Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 03 (24 page)

'Most certainly I will, if that's all you want,' replied the
sweep, and gave the girl his hand. The bird screamed.

'Swan, hold fast,' said Peter, and the black man was added to
their number.

They soon came to a village where a fair was being held. A
travelling circus was giving a performance, and the clown was just
doing his tricks. He opened his eyes wide with amazement when he
saw the remarkable trio fastened on to the swan's tail.

'Have you gone raving mad, Blackie?' he asked as well as he could
for laughing.

'It's no laughing matter,' the sweep replied. 'This wench has got
so tight hold of me that I feel as if I were glued to her. Do set
me free, like a good clown, and I'll do you a good turn some day.'

Without a moment's hesitation the clown grasped the black
outstretched hand. The bird screamed.

'Swan, hold fast,' called out Peter, and the clown became the
fourth of the party.

Now in the front row of the spectators sat the respected and
popular Mayor of the village, who was much put out by what he
considered nothing but a foolish trick. So much annoyed was he
that he seized the clown by the hand and tried to tear him away,
in order to hand him over to the police.

Then the bird screamed, and Peter called out, 'Swan, hold fast,'
and the dignified Mayor shared the fate of his predecessors.

The Mayoress, a long thin stick of a woman, enraged at the insult
done to her husband, seized his free arm and tore at it with all
her might, with the only result that she too was forced to swell
the procession. After this no one else had any wish to join them.

Soon Peter saw the towers of the capital in front of him. Just
before entering it, a glittering carriage came out to meet him, in
which was seated a young lady as beautiful as the day, but with a
very solemn and serious expression. But no sooner had she
perceived the motley crowd fastened to the swan's tail than she
burst into a loud fit of laughter, in which she was joined by all
her servants and ladies in waiting.

'The Princess has laughed at last,' they all cried with joy.

She stepped out of her carriage to look more closely at the
wonderful sight, and laughed again over the capers the poor
captives cut. She ordered her carriage to be turned round and
drove slowly back into the town, never taking her eyes off Peter
and his procession.

When the King heard the news that his daughter had actually
laughed, he was more than delighted, and had Peter and his
marvellous train brought before him. He laughed himself when he
saw them till the tears rolled down his cheeks.

'My good friend,' he said to Peter, 'do you know what I promised
the person who succeeded in making the Princess laugh?'

'No, I don't,' said Peter.

'Then I'll tell you,' answered the King; 'a thousand gold crowns
or a piece of land. Which will you choose?'

Peter decided in favour of the land. Then he touched the youth,
the girl, the sweep, the clown, the Mayor, and the Mayoress with
his little stick, and they were all free again, and ran away home
as if a fire were burning behind them; and their flight, as you
may imagine, gave rise to renewed merriment.

Then the Princess felt moved to stroke the swan, at the same time
admiring its plumage. The bird screamed.

'Swan, hold fast,' called out Peter, and so he won the Princess
for his bride. But the swan flew up into the air, and vanished in
the blue horizon. Peter now received a duchy as a present, and
became a very great man indeed; but he did not forget the little
old woman who had been the cause of all his good fortune, and
appointed her as head housekeeper to him and his royal bride in
their magnificent castle.

Kletke.

Once upon a time there lived a King who had two daughters, and he
loved them with all his heart. When they grew up, he was suddenly
seized with a wish to know if they, on their part, truly loved
him, and he made up his mind that he would give his kingdom to
whichever best proved her devotion.

So he called the elder Princess and said to her, 'How much do you
love me?'

'As the apple of my eye!' answered she.

'Ah!' exclaimed the King, kissing her tenderly as he spoke, 'you
are indeed a good daughter.'

Then he sent for the younger, and asked her how much she loved
him.

'I look upon you, my father,' she answered, 'as I look upon salt
in my food.'

