Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 08 (21 page)

The young man took the spade, and began to clean the floor of the
cave, but try as he would to move it the dirt still stuck to its place.
He soon gave up the task, and sat sulkily in the corner, wondering
what punishment the ogress would find for him, and why she had
set him to do such an impossible thing.

He had not long to wait, after the ogress came home, before he
knew what his punishment was to be! She just gave one look at the
floor of the cave, then dealt him a blow on the head which cracked
his skull, and there was an end of him.

Meanwhile his next brother grew tired of staying at home, and let
his parents have no rest till they had consented that he also should
be given some food and some new boots, and go out to see the
world. On his road, he also met the two old beggars, who prayed
for a little of his bread and milk, but this young man had never been
taught to help other people, and had made it a rule through his life
to keep all he had to himself. So he turned a deaf ear and finished
his dinner.

By-and-by he, too, came to the cave, and was bidden by the ogress
to clean the floor, but he was no more successful than his brother,
and his fate was the same.

Anyone would have thought that when the old people had only one
son left that at least they would have been kind to him, even if they
did not love him. But for some reason they could hardly bear the
sight of him, though he tried much harder to make them
comfortable than his brothers had ever done. So when he asked
their leave to go out into the world they gave it at once, and
seemed quite glad to be rid of him. They felt it was quite generous
of them to provide him with a pair of new boots and some bread
and milk for his journey.

Besides the pleasure of seeing the world, the youth was very
anxious to discover what had become of his brothers, and he
determined to trace, as far as he could, the way that they must have
gone. He followed the road that led from his father's cottage to the
hill, where he sat down to rest, saying to himself: 'I am sure my
brothers must have stopped here, and I will do the same.'

He was hungry as well as tired, and took out some of the food his
parents had given him. He was just going to begin to eat when the
old man appeared, and asked if he could not spare him a little. The
young man at once broke off some of the bread, begging the old
man to sit down beside him, and treating him as if he was an old
friend. At last the stranger rose, and said to him: 'If ever you are in
trouble call me, and I will help you. My name is Tritill.' Then he
vanished, and the young man could not tell where he had gone.

However, he felt he had now rested long enough, and that he had
better be going his way. At the next hill he met with the second old
man, and to him also he gave food and drink. And when this old
man had finished he said, like the first: 'If you ever want help in the
smallest thing call to me. My name is Litill.'

The young man walked on till he reached the open space in the
wood, where he stopped for dinner. In a moment all the birds in
the world seemed flying round his head, and he crumbled some of
his bread for them and watched them as they darted down to pick it
up. When they had cleared off every crumb the largest bird with
the gayest plumage said to him: 'If you are in trouble and need help
say, "My birds, come to me!" and we will come.' Then they flew
away.

Towards evening the young man reached the cave where his
brothers had met their deaths, and, like them, he thought it would
be a good place to sleep in. Looking round, he saw some pieces of
the dead men's clothes and of their bones. The sight made him
shiver, but he would not move away, and resolved to await the
return of the ogress, for such he knew she must be.

Very soon she came striding in, and he asked politely if she would
give him a night's lodging. She answered as before, that he might
stay on condition that he should do any work that she might set him
to next morning. So the bargain being concluded, the young man
curled himself up in his corner and went to sleep.

The dirt lay thicker than ever on the floor of the cave when the
young man took the spade and began his work. He could not clear
it any more than his brothers had done, and at last the spade itself
stuck in the earth so that he could not pull it out. The youth stared
at it in despair, then the old beggar's words flashed into his mind,
and he cried: 'Tritill, Tritill, come and help me!'

And Tritill stood beside him and asked what he wanted. The youth
told him all his story, and when he had finished, the old man said:
'Spade and shovel do your duty,' and they danced about the cave
till, in a short time, there was not a speck of dust left on the floor.
As soon as it was quite clean Tritill went his way.

With a light heart the young man awaited the return of the ogress.
When she came in she looked carefully round, and then said to him:
'You did not do that quite alone. However, as the floor is clean I
will leave your head on.'

The following morning the ogress told the young man that he must
take all the feathers out of her pillows and spread them to dry in the
sun. But if one feather was missing when she came back at night
his head should pay for it.'

The young man fetched the pillows, and shook out all the feathers,
and oh! what quantities of them there were! He was thinking to
himself, as he spread them out carefully, how lucky it was that the
sun was so bright and that there was no wind, when suddenly a
breeze sprang up, and in a moment the feathers were dancing high
in the air. At first the youth tried to collect them again, but he soon
found that it was no use, and he cried in despair: 'Tritill, Litill, and
all my birds, come and help me!'

He had hardly said the words when there they all were; and when
the birds had brought all the feathers back again, Tritill, and Litill,
and he, put them away in the pillows, as the ogress had bidden him.
But one little feather they kept out, and told the young man that if
the ogress missed it he was to thrust it up her nose. Then they all
vanished, Tritill, Litill, and the birds.

Directly the ogress returned home she flung herself with all her
weight on the bed, and the whole cave quivered under her. The
pillows were soft and full instead of being empty, which surprised
her, but that did not content her. She got up, shook out the
pillow-cases one by one, and began to count the feathers that were
in each. 'If one is missing I will have your head,' said she, and at
that the young man drew the feather from his pocket and thrust it
up her nose, crying 'If you want your feather, here it is.'

'You did not sort those feathers alone,' answered the ogress calmly;
'however, this time I will let that pass.'

That night the young man slept soundly in his corner, and in the
morning the ogress told him that his work that day would be to slay
one of her great oxen, to cook its heart, and to make drinking cups
of its horns, before she returned home 'There are fifty oxen,' added
she, 'and you must guess which of the herd I want killed. If you
guess right, to-morrow you shall be free to go where you will, and
you shall choose besides three things as a reward for your service.
But if you slay the wrong ox your head shall pay for it.'

