Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 08 (17 page)

The young man was overjoyed at this sudden change in his
fortunes, and did not know how to thank father Peter for his
generosity. They took the road again at dawn the next morning,
and soon reached a town, where Friedlin equipped himself as a
gallant wooer should. Father Peter filled his pockets with gold for
the wedding dowry, and agreed with him that when all was settled
he should secretly send him word that Peter might send off the
waggon load of house plenishings with which the rich bridegroom
was to make such a stir in the little town where the bride lived. As
they parted, father Peter's last commands to Friedlin were to guard
well their secret, and not even to tell it to Lucia till she was his
wife.

Master Peter long enjoyed the profits of his journey to the
mountain, and no rumour of it ever got abroad. In his old age his
prosperity was so great that he himself did not know how rich he
was; but it was always supposed that the money was Friedlin's. He
and his beloved wife lived in the greatest happiness and peace, and
rose to great honour in the town. And to this day, when the
citizens wish to describe a wealthy man, they say: 'As rich as Peter
Bloch's son-in-law!'

Once upon a time there lived an old man and his wife in a dirty,
tumble-down cottage, not very far from the splendid palace where
the king and queen dwelt. In spite of the wretched state of the hut,
which many people declared was too bad even for a pig to live in,
the old man was very rich, for he was a great miser, and lucky
besides, and would often go without food all day sooner than
change one of his beloved gold pieces.

But after a while he found that he had starved himself once too
often. He fell ill, and had no strength to get well again, and in a few
days he died, leaving his wife and one son behind him.

The night following his death, the son dreamed that an unknown
man appeared to him and said: 'Listen to me; your father is dead
and your mother will soon die, and all their riches will belong to
you. Half of his wealth is ill-gotten, and this you must give back to
the poor from whom he squeezed it. The other half you must
throw into the sea. Watch, however, as the money sinks into the
water, and if anything should swim, catch it and keep it, even if it is
nothing more than a bit of paper.'

Then the man vanished, and the youth awoke.

The remembrance of his dream troubled him greatly. He did not
want to part with the riches that his father had left him, for he had
known all his life what it was to be cold and hungry, and now he
had hoped for a little comfort and pleasure. Still, he was honest
and good-hearted, and if his father had come wrongfully by his
wealth he felt he could never enjoy it, and at last he made up his
mind to do as he had been bidden. He found out who were the
people who were poorest in the village, and spent half of his money
in helping them, and the other half he put in his pocket. From a
rock that jutted right out into the sea he flung it in. In a moment it
was out of sight, and no man could have told the spot where it had
sunk, except for a tiny scrap of paper floating on the water. He
stretched down carefully and managed to reach it, and on opening it
found six shillings wrapped inside. This was now all the money he
had in the world.

The young man stood and looked at it thoughtfully. 'Well, I can't
do much with this,' he said to himself; but, after all, six shillings
were better than nothing, and he wrapped them up again and
slipped them into his coat.

He worked in his garden for the next few weeks, and he and his
mother contrived to live on the fruit and vegetables he got out of it,
and then she too died suddenly. The poor fellow felt very sad when
he had laid her in her grave, and with a heavy heart he wandered
into the forest, not knowing where he was going. By-and-by he
began to get hungry, and seeing a small hut in front of him, he
knocked at the door and asked if they could give him some milk.
The old woman who opened it begged him to come in, adding
kindly, that if he wanted a night's lodging he might have it without
its costing him anything.

Two women and three men were at supper when he entered, and
silently made room for him to sit down by them. When he had
eaten he began to look about him, and was surprised to see an
animal sitting by the fire different from anything he had ever noticed
before. It was grey in colour, and not very big; but its eyes were
large and very bright, and it seemed to be singing in an odd way,
quite unlike any animal in the forest. 'What is the name of that
strange little creature?' asked he. And they answered, 'We call it a
cat.'

'I should like to buy it—if it is not too dear,' said the young man; 'it
would be company for me.' And they told him that he might have it
for six shillings, if he cared to give so much. The young man took
out his precious bit of paper, handed them the six shillings, and the
next morning bade them farewell, with the cat lying snugly in his
cloak.

For the whole day they wandered through meadows and forests, till
in the evening they reached a house. The young fellow knocked at
the door and asked the old man who opened it if he could rest there
that night, adding that he had no money to pay for it. 'Then I must
give it to you,' answered the man, and led him into a room where
two women and two men were sitting at supper. One of the
women was the old man's wife, the other his daughter. He placed
the cat on the mantel shelf, and they all crowded round to examine
this strange beast, and the cat rubbed itself against them, and held
out its paw, and sang to them; and the women were delighted, and
gave it everything that a cat could eat, and a great deal more
besides.

After hearing the youth's story, and how he had nothing in the
world left him except his cat, the old man advised him to go to the
palace, which was only a few miles distant, and take counsel of the
king, who was kind to everyone, and would certainly be his friend.
The young man thanked him, and said he would gladly take his
advice; and early next morning he set out for the royal palace.

He sent a message to the king to beg for an audience, and received
a reply that he was to go into the great hall, where he would find
his Majesty.

The king was at dinner with his court when the young man entered,
and he signed to him to come near. The youth bowed low, and
then gazed in surprise at the crowd of little black creatures who
were running about the floor, and even on the table itself. Indeed,
they were so bold that they snatched pieces of food from the King's
own plate, and if he drove them away, tried to bite his hands, so
that he could not eat his food, and his courtiers fared no better.

'What sort of animals are these?' asked the youth of one of the
ladies sitting near him.

