The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales (Penguin Classics) (13 page)

Schönwerth’s note:
Mermaids are highly evolved female creatures that dwell in the water but are not restricted to living there. They are able to take on human form partially or entirely and to become radiantly beautiful women. They long for the love of handsome men and lure them down to the watery depths, or they go on land and spend time with them there. Mermaids seek youth, beauty, and a long life through the love of mortals.

A fisherman was working for a count, a man who paid him well, for he was good at bringing in a nice haul. But one day his luck ran out, and the count was so dissatisfied with him that he let him go. For a time, the fisherman lived from his savings, but soon he had nothing left. He tried his luck a few more times, but to no avail, and he sat in his boat, weeping bitter tears.

Suddenly a beautiful mermaid emerged from the water. “Why are you weeping?” she asked, and he explained why he was so distraught. “I’ll help you out, but only if you promise to give me what you do not know is in your house. I was the one who sent fish to you in the first place, and I’m also the one who kept them away from you.” The fisherman made the
promise, and right away he had another huge haul of fish. He returned home cheerfully. When he told his wife the price he had paid for the catch, her face fell. She was carrying a child, which he did not yet know about. But the two consoled themselves with the thought that they would baptize the child. The fisherman’s luck was back, and once again he caught the best fish in his nets. He brought them to the count, who took him back in his service.

At the appointed time, a son was born, and he was called Lucas. He was strong in body and spirit, and it was decided that he would take holy orders. But once he had finished with his training, he could not hold his first mass, for he belonged to the mermaid. And so he gave up his studies to become a cooper and went on the road. There he encountered some animals quarreling over the carcass of a horse. They couldn’t decide how to divide it up. There was a bear there, a fox, a falcon, and an ant. They asked him to figure out how to divide things up. Lucas threw the hindquarters and front legs to the bear, who had no reason to complain, and he gave the back to the fox, the innards to the falcon, and the head to the ant. Then off he went.

The bear thought it was not fair to let Lucas leave without showing some gratitude, and he ordered the fox to call him back. The grateful animals granted him the power to turn into their shapes whenever he wanted. Lucas burst out laughing and then went on his way. While he was walking he noticed a bunch of partridges picking at some grain. To test the gift he had been given, he decided to turn himself into a fox. He became one in an instant and caught as many partridges as he could carry. He took them with him to the next city and had them roasted at the inn.

Around the same time, four men came into the inn, sat down, and began playing cards and betting. Lucas was lying on a bed of straw behind the oven, and he noticed that one of the men already had a big pile of cash in front of him. He turned himself into an ant and crawled under the table. Then he turned himself into a bear, stood up, and knocked the table over with all the coins still on it. He scared the men so badly
that they hightailed it out of there. He returned to his human form, gathered up the coins, lay down on the straw, and went to sleep. In the morning he paid his bill and left.

Lucas reached a town where everyone was in mourning. A black flag with a skull on it was waving from a tower. He started looking for a place to stay and asked the innkeeper what had happened. It turned out that the king had three daughters who were ready to be married. They were all beautiful and looked so much alike that people couldn’t tell them apart. But the king had decided that the middle child would be his heir. “‘Whoever wants to inherit my kingdom has to guess which one she is.’ That’s what he is demanding. And if you don’t guess the right one, you will be executed. So many men have already died that we are all in mourning,” the innkeeper explained.

Lucas went over to the castle and looked in the garden, which was surrounded by a deep moat, and saw the princesses taking a walk. He turned himself into a falcon and flew from one tree to the next. He caught the attention of the princesses, and let himself be captured by one of them. He landed on her hand, and she took him up to her bedroom, where he was given a golden perch. While she was sleeping, Lucas turned back to his human shape, but now he was wearing beautiful, costly garments. He took the princess’s hand, and she woke up. He explained that he had been the bird and that he loved her. Frightened to death at first by the strange man and his words, the princess soon took a liking to him and admitted that she was the middle sister. She gave him her ring and showed him a red silk ribbon that she was going to wrap around the middle finger of her right hand. That was how he would recognize her when the time came to identify the middle princess.

