Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 08 (13 page)

The next day the king went out to fight another battle, and again
Paperarello appeared, mounted on his lame horse. As on the day
before, he halted on the road, and sat down to make his clay
soldiers; then a second time he wished himself armour, sword, and a
horse, all sharper and better than those he had previously had, and
galloped after the rest. He was only just in time: the enemy had
almost beaten the king's army back, and men whispered to each
other that if the strange knight did not soon come to their aid, they
would be all dead men. Suddenly someone cried: 'Hold on a little
longer, I see him in the distance; and his armour shines brighter, and
his horse runs swifter, than yesterday.' Then they took fresh heart
and fought desperately on till the knight came up, and threw himself
into the thick of the battle. As before, the enemy gave way before
him, and in a few minutes the victory remained with the king.

The first thing that the victor did was to send for the knight to
thank him for his timely help, and to ask what gift he could bestow
on him in token of gratitude. 'Your Majesty's ear,' answered the
knight; and as the king could not go back from his word, he cut it
off and gave it to him. Paperarello bowed, fastened the ear inside
his surcoat and rode away. In the evening, when they all returned
from the battle, there he was, sitting in the road, making clay dolls.

On the third day the same thing happened, and this time he asked
for the king's nose as the reward of his aid. Now, to lose one's
nose, is worse even than losing one's ear or one's finger, and the
king hesitated as to whether he should comply. However, he had
always prided himself on being an honourable man, so he cut off his
nose, and handed it to Paperarello. Paperarello bowed, put the
nose in his surcoat, and rode away. In the evening, when the king
returned from the battle, he found Paperarello sitting in the road
making clay dolls. And Paperarello got up and said to him: 'Do you
know who I am? I am your dirty goose-boy, yet you have given me
your finger, and your ear, and your nose.'

That night, when the king sat at dinner, Paperarello came in, and
laying down the ear, and the nose, and the finger on the table,
turned and said to the nobles and courtiers who were waiting on the
king: 'I am the invincible knight, who rode three times to your help,
and I also am a king's son, and no goose-boy as you all think.' And
he went away and washed himself, and dressed himself in fine
clothes and entered the hall again, looking so handsome that the
proud princess fell in love with him on the spot. But Paperarello
took no notice of her, and said to the king: 'It was kind of you to
offer me your daughter in marriage, and for that I thank you; but I
have a wife at home whom I love better, and it is to her that I am
going. But as a token of farewell, I wish that your ear, and nose,
and finger may be restored to their proper places.' So saying, he
bade them all goodbye, and went back to his home and his fairy
bride, with whom he lived happily till the end of his life.

(From Sicilianisohen Mahrchen.)

Once upon a time there was an old man who lived in a little hut in
the middle of a forest. His wife was dead, and he had only one son,
whom he loved dearly. Near their hut was a group of birch trees, in
which some black-game had made their nests, and the youth had
often begged his father's permission to shoot the birds, but the old
man always strictly forbade him to do anything of the kind.

One day, however, when the father had gone to a little distance to
collect some sticks for the fire, the boy fetched his bow, and shot at
a bird that was just flying towards its nest. But he had not taken
proper aim, and the bird was only wounded, and fluttered along the
ground. The boy ran to catch it, but though he ran very fast, and
the bird seemed to flutter along very slowly, he never could quite
come up with it; it was always just a little in advance. But so
absorbed was he in the chase that he did not notice for some time
that he was now deep in the forest, in a place where he had never
been before. Then he felt it would be foolish to go any further, and
he turned to find his way home.

He thought it would be easy enough to follow the path along which
he had come, but somehow it was always branching off in
unexpected directions. He looked about for a house where he
might stop and ask his way, but there was not a sign of one
anywhere, and he was afraid to stand still, for it was cold, and there
were many stories of wolves being seen in that part of the forest.
Night fell, and he was beginning to start at every sound, when
suddenly a magician came running towards him, with a pack of
wolves snapping at his heels. Then all the boy's courage returned to
him. He took his bow, and aiming an arrow at the largest wolf,
shot him through the heart, and a few more arrows soon put the
rest to flight. The magician was full of gratitude to his deliverer,
and promised him a reward for his help if the youth would go back
with him to his house.

'Indeed there is nothing that would be more welcome to me than a
night's lodging,' answered the boy; 'I have been wandering all day in
the forest, and did not know how to get home again.

'Come with me, you must be hungry as well as tired,' said the
magician, and led the way to his house, where the guest flung
himself on a bed, and went fast asleep. But his host returned to the
forest to get some food, for the larder was empty.

While he was absent the housekeeper went to the boy's room and
tried to wake him. She stamped on the floor, and shook him and
called to him, telling him that he was in great danger, and must take
flight at once. But nothing would rouse him, and if he did ever
open his eyes he shut them again directly.

Soon after, the magician came back from the forest, and told the
housekeeper to bring them something to eat. The meal was quickly
ready, and the magician called to the boy to come down and eat it,
but he could not be wakened, and they had to sit down to supper
without him. By-and-by the magician went out into the wood again
for some more hunting, and on his return he tried afresh to waken
the youth. But finding it quite impossible, he went back for the
third time to the forest.

While he was absent the boy woke up and dressed himself. Then he
came downstairs and began to talk to the housekeeper. The girl
had heard how he had saved her master's life, so she said nothing
more about his running away, but instead told him that if the
magician offered him the choice of a reward, he was to ask for the
horse which stood in the third stall of the stable.

By-and-by the old man came back and they all sat down to dinner.
When they had finished the magician said: 'Now, my son, tell me
what you will have as the reward of your courage?'

'Give me the horse that stands in the third stall of your stable,'
answered the youth. 'For I have a long way to go before I get
home, and my feet will not carry me so far.'

