Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 08 (6 page)

Then the seventh Simon cried out from the ship: 'Stop! stop! I
bring a letter from the Princess Helena!'

The King of Busan read the letter over and over again, and ordered
the knights and soldiers to be set free. He entertained King
Archidej's ambassadors hospitably, and sent his blessing to his
daughter, but he could not be brought to attend the wedding.

When the wonder-ship got home King Archidej and Princess
Helena were enchanted with the news it brought.

The king sent for the seven Simons. 'A thousand thanks to you, my
brave fellows,' he cried. 'Take what gold, silver, and precious
stones you will out of my treasury. Tell me if there is anything else
you wish for and I will give it you, my good friends. Do you wish
to be made nobles, or to govern towns? Only speak.'

Then the eldest Simon bowed and said: 'We are plain folk, your
Majesty, and understand simple things best. What figures should
we cut as nobles or governors? Nor do we desire gold. We have
our fields which give us food, and as much money as we need. If
you wish to reward us then grant that our land may be free of taxes,
and of your goodness pardon the seventh Simon. He is not the first
who has been a thief by trade and he will certainly not be the last.'

'So be it,' said the king; 'your land shall be free of all taxes, and
Simon the seventh is pardoned.'

Then the king gave each brother a goblet of wine and invited them
to the wedding feast. And what a feast that was!

(From Ungarischen Mahrchen.)

Once upon a time a man had a shepherd who served him many
years faithfully and honestly. One day, whilst herding his flock, this
shepherd heard a hissing sound, coming out of the forest near by,
which he could not account for. So he went into the wood in the
direction of the noise to try to discover the cause. When he
approached the place he found that the dry grass and leaves were
on fire, and on a tree, surrounded by flames, a snake was coiled,
hissing with terror.

The shepherd stood wondering how the poor snake could escape,
for the wind was blowing the flames that way, and soon that tree
would be burning like the rest. Suddenly the snake cried: 'O
shepherd! for the love of heaven save me from this fire!'

Then the shepherd stretched his staff out over the flames and the
snake wound itself round the staff and up to his hand, and from his
hand it crept up his arm, and twined itself about his neck. The
shepherd trembled with fright, expecting every instant to be stung
to death, and said: 'What an unlucky man I am! Did I rescue you
only to be destroyed myself?' But the snake answered: 'Have no
fear; only carry me home to my father who is the King of the
Snakes.' The shepherd, however, was much too frightened to listen,
and said that he could not go away and leave his flock alone; but
the snake said: 'You need not be afraid to leave your flock, no evil
shall befall them; but make all the haste you can.'

So he set off through the wood carrying the snake, and after a time
he came to a great gateway, made entirely of snakes intertwined
one with another. The shepherd stood still with surprise, but the
snake round his neck whistled, and immediately all the arch
unwound itself.

'When we are come to my father's house,' said his own snake to
him, 'he will reward you with anything you like to ask—silver, gold,
jewels, or whatever on this earth is most precious; but take none of
all these things, ask rather to understand the language of beasts. He
will refuse it to you a long time, but in the end he will grant it to
you.'

Soon after that they arrived at the house of the King of the Snakes,
who burst into tears of joy at the sight of his daughter, as he had
given her up for dead. 'Where have you been all this time?' he
asked, directly he could speak, and she told him that she had been
caught in a forest fire, and had been rescued from the flames by the
shepherd. The King of the Snakes, then turning to the shepherd,
said to him: 'What reward will you choose for saving my child?'

'Make me to know the language of beasts,' answered the shepherd,
'that is all I desire.'

The king replied: 'Such knowledge would be of no benefit to you,
for if I granted it to you and you told any one of it, you would
immediately die; ask me rather for whatever else you would most
like to possess, and it shall be yours.'

But the shepherd answered him: 'Sir, if you wish to reward me for
saving your daughter, grant me, I pray you, to know the language
of beasts. I desire nothing else'; and he turned as if to depart.