The princess opened her window and the falcon flew away. The stranger came the next morning to see the king and to win the hand of the middle daughter. The king and his entire retinue felt pity for the young man. He was so handsome and charming that they were hoping to discourage him from the perilous undertaking. But Lucas was determined, and he was summoned to step into the hall where the three daughters were
waiting. The executioner was already there, sharp sword in hand. Lucas was taken to the three sisters. One of them stepped forward just a tiny bit, and she was wearing the red ribbon around her finger. He declared her to be the middle princess, and he was right.

Everyone at the court and in town was delighted. The king had been regretting his vow for a long time and was distressed by the bloody end taken by innocent suitors. He was happy to give the hand of his daughter to a successful suitor.

The two lived happily for many years. One day Lucas went out hunting. His wife tried to keep him from going, for she had felt some kind of dark premonition. But he paid no attention. It was a hot day, and he was thirsty after trying to hunt down a deer. He forgot all about his mother’s warnings to stay away from water. He rode ahead of the others and discovered a spring. Just as he was bending over and reaching into the water with his hand, a mermaid grabbed him and pulled him down with her. “I paid a high price for you,” she said.

The princess learned the sad news. She did not hesitate to rush over to the stream to try to find her husband. She sat down by the riverbank and began weeping. The mermaid emerged from the water and comforted her by telling her that her husband was living comfortably down below. The princess said she would feel better if she could just take a look at her husband, and she offered the golden comb in her hair in exchange. The mermaid obliged and lifted Lucas’s head out of the water, just high enough so that his wife could see his eyes. The princess then offered her ring in addition, and her husband was lifted out of the water up to his torso. Then she offered the golden slipper on her foot. The mermaid let Lucas stand on his wife’s hand—and, just imagine, he turned into a falcon and was there right next to his wife.

The mermaid dove deep down, and the waters began to seethe and boil. She emerged and threw a handful of blue sand into the princess’s face, and the princess turned instantly into a dragon.

The kingdom was in trouble once again. The king offered half his wealth to anyone who could come to his aid. An
ancient magician appeared and promised to help as long as the princess could endure the procedure. He had three ovens built and heated them up until each was hotter than the next. He pushed the dragon into one and took it out again. Its skin was soft, and he cooled it down with water. When he put the dragon into the second oven, its skin split open, and when he pushed it into the third oven, Lucas had to hide because the weeping and wailing was so heart-wrenching.

The princess emerged naked from the oven, and Lucas threw his cape around her and led her home triumphantly. They lived happily together, and they were carefree now that the mermaid no longer had any claim to them.

A knight and his wife had many worldly goods but only one child. When the boy turned twelve, his father died, and his mother moved to a castle that was in the middle of a lake. She wanted to mourn her husband in a place cut off from the rest of the world. As the boy grew older, he became more handsome and wise. But he was always pale and somewhat withdrawn. He liked being alone and had chosen a remote bedroom for himself, one that had the most beautiful view of the lake.

He loved to look out at the lake and daydream. When he turned twenty-four, his mother tried to persuade him to choose a bride. Life at the castle had become too lonely for her. But he didn’t want to marry. One evening, when his mother tried to convince him to change his mind, he leaned mournfully against the window and looked out to see the image of the moon brightly reflected on the water. He imagined the features of the woman he hoped to wed one day. Finally he grew tired and went to bed. He forgot to close the window.

Suddenly he saw a bright light at the window. He looked up but couldn’t make anything out. He was about to go back to sleep when the curtains rustled, and a woman with silky hair and a transparent gown lay down beside him. The dull light from the moon enabled him to see an indescribably beautiful woman with a pale face beside him. She nestled up next to him, and the night passed with playful games and loving chatter. In the morning the beautiful woman had vanished. But before she left, she told him that she would return. She had watched him looking out at the lake in the moonlight, and she would have come earlier if he had just left the window open.

