Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 03 (21 page)

The youth found the Golden Blackbird standing on a wooden perch,
but as stiff and rigid as if he was dead. And beside the beautiful
cage was the cage of gold.

'Perhaps he would revive if I were to put him in that lovely
cage,' thought the youth.

The moment that Golden Bird had touched the bars of the splendid
cage he awoke, and began to whistle, so that all the servants of
the castle ran to see what was the matter, saying that he was a
thief and must be put in prison.

'No,' he answered, 'I am not a thief. If I have taken the Golden
Blackbird, it is only that it may cure my father, who is ill, and
I have travelled more than seven hundred miles in order to find
it.'

'Well,' they replied, 'we will let you go, and will even give you
the Golden Bird, if you are able to bring us the Porcelain
Maiden.'

The youth departed, weeping, and met the little hare, who was
munching wild thyme.

'What are you crying for, my friend?' asked the hare.

'It is because,' he answered, 'the castle people will not allow me
to carry off the Golden Blackbird without giving them the
Porcelain Maiden in exchange.'

'You have not followed my advice,' said the little hare. 'And you
have put the Golden Bird into the fine cage.'

'Alas! yes!'

'Don't despair! the Porcelain Maiden is a young girl, beautiful as
Venus, who dwells two hundred miles from here. Jump on my back and
I will take you there.'

The little hare, who took seven miles in a stride, was there in no
time at all, and he stopped on the borders of a lake.

'The Porcelain Maiden,' said the hare to the youth, 'will come
here to bathe with her friends, while I just eat a mouthful of
thyme to refresh me. When she is in the lake, be sure you hide her
clothes, which are of dazzling whiteness, and do not give them
back to her unless she consents to follow you.'

The little hare left him, and almost immediately the Porcelain
Maiden arrived with her friends. She undressed herself and got
into the water. Then the young man glided up noiselessly and laid
hold of her clothes, which he hid under a rock at some distance.

When the Porcelain Maiden was tired of playing in the water she
came out to dress herself, but, though she hunted for her clothes
high and low, she could find them nowhere. Her friends helped her
in the search, but, seeing at last that it was of no use, they
left her, alone on the bank, weeping bitterly.

'Why do you cry?' said the young man, approaching her.

'Alas!' answered she, 'while I was bathing someone stole my
clothes, and my friends have abandoned me.'

'I will find your clothes if you will only come with me.'

And the Porcelain Maiden agreed to follow him, and after having
given up her clothes, the young man bought a small horse for her,
which went like the wind. The little hare brought them both back
to seek for the Golden Blackbird, and when they drew near to the
castle where it lived the little hero said to the young man:

'Now, do be a little sharper than you were before, and you will
manage to carry off both the Golden Blackbird and the Porcelain
Maiden. Take the golden cage in one hand, and leave the bird in
the old cage where he is, and bring that away too.'

The little hare then vanished; the youth did as he was bid, and
the castle servants never noticed that he was carrying off the
Golden Bird. When he reached the inn where his brothers were
detained, he delivered them by paying their debt. They set out all
together, but as the two elder brothers were jealous of the
success of the youngest, they took the opportunity as they were
passing by the shores of a lake to throw themselves upon him,
seize the Golden Bird, and fling him in the water. Then they
continued their journey, taking with them the Porcelain Maiden, in
the firm belief that their brother was drowned. But, happily, he
had snatched in falling at a tuft of rushes and called loudly for
help. The little hare came running to him, and said 'Take hold of
my leg and pull yourself out of the water.'

When he was safe on shore the little hare said to him:

'Now this is what you have to do: dress yourself like a Breton
seeking a place as stable-boy, and go and offer your services to
your father. Once there, you will easily be able to make him
understand the truth.'

The young man did as the little hare bade him, and he went to his
father's castle and enquired if they were not in want of a stable-
boy.

'Yes,' replied his father, 'very much indeed. But it is not an
easy place. There is a little horse in the stable which will not
let anyone go near it, and it has already kicked to death several
people who have tried to groom it.'