Then the king called him back, saying: 'If nothing else will satisfy
you, open your mouth.' The man obeyed, and the king spat into it,
and said: 'Now spit into my mouth.' The shepherd did as he was
told, then the King of the Snakes spat again into the shepherd's
mouth. When they had spat into each other's mouths three times,
the king said:

'Now you know the language of beasts, go in peace; but, if you
value your life, beware lest you tell any one of it, else you will
immediately die.'

So the shepherd set out for home, and on his way through the
wood he heard and understood all that was said by the birds, and by
every living creature. When he got back to his sheep he found the
flock grazing peacefully, and as he was very tired he laid himself
down by them to rest a little. Hardly had he done so when two
ravens flew down and perched on a tree near by, and began to talk
to each other in their own language: 'If that shepherd only knew
that there is a vault full of gold and silver beneath where that lamb
is lying, what would he not do?' When the shepherd heard these
words he went straight to his master and told him, and the master at
once took a waggon, and broke open the door of the vault, and
they carried off the treasure. But instead of keeping it for himself,
the master, who was an honourable man, gave it all up to the
shepherd, saying: 'Take it, it is yours. The gods have given it to
you.' So the shepherd took the treasure and built himself a house.
He married a wife, and they lived in great peace and happiness, and
he was acknowledged to be the richest man, not only of his native
village, but of all the country-side. He had flocks of sheep, and
cattle, and horses without end, as well as beautiful clothes and
jewels.

One day, just before Christmas, he said to his wife: 'Prepare
everything for a great feast, to-morrow we will take things with us
to the farm that the shepherds there may make merry.' The wife
obeyed, and all was prepared as he desired. Next day they both
went to the farm, and in the evening the master said to the
shepherds: 'Now come, all of you, eat, drink, and make merry. I
will watch the flocks myself to-night in your stead.' Then he went
out to spend the night with the flocks.

When midnight struck the wolves howled and the dogs barked, and
the wolves spoke in their own tongue, saying:

'Shall we come in and work havoc, and you too shall eat flesh?' And
the dogs answered in their tongue: 'Come in, and for once we shall
have enough to eat.'

Now amongst the dogs there was one so old that he had only two
teeth left in his head, and he spoke to the wolves, saying: 'So long
as I have my two teeth still in my head, I will let no harm be done to
my master.'

All this the master heard and understood, and as soon as morning
dawned he ordered all the dogs to be killed excepting the old dog.
The farm servants wondered at this order, and exclaimed: 'But
surely, sir, that would be a pity?'

The master answered: 'Do as I bid you'; and made ready to return
home with his wife, and they mounted their horses, her steed being
a mare. As they went on their way, it happened that the husband
rode on ahead, while the wife was a little way behind. The
husband's horse, seeing this, neighed, and said to the mare: 'Come
along, make haste; why are you so slow?' And the mare answered:
'It is very easy for you, you carry only your master, who is a thin
man, but I carry my mistress, who is so fat that she weights as much
as three.' When the husband heard that he looked back and laughed,
which the wife perceiving, she urged on the mare till she caught up
with her husband, and asked him why he laughed. 'For nothing at
all,' he answered; 'just because it came into my head.' She would not
be satisfied with this answer, and urged him more and more to tell
her why he had laughed. But he controlled himself and said: 'Let
me be, wife; what ails you? I do not know myself why I laughed.'
But the more he put her off, the more she tormented him to tell her
the cause of his laughter. At length he said to her: 'Know, then,
that if I tell it you I shall immediately and surely die.' But even this
did not quiet her; she only besought him the more to tell her.

