Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 01 (13 page)

She carried him down, and then hurried with loud
protestations to the youth's father. "Your son has been
the cause of a pretty misfortune," she cried; "he threw my
husband downstairs so that he broke his leg. Take the
good-for-nothing wretch out of our house." The father
was horrified, hurried to the youth, and gave him a
scolding.

"What unholy pranks are these? The evil one must
have put them into your head." "Father," he replied,
"only listen to me; I am quite guiltless. He stood there
in the night, like one who meant harm. I didn't know
who it was, and warned him three times to speak or
begone." "Oh!" groaned the father, "you'll bring me
nothing but misfortune; get out of my sight, I won't have
anything more to do with you." "Yes, father, willingly; only
wait till daylight, then I'll set out and learn to shudder,
and in that way I shall be master of an art which will
gain me a living." "Learn what you will," said the father,
"it's all one to me. Here are fifty dollars for you, set
forth into the wide world with them; but see you tell no
one where you come from or who your father is, for I am
ashamed of you." "Yes, father, whatever you wish; and
if that's all you ask, I can easily keep it in mind."

When day broke the youth put the fifty dollars into his
pocket, set out on the hard high road, and kept muttering
to himself: "If I could only shudder! if I could only
shudder!" Just at this moment a man came by who
heard the youth speaking to himself, and when they had
gone on a bit and were in sight of the gallows the man
said to him: "Look! there is the tree where seven people
have been hanged, and are now learning to fly; sit down
under it and wait till nightfall, and then you'll pretty
soon learn to shudder." "If that's all I have to do,"
answered the youth, "it's easily done; but if I learn to
shudder so quickly, then you shall have my fifty dollars.
Just come back to me to-morrow morning early." Then
the youth went to the gallows-tree and sat down underneath
it, and waited for the evening; and because he felt
cold he lit himself a fire. But at midnight it got so chill
that in spite of the fire he couldn't keep warm. And as
the wind blew the corpses one against the other, tossing
them to and fro, he thought to himself: "If you are
perishing down here by the fire, how those poor things up
there must be shaking and shivering!" And because he had
a tender heart, he put up a ladder, which he climbed
unhooked one body after the other, and took down all the
seven. Then he stirred the fire, blew it up, and placed
them all round in a circle, that they might warm
themselves. But they sat there and did not move, and the
fire caught their clothes. Then he spoke: "Take care, or
I'll hang you up again." But the dead men did not hear
and let their rags go on burning. Then he got angry, and
said: "If you aren't careful yourselves, then I can't help
you, and I don't mean to burn with you"; and he hung
them up again in a row. Then he sat down at his fire and
fell asleep. On the following morning the man came to
him, and, wishing to get his fifty dollars, said: "Now you
know what it is to shudder." "No," he answered, "how
should I? Those fellows up there never opened their
mouths, and were so stupid that they let those few old
tatters they have on their bodies burn." Then the man
saw he wouldn't get his fifty dollars that day, and went
off, saying: "Well, I'm blessed if I ever met such a person
in my life before."

The youth went too on his way, and began to murmur
to himself: "Oh! if I could only shudder! if I could only
shudder!" A carrier who was walking behind him heard
these words, and asked him: "Who are you" "I don't
know," said the youth. "Where do you hail from?" "I
don't know." "Who's your father?" "I mayn't say."
"What are you constantly muttering to yourself?" "Oh!"
said the youth, "I would give worlds to shudder, but no
one can teach me." "Stuff and nonsense!" spoke the
carrier; "come along with me, and I'll soon put that
right." The youth went with the carrier, and in the evening
they reached an inn, where they were to spend the
night. Then, just as he was entering the room, he said
again, quite aloud: "Oh! if I could only shudder! if I could
only shudder!" The landlord, who heard this, laughed
and said: "If that's what you're sighing for, you shall be
given every opportunity here." "Oh! hold your tongue!"
said the landlord's wife; "so many people have paid for
their curiosity with their lives, it were a thousand pities
if those beautiful eyes were never again to behold
daylight." But the youth said: "No matter how difficult, I
insist on learning it; why, that's what I've set out to do."
He left the landlord no peace till he told him that in the
neighborhood stood a haunted castle, where one could
easily learn to shudder if one only kept watch in it for
three nights. The King had promised the man who dared
to do this thing his daughter as wife, and she was the
most beautiful maiden under the sun. There was also
much treasure hid in the castle, guarded by evil spirits,
which would then be free, and was sufficient to make a
poor man more than rich. Many had already gone in, but
so far none had ever come out again. So the youth went
to the King and spoke: "If I were allowed, I should much
like to watch for three nights in the castle." The King
looked at him, and because he pleased him, he said:
"You can ask for three things, none of them living, and
those you may take with you into the castle." Then he
answered: "Well, I shall beg for a fire, a turning lathe, and
a carving bench with the knife attached."