Left alone, the young man stood thinking for a little. Then he
called: 'Tritill, Litill, come to my help!'

In a moment he saw them, far away, driving the biggest ox the
youth had ever seen. When they drew near, Tritill killed it, Litill
took out its heart for the young man to cook, and both began
quickly to turn the horns into drinking cups. The work went
merrily on, and they talked gaily, and the young man told his friends
of the payment promised him by the ogress if he had done her
bidding. The old men warned him that he must ask her for the
chest which stood at the foot of her bed, for whatever lay on the
top of the bed, and for what lay under the side of the cave. The
young man thanked them for their counsel, and Tritill and Litill then
took leave of him, saying that for the present he would need them
no more.

Scarcely had they disappeared when the ogress came back, and
found everything ready just as she had ordered. Before she sat
down to eat the bullock's heart she turned to the young man, and
said: 'You did not do that all alone, my friend; but, nevertheless, I
will keep my word, and to-morrow you shall go your way.' So they
went to bed and slept till dawn.

When the sun rose the ogress awoke the young man, and called to
him to choose any three things out of her house.

'I choose,' answered he, 'the chest which stands at the foot of your
bed; whatever lies on the top of the bed, and whatever is under the
side of the cave.'

'You did not choose those things by yourself, my friend,' said the
ogress; 'but what I have promised, that will I do.'

And then she gave him his reward.

'The thing which lay on the top of the bed' turned out to be the lost
princess. 'The chest which stood at the foot of the bed' proved full
of gold and precious stones; and 'what was under the side of the
cave' he found to be a great ship, with oars and sails that went of
itself as well on land as in the water. 'You are the luckiest man that
ever was born,' said the ogress as she went out of the cave as usual.

With much difficulty the youth put the heavy chest on his shoulders
and carried it on board the ship, the princess walking by his side.
Then he took the helm and steered the vessel back to her father's
kingdom. The king's joy at receiving back his lost daughter was so
great that he almost fainted, but when he recovered himself he
made the young man tell him how everything had really happened.
'You have found her, and you shall marry her,' said the king; and so
it was done. And this is the end of the story.

(From Ungarische Mahrchen.)

Long, long ago, a king and queen reigned over a large and powerful
country. What their names were nobody knows, but their son was
called Sigurd, and their daughter Lineik, and these young people
were famed throughout the whole kingdom for their wisdom and
beauty.

There was only a year between them, and they loved each other so
much that they could do nothing apart. When they began to grow
up the king gave them a house of their own to live in, with servants
and carriages, and everything they could possibly want.

For many years they all lived happily together, and then the queen
fell ill, and knew that she would never get better.

'Promise me two things,' she said one day to the king; 'one, that if
you marry again, as indeed you must, you will not choose as your
wife a woman from some small state or distant island, who knows
nothing of the world, and will be taken up with thoughts of her
grandeur. But rather seek out a princess of some great kingdom,
who has been used to courts all her life, and holds them at their true
worth. The other thing I have to ask is, that you will never cease to
watch over our children, who will soon become your greatest joy.'

These were the queen's last words, and a few hours later she was
dead. The king was so bowed down with sorrow that he would not
attend even to the business of the kingdom, and at last his Prime
Minister had to tell him that the people were complaining that they
had nobody to right their wrongs. 'You must rouse yourself, sir,'
went on the minister, 'and put aside your own sorrows for the sake
of your country.'

'You do not spare me,' answered the king; 'but what you say is just,
and your counsel is good. I have heard that men say, likewise, that
it will be for the good of my kingdom for me to marry again,
though my heart will never cease to be with my lost wife. But it
was her wish also; therefore, to you I entrust the duty of finding a
lady fitted to share my throne; only, see that she comes neither from
a small town nor a remote island.'

So an embassy was prepared, with the minister at its head, to visit
the greatest courts in the world, and to choose out a suitable
princess. But the vessel which carried them had not been gone
many days when a thick fog came on, and the captain could see
neither to the right nor to the left. For a whole month the ship
drifted about in darkness, till at length the fog lifted and they beheld
a cliff jutting out just in front. On one side of the cliff lay a
sheltered bay, in which the vessel was soon anchored, and though
they did not know where they were, at any rate they felt sure of
fresh fruit and water.

The minister left the rest of his followers on board the ship, and
taking a small boat rowed himself to land, in order to look about
him and to find out if the island was really as deserted as it seemed.

He had not gone far, when he heard the sound of music, and,
turning in its direction, he saw a woman of marvellous beauty
sitting on a low stool playing on a harp, while a girl beside her sang.
The minister stopped and greeted the lady politely, and she replied
with friendliness, asking him why he had come to such an
out-of-the way place. In answer he told her of the object of his
journey.

'I am in the same state as your master,' replied the lady; 'I was
married to a mighty king who ruled over this land, till Vikings
(sea-robbers)
came and slew him and put all the people to death.
But I managed to escape, and hid myself here with my daughter.'

And the daughter listened, and said softly to her mother: 'Are you
speaking the truth now?'

'Remember your promise,' answered the mother angrily, giving her
a pinch which was unseen by the minister.

'What is your name, madam?' asked he, much touched by this sad
story.

'Blauvor,' she replied 'and my daughter is called Laufer'; and then
she inquired the name of the minister, and of the king his master.
After this they talked of many things, and the lady showed herself
learned in all that a woman should know, and even in much that
men only were commonly taught. 'What a wife she would make for
the king,' thought the minister to himself, and before long he had
begged the honour of her hand for his master. She declared at first
that she was too unworthy to accept the position offered her, and
that the minister would soon repent his choice; but this only made
him the more eager, and in the end he gained her consent, and
prevailed on her to return with him at once to his own country.