'I will undertake to groom it,' said the youth. 'I never saw the
horse I was afraid of yet.' The little horse allowed itself to be
rubbed down without a toss of its head and without a kick.

'Good gracious!' exclaimed the master; 'how is it that he lets you
touch him, when no one else can go near him?'

'Perhaps he knows me,' answered the stable-boy.

Two or three days later the master said to him: 'The Porcelain
Maiden is here: but, though she is as lovely as the dawn, she is
so wicked that she scratches everyone that approaches her. Try if
she will accept your services.'

When the youth entered the room where she was, the Golden
Blackbird broke forth into a joyful song, and the Porcelain Maiden
sang too, and jumped for joy.

'Good gracious!' cried the master. 'The Porcelain Maiden and the
Golden Blackbird know you too?'

'Yes,' replied the youth, 'and the Porcelain Maiden can tell you
the whole truth, if she only will.'

Then she told all that had happened, and how she had consented to
follow the young man who had captured the Golden Blackbird.

'Yes,' added the youth, 'I delivered my brothers, who were kept
prisoners in an inn, and, as a reward, they threw me into a lake.
So I disguised myself and came here, in order to prove the truth
to you.'

So the old lord embraced his son, and promised that he should
inherit all his possessions, and he put to death the two elder
ones, who had deceived him and had tried to slay their own
brother.

The young man married the Porcelain Maiden, and had a splendid
wedding-feast.

Sebillot.

Once upon a time there was a little soldier who had just come back
from the war. He was a brave little fellow, but he had lost
neither arms nor legs in battle. Still, the fighting was ended and
the army disbanded, so he had to return to the village where he
was born.

Now the soldier's name was really John, but for some reason or
other his friends always called him the Kinglet; why, no one ever
knew, but so it was.

As he had no father or mother to welcome him home, he did not
hurry himself, but went quietly along, his knapsack on his back
and his sword by his side, when suddenly one evening he was seized
with a wish to light his pipe. He felt for his match-box to strike
a light, but to his great disgust he found he had lost it.

He had only gone about a stone's throw after making this discovery
when he noticed a light shining through the trees. He went towards
it, and perceived before him an old castle, with the door standing
open.

The little soldier entered the courtyard, and, peeping through a
window, saw a large fire blazing at the end of a low hall. He put
his pipe in his pocket and knocked gently, saying politely:

'Would you give me a light?'

But he got no answer.

After waiting for a moment John knocked again, this time more
loudly. There was still no reply.

He raised the latch and entered; the hall was empty.

The little soldier made straight for the fireplace, seized the
tongs, and was stooping down to look for a nice red hot coal with
which to light his pipe, when clic! something went, like a spring
giving way, and in the very midst of the flames an enormous
serpent reared itself up close to his face.

And what was more strange still, this serpent had the head of a
woman.

At such an unexpected sight many men would have turned and run for
their lives; but the little soldier, though he was so small, had a
true soldier's heart. He only made one step backwards, and grasped
the hilt of his sword.

'Don't unsheath it,' said the serpent. 'I have been waiting for
you, as it is you who must deliver me.'

'Who are you?'

'My name is Ludovine, and I am the daughter of the King of the Low
Countries. Deliver me, and I will marry you and make you happy for
ever after.'

Now, some people might not have liked the notion of being made
happy by a serpent with the head of a woman, but the Kinglet had
no such fears. And, besides, he felt the fascination of Ludovine's
eyes, which looked at him as a snake looks at a little bird. They
were beautiful green eyes, not round like those of a cat, but long
and almond-shaped, and they shone with a strange light, and the
golden hair which floated round them seemed all the brighter for
their lustre. The face had the beauty of an angel, though the body
was only that of a serpent.

'What must I do?' asked the Kinglet.

'Open that door. You will find yourself in a gallery with a room
at the end just like this. Cross that, and you will see a closet,
out of which you must take a tunic, and bring it back to me.'

