched it away, each being anxious to replace it
in the girl's bosom when redressing her for burial, when suddenly the
virgin queen sat up and informed them that her death was caused by a
Jewess this time. The robbers buried the pin five fathoms deep in the
ground, so that no evil spirit might get it. There is no more restless
being in the world than a woman; it is a misfortune if she is pretty,
and the same if she is not: if she be pretty she likes to be continually
told of it, if she be not she would like to be. The evil one again
tempted the beautiful lady, and she again questioned her mirror whether
any living being was prettier than she: the mirror replied that her
daughter was prettier.

Upon this she called the old witch all kinds of bad names in her rage,
and threatened her that if she did not kill her daughter outright she
would betray her to the world, and accuse her of having led her to all
her evil deeds; that it was she who induced her to kill her handsome
husband, and that she had given her the mysterious mirror, which was the
cause of her not being able to die in peace. The old hag made no reply,
but went off in a boisterous manner: she transformed herself into a
pretty girl and went straight into the house in which the young lady was
dressing herself and falsely told her that she had been engaged by the
robbers to wait always upon her while she dressed, because she had
already been killed twice, once by a gipsy woman, and another time by a
Jewess; and also that the robbers had ordered her not to do anything
else but to help her in her toilet. The innocent girl believed all that
the she-devil said. She allowed her to undo her hair and to comb it. The
witch did her hair in accordance with the latest fashion, and plaited it
and fastened it with all sorts of hair pins; while doing so she hid a
hair-pin which she had brought with her among the girl's hair, so that
it could not be noticed by anyone; having finished, the new lady's maid
asked permission to leave her mistress for a moment, but never returned,
and her young lady died, while all wept and sobbed most bitterly. The
men and the maids had again to attend with tears to their painful duty
of laying her out for her funeral; they took away all her rings,
breast-pins, and hair-pins; they even opened every one of the folds of
her dress, but still they did not succeed in bringing the young girl to
life again. Her mother was really delighted this time, because she kept
on questioning the mirror for three or four days, and it always replied
to her heart's content. The robbers wailed and cried, and did not even
enjoy their food; one of them proposed that they should not bury the
girl, but that they should come to pray by the side of their dear dead;
others again thought that it would be a pity to confide the pretty body
to the earth, where it would be destroyed; others spoke of the terrible
pang, and said that their hearts would break if they had to look at her
dead beauty for any length of time. So they ordered a splendid coffin
to be made of wrought gold. They wrapped her in purple and fine linen;
they caught an elk and placed the coffin between its antlers, so that
the precious body might not decompose underground: the elk quietly
carried the precious coffin about, and took the utmost care to prevent
it falling from its antlers or its back. This elk happened to graze in
Persia just as the son of the Persian king was out hunting all alone.
The prince was twenty-three years old; he noticed the elk and also the
splendid coffin between its antlers, whereupon he took a pound of sugar
from his bag and gave it to the elk to eat. Taking the coffin from
its back the Persian king's son opened the gold coffin with fear and
trembling, when, unfolding the fine linen, he discovered a corpse, the
like of which he had never seen before, not even in his dreams.

He began to shake it to wake her: to kiss her, and at last went down
upon his knees by her side to pray to God fervently to restore her to
life, but still she didn't move. "I will take her with me into my room,"
he said, sobbing. "Although it is a corpse that must have been dead for
some time, there is no smell. The girl is prettier in her death than all
the girls of Persia alive." It was late at night when the prince got
home, carrying the golden coffin under his cloak. He bewailed the dead
girl for a long time and then went to supper. The king looked anxiously
into his son's eyes, but did not dare to question him as to the cause of
his grief. Every night the prince locked himself up, and did not go to
sleep until he had, for a long time, bemoaned his dead sweetheart; and
whenever he awoke in the night he wept again.

