The Flight of the Golden Bird (6 page)

So the queen said, “Husband, Your Majesty, I’ve got a guilty secret I’ve kept from you for many years.”

“Tell me, woman,” he said, “tell me!”

She says, “Your sons the princes have never left the palace.”

“Well, woman, go find them! Why do ye keep me in such suspense? Go find them, bring them back – so that my little girl can see them!”

She says, “Husband, it’s not within my power tae bring them back.”

“Well, where are they, where are they? If you know so much – tell me!”

She says, “They’re in the pond in the palace garden –
twelve white swans.”

The king said, “Twelve white swans in the garden are my
sons
– that my little girl wants?”

“Yes, that’s where they are,” she said. I went to my old friend the henwife, who works in her magical powers, and I got a potion to turn them into swans because I didn’t want to… all these years I’ve enjoyed their company… they are swans but they’re still my sons!”

He says, “Woman, you have deceived me!”

She says, “I haven’t deceived ye; wouldn’t it be worse if you’d sent them all into the world to be killed, off into battle, fighting somewhere? I knew where they were all the time.”

“Well,” he said, “tomorrow you must bring them back!”

Oh, the queen and the princess the next morning, true to their word, they made their way to the old henwife once more. The old henwife by this time was getting very old and frail because many years had passed, and when the queen came in she barely recognised the old woman. But they came in and they sat down.

The old henwife says, “What brings you now, my queen? What is it you really need this time?”

She says, “I want my sons back.”

And the old henwife said, “It’s a hard task ye’re giving me... there’s nothing I can do.”

“There must be
something
,” she said, “ye can do. There must be something you can do!”

“There’s nothing
I
can do,” the old woman said; there’s nothing
you
can do, but there’s something that the
princess
can do if she wants tae do it.”

“And what would that be?” says the queen.

“Well,” says the old woman, there’s only one thing she can do, but it’s a hard task she’s got to perform: she must go into the churchyard at the hour of ten o’clock, and within two hours she must make twelve shirts from the stingy nettles that grow in the churchyard; and she’s only got two hours to do it. She’s tae use the stingy nettles, spin them with a spinning wheel and make them into twelve shirts before the clock strikes twelve, and throw them over the twelve white swans.”

“I’ll do it, Mummy,” says the princess. “I’ll do anything in the world!”

So the queen said, “To help you out, I’ll get some o’ the men to gather the nettles for ye.”

“Now,” says the old henwife before they leave, “she’ll be disturbed during her work making these shirts, because this particular night that I give her the power to bring her brothers back… is also the night of the Harpies!”

And the queen says,

“What are Harpies?”

“Well, Harpies,” says the old henwife, “are birds with human faces. And they’ll come, they’ll start digging in the graveyard for bodies. They won’t come near the princess because she’s alive. They only go after the dead... but if the princess gets one fright, the spell’ll be broken for ever and she’ll never see her brothers again!”

Fair enough. So, back they went to the palace. The queen sent some workers to gather all the nettles. It had to be the churchyard nettles, no other would do; the nettles that grew in the old churchyard where they buried everybody.

All the nettles are gathered and heaped in the corner of the yard. Ten o’clock the princess walks down with a spinning wheel and she starts. She spins the nettles and starts making shirts. She works hard, she never stops. But all of a sudden she hears a flap o’ wings coming, women’s faces, long hair – they’re scratching the earth with their nails for people that are new-buried. And they’re throwing bags o’ earth, they’re hunting for bodies and they’re digging and they’re digging and digging. They’re squawking and they’re screeching, they’re skreeking at her, looking at her, and she’s carrying on, spinning away. She never pays any attention to them for nearly one hour and a half. And she’s working hard, working hard, and they’re hopping around with their evil faces, their evil grins; they’re tearing up the bodies from the graves. They’re eating them, they’re squawking and fighting like a lot o’ vultures over the bodies, and they’re sharing bones and tearing hair and everything.

And the princess just stood there and spun away, paid no attention. And she worked hard and worked hard! Then all in a moment – twelve o’clock – she had twelve shirts, but one sleeve wasn’t finished when the clock struck twelve. The Harpies disappeared as fast as they came.