'They are called rats,' answered the king, who had overheard the
question, 'and for years we have tried some way of putting an end
to them, but it is impossible. They come into our very beds.'

At this moment something was seen flying through the air. The cat
was on the table, and with two or three shakes a number of rats
were lying dead round him. Then a great scuffling of feet was
heard, and in a few minutes the hall was clear.

For some minutes the King and his courtiers only looked at each
other in astonishment. 'What kind of animal is that which can work
magic of this sort?' asked he. And the young man told him that it
was called a cat, and that he had bought it for six shillings.

And the King answered: 'Because of the luck you have brought me,
in freeing my palace from the plague which has tormented me for
many years, I will give you the choice of two things. Either you
shall be my Prime Minister, or else you shall marry my daughter and
reign after me. Say, which shall it be?'

'The princess and the kingdom,' said the young man.

And so it was.

(From Islandische Marchen.)

Once upon a time, in the very middle of the middle of a large
kingdom, there was a town, and in the town a palace, and in the
palace a king. This king had one son whom his father thought was
wiser and cleverer than any son ever was before, and indeed his
father had spared no pains to make him so. He had been very
careful in choosing his tutors and governors when he was a boy,
and when he became a youth he sent him to travel, so that he might
see the ways of other people, and find that they were often as good
as his own.

It was now a year since the prince had returned home, for his father
felt that it was time that his son should learn how to rule the
kingdom which would one day be his. But during his long absence
the prince seemed to have changed his character altogether. From
being a merry and light-hearted boy, he had grown into a gloomy
and thoughtful man. The king knew of nothing that could have
produced such an alteration. He vexed himself about it from
morning till night, till at length an explanation occurred to him—the
young man was in love!

Now the prince never talked about his feelings—for the matter of
that he scarcely talked at all; and the father knew that if he was to
come to the bottom of the prince's dismal face, he would have to
begin. So one day, after dinner, he took his son by the arm and led
him into another room, hung entirely with the pictures of beautiful
maidens, each one more lovely than the other.

'My dear boy,' he said, 'you are very sad; perhaps after all your
wanderings it is dull for you here all alone with me. It would be
much better if you would marry, and I have collected here the
portraits of the most beautiful women in the world of a rank equal
to your own. Choose which among them you would like for a wife,
and I will send an embassy to her father to ask for her hand.'

'Alas! your Majesty,' answered the prince, 'it is not love or marriage
that makes me so gloomy; but the thought, which haunts me day
and night, that all men, even kings, must die. Never shall I be
happy again till I have found a kingdom where death is unknown.
And I have determined to give myself no rest till I have discovered
the Land of Immortality.

The old king heard him with dismay; things were worse than he
thought. He tried to reason with his son, and told him that during
all these years he had been looking forward to his return, in order to
resign his throne and its cares, which pressed so heavily upon him.
But it was in vain that he talked; the prince would listen to nothing,
and the following morning buckled on his sword and set forth on
his journey.

He had been travelling for many days, and had left his fatherland
behind him, when close to the road he came upon a huge tree, and
on its topmost bough an eagle was sitting shaking the branches with
all his might. This seemed so strange and so unlike an eagle, that
the prince stood still with surprise, and the bird saw him and flew to
the ground. The moment its feet touched the ground he changed
into a king.

'Why do you look so astonished?' he asked.

'I was wondering why you shook the boughs so fiercely,' answered
the prince.

'I am condemned to do this, for neither I nor any of my kindred can
die till I have rooted up this great tree,' replied the king of the
eagles. 'But it is now evening, and I need work no more to-day.
Come to my house with me, and be my guest for the night.'

The prince accepted gratefully the eagle's invitation, for he was
tired and hungry. They were received at the palace by the king's
beautiful daughter, who gave orders that dinner should be laid for
them at once. While they were eating, the eagle questioned his
guest about his travels, and if he was wandering for pleasure's sake,
or with any special aim. Then the prince told him everything, and
how he could never turn back till he had discovered the Land of
Immortality.

'Dear brother,' said the eagle, 'you have discovered it already, and it
rejoices my heart to think that you will stay with us. Have you not
just heard me say that death has no power either over myself or any
of my kindred till that great tree is rooted up? It will take me six
hundred years' hard work to do that; so marry my daughter and let
us all live happily together here. After all, six hundred years is an
eternity!'

'Ah, dear king,' replied the young man, 'your offer is very tempting!
But at the end of six hundred years we should have to die, so we
should be no better off! No, I must go on till I find the country
where there is no death at all.'

Then the princess spoke, and tried to persuade the guest to change
his mind, but he sorrowfully shook his head. At length, seeing that
his resolution was firmly fixed, she took from a cabinet a little box
which contained her picture, and gave it to him saying:

'As you will not stay with us, prince, accept this box, which will
sometimes recall us to your memory. If you are tired of travelling
before you come to the Land of Immortality, open this box and
look at my picture, and you will be borne along either on earth or in
the air, quick as thought, or swift as the whirlwind.'

The prince thanked her for her gift, which he placed in his tunic,
and sorrowfully bade the eagle and his daughter farewell.

Never was any present in the world as useful as that little box, and
many times did he bless the kind thought of the princess. One
evening it had carried him to the top of a high mountain, where he
saw a man with a bald head, busily engaged in digging up spadefuls
of earth and throwing them in a basket. When the basket was full
he took it away and returned with an empty one, which he likewise
filled. The prince stood and watched him for a little, till the
bald-headed man looked up and said to him: 'Dear brother, what
surprises you so much?'