The prince had three sisters, and they were very good girls, and very
fond of their brother. They watched him every night through the keyhole,
but could see nothing. They heard, however, their brother's sobbing and
were very much grieved by it. The Persian king had war declared against
him by the king of the neighbouring country. The king, being very
advanced in age, asked his son to go in his place to fight the enemy.
The good son promised this willingly, although he was tortured by the
thought of being obliged to leave his beautiful dead girl behind. As,
however, he was aware that he would again be able to see and weep over
his dear one when once the war was over, he locked himself in his room
for two hours, weeping all the time, and kissing his sweetheart. Having
finished, he locked his room and put the key in his sabretache. The
good-hearted princesses impatiently waited till their brother crossed
the border with his army, and so soon as they knew that he had left the
country they went to the locksmith of the castle and took away every key
he had, and with these tried to unlock their brother's room, till at
last one of the keys did fit. They ordered every servant away from the
floor on which the room was situated and all three entered. They looked
all round, and in all the cupboards, and even took the bed to pieces,
and as they were taking out the planks of the bed they suddenly
discovered the glittering gold coffin, and in all haste placed it on the
table, and having opened it found the sleeping angel. All three kissed
her; but when they saw that they were unable to restore life, they wept
most bitterly. They rubbed her and held balsam under her nose, but
without avail. Then they examined her dress, which was very far superior
to their own. They moved her rings and breast-pins, and dressed her up
like a pretty doll. The youngest princess brought combs and perfumed
hair-oils in order to do the hair of the dear dead. They pulled out the
hair-pins and arranged them in nice order, so as to be able to replace
them as before. They parted her golden hair, and began to comb it,
adorning each lock with a hair-pin. As they were combing the hair at the
nape of the neck the comb stuck fast, so they looked at once for the
cause of it, when they saw that a golden hair-pin was entangled in the
hair, which the eldest princess moved with the greatest care. Whereupon
the beautiful girl opened her eyes and her lips formed themselves into a
smile; and, as if awakening from a long, long dream, she slightly
stretched herself, and stepped from the coffin. The girls were not
afraid at all, as she, who was so beautiful in her death, was still more
beautiful in life. The youngest girl ran to the old king and told him
what they had done, and that they had found out the cause of their
brother's grief, and how happy they were now. The old king wept for joy
and hastened after his daughter, and on seeing the beautiful child
exclaimed: "You shall be my son's wife, the mother of my grandchildren!"
And thereupon he embraced and kissed her, and took her into his room
with his daughters. He sent for singing birds so that they might amuse
his dear little new daughter. The old king inquired how she made his
son's acquaintance and where she first met him. But the pretty princess
knew nothing about it, but simply told him what she knew, namely, that
she had two enemies who sooner or later would kill and destroy her; and
she also told him that she had been living among robbers, to whom she
had been handed over by an old witch who would always persecute her till
the last moment of her life. The old king encouraged her, and bade her
not to fear anyone, but to rest in peace, as neither her mother nor the
old witch could get at her, the Persian wise men being quite able to
distinguish evil souls from good ones. The girl settled down and partook
of meat and drink with the king's daughters, and also inquired after the
young prince, asking whether he was handsome or ugly; although, she
said, it did not matter to her whether he was handsome or ugly; if he
was willing to have her, she would marry him. The princesses brought
down the painted portrait of the prince and the young girl fell so
deeply in love with it that she continually carried it with her kissing
it. One morning the news spread over all the country that the young king
had conquered his enemy and was hurrying home to his residential city.
The news turned out to be true, and clouds of dust could be seen in the
distance as the horsemen approached. The princesses requested their
pretty new sister to go with them into the room which adjoined their
brother's, where her coffin was kept under the bed.

The moment the prince arrived, he jumped off his horse, and, not even
taking time to greet his father, he unlocked his room and began to sob
most violently, dragging out the coffin gently from under the bed,
placing it on the bed with great care, and then opening the lid with
tears; but he could only find a hair-pin. He rushed out of the room like
a madman, leaving the coffin and the door open, crying aloud, and
demanding what sacrilegious hand had robbed his angel from him. But his
angel, over whom he had shed so many tears, stood smiling before him.
The youth seized her and covered her with as many kisses as there was
room for. He took his betrothed, whom Providence had given to him, to
his father and told him how he had found the pretty corpse on the back
of an elk; and the girl also told the whole story of her life; and the
princesses confessed how they had broken into their brother's room, and
how they restored his sweetheart to life again. The old king was
intoxicated with joy, and the same day sent for a priest, and a great
wedding feast was celebrated. The young folks whom Providence had
brought together lived very happily, when one day the young queen, who
was as beautiful as a fairy, informed her husband that she was being
persecuted, and that while her mother lived she could never have any
peace. "Don't fear, angel of my heart," said the young king, "as no
human or diabolic power can harm you while you are here. Providence is
very kind to us. You seem to be a favourite and will be protected from
all evil." The young queen was of a pious turn of mind and believed the
true words of her husband, as he had only spoken out her own thoughts.
About half a year had passed by and the beautiful woman of the world was
still happy. Her mirror was covered with dust, as she never dreamt for a
moment that her daughter was yet alive; but being one day desirous to
repeat her former amusement she dusted her mirror, and, pressing it to
her bosom, said: "Is there a prettier living creature in the world than
myself?" The mirror replied: "You are very pretty, but your daughter is
seventy-seven thousand times more beautiful than you." The beautiful
woman, on hearing the mirror's reply, fainted away, and they had to
sprinkle cold water over her for two hours before she came round. Off
she set, very ill, to the old witch and begged her, by everything that
was holy, to save her from that hateful girl, else she would have to go
and commit suicide. The old witch cheered her, and promised that she
would do all that lay in her power.

