Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 09 (20 page)

The old people welcomed them heartily, and summoned their
neighbours, for many miles round, to a great feast in their
honour. In fact, for several weeks there was no work done on the
farm at all; and at length the young man and his wife grew tired
of so much play, and declared that they must return to their own
home. But, before they started on the journey, the wife
whispered to her husband: 'Take care to jump over the threshold
as quick as you can, or it will be the worse for you.'

The young man listened to her words, and sprang over the
threshold like an arrow from a bow; and it was well he did, for,
no sooner was he on the other side, than his father-in-law threw
a great hammer at him, which would have broken both his legs, if
it had only touched them.

When they had gone some distance on the road home, the girl
turned to her husband and said: 'Till you step inside the house,
be sure you do not look back, whatever you may hear or see.'

And the husband promised, and for a while all was still; and he
thought no more about the matter till he noticed at last that the
nearer he drew to the house the louder grew the noise of the
trampling of feet behind him. As he laid his hand upon the door
he thought he was safe, and turned to look. There, sure enough,
was a vast herd of cattle, which had been sent after him by his
father-in-law when he found that his daughter had been cleverer
than he. Half of the herd were already through the fence and
cropping the grass on the banks of the stream, but half still
remained outside and faded into nothing, even as he watched them.

However, enough cattle were left to make the young man rich, and
he and his wife lived happily together, except that every now and
then the girl vanished from his sight, and never told him where
she had been. For a long time he kept silence about it; but one
day, when he had been complaining of her absence, she said to
him: 'Dear husband, I am bound to go, even against my will, and
there is only one way to stop me. Drive a nail into the
threshold, and then I can never pass in or out.'

And so he did.

(Lapplandische Mahrchen.)

Once upon a time there lived a miller who was so rich that, when
he was going to be married, he asked to the feast not only his
own friends but also the wild animals who dwelt in the hills and
woods round about. The chief of the bears, the wolves, the
foxes, the horses, the cows, the goats, the sheep, and the
reindeer, all received invitations; and as they were not
accustomed to weddings they were greatly pleased and flattered,
and sent back messages in the politest language that they would
certainly be there.

The first to start on the morning of the wedding-day was the
bear, who always liked to be punctual; and, besides, he had a
long way to go, and his hair, being so thick and rough, needed a
good brushing before it was fit to be seen at a party. However,
he took care to awaken very early, and set off down the road with
a light heart. Before he had walked very far he met a boy who
came whistling along, hitting at the tops of the flowers with a
stick.

'Where are you going?' said he, looking at the bear in surprise,
for he was an old acquaintance, and not generally so smart.

'Oh, just to the miller's marriage,' answered the bear
carelessly. 'Of course, I would much rather stay at home, but
the miller was so anxious I should be there that I really could
not refuse.'

'Don't go, don't go!' cried the boy. 'If you do you will never
come back! You have got the most beautiful skin in the world—
just the kind that everyone is wanting, and they will be sure to
kill you and strip you of it.'

'I had not thought of that,' said the bear, whose face turned
white, only nobody could see it. 'If you are certain that they
would be so wicked—but perhaps you are jealous because nobody
has invited you?'

'Oh, nonsense!' replied the boy angrily, 'do as you see. It is
your skin, and not mine; I don't care what becomes of it!' And he
walked quickly on with his head in the air.

The bear waited until he was out of sight, and then followed him
slowly, for he felt in his heart that the boy's advice was good,
though he was too proud to say so.

The boy soon grew tired of walking along the road, and turned off
into the woods, where there were bushes he could jump and streams
he could wade; but he had not gone far before he met the wolf.

'Where are you going?' asked he, for it was not the first time he
had seen him.

'Oh, just to the miller's marriage,' answered the wolf, as the
bear had done before him. 'It is rather tiresome, of course—
weddings are always so stupid; but still one must be
good-natured!'

'Don't go!' said the boy again. 'Your skin is so thick and warm,
and winter is not far off now. They will kill you, and strip it
from you.'

The wolf's jaw dropped in astonishment and terror. 'Do you
really think that would happen?' he gasped.

'Yes, to be sure, I do,' answered the boy. 'But it is your
affair, not mine. So good-morning,' and on he went. The wolf
stood still for a few minutes, for he was trembling all over, and
then crept quietly back to his cave.

Next the boy met the fox, whose lovely coat of silvery grey was
shining in the sun.

'You look very fine!' said the boy, stopping to admire him, 'are
you going to the miller's wedding too?'

'Yes,' answered the fox; 'it is a long journey to take for such a
thing as that, but you know what the miller's friends are like—
so dull and heavy! It is only kind to go and amuse them a
little.'

'You poor fellow,' said the boy pityingly. 'Take my advice and
stay at home. If you once enter the miller's gate his dogs will
tear you in pieces.'

'Ah, well, such things have occurred, I know,' replied the fox
gravely. And without saying any more he trotted off the way he
had come.

His tail had scarcely disappeared, when a great noise of crashing
branches was heard, and up bounded the horse, his black skin
glistening like satin.

'Good-morning,' he called to the boy as he galloped past, 'I
can't wait to talk to you now. I have promised the miller to be
present at his wedding-feast, and they won't sit down till I
come.'

'Stop! stop!' cried the boy after him, and there was something in
his voice that made the horse pull up. 'What is the matter?'
asked he.

'You don't know what you are doing,' said the boy. 'If once you
go there you will never gallop through these woods any more. You
are stronger than many men, but they will catch you and put ropes
round you, and you will have to work and to serve them all the
days of your life.'

The horse threw back his head at these words, and laughed
scornfully.

'Yes, I am stronger than many men,' answered he, 'and all the
ropes in the world would not hold me. Let them bind me as fast
as they will, I can always break loose, and return to the forest
and freedom.'