She gathered up the shirts, she ran down to the palace into the garden round to the little lake, she waded into the pond to her waist. And one by one she put a shirt over every swan’s head till she came to the last one. And as she put a shirt over each head, a young man walked out, a tall, handsome young man walked out of the water and stood in the bankway: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven – till she came to the last one. But the last shirt had only one sleeve. When she placed it over, he walked out of the pond, off the little lake into the garden. Lo and behold, there stood the twelve young princes and one of them had a wing. One had a swan’s wing, a white wing.

The princess was delighted. She cuddled them, kissed them,
took them all up to the palace. And the king who had forgiven the queen now saw that his daughter was happy, was overjoyed. He turned to the queen, said, “Woman, it’s a wonderful thing you’ve done.” The boys were no older; they never got old, the swans. They were just young – the way they were from the minute they were put in there. “It’s a wonderful thing you’ve done,” he said to the queen, “but what’s gaunna happen to him?” The youngest was left with a wing instead of an arm.

The princess loved him more than the rest; she loved him best because he was next to her, he was the youngest. They sat down and she told the story. And the boys felt very bad about their father, but they loved their mother. They all came and kissed their mother, they forgave her for what she did. But they never forgave their father.

And the princess said, “We shall have tae find a way to get my brother’s wing away and bring back his arm.”

After many days of feasting and rejoicing at the palace the princess began to enjoy the company of her brothers. They hunted and shot and fished and did everything together, and she really loved to be with them. The king, who saw that the princess was happy, was overjoyed. Now he had his sons back and he had his daughter, who was happy for ever and just the radiant beautiful little girl she ever was.

But the queen felt sad and the king felt kind of guilty when he saw the youngest brother, who very rarely spoke and never did much because he had a wing, and he always kept it hidden under a cloak. And if the princess ever had any time to spare she spent it with him.

But one day she said to her mother, “Mother, this just can’t go on. We’ll have to find a way tae get my brother’s arm back.”

“Well, says the queen, we’ve asked so many favours off the old henwife, and she’s getting an auld woman now; I just hate going back tae her so many times.”

“Well, Mother,” she says, “there’s only one thing we can do – we must, for wir brother’s sake!”

So the princess and the queen visited the old henwife once more. They landed back, and lo and behold, the old henwife was happy to see them. They sat down and talked for a wee while and she said, “What’s yir trouble this time? I hear you’ve got yir sons back once more.”

“Yes,” she said, “I have my sons back and nobody’s happier than me, tae have my sons around me once more – but there’s one thing missing.”

“I know,” says the henwife, “it’s a sad ending. But there’s very little we can do about it.”

“There must be something we can do!”

She says, “I know one o’ yir sons has got a wing, a swan’s wing.”

And the princess says, “That’s what we came to see you about. I’ll give ye everything you need in this world…”

And the old henwife says, “Look, I don’t need nothing, my dearie.”

The princess says, “I want you to help me, I want you to help me get rid of my brother’s wing!”

“Well,” she says, “it’s a terrible thing that he has, but it’s not within my power tae help him in any way; you are the only one that can help him.”

“Me?” says the princess. “I’ll do anything, I’ll go
anywhere
, I’ll do anything under the sun tae help my brother get rid of this wing and have his arm wonst more. Because he feels so sad tae see the rest o’ his brothers – he canna ride, he cannae fire a bow, he canna do nothing because he has to keep it under a cloak.”

The old henwife says, “Look, you don’t know, but many, many, many leagues from here there is another land, another country. And in that country lives a queen who doesn’t have a king, has only had one son. This queen is the Queen of Knowledge, that
knows
everything. And I know where the queen is; I know that
she has the knowledge to cure yir brother, but that’s all I can tell ye – the rest is left tae yirself.”

“But how,” said the princess, “how am I gaunna go there and—”

“If you go there,” she said, “ye’ll never even get near her – not as a princess.”

“What must I do?” said the princess.