After eight months had elapsed the young prince had to go to war again;
and, with a heavy heart, took leave of his dear pretty wife, as--if one
is obliged to tell it--she was _enceinte_. But the prince had to go, and
he went, consoling his wife, who wept bitterly, that he would return
soon. The young king left orders that as soon as his wife was confined a
confidential messenger was to be sent without delay to inform him of the
event. Soon after his departure two beautiful boys with golden hair were
born and there was great joy in the royal household. The old king danced
about, like a young child, with delight. The princesses wrapped the
babies in purple and silk, and showed them to everybody as miracles of
beauty.

The old king wrote down the joyful news and sent the letter by a
faithful soldier, instructing him that he was not to put up anywhere
under any pretence whatever. The old soldier staked his moustache not to
call anywhere till he reached the young king.

While angels were rejoicing, devils were racking their brains and
planning mischief!

The old witch hid a flask full of spirits under her apron and hurried
off on the same road as the soldier, in order to meet him with his
letter. She pitched a small tent on the road-side using some dirty
sheets she had brought with her, and, placing her flask of spirits in
front of her, waited for the passers-by. She waited long, but no one
came; when all of a sudden a huge cloud gathered in the sky, and the old
witch was delighted. A fearful storm set in. As the rain poured down,
the old witch saw the soldier running to escape the rain. As he ran past
her tent, the wicked old soul shouted to him to come in and sit down in
her tent till the rain was over. The soldier, being afraid of the
thunder, accepted her invitation, and sat musingly in the tent, when the
old woman placed a good dose of spirits in front of him, which the
soldier drank; she gave him another drop, and he drank that too. Now
there was a sleeping-draft in it, and so the soldier fell fast asleep,
_and slept like a fur cloak_. The old woman then looked in his bag for
the letter, and, imitating _the old king's_ hand-writing to great
perfection, informed the young prince that a great sorrow had fallen
upon his house, inasmuch as his wife had been delivered of two puppies.
She sealed the letter and woke the soldier, who began to run again and
did not stop until he reached the camp. The young prince was very much
upset by his father's letter, but wrote in reply that no matter what
sort of children his wife had borne they were not to touch but to treat
them as his own children until he returned. He ordered the messenger to
hurry back with his reply, and not to stop anywhere; but the old soldier
could not forget the good glass of spirits he had, and so went into the
tent again and had some more. The witch again mixed it with a
sleeping-draught and searched the bag while the soldier slept. She stole
the letter, and, imitating the young prince's hand-writing, wrote back
to the old king that he was to have his wife and the young babes killed,
because he held a woman who had puppies must be a bad person. The old
king was very much surprised at his son's reply but said nothing to
anyone. At night he secretly called the old soldier to him and had his
daughter-in-law placed in a black carriage. The old soldier sat on the
box and had orders to take the woman and her two children into the
middle of the forest and brain them there. The carriage stopped in the
middle of the forest, the old soldier got down and opened the door,
weeping bitterly. He pulled out a big stick from under his seat and
requested the young queen to alight. She obeyed his orders and descended
holding her babes in her arms.

The old soldier tried three times to raise the stick, but could not do
so; he was too much overcome by grief. The young queen implored him not
to kill her, and told him she was willing to go away and never see
anyone again. The old soldier let her go, and she took her two babes and
sheltered in a hollow tree in the forest: there she passed her time
living on roots and wild fruit.

The soldier returned home, and was questioned by the old king as to
whether he had killed the young queen, as he didn't like to disappoint
his son, who was to return from the camp next day. The old soldier
declared on his oath that he had killed her and her babes too, and that
he had thrown their bodies into the water. The young king arrived at
home in great sorrow, and was afraid to catch sight of his unfortunate
wife and her ugly babes.