But the King did not like her words, and ordered her to quit the
court, and never again to appear before him. The poor Princess
went sadly up to her room and began to cry, but when she was
reminded of her father's commands, she dried her eyes, and made a
bundle of her jewels and her best dresses and hurriedly left the
castle where she was born.

She walked straight along the road in front of her, without
knowing very well where she was going or what was to become of
her, for she had never been shown how to work, and all she had
learnt consisted of a few household rules, and receipts of dishes
which her mother had taught her long ago. And as she was afraid
that no housewife would want to engage a girl with such a pretty
face, she determined to make herself as ugly as she could.

She therefore took off the dress that she was wearing and put on
some horrible old rags belonging to a beggar, all torn and covered
with mud. After that she smeared mud all over her hands and face,
and shook her hair into a great tangle. Having thus changed her
appearance, she went about offering herself as a goose-girl or
shepherdess. But the farmers' wives would have nothing to say to
such a dirty maiden, and sent her away with a morsel of bread for
charity's sake.

After walking for a great many days without being able to find any
work, she came to a large farm where they were in want of a
shepherdess, and engaged her gladly.

One day when she was keeping her sheep in a lonely tract of land,
she suddenly felt a wish to dress herself in her robes of
splendour. She washed herself carefully in the stream, and as she
always carried her bundle with her, it was easy to shake off her
rags, and transform herself in a few moments into a great lady.

The King's son, who had lost his way out hunting, perceived this
lovely damsel a long way off, and wished to look at her closer.
But as soon as the girl saw what he was at, she fled into the wood
as swiftly as a bird. The Prince ran after her, but as he was
running he caught his foot in the root of a tree and fell, and
when he got up again, she was nowhere to be seen.

When she was quite safe, she put on her rags again, and smeared
over her face and hands. However the young Prince, who was both
hot and thirsty, found his way to the farm, to ask for a drink of
cider, and he inquired the name of the beautiful lady that kept
the sheep. At this everyone began to laugh, for they said that the
shepherdess was one of the ugliest and dirtiest creatures under
the sun.

The Prince thought some witchcraft must be at work, and he
hastened away before the return of the shepherdess, who became
that evening the butt of everybody's jests.

But the King's son thought often of the lovely maiden whom he had
only seen for a moment, though she seemed to him much more
fascinating than any lady of the Court. At last he dreamed of
nothing else, and grew thinner day by day till his parents
inquired what was the matter, promising to do all they could to
make him as happy as he once was. He dared not tell them the
truth, lest they should laugh at him, so he only said that he
should like some bread baked by the kitchen girl in the distant
farm.

Although the wish appeared rather odd, they hastened to fulfil it,
and the farmer was told the request of the King's son. The maiden
showed no surprise at receiving such an order, but merely asked
for some flour, salt, and water, and also that she might be left
alone in a little room adjoining the oven, where the kneading-
trough stood. Before beginning her work she washed herself
carefully, and even put on her rings; but, while she was baking,
one of her rings slid into the dough. When she had finished she
dirtied herself again, and let the lumps of the dough stick to her
fingers, so that she became as ugly as before.

The loaf, which was a very little one, was brought to the King's
son, who ate it with pleasure. But in cutting it he found the ring
of the Princess, and declared to his parents that he would marry
the girl whom that ring fitted.

So the King made a proclamation through his whole kingdom and
ladies came from afar to lay claim to the honour. But the ring was
so tiny that even those who had the smallest hands could only get
it on their little fingers. In a short time all the maidens of the
kingdom, including the peasant girls, had tried on the ring, and
the King was just about to announce that their efforts had been in
vain, when the Prince observed that he had not yet seen the
shepherdess.

They sent to fetch her, and she arrived covered with rags, but
with her hands cleaner than usual, so that she could easily slip
on the ring. The King's son declared that he would fulfil his
promise, and when his parents mildly remarked that the girl was
only a keeper of sheep, and a very ugly one too, the maiden boldly
said that she was born a princess, and that, if they would only
give her some water and leave her alone in a room for a few
minutes, she would show that she could look as well as anyone in
fine clothes.

