The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (e novels for free .txt) 📖
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`Change thyself into a gold ring, and set thyself on my finger,’
said the Princess.
`No, that will not do,’ said Jack, `for then Farmer Weatherbeard
will make the King fall sick, and there will be no one who can make
him well again before Farmer Weatherbeard comes and cures him,
and for that he will demand the gold ring.’
`I will say that it was my mother’s, and that I will not part with
it,’ said the Princess.
So Jack changed himself into a gold ring, and set himself on
the Princess’s finger, and Farmer Weatherbeard could not get at
him there. But then all that the youth had foretold came to
pass.
The King became ill, and there was no doctor who could cure
him till Farmer Weatherbeard arrived, and he demanded the ring
which was on the Princess’s finger as a reward.
So the King sent a messenger to the Princess for the ring.
She, however, refused to part with it, because she had inherited it
from her mother. When the King was informed of this he fell
into a rage, and said that he would have the ring, let her have
inherited it from whom she might.
`Well, it’s of no use to be angry about it,’ said the Princess, `for
I can’t get it off. If you want the ring you will have to take the
finger too!’
`I will try, and then the ring will very soon come off,’ said
Farmer Weatherbeard.
`No, thank you, I will try myself,’ said the Princess, and she
went away to the fireplace and put some ashes on the ring.
So the ring came off and was lost among the ashes.
Farmer Weatherbeard changed himself into a hare, which
scratched and scraped about in the fireplace after the ring until the
ashes were up to its ears. But Jack changed himself into a fox,
and bit the hare’s head off, and if Farmer Weatherbeard was
possessed by the evil one all was now over with him.[25]
[25] From P. C. Asbjornsen.
MOTHER HOLLEONCE upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters;
one of them was pretty and clever, and the other ugly and
lazy. But as the ugly one was her own daughter, she liked her far
the best of the two, and the pretty one had to do all the work of the
house, and was in fact the regular maid of all work. Every day she
had to sit by a well on the high road, and spin till her fingers were
so sore that they often bled. One day some drops of blood fell on
her spindle, so she dipped it into the well meaning to wash it, but, as
luck would have it, it dropped from her hand and fell right in. She
ran weeping to her stepmother, and told her what had happened,
but she scolded her harshly, and was so merciless in her anger that
she said:
`Well, since you’ve dropped the spindle down, you must just go
after it yourself, and don’t let me see your face again until you bring
it with you.’
Then the poor girl returned to the well, and not knowing what
she was about, in the despair and misery of her heart she sprang
into the well and sank to the bottom. For a time she lost all
consciousness, and when she came to herself again she was lying in a
lovely meadow, with the sun shining brightly overhead, and a
thousand flowers blooming at her feet. She rose up and wandered
through this enchanted place, till she came to a baker’s oven full of
bread, and the bread called out to her as she passed:
`Oh! take me out, take me out, or I shall be burnt to a cinder. I
am quite done enough.’
So she stepped up quickly to the oven and took out all the loaves
one after the other. Then she went on a little farther and came to
a tree laden with beautiful rosy-cheeked apples, and as she passed
by it called out:
`Oh I shake me, shake me, my apples are all quite ripe.’
She did as she was asked, and shook the tree till the apples fell
like rain and none were left hanging. When she had gathered them
all up into a heap she went on her way again, and came at length
to a little house, at the door of which sat an old woman. The old
dame had such large teeth that the girl felt frightened and wanted
to run away, but the old woman called after her:
`What are you afraid of, dear child? Stay with me and be my
little maid, and if you do your work well I will reward you
handsomely; but you must be very careful how you make my bed—you
must shake it well till the feathers fly; then people in the world
below say it snows, for I am Mother Holle.’
She spoke so kindly that the girl took heart and agreed readily
to enter her service. She did her best to please the old woman,
and shook her bed with such a will that the feathers flew about like
snow-flakes; so she led a very easy life, was never scolded, and
lived on the fat of the land. But after she had been some time
with Mother Holle she grew sad and depressed, and at first she
hardly knew herself what was the matter. At last she discovered
that she was homesick, so she went to Mother Holle and said:
`I know I am a thousand times better off here than I ever was
in my life before, but notwithstanding, I have a great longing to go
home, in spite of all your kindness to me. I can remain with you no
longer, but must return to my own people.’