From then on the beautiful woman slept by his side every night, and he was completely in love with her. But he had an odd feeling that it was not always the same woman who was sharing the bed with him. He began to press her to show herself by day, for his mother was pleading with him to find a wife. Even if she was poor, he was prepared to marry her. She would always say: “That’s just not possible, my dearest. I can’t get married in the way you are imagining. Let me be your wife by sharing your bed.”

In the meantime, the young man’s mother had been searching for a bride for her stubborn son. But the young woman she found left him cold, and when he fell asleep that night, he could hear the woman sharing his bed sigh. The mother went ahead and set a date for the marriage.

The wedding day arrived. On the first day everyone danced until dawn. On the second day there was a huge banquet. On the third day the women all escorted the bride to her husband’s bedroom. When they walked in, the curtains at the bed flew around in all directions. The bride was frightened. She was supposed to climb into bed first, and she had the feeling that the bed was already occupied. The groom was amused by her nervousness, and he climbed into bed. A mermaid was lying between them. The bride felt a cold breath on her cheeks and moved to the very edge of the bed. This happened every night. The knight thought he was holding his bride in his arms. But the poor woman wasted away and died a virgin before the year was over.

The same thing happened to ten other women whom the mother had chosen for her son. All of them died before a year passed. The twelfth bride was clever, and she sought out a witch for advice. From her she learned that mermaids were responsible for what had happened to the wives before her. She could protect herself by refusing to follow her husband to the bedroom on that third night of the wedding celebrations and waiting until after the witching hour. She should follow those instructions to save not just herself but him as well. At midnight, he would tell her that he felt as if someone were pushing him into the bedroom, but she would have to be firm and
unyielding. At the same time she must remember to shut tightly the window that looked out onto the lake so that the spirits would not be able to come in. Her husband would feel drawn by mournful sounds and be driven to jump into the water. But he would be protected against that with a charm and with herbs that she should put under the bed. She was also told not to draw the curtains of the bed or to get into bed first—her husband should do that. She must also keep everything that she had learned secret. Otherwise her husband would surely fall back under the spell of the mermaids.

The third day of the wedding celebrations had arrived. It was midnight, and the groom was more restless than ever. He had an odd premonition. He kept wanting to leave but his bride held him back until midnight had long passed. Once they were in the bedroom, he opened the curtains. Twelve sighs could be heard.

The bride spoke magical words and prayed with her husband. For twelve years he had not thought about God. Suddenly they both heard waves roaring and strange tunes. The waters in the lake rose and waves hit the window. But victory was theirs, and peace reigned forever afterward.

A woodsman had a son. After he died, the son was out of work, and the boy went out in the world to seek his fortune. He got lost in the woods. All he had left was a crust of bread, which he ate. Overcome by thirst, he looked around for a stream and discovered a footpath. By following it, he reached a well and saw a wondrously beautiful woman drawing water from it. She offered him some water, and he drank it. She asked where he was heading. He replied: “Out into the world to find work.”

“You can work for me, if you want,” she said. She was beautiful, and there was no reason not to follow her to her house near the well.

The two fell in love before long and celebrated their engagement. But there was one condition placed on their marriage, namely, that he must never ask about her on a Thursday. They lived happily together for fourteen years, and they had seven boys together. The husband started to become curious about his wife’s secret. The fourteenth year had not yet come to an end when he peeked through a keyhole into her room, saw her sitting in a tub, and noticed that she had a fish tail.

The next day the woodsman shoved his wife away when she came over to whisper in his ear. He didn’t want to live with a dragon. She began weeping bitter tears. If he had just been able to wait seven years times two, the curse placed on her by her own mother would have been lifted. Now she was going to have to fly around until Judgment Day. “The howling of the wind will be my voice; swirls of dust will be my food, and I
will drink my tears,” she lamented. Her husband wanted to prevent her from leaving, but she escaped and began flying around the outside of the house. A boy was seated at each of the seven windows in the house. She wept as she flew toward them to bid each one farewell. They all began sobbing for their mother and were drawn out the window to her. The fine, melancholy sounds of the wind are their voices.