And with this proud speech he gave a whisk of his long tail, and
galloped away faster than before.

But when he reached the miller's house everything happened as the
boy had said. While he was looking at the guests and thinking
how much handsomer and stronger he was than any of them, a rope
was suddenly flung over his head, and he was thrown down and a
bit thrust between his teeth. Then, in spite of his struggles,
he was dragged to a stable, and shut up for several days without
any food, till his spirit was broken and his coat had lost its
gloss. After that he was harnessed to a plough, and had plenty
of time to remember all he had lost through not listening to the
counsel of the boy.

When the horse had turned a deaf ear to his words the boy
wandered idly along, sometimes gathering wild strawberries from a
bank, and sometimes plucking wild cherries from a tree, till he
reached a clearing in the middle of the forest. Crossing this
open space was a beautiful milk-white cow with a wreath of
flowers round her neck.

'Good-morning,' she said pleasantly, as she came up to the place
where the boy was standing.

'Good-morning,' he returned. 'Where are you going in such a
hurry?'

'To the miller's wedding; I am rather late already, for the
wreath took such a long time to make, so I can't stop.'

'Don't go,' said the boy earnestly;' when once they have tasted
your milk they will never let you leave them, and you will have
to serve them all the days of your life.'

'Oh, nonsense; what do yon know about it?' answered the cow, who
always thought she was wiser than other people. 'Why, I can run
twice as fast as any of them! I should like to see anybody try to
keep me against my will.' And, without even a polite bow, she
went on her way, feeling very much offended.

But everything turned out just as the boy had said. The company
had all heard of the fame of the cow's milk, and persuaded her to
give them some, and then her doom was sealed. A crowd gathered
round her, and held her horns so that she could not use them,
and, like the horse, she was shut in the stable, and only let out
in the mornings, when a long rope was tied round her head, and
she was fastened to a stake in a grassy meadow.

And so it happened to the goat and to the sheep.

Last of all came the reindeer, looking as he always did, as if
some serious business was on hand.

'Where are you going?' asked the boy, who by this time was tired
of wild cherries, and was thinking of his dinner.

'I am invited to the wedding,' answered the reindeer, 'and the
miller has begged me on no account to fail him.'

'O fool!' cried the boy, 'have you no sense at all? Don't you
know that when you get there they will hold you fast, for neither
beast nor bird is as strong or as swift as you?'

'That is exactly why I am quite safe,' replied the reindeer. 'I
am so strong that no one can bind me, and so swift that not even
an arrow can catch me. So, goodbye for the present, you will
soon see me back.'

But none of the animals that went to the miller's wedding ever
came back. And because they were self-willed and conceited, and
would not listen to good advice, they and their children have
been the servants of men to this very day.

(Lapplandische Mahrchen.)

Several hundreds of years ago there lived in a forest a wood-
cutter and his wife and children. He was very poor, having only
his axe to depend upon, and two mules to carry the wood he cut to
the neighbouring town; but he worked hard, and was always out of
bed by five o'clock, summer and winter.

This went on for twenty years, and though his sons were now grown
up, and went with their father to the forest, everything seemed
to go against them, and they remained as poor as ever. In the
end the wood-cutter lost heart, and said to himself:

'What is the good of working like this if I never am a penny the
richer at the end? I shall go to the forest no more! And
perhaps, if I take to my bed, and do not run after Fortune, one
day she may come to me.'

So the next morning he did not get up, and when six o'clock
struck, his wife, who had been cleaning the house, went to see
what was the matter.

'Are you ill?' she asked wonderingly, surprised at not finding
him dressed. 'The cock has crowed ever so often. It is high
time for you to get up.'

'Why should I get up?' asked the man, without moving.

'Why? to go to the forest, of course.'

'Yes; and when I have toiled all day I hardly earn enough to give
us one meal.'

'But what can we do, my poor husband?' said she. 'It is just a
trick of Fortune's, who would never smile upon us.'

'Well, I have had my fill of Fortune's tricks,' cried he. 'If
she wants me she can find me here. But I have done with the wood
for ever.'

'My dear husband, grief has driven you mad! Do you think Fortune
will come to anybody who does not go after her? Dress yourself,
and saddle the mules, and begin your work. Do you know that
there is not a morsel of bread in the house?'

'I don't care if there isn't, and I am not going to the forest.
It is no use your talking; nothing will make me change my mind.'

The distracted wife begged and implored in vain; her husband
persisted in staying in bed, and at last, in despair, she left
him and went back to her work.

An hour or two later a man from the nearest village knocked at
her door, and when she opened it, he said to her: 'Good-morning,
mother. I have got a job to do, and I want to know if your
husband will lend me your mules, as I see he is not using them,
and can lend me a hand himself?'

'He is upstairs; you had better ask him,' answered the woman.
And the man went up, and repeated his request.

'I am sorry, neighbour, but I have sworn not to leave my bed, and
nothing will make me break my vow.'

'Well, then, will you lend me your two mules? I will pay you
something for them.'

'Certainly, neighbour. Take them and welcome.'

So the man left the house, and leading the mules from the stable,
placed two sacks on their back, and drove them to a field where
he had found a hidden treasure. He filled the sacks with the
money, though he knew perfectly well that it belonged to the
sultan, and was driving them quietly home again, when he saw two
soldiers coming along the road. Now the man was aware that if he
was caught he would be condemned to death, so he fled back into
the forest. The mules, left to themselves, took the path that
led to their master's stable.

The wood-cutter's wife was looking out of the window when the
mules drew up before the door, so heavily laden that they almost
sank under their burdens. She lost no time in calling her
husband, who was still lying in bed.