Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 08 (22 page)

The minister then conducted the mother and daughter back to the
ship; the anchor was raised, the sails spread, and a fair wind was
behind them.

Now that the fog had lifted they could see as they looked back that,
except just along the shore, the island was bare and deserted and
not fit for men to live in; but about that nobody cared. They had a
quick voyage, and in six days they reached the land, and at once set
out for the capital, a messenger being sent on first by the minister to
inform the king of what had happened.

When his Majesty's eyes fell on the two beautiful women, clad in
dresses of gold and silver, he forgot his sorrows and ordered
preparations for the wedding to be made without delay. In his joy
he never remembered to inquire in what kind of country the future
queen had been found. In fact his head was so turned by the beauty
of the two ladies that when the invitations were sent by his orders
to all the great people in the kingdom, he did not even recollect his
two children, who remained shut up in their own house!

After the marriage the king ceased to have any will of his own and
did nothing without consulting his wife. She was present at all his
councils, and her opinion was asked before making peace or war.
But when a few months had passed the king began to have doubts
as to whether the minister's choice had really been a wise one, and
he noticed that his children lived more and more in their palace and
never came near their stepmother.

It always happens that if a person's eyes are once opened they see a
great deal more than they ever expected; and soon it struck the king
that the members of his court had a way of disappearing one after
the other without any reason. At first he had not paid much
attention to the fact, but merely appointed some fresh person to the
vacant place. As, however, man after man vanished without leaving
any trace, he began to grow uncomfortable and to wonder if the
queen could have anything to do with it.

Things were in this state when, one day, his wife said to him that it
was time for him to make a progress through his kingdom and see
that his governors were not cheating him of the money that was his
due. 'And you need not be anxious about going,' she added, 'for I
will rule the country while you are away as carefully as you could
yourself.'

The king had no great desire to undertake this journey, but the
queen's will was stronger than his, and he was too lazy to make a
fight for it. So he said nothing and set about his preparations,
ordering his finest ship to be ready to carry him round the coast.
Still his heart was heavy, and he felt uneasy, though he could not
have told why; and the night before he was to start he went to the
children's palace to take leave of his son and daughter.

He had not seen them for some time, and they gave him a warm
welcome, for they loved him dearly and he had always been kind to
them. They had much to tell him, but after a while he checked their
merry talk and said:

'If I should never come back from this journey I fear that it may not
be safe for you to stay here; so directly there are no more hopes of
my return go instantly and take the road eastwards till you reach a
high mountain, which you must cross. Once over the mountain
keep along by the side of a little bay till you come to two trees, one
green and the other red, standing in a thicket, and so far back from
the road that without looking for them you would never see them.
Hide each in the trunk of one of the trees and there you will be safe
from all your enemies.'

With these words the king bade them farewell and entered sadly
into his ship. For a few days the wind was fair, and everything
seemed going smoothly; then, suddenly, a gale sprang up, and a
fearful storm of thunder and lightning, such as had never happened
within the memory of man. In spite of the efforts of the frightened
sailors the vessel was driven on the rocks, and not a man on board
was saved.

That very night Prince Sigurd had a dream, in which he thought his
father appeared to him in dripping clothes, and, taking the crown
from his head, laid it at his son's feet, leaving the room as silently as
he had entered it.

Hastily the prince awoke his sister Lineik, and they agreed that their
father must be dead, and that they must lose no time in obeying his
orders and putting themselves in safety. So they collected their
jewels and a few clothes and left the house without being observed
by anyone.

They hurried on till they arrived at the mountain without once
looking back. Then Sigurd glanced round and saw that their
stepmother was following them, with an expression on her face
which made her uglier than the ugliest old witch. Between her and
them lay a thick wood, and Sigurd stopped for a moment to set it
on fire; then he and his sister hastened on more swiftly than before,
till they reached the grove with the red and green trees, into which
they jumped, and felt that at last they were safe.

Now, at that time there reigned over Greece a king who was very
rich and powerful, although his name has somehow been forgotten.
He had two children, a son and a daughter, who were more
beautiful and accomplished than any Greeks had been before, and
they were the pride of their father's heart.

The prince had no sooner grown out of boyhood than he prevailed
on his father to make war during the summer months on a
neighbouring nation, so as to give him a chance of making himself
famous. In winter, however, when it was difficult to get food and
horses in that wild country, the army was dispersed, and the prince
returned home.

During one of these wars he had heard reports of the Princess
Lineik's beauty, and he resolved to seek her out, and to ask for her
hand in marriage. All this Blauvor, the queen, found out by means
of her black arts, and when the prince drew near the capital she put
a splendid dress on her own daughter and then went to meet her
guest.

She bade him welcome to her palace, and when they had finished
supper she told him of the loss of her husband, and how there was
no one left to govern the kingdom but herself.

'But where is the Princess Lineik?' asked the prince when she had
ended her tale.

'Here,' answered the queen, bringing forward the girl, whom she
had hitherto kept in the background.

The prince looked at her and was rather disappointed. The maiden
was pretty enough, but not much out of the common.

'Oh, you must not wonder at her pale face and heavy eyes,' said the
queen hastily, for she saw what was passing in his mind. 'She has
never got over the loss of both father and mother.'

'That shows a good heart,' thought the prince; 'and when she is
happy her beauty will soon come back.' And without any further
delay he begged the queen to consent to their betrothal, for the
marriage must take place in his own country.

The queen was enchanted. She had hardly expected to succeed so
soon, and she at once set about her preparations. Indeed she
wished to travel with the young couple, to make sure that nothing
should go wrong; but here the prince was firm, that he would take
no one with him but Laufer, whom he thought was Lineik.