The old king had left his son's letter upon his desk by mistake; the
prince picked it up, and was enraged at its contents: "This looks very
like my writing," he said, "but I did not write it; it must be the work
of some devil." He then produced his father's letter from his pocket,
and handed it to him. The old king was horrified at the awful lie which
some devil had written in his hand. "No, my dear son," said the old
father, weeping, "this is not what I wrote to you; what I really did
write was, that two sons with golden hair had been born to you." "And
I," replied the young king, "said that whatsoever my wife's offspring
was, no harm was to happen to them till I returned. Where is my wife?
where are my golden-haired children?" "My son," said the old king, "I
have carried out your orders; I sent them to the wood and had them
killed, and the corporal belonging to the royal household had their
bodies cast into the water." The old soldier listened, through a crack
in the door, to the conversation of the two kings, who both wept
bitterly. He entered the room without being summoned, and said: "I could
not carry out your orders, my lord and king; I had not the heart to
destroy the most beautiful creature in the world; so I let her go free
in the forest, and she left, weeping. If they have not been devoured by
wild beasts, they are alive still." The young king never touched a bit
of supper, but had his horse saddled at once, and ordered his whole
body-guard out. For three days and three nights they searched the wood
in every direction, without intermission: on the fourth night, at
midnight, the young king thought he heard, issuing from a hollow tree, a
baby's cry, which seemed as harmonious to him as the song of a
nightingale. He sprang off his horse, and found his beautiful wife, who
was more beautiful than ever, and his children, who were joyfully
prattling in their mother's arms. He took his recovered family home,
amidst the joyous strains of the band, and, indeed, a high festival was
celebrated throughout the whole realm.

The young woman again expressed her fears with trembling, that, while
her mother and that she-devil were alive, she could not live in peace.

The young king issued a warrant for the capture of the old witch; and
the old soldier came, leading behind him, tied to a long rope, an awful
creature, whose body was covered all over with frightful prickles, and
who had an immense horn in the middle of her forehead. The young queen
at once recognised her as the old witch, who had been captured in the
act of searching the wood in order to find her, and slay her and her two
babes. The young queen had the old witch led into a secret room, where
she questioned her as to why she had persecuted her all her life.
"Because," said the old witch, "I am the daughter of your grandfather,
and the sister of your mother! When I was yet but a suckling babe, your
grandmother gave orders that I was to be thrown into the water; a devil
coming along the road took me and educated me. I humoured your mother's
folly because I thought she would go mad in her sorrow that a prettier
creature than herself existed; but the Lord has preserved you, and your
mother did not go mad till I covered her with small-pox, and her face
became all pitted and scarred. Her mirror was always mocking her, and
she became a wandering lunatic, roaming about over the face of the land,
and the children pelting her with stones. She continually bewails you."

The young queen informed her husband of all this, and he had the old
witch strangled, strung up in a tree, and a fire made of brimstone
lighted under her. When her soul (pára-animal soul) left her wicked
body, a horse was tied to each of her hands and feet, and her body torn
into four, one quarter of her body being sent to each of the points of
the compass, so that the other witches might receive a warning as to
their fate.

The "most beautiful woman in the world" was now very ugly, and happened
by chance to reach the palace where the pretty queen lived. Her daughter
wept over her, and had her kept in a beautiful room, every day showing
her through a glass door her beautiful children. The poor lunatic wept
and tortured herself till one day she jumped out of the window and broke
her neck. The young king loved his beautiful wife as a dove does its
mate; he obeyed her slightest wish, and guarded her from every danger.

The two little sons with the golden hair became powerful and valiant
heroes, and when the old king died he was carried to his vault by his
two golden-haired grandchildren.

The young couple, who had gone through so many sad trials, are alive
still, if they have not died since.

[1] The great pride of the Hungarian youth is to have a slender waist.

THE GIRL WITHOUT HANDS.