Meanwhile they had reached home, and before getting down from
his horse the man called for a coffin to be brought; and when it was
there he placed it in front of the house, and said to his wife:

'See, I will lay myself down in this coffin, and will then tell you why
I laughed, for as soon as I have told you I shall surely die.' So he lay
down in the coffin, and while he took a last look around him, his
old dog came out from the farm and sat down by him, and whined.
When the master saw this, he called to his wife: 'Bring a piece of
bread to give to the dog.' The wife brought some bread and threw it
to the dog, but he would not look at it. Then the farm cock came
and pecked at the bread; but the dog said to it: 'Wretched glutton,
you can eat like that when you see that your master is dying?' The
cock answered: 'Let him die, if he is so stupid. I have a hundred
wives, which I call together when I find a grain of corn, and as soon
as they are there I swallow it myself; should one of them dare to be
angry, I would give her a lesson with my beak. He has only one
wife, and he cannot keep her in order.'

As soon as the man understood this, he got up out of the coffin,
seized a stick, and called his wife into the room, saying: 'Come, and
I will tell you what you so much want to know'; and then he began
to beat her with the stick, saying with each blow: 'It is that, wife, it
is that!' And in this way he taught her never again to ask why he
had laughed.

Once upon a time there lived a poor widow who had one little boy.
At first sight you would not have thought that he was different from
a thousand other little boys; but then you noticed that by his side
hung the scabbard of a sword, and as the boy grew bigger the
scabbard grew bigger too. The sword which belonged to the
scabbard was found by the little boy sticking out of the ground in
the garden, and every day he pulled it up to see if it would go into
the scabbard. But though it was plainly becoming longer and
longer, it was some time before the two would fit.

However, there came a day at last when it slipped in quite easily.
The child was so delighted that he could hardly believe his eyes, so
he tried it seven times, and each time it slipped in more easily than
before. But pleased though the boy was, he determined not to tell
anyone about it, particularly not his mother, who never could keep
anything from her neighbours.

Still, in spite of his resolutions, he could not hide altogether that
something had happened, and when he went in to breakfast his
mother asked him what was the matter.

'Oh, mother, I had such a nice dream last night,' said he; 'but I can't
tell it to anybody.'

'You can tell it to me,' she answered. 'It must have been a nice
dream, or you wouldn't look so happy.'

'No, mother; I can't tell it to anybody,' returned the boy, 'till it
comes true.'

'I want to know what it was, and know it I will,' cried she, 'and I
will beat you till you tell me.'

But it was no use, neither words nor blows would get the secret out
of the boy; and when her arm was quite tired and she had to leave
off, the child, sore and aching, ran into the garden and knelt
weeping beside his little sword. It was working round and round in
its hole all by itself, and if anyone except the boy had tried to catch
hold of it, he would have been badly cut. But the moment he
stretched out his hand it stopped and slid quietly into the scabbard.

For a long time the child sat sobbing, and the noise was heard by
the king as he was driving by. 'Go and see who it is that is crying
so,' said he to one of his servants, and the man went. In a few
minutes he returned saying: 'Your Majesty, it is a little boy who is
kneeling there sobbing because his mother has beaten him.'

'Bring him to me at once,' commanded the monarch, 'and tell him
that it is the king who sends for him, and that he has never cried in
all his life and cannot bear anyone else to do so.' On receiving this
message the boy dried his tears and went with the servant to the
royal carriage. 'Will you be my son?' asked the king.

'Yes, if my mother will let me,' answered the boy. And the king
bade the servant go back to the mother and say that if she would
give her boy to him, he should live in the palace and marry his
prettiest daughter as soon as he was a man.

The widow's anger now turned into joy, and she came running to
the splendid coach and kissed the king's hand. 'I hope you will be
more obedient to his Majesty than you were to me,' she said; and
the boy shrank away half-frightened. But when she had gone back
to her cottage, he asked the king if he might fetch something that he
had left in the garden, and when he was given permission, he pulled
up his little sword, which he slid into the scabbard.

Then he climbed into the coach and was driven away.

After they had gone some distance the king said: 'Why were you
crying so bitterly in the garden just now?'

'Because my mother had been beating me,' replied the boy.