They did what she asked, and when she entered in a magnificent
dress, she looked so beautiful that all saw she must be a princess
in disguise. The King's son recognized the charming damsel of whom
he had once caught a glimpse, and, flinging himself at her feet,
asked if she would marry him. The Princess then told her story,
and said that it would be necessary to send an ambassador to her
father to ask his consent and to invite him to the wedding.

The Princess's father, who had never ceased to repent his
harshness towards his daughter, had sought her through the land,
but as no one could tell him anything of her, he supposed her
dead. Therefore it was with great joy he heard that she was living
and that a king's son asked her in marriage, and he quitted his
kingdom with his elder daughter so as to be present at the
ceremony.

By the orders of the bride, they only served her father at the
wedding breakfast bread without salt, and meat without seasoning.
Seeing him make faces, and eat very little, his daughter, who sat
beside him, inquired if his dinner was not to his taste.

'No,' he replied, 'the dishes are carefully cooked and sent up,
but they are all so dreadfully tasteless.'

'Did not I tell you, my father, that salt was the best thing in
life? And yet, when I compared you to salt, to show how much I
loved you, you thought slightingly of me and you chased me from
your presence.'

The King embraced his daughter, and allowed that he had been wrong
to misinterpret her words. Then, for the rest of the wedding feast
they gave him bread made with salt, and dishes with seasoning, and
he said they were the very best he had ever eaten.

Sebillot.

There was once upon a time a poor woman who would have given all
she possessed for a child, but she hadn't one.

Now it happened one day that her husband went to the wood to
collect brushwood, and when he had brought it home, he discovered
a pretty little snake among the twigs.

When Sabatella, for that was the name of the peasant's wife, saw
the little beast, she sighed deeply and said, 'Even the snakes
have their brood; I alone am unfortunate and have no children.' No
sooner had she said these words than, to her intense surprise, the
little snake looked up into her face and spoke: 'Since you have no
children, be a mother to me instead, and I promise you will never
repent it, for I will love you as if I were your own son.'

At first Sabatella was frightened to death at hearing a snake
speak, but plucking up her courage, she replied, 'If it weren't
for any other reason than your kindly thought, I would agree to
what you say, and I will love you and look after you like a
mother.'

So she gave the snake a little hole in the house for its bed, fed
it with all the nicest food she could think of, and seemed as if
she never could show it enough kindness. Day by day it grew bigger
and fatter, and at last one morning it said to Cola-Mattheo, the
peasant, whom it always regarded as its father, 'Dear papa, I am
now of a suitable age and wish to marry.'

'I'm quite agreeable,' answered Mattheo, 'and I'll do my best to
find another snake like yourself and arrange a match between you.'

'Why, if you do that,' replied the snake, 'we shall be no better
than the vipers and reptiles, and that's not what I want at all.
No; I'd much prefer to marry the King's daughter; therefore I pray
you go without further delay, and demand an audience of the King,
and tell him a snake wishes to marry his daughter.'

Cola-Mattheo, who was rather a simpleton, went as he was desired
to the King, and having obtained an audience, he said, 'Your
Majesty, I have often heard that people lose nothing by asking, so
I have come to inform you that a snake wants to marry your
daughter, and I'd be glad to know if you are willing to mate a
dove with a serpent?'

The King, who saw at once that the man was a fool, said, in order
to get quit of him, 'Go home and tell your friend the snake that
if he can turn this palace into ivory, inlaid with gold and
silver, before to-morrow at noon, I will let him marry my
daughter.' And with a hearty laugh he dismissed the peasant.

When Cola-Mattheo brought this answer back to the snake, the
little creature didn't seem the least put out, but said, 'To-
morrow morning, before sunrise, you must go to the wood and gather
a bunch of green herbs, and then rub the threshold of the palace
with them, and you'll see what will happen.'