They soon took leave of the queen, and set sail in a splendid ship;
but in a short time a dense fog came on, and in the dark the captain
steered out of his course, and they found themselves in a bay which
was quite strange to all the crew. The prince ordered a boat to be
lowered, and went on shore to look about him, and it was not long
before he noticed the two beautiful trees, quite different from any
that grew in Greece. Calling one of the sailors, he bade him cut
them down, and carry them on board the ship. This was done, and
as the sky was now clear they put out to sea, and arrived in Greece
without any more adventures.

The news that the prince had brought home a bride had gone before
them, and they were greeted with flowery arches and crowns of
coloured lights. The king and queen met them on the steps of the
palace, and conducted the girl to the women's house, where she
would have to remain until her marriage. The prince then went to
his own rooms and ordered that the trees should be brought in to
him.

The next morning the prince bade his attendants bring his future
bride to his own apartments, and when she came he gave her silk
which she was to weave into three robes—one red, one green, and
one blue—and these must all be ready before the wedding. The blue
one was to be done first and the green last, and this was to be the
most splendid of all, 'for I will wear it at our marriage,' said he.

Left alone, Laufer sat and stared at the heap of shining silk before
her. She did not know how to weave, and burst into tears as she
thought that everything would be discovered, for Lineik's skill in
weaving was as famous as her beauty. As she sat with her face
hidden and her body shaken by sobs, Sigurd in his tree heard her
and was moved to pity. 'Lineik, my sister,' he called, softly, 'Laufer
is weeping; help her, I pray you.'

'Have you forgotten the wrongs her mother did to us' answered
Lineik, 'and that it is owing to her that we are banished from home?'

But she was not really unforgiving, and very soon she slid quietly
out of her hiding-place, and taking the silk from Laufer's hands
began to weave it. So quick and clever was she that the blue dress
was not only woven but embroidered, and Lineik was safe back in
her tree before the prince returned.

'It is the most beautiful work I have ever seen,' said he, taking up a
bit. 'And I am sure that the red one will be still better, because the
stuff is richer,' and with a low bow he left the room.

Laufer had hoped secretly that when the prince had seen the blue
dress finished he would have let her off the other two; but when she
found she was expected to fulfil the whole task, her heart sank and
she began to cry loudly. Again Sigurd heard her, and begged
Lineik to come to her help, and Lineik, feeling sorry for her
distress, wove and embroidered the second dress as she had done
the first, mixing gold thread and precious stones till you could
hardly see the red of the stuff. When it was done she glided into
her tree just as the prince came in.

'You are as quick as you are clever,' said he, admiringly. 'This
looks as if it had been embroidered by the fairies! But as the green
robe must outshine the other two I will give you three days in
which to finish it. After it is ready we will be married at once.'

Now, as he spoke, there rose up in Laufer's mind all the unkind
things that she and her mother had done to Lineik. Could she hope
that they would be forgotten, and that Lineik would come to her
rescue for the third time? And perhaps Lineik, who had not
forgotten the past either, might have left her alone, to get on as best
she could, had not Sigurd, her brother, implored her to help just
once more. So Lineik again slid out of her tree, and, to Laufer's
great relief, set herself to work. When the shining green silk was
ready she caught the sun's rays and the moon's beams on the point
of her needle and wove them into a pattern such as no man had ever
seen. But it took a long time, and on the third morning, just as she
was putting the last stitches into the last flower the prince came in.

Lineik jumped up quickly, and tried to get past him back to her
tree; but the folds of the silk were wrapped round her, and she
would have fallen had not the prince caught her.

'I have thought for some time that all was not quite straight here,'
said he. 'Tell me who you are, and where you come from?'

Lineik then told her name and her story. When she had ended the
prince turned angrily to Laufer, and declared that, as a punishment
for her wicked lies, she deserved to die a shameful death.

But Laufer fell at his feet and begged for mercy. It was her
mother's fault, she said: 'It was she, and not I, who passed me off as
the Princess Lineik. The only lie I have ever told you was about the
robes, and I do not deserve death for that.'

She was still on her knees when Prince Sigurd entered the room.
He prayed the Prince of Greece to forgive Laufer, which he did, on
condition that Lineik would consent to marry him. 'Not till my
stepmother is dead,' answered she, 'for she has brought misery to all
that came near her.' Then Laufer told them that Blauvor was not the
wife of a king, but an ogress who had stolen her from a
neighbouring palace and had brought her up as her daughter. And
besides being an ogress she was also a witch, and by her black arts
had sunk the ship in which the father of Sigurd and Lineik had set
sail. It was she who had caused the disappearance of the courtiers,
for which no one could account, by eating them during the night,
and she hoped to get rid of all the people in the country, and then to
fill the land with ogres and ogresses like herself.

So Prince Sigurd and the Prince of Greece collected an army
swiftly, and marched upon the town where Blauvor had her palace.
They came so suddenly that no one knew of it, and if they had,
Blauvor had eaten most of the strong men; and others, fearful of
something they could not tell what, had secretly left the place.
Therefore she was easily captured, and the next day was beheaded
in the market-place. Afterwards the two princes marched back to
Greece.

Lineik had no longer any reason for putting off her wedding, and
married the Prince of Greece at the same time that Sigurd married
the princess. And Laufer remained with Lineik as her friend and
sister, till they found a husband for her in a great nobleman; and all
three couples lived happily until they died.

(From Islandische Muhrchen Poestion Wien.)

Once upon a time there lived a man who dwelt with his wife in a
little hut, far away from any neighbours. But they did not mind
being alone, and would have been quite happy, if it had not been for
a marten, who came every night to their poultry yard, and carried
off one of their fowls. The man laid all sorts of traps to catch the
thief, but instead of capturing the foe, it happened that one day he
got caught himself, and falling down, struck his head against a
stone, and was killed.