On the following day the King had everything put into
the castle; and when night drew on the youth took up his
position there, lit a bright fire in one of the rooms, placed
the carving bench with the knife close to it, and sat himself
down on the turning lathe. "Oh! if I could only shudder!"
he said: "but I sha'n't learn it here either." Toward
midnight he wanted to make up the fire, and as he was
blowing up a blaze he heard a shriek from a corner. "Ou,
miou! how cold we are!" "You fools!" he cried; "why do
you scream? If you are cold, come and sit at the fire and
warm yourselves." And as he spoke two huge black cats
sprang fiercely forward and sat down, one on each side of
him, and gazed wildly at him with their fiery eyes. After
a time, when they had warmed themselves, they said:
"Friend, shall we play a little game of cards?" "Why
not?" he replied; "but first let me see your paws." Then
they stretched out their claws. "Ha!" said he; "what long
nails you've got! Wait a minute: I must first cut them
off." Thereupon he seized them by the scruff of their
necks, lifted them on to the carving bench, and screwed
down their paws firmly. "After watching you narrowly,"
said he, "I no longer feel any desire to play cards with
you"; and with these words he struck them dead and
threw them out into the water. But when he had thus
sent the two of them to their final rest, and was again
about to sit down at the fire, out of every nook and
corner came forth black cats and black dogs with fiery
chains in such swarms that he couldn't possibly get away
from them. They yelled in the most ghastly manner,
jumped upon his fire, scattered it all, and tried to put it
out. He looked on quietly for a time, but when it got
beyond a joke he seized his carving-knife and called out:
"Be off, you rabble rout!" and let fly at them. Some of
them fled away, and the others he struck dead and threw
them out into the pond below. When he returned he blew
up the sparks of the fire once more, and warmed himself.
And as he sat thus his eyes refused to keep open any
longer, and a desire to sleep stole over him. Then he
looked around him and beheld in the corner a large bed.
"The very thing," he said, and laid himself down in it.
But when he wished to close his eyes the bed began to
move by itself, and ran all round the castle. "Capital,"
he said, "only a little quicker." Then the bed sped on as
if drawn by six horses, over thresholds and stairs, up this
way and down that. All of a sudden—crash, crash! with
a bound it turned over, upside down, and lay like a
mountain on the top of him. But he tossed the blankets
and pillows in the air, emerged from underneath, and
said: "Now anyone who has the fancy for it may go a
drive," lay down at his fire, and slept till daylight. In the
morning the King came, and when he beheld him lying
on the ground he imagined the ghosts had been too much
for him, and that he was dead. Then he said: "What a
pity! and such a fine fellow he was." The youth heard
this, got up, and said: "It's not come to that yet." Then
the King was astonished, but very glad, and asked how
it had fared with him. "First-rate," he answered; "and
now I've survived the one night, I shall get through the
other two also." The landlord, when he went to him,
opened his eyes wide, and said: "Well, I never thought to
see you alive again. Have you learned now what
shuddering is ?" "No," he replied, "it's quite hopeless; if
someone could only tell me how to!"