'Ah! my son,' replied the magician, 'it is the best horse in my stable
that you want! Will not anything else please you as well?'

But the youth declared that it was the horse, and the horse only,
that he desired, and in the end the old man gave way. And besides
the horse, the magician gave him a zither, a fiddle, and a flute,
saying: 'If you are in danger, touch the zither; and if no one comes
to your aid, then play on the fiddle; but if that brings no help, blow
on the flute.'

The youth thanked the magician, and fastening his treasures about
him mounted the horse and rode off. He had already gone some
miles when, to his great surprise, the horse spoke, and said: 'It is no
use your returning home just now, your father will only beat you.
Let us visit a few towns first, and something lucky will be sure to
happen to us.'

This advice pleased the boy, for he felt himself almost a man by this
time, and thought it was high time he saw the world. When they
entered the capital of the country everyone stopped to admire the
beauty of the horse. Even the king heard of it, and came to see the
splendid creature with his own eyes. Indeed, he wanted directly to
buy it, and told the youth he would give any price he liked. The
young man hesitated for a moment, but before he could speak, the
horse contrived to whisper to him:

'Do not sell me, but ask the king to take me to his stable, and feed
me there; then his other horses will become just as beautiful as I.'

The king was delighted when he was told what the horse had said,
and took the animal at once to the stables, and placed it in his own
particular stall. Sure enough, the horse had scarcely eaten a
mouthful of corn out of the manger, when the rest of the horses
seemed to have undergone a transformation. Some of them were
old favourites which the king had ridden in many wars, and they
bore the signs of age and of service. But now they arched their
heads, and pawed the ground with their slender legs as they had
been wont to do in days long gone by. The king's heart beat with
delight, but the old groom who had had the care of them stood
crossly by, and eyed the owner of this wonderful creature with hate
and envy. Not a day passed without his bringing some story against
the youth to his master, but the king understood all about the
matter and paid no attention. At last the groom declared that the
young man had boasted that he could find the king's war horse
which had strayed into the forest several years ago, and had not
been heard of since. Now the king had never ceased to mourn for
his horse, so this time he listened to the tale which the groom had
invented, and sent for the youth. 'Find me my horse in three days,'
said he, 'or it will be the worse for you.'

The youth was thunderstruck at this command, but he only bowed,
and went off at once to the stable.

'Do not worry yourself,' answered his own horse. 'Ask the king to
give you a hundred oxen, and to let them be killed and cut into
small pieces. Then we will start on our journey, and ride till we
reach a certain river. There a horse will come up to you, but take
no notice of him. Soon another will appear, and this also you must
leave alone, but when the third horse shows itself, throw my bridle
over it.'

Everything happened just as the horse had said, and the third horse
was safely bridled. Then the other horse spoke again: 'The
magician's raven will try to eat us as we ride away, but throw it
some of the oxen's flesh, and then I will gallop like the wind, and
carry you safe out of the dragon's clutches.'

So the young man did as he was told, and brought the horse back to
the king.

The old stableman was very jealous, when he heard of it, and
wondered what he could do to injure the youth in the eyes of his
royal master. At last he hit upon a plan, and told the king that the
young man had boasted that he could bring home the king's wife,
who had vanished many months before, without leaving a trace
behind her. Then the king bade the young man come into his
presence, and desired him to fetch the queen home again, as he had
boasted he could do. And if he failed, his head would pay the
penalty.

The poor youth's heart stood still as he listened. Find the queen?
But how was he to do that, when nobody in the palace had been
able to do so! Slowly he walked to the stable, and laying his head
on his horse's shoulder, he said: 'The king has ordered me to bring
his wife home again, and how can I do that when she disappeared
so long ago, and no one can tell me anything about her?'

'Cheer up!' answered the horse, 'we will manage to find her. You
have only got to ride me back to the same river that we went to
yesterday, and I will plunge into it and take my proper shape again.
For I am the king's wife, who was turned into a horse by the
magician from whom you saved me.'

Joyfully the young man sprang into the saddle and rode away to the
banks of the river. Then he threw himself off, and waited while the
horse plunged in. The moment it dipped its head into the water its
black skin vanished, and the most beautiful woman in the world was
floating on the water. She came smiling towards the youth, and
held out her hand, and he took it and led her back to the palace.
Great was the king's surprise and happiness when he beheld his lost
wife stand before him, and in gratitude to her rescuer he loaded him
with gifts.

You would have thought that after this the poor youth would have
been left in peace; but no, his enemy the stableman hated him as
much as ever, and laid a new plot for his undoing. This time he
presented himself before the king and told him that the youth was
so puffed up with what he had done that he had declared he would
seize the king's throne for himself.

At this news the king waxed so furious that he ordered a gallows to
be erected at once, and the young man to be hanged without a trial.
He was not even allowed to speak in his own defence, but on the
very steps of the gallows he sent a message to the king and begged,
as a last favour, that he might play a tune on his zither. Leave was
given him, and taking the instrument from under his cloak he
touched the strings. Scarcely had the first notes sounded than the
hangman and his helper began to dance, and the louder grew the
music the higher they capered, till at last they cried for mercy. But
the youth paid no heed, and the tunes rang out more merrily than
before, and by the time the sun set they both sank on the ground
exhausted, and declared that the hanging must be put off till
to-morrow.

The story of the zither soon spread through the town, and on the
following morning the king and his whole court and a large crowd
of people were gathered at the foot of the gallows to see the youth
hanged. Once more he asked a favour—permission to play on his
fiddle, and this the king was graciously pleased to grant. But with
the first notes, the leg of every man in the crowd was lifted high,
and they danced to the sound of the music the whole day till
darkness fell, and there was no light to hang the musician by.