`Your desire to go home pleases me,’ said Mother Holle, `and
because you have served me so faithfully, I will show you the way
back into the world myself.’
So she took her by the hand and led her to an open door, and as
the girl passed through it there fell a heavy shower of gold all over
her, till she was covered with it from top to toe.
`That’s a reward for being such a good little maid,’ said Mother
Holle, and she gave her the spindle too that had fallen into the
well. Then she shut the door, and the girl found herself back in
the world again, not far from her own house; and when she came to the
courtyard the old hen, who sat on the top of the wall, called out:
`Click, clock, clack,
Our golden maid’s come back.’
Then she went in to her stepmother, and as she had returned
covered with gold she was welcomed home.
She proceeded to tell all that had happened to her, and when
the mother heard how she had come by her riches, she was most
anxious to secure the same luck for her own idle, ugly daughter;
so she told her to sit at the well and spin. In order to make her
spindle bloody, she stuck her hand into a hedge of thorns and pricked
her finger. Then she threw the spindle into the well, and jumped
in herself after it. Like her sister she came to the beautiful meadow,
and followed the same path. When she reached the baker’s oven
the bread called out as before:
`Oh! take me out, take me out, or I shall be burnt to a cinder.
I am quite done enough.’
But the good-for-nothing girl answered:
`A pretty joke, indeed; just as if I should dirty my hands for you!’
And on she went. Soon she came to the apple tree, which cried:
`Oh ! shake me, shake me, my apples are all quite ripe.’
`I’ll see myself farther,’ she replied, `one of them might fall on
my head.’
And so she pursued her way. When she came to Mother Holle’s
house she wasn’t the least afraid, for she had been warned about
her big teeth, and she readily agreed to become her maid. The first
day she worked very hard, and did all her mistress told her, for she
thought of the gold she would give her; but on the second day she
began to be lazy, and on the third she wouldn’t even get up in the
morning. She didn’t make Mother Holle’s bed as she ought to
have done, and never shook it enough to make the feathers fly. So
her mistress soon grew weary of her, and dismissed her, much to the
lazy creature’s delight.
`For now,’ she thought, `the shower of golden rain will come.’
Mother Holle led her to the same door as she had done her sister,
but when she passed through it, instead of the gold rain a kettle full
of pitch came showering over her.
`That’s a reward for your service,’ said Mother Holle, and she
closed the door behind her.
So the lazy girl came home all covered with pitch, and when the
old hen on the top of the wall saw her, it called out:
`Click, clock, clack,
Our dirty slut’s come back.’
But the pitch remained sticking to her, and never as long as she
lived could it be got off.[26]
[26] Grimm.
MINNIKINTHERE was once upon a time a couple of needy folk who lived
in a wretched hut, in which there was nothing but black want;
so they had neither food to eat nor wood to burn. But if they had
next to nothing of all else they had the blessing of God so far as
children were concerned, and every year brought them one more.
The man was not overpleased at this. He was always going about
grumbling and growling, and saying that it seemed to him that
there might be such a thing as having too many of these good
gifts; so shortly before another baby was born he went away into
the wood for some firewood, saying that he did not want to see the
new child; he would hear him quite soon enough when he began to
squall for some food.
As soon as this baby was born it began to look about the room.
`Ah, my dear mother!’ said he, `give me some of my brothers’ old
clothes, and food enough for a few days, and I will go out into the
world and seek my fortune, for, so far as I can see, you have children
enough.’
`Heaven help thee, my son!’ said the mother, `that will never
do; thou art still far too little.’
But the little creature was determined to do it, and begged and
prayed so long that the mother was forced to let him have some
old rags, and tie up a little food for him, and then gaily and happily
he went out into the world.
But almost before he was out of the house another boy was
born, and he too looked about him, and said, `Ah, my dear mother!
give me some of my brothers’ old clothes, and food for some days,
and then I will go out into the world and find my twin brother, for
you have children enough.’
`Heaven help thee, little creature! thou art far too little for that,’
said the woman; `it would never do.’
But she spoke to no purpose, for the boy begged and prayed
until he had got some old rags and a bundle of provisions, and then
he
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