There was once, I don't know where, a king whose only son was an
exceedingly handsome and brave fellow, who went far into the
neighbouring country to fight. The old king used to send letters to his
son into the camp, through an old faithful servant. Once it happened
that the letter-carrying old servant took a night's lodging in a lonely
house, which was inhabited by a middle-aged woman and her daughter, who
was very pretty. The people of the house had supper prepared for the
messenger, and during the meal the woman questioned him whether he
thought her or her daughter to be the prettier, but the messenger did
not like to state the exact truth, as he did not wish to appear
ungrateful for their hospitality, and only said, "Well, we can't deny
but must confess it that we old people cannot be so handsome as the
young ones." The woman made no reply; but as soon as the messenger had
left she gave her servant orders to take her daughter into the wood and
kill her, and to bring her liver, lungs, and two hands back with him.
The manservant took the pretty girl with him, and, having gone a good
distance, he stopped, and told the girl of her mother's commands.
"But," continued he, "I haven't got the heart to kill you, as you have
always been very kind to me; there is a small dog which has followed us,
and I will take his liver and lungs back to your mother, but I shall be
compelled to cut off your hands, as I can't go back without them." The
servant did as he proposed; he took out the small dog's lungs and liver,
and cut off the girl's hands, much as it was against his wish. He
carefully covered the stumps of her arms with a cloth, and sent the girl
away and went back to his mistress. The woman took the lungs and liver,
put them into her mouth, and said, "You have come out of me, you must
return into me," and swallowed them. The two hands she threw up into the
loft. The servant left the woman's house in a great hurry at the
earliest opportunity, and never returned again. In the meantime the girl
without hands wandered about in unknown places. Fearing that she would
be discovered in the daytime, she hid herself in the wood, and only left
her hiding place at night to find food, and if she chanced to get into
an orchard she ate the fruit she could reach with her mouth.

At last she came to the town where the king lived: the prince had by
this time returned from the war. One morning, the king was looking out
of his window, and to his great annoyance discovered that, again, there
were less pears on a favourite tree in the orchard than he had counted
the previous day. In a great rage he sent for the gardener, whose
special business it was to take care of the orchard; but he excused
himself on the ground that while he was watching the orchard at night an
irresistible desire to sleep came over him, the like of which he had
never experienced before, and which he was quite unable to shake off.
The king, therefore, ordered another man to keep watch under the tree
the next night, but he fared in the same way as the first; the king was
still more angry. On the third night, the prince himself volunteered to
keep watch, and promised to guard the fruit of the favourite tree; he
laid down on the lawn under the tree, and did not shut his eyes. About
midnight, the girl without hands came forth from a thicket in the
garden, and, seeing the prince, said to him, "One of your eyes is
asleep, the other one must go to sleep too, at once." No sooner had she
uttered these words than the prince fell fast asleep, and the girl
without hands walked under the tree, and picked the fruit with her
mouth. But as there were only a few more pears left on the boughs which
she could get at, she was obliged, in order to satisfy her hunger, to
step on a little mound, and stand on tiptoe that she might reach the
fruit; whilst standing in this position she slipped, and, having no
hands to hold on with, she fell on the sleeping prince.

The shock awoke the prince at once, and, grasping the girl firmly with
his arms, he kept her fast. Next morning the king looking out of his
window discovered to his astonishment that no pears were missing, and
therefore sent a messenger into the garden to his son to inquire what
had happened? As soon as dawn began to break, the prince saw the girl's
beautiful face; the king's messenger had by this time reached the
prince, who in reply to his query, said: "Tell my father that I have
caught the thief, and I will take care not to let her escape. If my
father, the king, will not give me permission to marry her, I will never
enter his house again; tell him also, that the girl has no hands." The
king did not oppose his son's desire, and the girl without hands became
the prince's wife, and they lived happily together for a time. It
happened, however, that war broke out again with the sovereign of the
neighbouring country, and the prince was once more obliged to go with
his army. While he was away the princess was confined, and bore two
children with golden hair. The old king was highly delighted, and at
once wrote to his son informing him of the happy event. The letter was
again entrusted to the same man, who took the messages during the first
war: he on his way remembered the house where he was so well received on
a previous occasion, and arranged that he should spend the night there.
This time he found the old woman only. He got into conversation with
her, and she asked him where he was going, and what news he had from the
royal town: the messenger told her how the prince had found a beautiful
girl without hands, whom he had married, and who had had two beautiful
children. The woman at once guessed that it was her own daughter, and
that she had been deceived by her servant; she gave her guest plenty to
eat and drink, till he was quite drunk and went to sleep. Whereupon the
woman searched the messenger's bag, found the king's letter, opened it
and read it. The gist of the letter was this, "My dear son, you have
brought to my house a dear and beautiful wife, who has borne you a
beautiful golden-haired child."