“Ye’ll have tae go as a beggar girl, find employment in the palace an’ seek the knowledge from the queen herself. But I have a better idea: why don’t you be a goose girl?” (In these bygone days, girls did walk with geese. They swapped them and traded them around.) “And,” the old woman said, “for yir safety’s sake, get yir father tae send some huntsmen along with ye fir half o’ the journey. Then go the other half by yirself. Take some geese and a ragged dress, dress yirsel as a goose girl and make yir way to the palace. Then it’s up to yirself what you do from there, because that’s all the help I can tell ye; that’s the only way you’re gaunna cure the problem of your brother’s wing.”

The princess was overjoyed. She said, “Yes, I’ll do it, I’ll go!”

The queen was very upset about this; she didn’t want to lose her wee daughter. When she told the king, he went out of his mind – “No way!” – he wouldn’t have it. No way. But the queen got him finally talked around to it.

So the next day the king said, “Well, if that’s to be, what’s to be shall be. But she’s gaunna be well protected if I can help it.” So he ordered for ten soldiers, his best soldiers, and ten horses. He even got panniers on the horses’ backs to carry the geese, so’s their feet wouldn’t be sore travelling too far. He ordered that the geese should be in baskets, and travel for many leagues till they came to the Land of the Queen of Knowledge, and suppose they had to wait for a lifetime, not to return without her! So everything was planned and arranged for the next day; ten soldiers were to look after the princess, guide her on her way till they came to the Land of the Queen of Knowledge, and then they were to let
her out and stay in one particular place till she came back. If she didn’t come back, they were never to return, said the king, fir the peril o’ their life: “Return without my daughter and yese’ll be dead when youse come back!”

So the next day, true to their word, the king and queen bade the princess goodbye; a ragged dress, bare feet and ten soldiers, the horses and five geese, they set on their journey. They travelled far and they travelled wide, and they’re asking along the way how far it is to the next kingdom. They travelled for many, many miles and many, many days. At last they came into a green valley in a land that was so flat there weren’t a hill for miles, with beautiful forests and running streams. The soldiers were amazed.

And the princess said, “Look, I think this is far enough. I can make my way from here.” So she donned her ragged dress, took her geese, and the soldiers said they would stay in the one spot till she returned. True enough, we’ll leave the soldiers there camped in the one spot and go with the princess, the goose girl.

So, the goose girl travelled on for many days, traded the geese along the way, sold some, got some strange ones and travelled on till she came to a town. When she landed in the town she made inquiries: “Where is the palace of the queen?”

And they pointed to a large castle on the hill: “That’s the palace of the queen, but nobody goes there.” They were warned not to go there. The queen had one son who would ride through the forest many, many times but never come near the town. And they asked the goose girl what she wanted.

She said she just wanted to see the queen. The goose girl made up her mind that she would go to the palace. So the next morning she left the village and took her geese, drove them on her way. She had travelled many miles, and the palace looked as far away as ever when she came to a forest. She walked through, she came to a clearing, full of grass, beautiful high. The geese were hungry, began to pick the grass. She sat down to rest. When
all in a minute who should come riding through the forest but this young man, most beautiful young man she ever saw in her life! When he saw the young goose girl in the forest he stopped. And he sat there; he watched this beautiful young girl dressed in rags, long golden plaits down her back and her bare feet, and the geese. He jumped off his horse, he walked over.

And he said, “Hello, goose girl.”

She said, “Hello, Sir.”

He said, “Where have you come from?”

She says, “I came from the village.”

“Where are you journeying to?”

She says, “I’m journeying to seek the Queen of Knowledge.”

“Ha-ha,” he said, “you’re journeying to seek the Queen of Knowledge, are ye?”

“Yes,” she said, “I am.”

“Well, why should you seek the Queen of Knowledge,” he said – “just a goose girl?”

“Well,” she said, “I may be a goose girl, but I have a problem.”

“Look,” he said, “ye’re no getting near my mother. My mother knows all the problems of everything that goes on over the world, but it’s getting her tae tell ye them is another thing.”