The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (e novels for free .txt) 📖

not go out to-night in such weather

as this.’

 

`Well, then, it will be the worse for yourself,’ said the old

woman.

 

The young man lay down in a bed which stood near, but he

dared not go to sleep: and it was better that he didn’t, for the

robbers came, and the old woman said that a young fellow who was

a stranger had come there, and she had not been able to get him

to go away again.

 

`Did you see if he had any money?’ said the robbers.

 

`He’s not one to have money, he is a tramp! If he has a few

clothes to his back, that is all.’

 

Then the robbers began to mutter to each other apart about

what they should do with him, whether they should murder him,

or what else they should do. In the meantime the boy got up and

began to talk to them, and ask them if they did not want a man-servant, for he could find pleasure enough in serving them.

 

`Yes,’ said they, `if you have a mind to take to the trade that

we follow, you may have a place here.’

 

`It’s all the same to me what trade I follow,’ said the youth,

`for when I came away from home my father gave me leave to

take to any trade I fancied.’

 

`Have you a fancy for stealing, then?’ said the robbers.

 

`Yes,’ said the boy, for he thought that was a trade which would

not take long to learn.

 

Not very far off there dwelt a man who had three oxen, one of

which he was to take to the town to sell. The robbers had heard

of this, so they told the youth that if he were able to steal the ox

from him on the way, without his knowing, and without doing him

any harm, he should have leave to be their servant-man. So the

youth set off, taking with him a pretty shoe with a silver buckle

that was lying about in the house. He put this in the road by

which the man must go with his ox, and then went into the wood

and hid himself under a bush. When the man came up he at once

saw the shoe.

 

`That’s a brave shoe,’ said he. `If I had but the fellow to it, I

would carry it home with me, and then I should put my old woman

into a good humour for once.’

 

For he had a wife who was so cross and ill-tempered that the

time between the beatings she gave him was very short. But then

he bethought himself that he could do nothing with one shoe if he

had not the fellow to it, so he journeyed onwards and let it lie

where it was. Then the youth picked up the shoe and hurried off

away through the wood as fast as he was able, to get in front of the

man, and then put the shoe in the road before him again.

 

When the man came with the ox and saw the shoe, he was

quite vexed at having been so stupid as to leave the fellow to it

lying where it was, instead of bringing it on with him.

 

`I will just run back again and fetch it now,’ he said to himself,

`and then I shall take back a pair of good shoes to the old woman,

and she may perhaps throw a kind word to me for once.’

 

So he went and searched and searched for the other shoe for a

long, long time, but no shoe was to be found, and at last he was

forced to go back with the one which he had.

 

In the meantime the youth had taken the ox and gone off with

it. When the man got there and found that his ox was gone, he

began to weep and wail, for he was afraid that when his old woman

got to know she would be the death of him. But all at once it came

into his head to go home and get the other ox, and drive it to the town,

and take good care that his old wife knew nothing about it. So he

did this; he went home and took the ox without his wife’s knowing

about it, and went on his way to the town with it. But the robbers

they knew it well, because they got out their magic. So they told

the youth that if he could take this ox also without the man knowing

anything about it, and without doing him any hurt, he should

then be on an equality with them.

 

`Well, that will not be a very hard thing to do,’ thought the

youth.

 

This time he took with him a rope and put it under his arms and

tied himself up to a tree, which hung over the road that the man

would have to take. So the man came with his ox, and when he

saw the body hanging there he felt a little queer.

 

`What a hard lot yours must have been to make you hang

yourself!’ said he. `Ah, well! you may hang there for me; I can’t

breathe life into you again.’

 

So on he went with his ox. Then the youth sprang down from

the tree, ran by a short cut and got before him, and once more hung

himself up on a tree in the road before the man.

 

`How I should like to know if you really were so sick at heart

that you hanged yourself there, or if it is only a hobgoblin that’s

before me!’ said the man. `Ah, well! you may hang there for me,

whether you are a hobgoblin or not,’ and on he went with his ox.