The woman instantly wrote another letter, which ran thus: "You have
brought to my house a prostitute, who has brought shame upon you, for
she has been confined of two puppies." She folded the letter, sealed it
as the first had been, and put it into the messenger's bag. Next morning
the messenger left, having first been invited to spend the night at her
house on his return, as the wicked mother was anxious to know what the
prince's answer would be to the forged letter. The messenger reached the
prince, handed him the letter, which gave him inexpressible grief; but
as he was very fond of his wife he only replied, that, whatever the
state of affairs might be, no harm was to happen to his wife until his
return. The messenger took the letter back and again called upon the old
woman, who was not chary to make him drunk again and to read the reply
_clandestinely_. She was angry at the prince's answer, and wrote another
letter in his name, in which she said, that if matters were as they had
been represented to him in the letter, his wife must get out of the
house without delay, so that he might not see her upon his return.

The messenger, not suspecting anything, handed the letter to the king,
who was very much upset, and read it to his daughter-in-law. The old
king pitied his pretty and good natured daughter deeply, but what could
he do? They saddled a quiet horse, put the two golden-haired princes in
a basket and tied it in front of the princess; and thus the poor woman
was sent away amidst great lamentations.

She had been travelling without ceasing for three days, till on the
third day she came into a country where she found a lake full of magic
water, which had the power of reviving and making good the maimed limbs
of any crippled man or beast who bathed in it. So the woman without
hands took a bath in the lake, and both her hands were restored. She
washed her children's clothes in the same lake, and again continued her
journey. Not long after this the war with the neighbouring king was
over, and the prince returned home. On hearing what had happened to his
wife he fell into a state of deep grief, and became so ill that his
death was expected daily. After a long illness, however, his health
began to improve, but only very slowly, and years elapsed before his
illness and his great grief had so far been conquered that he had
strength or inclination to go out. At last he tried hunting, and spent
whole days in the forest. One day as he was thus engaged he followed a
stag, and got deeper and deeper into the thick part of the wood; in the
meantime the sun had set and darkness set in. The prince, having gone
too far, could not find his way back. But as good luck would have it he
saw a small cottage, and started in its direction to find a night's
lodging. He entered, and found a woman with two children--his wife and
two sons. The woman at once recognised the prince, who, however, did not
even suspect her to be his wife, because her hands were grown again:
but, at the same time, the great likeness struck him very much, and at
first sight he felt a great liking for the woman. On the next day he
again went out hunting with his only faithful servant, and purposely
allowed darkness to set in so that he might sleep at the cottage. The
prince felt very tired and laid down to sleep, while his wife sat at the
table sewing, and the two little children played by her side.

It happened that in his sleep the prince dropped his arm out of bed; one
of the children noticing this called his mother's attention to it,
whereupon the woman said to her son, "Place it back, my son, place it
back, it's the hand of your royal father." The child approached the
sleeping prince and gently lifted his arm back again. After a short time
the prince dropped his leg from the bed while asleep; the child again
told his mother of it, and she said, "Place it back, my son, put it
back, it's your father's leg." The boy did as he was told, but the
prince knew nothing of it. It happened, however, that the prince's
faithful servant was awake and heard every word the woman said to the
child, and told the story to his master the next day. The prince was
astonished, and no longer doubted that the woman was his wife, no matter
how she had recovered her hands. So the next day he again went out
hunting, and, according to arrangement, stayed late in the wood and had
to return to the cottage again. The prince, having gone to bed, feigned
sleep, and dropped his arm over the bed; his wife, seeing this, again
said, "Put it back, my son, put it back, it's your royal father's arm."
Afterwards he dropped his other arm, and then his two legs purposely;
and the woman in each case bade her son put them back, in the same
words. At last he let his head hang over the bedside, and his wife said
to her son, "Lift it back, my son, lift it back; it's your royal
father's head." But the little fellow, getting tired of all this,
replied, "I shan't do it; you better do it yourself this time, mother."
"Lift it back, my son," again said the mother, coaxingly; but the boy
would not obey, whereupon the woman herself went to the bed, in order to
lift the prince's head. But no sooner had she touched him than her
husband caught hold of her with both his hands, and embraced her. "Why
did you leave me?" said he, in a reproachful tone. "How could I help
leaving you," answered his wife, "when you ordered me out of your
house?" "I wrote in the letter," said the prince, "this and this;" and
told her what he had really written; and his wife explained to him what
had been read to her from the letter that had been changed. The fraud
was thus discovered, and the prince was glad beyond everything that he
had found his wife and her two beautiful children.