The little soldier boldly prepared to do as he was told. He
crossed the gallery in safety, but when he reached the room he saw
by the light of the stars eight hands on a level with his face,
which threatened to strike him. And, turn his eyes which way he
would, he could discover no bodies belonging to them.

He lowered his head and rushed forward amidst a storm of blows,
which he returned with his fists. When he got to the closet, he
opened it, took down the tunic, and brought it to the first room.

'Here it is,' he panted, rather out of breath.

'Clic!' once more the flames parted. Ludovine was a woman down to
her waist. She took the tunic and put it on.

It was a magnificent tunic of orange velvet, embroidered in
pearls, but the pearls were not so white as her own neck.

'That is not all,' she said. 'Go to the gallery, take the
staircase which is on the left, and in the second room on the
first story you will find another closet with my skirt. Bring this
to me.'

The Kinglet did as he was told, but in entering the room he saw,
instead of merely hands, eight arms, each holding an enormous
stick. He instantly unsheathed his sword and cut his way through
with such vigour that he hardly received a scratch.

He brought back the skirt, which was made of silk as blue as the
skies of Spain.

'Here it is,' said John, as the serpent appeared. She was now a
woman as far as her knees.

'I only want my shoes and stockings now,' she said. 'Go and get
them from the closet which is on the second story.'

The little soldier departed, and found himself in the presence of
eight goblins armed with hammers, and flames darting from their
eyes. This time he stopped short at the threshold. 'My sword is no
use,' he thought to himself; 'these wretches will break it like
glass, and if I can't think of anything else, I am a dead man.' At
this moment his eyes fell on the door, which was made of oak,
thick and heavy. He wrenched it off its hinges and held it over
his head, and then went straight at the goblins, whom he crushed
beneath it. After that he took the shoes and stockings out of the
closet and brought them to Ludovine, who, directly she had put
them on, became a woman all over.

When she was quite dressed in her white silk stockings and little
blue slippers dotted over with carbuncles, she said to her
deliverer, 'Now you must go away, and never come back here,
whatever happens. Here is a purse with two hundred ducats. Sleep
to-night at the inn which is at the edge of the wood, and awake
early in the morning: for at nine o'clock I shall pass the door,
and shall take you up in my carriage.' 'Why shouldn't we go now?'
asked the little soldier. 'Because the time has not yet come,'
said the Princess. 'But first you may drink my health in this
glass of wine,' and as she spoke she filled a crystal goblet with
a liquid that looked like melted gold.

John drank, then lit his pipe and went out.

When he arrived at the inn he ordered supper, but no sooner had he
sat down to eat it than he felt that he was going sound asleep.

'I must be more tired than I thought,' he said to himself, and,
after telling them to be sure to wake him next morning at eight
o'clock, he went to bed.

All night long he slept like a dead man. At eight o'clock they
came to wake him, and at half-past, and a quarter of an hour
later, but it was no use; and at last they decided to leave him in
peace.

The clocks were striking twelve when John awoke. He sprang out of
bed, and, scarcely waiting to dress himself, hastened to ask if
anyone had been to inquire for him.

'There came a lovely princess,' replied the landlady, 'in a coach
of gold. She left you this bouquet, and a message to say that she
would pass this way to-morrow morning at eight o'clock.'

The little soldier cursed his sleep, but tried to console himself
by looking at his bouquet, which was of immortelles.

'It is the flower of remembrance,' thought he, forgetting that it
is also the flower of the dead.

When the night came, he slept with one eye open, and jumped up
twenty times an hour. When the birds began to sing he could lie
still no longer, and climbed out of his window into the branches
of one of the great lime-trees that stood before the door. There
he sat, dreamily gazing at his bouquet till he ended by going fast
asleep.

Once asleep, nothing was able to wake him; neither the brightness
of the sun, nor the songs of the birds, nor the noise of
Ludovine's golden coach, nor the cries of the landlady who sought
him in every place she could think of.