The second night he went up again to the old castle,
sat down at the fire, and began his old refrain: "If I could
only shudder!" As midnight approached, a noise and din
broke out, at first gentle, but gradually increasing; then
all was quiet for a minute, and at length, with a loud
scream, half of a man dropped down the chimney and fell
before him. "Hi, up there!" shouted he; "there's another
half wanted down here, that's not enough"; then the din
commenced once more, there was a shrieking and a yelling,
and then the other half fell down. "Wait a bit," he
said; "I'll stir up the fire for you." When he had done
this and again looked around, the two pieces had united,
and a horrible-looking man sat on his seat. "Come," said
the youth, "I didn't bargain for that, the seat is mine."
The man tried to shove him away, but the youth wouldn't
allow it for a moment, and, pushing him off by force,
sat down in his place again. Then more men dropped
down, one after the other, who fetching nine skeleton legs
and two skulls, put them up and played ninepins with
them. The youth thought he would like to play too,
and said: "Look here; do you mind my joining the game?"
"No, not if you have money." "I've money enough," he
replied, "but your balls aren't round enough." Then he
took the skulls, placed them on his lathe, and turned
them till they were round. "Now they'll roll along better,"
said he, "and houp-la! now the fun begins." He played
with them and lost some of his money, but when twelve
struck everything vanished before his eyes. He lay down
and slept peacefully. The next morning the King came,
anxious for news. "How have you got on this time?" he
asked. "I played ninepins," he answered, "and lost a few
pence." "Didn't you shudder then?" "No such luck,"
said he; "I made myself merry. Oh! if I only knew what
it was to shudder!"

On the third night he sat down again on his bench, and
said, in the most desponding way: "If I could only shudder!"
When it got late, six big men came in carrying a
coffin. Then he cried: "Ha! ha! that's most likely my
little cousin who only died a few days ago"; and beckoning
with his finger he called out: "Come, my small cousin,
come." They placed the coffin on the ground, and he
approached it and took off the cover. In it lay a dead man.
He felt his face, and it was cold as ice. "Wait," he said
"I'll heat you up a bit," went to the fire, warmed his hand,
and laid it on the man's face, but the dead remained cold.
Then he lifted him out, sat down at the fire, laid him on
his knee, and rubbed his arms that the blood should
circulate again. When that too had no effect it occurred
to him that if two people lay together in bed they warmed
each other; so he put him into the bed, covered him up,
and lay down beside him; after a time the corpse became
warm and began to move. Then the youth said: "Now,
my little cousin, what would have happened if I hadn't
warmed you?" But the dead man rose up and cried out:
"Now I will strangle you." "What!" said he, "is that all
the thanks I get? You should be put straight back into
your coffin," lifted him up, threw him in, and closed the
lid. Then the six men came and carried him out again.
"I simply can't shudder," he said, "and it's clear I sha'n't
learn it in a lifetime here."

Then a man entered, of more than ordinary size and of
a very fearful appearance; but he was old and had a white
beard. "Oh! you miserable creature, now you will soon
know what it is to shudder," he cried, "for you must die."
"Not so quickly," answered the youth. "If I am to die,
you must catch me first." "I shall soon lay hold of you,"
spoke the monster. "Gently, gently, don't boast too
much, I'm as strong as you, and stronger too." "We'll
soon see," said the old man; "if you are stronger than I
then I'll let you off; come, let's have a try." Then he led
him through some dark passages to a forge, and grasping
an axe he drove one of the anvils with a blow into the
earth. "I can do better than that," cried the youth, and
went to the other anvil. The old man drew near him in
order to watch closely, and his white beard hung right
down. The youth seized the axe, cleft the anvil open, and
jammed in the old man's beard. "Now I have you," said
the youth; "this time it's your turn to die." Then he
seized an iron rod and belabored the old man till he,
whimpering, begged him to leave off, and he would give
him great riches. The youth drew out the axe and let him
go. The old man led him back to the castle and showed
him in a cellar three chests of gold. "One of these," said
he, "belongs to the poor, one to the King, and the third
is yours." At that moment twelve struck, and the spirit
vanished, leaving the youth alone in the dark. "I'll surely
be able to find a way out," said he, and groping about he
at length found his way back to the room, and fell asleep
at his fire. The next morning the King came, and said:
"Well, now you've surely learned to shudder?" "No," he
answered; "what can it be? My dead cousin was here,
and an old bearded man came, who showed me heaps of
money down below there, but what shuddering is no one
has told me." Then the King spoke: "You have freed
the castle from its curse, and you shall marry my
daughter." "That's all charming," he said; "but I still don't
know what it is to shudder."