 

Once more the youth did just as he had done twice already;

jumped down from the tree, ran by a short cut through the wood,

and again hanged himself in the very middle of the road before him.

 

But when the man once more saw this he said to himself,

`What a bad business this is! Can they all have been so heavy.

hearted that they have all three hanged themselves? No, I can’t

believe that it is anything but witchcraft! But I will know the

truth,’ he said; `if the two others are still hanging there it is true

but if they are not it’s nothing else but witchcraft.’

 

So he tied up his ox and ran back to see if they really were

hanging there. While he was going, and looking up at every tree

as he went, the youth leapt down and took his ox and went off with

it. Any one may easily imagine what a fury the man fell into

when he came back and saw that his ox was gone. He wept and

he raged, but at last he took comfort and told himself that the best

thing to do was to go home and take the third ox, without letting

his wife know anything about it, and then try to sell it so well

that he got a good sum of money for it. So he went home and

took the third ox, and drove it off without his wife knowing

anything about it. But the robbers knew all about it, and they told

the youth that if he could steal this as he had stolen the two

others, he should be master of the whole troop. So the youth

set out and went to the wood, and when the man was coming along

with the ox he began to bellow loudly, just like a great ox

somewhere inside the wood. When the man heard that he was right

glad, for he fancied he recognised the voice of his big bullock, and

thought that now he should find both of them again. So he tied

up the third, and ran away off the road to look for them in the

wood. In the meantime the youth went away with the third ox.

When the man returned and found that he had lost that too, he fell

into such a rage that there was no bounds to it. He wept and

lamented, and for many days he did not dare to go home again, for

he was afraid that the old woman would slay him outright. The

robbers, also, were not very well pleased at this, for they were forced

to own that the youth was at the head of them all. So one day

they made up their minds to set to work to do something which it

was not in his power to accomplish, and they all took to the road

together, and left him at home alone. When they were well out of

the house, the first thing that he did was to drive the oxen out on

the road, whereupon they all ran home again to the man from whom

he had stolen them, and right glad was the husbandman to see

them. Then he brought out all the horses the robbers had, and

loaded them with the most valuable things which he could find—

vessels of gold and of silver, and clothes and other magnificent

things—and then he told the old woman to greet the robbers from

him and thank them from him, and say that he had gone away,

and that they would have a great deal of difficulty in finding him

again, and with that he drove the horses out of the courtyard.

After a long, long time he came to the road on which he was travelling

when he came to the robbers. And when he had got very near

home, and was in sight of the house where his father lived, he put

on a uniform which he had found among the things he had taken

from the robbers, and which was made just like a general’s, and

drove into the yard just as if he were a great man. Then he entered

the house and asked if he could find a lodging there.

 

`No, indeed you can’t!’ said his father. `How could I possibly

be able to lodge such a great gentleman as you? It is all that I

can do to find clothes and bedding for myself, and wretched they

are.’

 

`You were always a hard man,’ said the youth, `and hard you

are still if you refuse to let your own son come into your house.’

 

`Are you my son?’ said the man.

 

`Do you not know me again then?’ said the youth.

 

Then he recognised him and said, `But what trade have you

taken to that has made you such a great man in so short a

time?’

 

`Oh, that I will tell you,’ answered the youth. `You said that I

might take to anything I liked, so I apprenticed myself to some

thieves and robbers, and now I have served my time and have

become Master Thief.’

 

Now the Governor of the province lived by his father’s cottage,

and this Governor had such a large house and so much money that

he did not even know how much it was, and he had a daughter too

who was both pretty and dainty, and good and wise. So the

Master Thief was determined to have her to wife, and told his

father that he was to go to the Governor, and ask for his daughter

for him. `If he asks what trade I follow, you may say that I am a

Master Thief,’ said he.

 

`I think you must be crazy,’ said the man, `for you can’t be in

your senses if you think of anything so foolish.’

 

`You must go