He at once had all three taken back to the palace, where a second
wedding was celebrated, and a great festival held. Guests were invited
from the 77th country, and came to the feast. Through the
letter-carrying messenger it became known that the cause of all the
mischief was no one else than the princess's envious mother. But the
prince forgave her all at the urgent request of his wife; and the young
couple lived for a great many years in matrimonial bliss, their family
increasing greatly. At the old king's death the whole realm fell to the
happy couple, who are still alive, if they have not died since.

THE KING AND THE DEVIL.

In the country where lions and bearded wolves live there was a king
whose favourite sport was hunting and shooting; he had some hundred
hounds or more, quite a house full of guns, and a great many huntsmen.
The king had a steady hand, a sharp eye, and the quarry he aimed at
never escaped, for the king never missed what he aimed at; his only
peculiarity was that he did not care to go out shooting with his own
people only, but he would have liked the whole world to witness his
skill in killing game, and that every good man in the world should
partake of it. Well then, whenever he made a good bag the cook and the
cellarer had so much work to do that they were not done till dawn. Such
was the king who reigned in the land where lions and bearded wolves
live.

Once upon a time this king, according to custom, invited the sovereigns
of the neighbouring lands to a great shooting party, and also their
chief men. It was in the height of summer, just at the beginning of the
dog-days. In the early morning, when they were driving out on to the
pasture the sheep with the silken fleece, the dogs could already be
heard yelping, huntsmen blowing with all their might into the thin end
of their horns, and all was noise and bustle, so that the royal
courtyard rang out with the noise. Then the king swallowed his breakfast
in a soldierlike fashion, and all put on their hunting hats adorned with
eagle's feathers, buckled the shining straps under their chins, mounted
their horses, and in a short time were off over hedges and ditches,
plunging into the vast forest, as the heat was too great for them to
hunt in the open country. Each king accompanied by his own men went in
his own direction, and game was killed with lightning speed; but the
king who owned the forest went by himself in order to show his friends
how much game he could kill single handed. But by some strange
chance--who can tell how?--no game crossed the king's track. He went
hither and thither but found nothing; looking round he discovered that
he had got into a part of the wood where not even his grandfather had
ever been; he went forward but still was lost; sideways, but still did
not know the way; to the right, and found that he was in the same
predicament as the man in Telek, namely, that unless he was taken home
he would never find it. He called upon God for help, but as he never did
that before--for the king didn't like to go to church and never invited
the priest, except upon All Souls' Day, to dinner--the Lord would not
help him; so he called upon the Devil, who appeared at once, as he will
appear anywhere, even where he is not wanted. "You need not tell me
what you are doing here, good king," said the evil spirit, "I know that
you have been out shooting and have found no game and that you have lost
your way. Promise me that you will give me what you have not got in your
house and you shall find plenty of game and I will take you home." "You
ask very little, poor soul," said the king, "Your request shall be
granted; moreover, I will give you something of what I have, whatever
you may wish, if you will but take me home."

Shortly afterwards the king arrived at home, and had so much game with
him that his horse could scarcely stand beneath the weight; the other
kings were quite impatient with waiting for him, and were highly
delighted when he arrived. At last they sat down to supper and ate and
drank heartily, but the devil ate nothing but the scrapings from the
pots and pans, and drank no wine but the dregs that were left in the
bottles. At midnight an old woman appeared before the company of jolly
kings and shouted as loud as she could in delight because a beautiful
little daughter had been born to the king. The devil jumped up and
capered about in his joy; _standing on his toes and clapping his bony
heels together, he spun the king round like a whirlwind_ and shouted in
his ear, "That girl, king, was not in your house to-day and I will come
for her in ten years." The devil hereupon saddled midnight and darted
off like lightning, while the guests stared at each other in amazement,
and the king's face turned ghastly pale.

Next morning they counted the heads of game and found that the king had
twice as much as all the rest put together: yet he was very sad; he made
presents to all his guests, and gave them an escort of soldiers as far
as the boundary of his realm.

Ten years passed as swiftly as the bird flies and the devil appeared
punctually to the minute. The king tried to put him off, and walked up
and down his room greatly agitated; he thought first of one thing and
then of another. At last he had the swineherd's daughter dressed up like
a princess, and placed her on his wife's arm, and then took her to the
devil, both parents weeping most bitterly, and then handed the child
over to the black soul. The devil carried her away in high glee, but
when the pretty little creature was passing a herd of swine she said,
"Well, little sucking pigs, my father won't beat me any more on your
account, for I'm leaving you and going to the 77th country, where the
angels live." The devil listened to the little girl's words and at last
discovered that he had been deceived; in a rage he flew back to the
royal fortress, and dashed the poor child with such force against the
gate-post that her smallest bone was smashed into a thousand atoms. He
roared at the king in such a voice that all the window fittings dropped
out and the plaster fell off the walls in great lumps. "Give me your own
daughter," he screamed, "for whatever you promise to the devil you must
give to him or else he will carry off what you have not promised." The
king again tried to collect his wits and had the shepherd's daughter who
tended the sheep with the golden fleece, and who was ten years old,
dressed in the royal fashion and handed her to the devil amidst great
lamentation. He even placed at the devil's disposal a closed carriage,
"so that the sun might not tan his daughter's face or the wind blow upon
her," as he said, but it was really to prevent the little girl seeing
what was passing and so betraying herself. As the carriage passed by the
silken meadow and the little girl heard the baaing of the lambs she
opened the door and called to the little animals, saying, "Well, little
baa-lambs, my father won't beat me any more on your account, and I won't
run after you in the heat now, because the king is sending me to the
77th country, where the angels live." The devil was now in a towering
passion, and the flame shot out of his nostrils as thick as my arm; he
threw the little girl up into the clouds and returned to the royal
palace.

The king saw the carriage returning and trembled like an aspen leaf. He
dressed up his daughter, weeping bitterly as he did so, and when the
devil stepped across the threshold of the palace he went to meet him
with the beautiful child, the like of which no other mother ever bore.
The devil, in a great rage, pushed the pretty lily into a slit of his
shirt, and ran with her over hill and dale. Like a thunderstorm he
carried off the little trembling Maria into his dark home, which was
lighted up with burning sulphur, and placed her on a pillow stuffed with
owl's feathers. He then set a black table before her, and on it mixed
two bushels of millet seed with three bushels of ashes, saying, "Now,
you little wretch, if you don't clean this millet in two hours, I will
kill you with the most horrible tortures." With this he left her, and
slammed the door that it shock the whole house. Little innocent Maria
wept bitterly, for she knew she could not possibly finish the work in
the stated time. While she wept in her loneliness, the devil's son very
quietly entered the room. He was a fine handsome lad, and they called
him Johnnie. Johnnie's heart was full of pity at seeing the little
girl's sorrow, and cheered her up, telling her that if she ceased crying
he would do the work for her at once. He felt in his pocket, and took
out a whistle; and, going into a side-room, he blew it, and in a moment
the whole place was filled with devils, whom Johnnie commanded to clean
the millet in the twinkling of an eye. By the time little Maria winked
three times, the millet was not only cleansed, but every seed was
polished and glittered like diamonds. Until the father's return Maria
and Johnnie amused themselves in childish games. The old devil upon his
return, seeing all the work done, shook his head so vehemently that
burning cinders dropped from his hair. He gave the little girl some
manna to eat and lay down to sleep.

Next day the ugly old devil mixed twice as much millet and ashes, as he
was very anxious to avenge himself on the child whose father had taken
him in twice; but, by the help of Johnnie's servants, the millet was
again cleaned. The devil in his rage gnawed off the end of his beard
and spat it out on the ground, where every hair became a venomous
serpent. The little girl screamed, and at the sound of her voice all the
serpents stretched themselves on the ground, and wriggled about before
the little girl like young eels, for they were charmed, never having
heard so sweet a voice before. The devil was very much enraged that all
the animals and the devils themselves, with the exception of himself,
were so fond of this pretty little girl. "Well, soul of a dog, you
little imp," said the devil, gnashing his teeth, "if by to-morrow
morning you do not build from nothing, under my window, a church, the
ceiling of which will be the sky, and the priest in it the Lord Himself,
whom your father does not fear, I will slay you with tortures the like
of which are not known even in nethermost hell."

Little Maria was terribly frightened. The old devil, having given his
orders, disappeared amidst thunder. The kind-hearted Johnnie here
appeared, blew his whistle, and the devils came. They listened to the
orders, but replied, that no devil could build a church out of nothing,
and that, moreover, they dare not go up to heaven and had no power over
the Lord to make him become a priest; that the only advice they could
give was, for Johnnie and the little girl to set off at once, before it
was too late, and so escape the tortures threatened by the old devil.