The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales (Penguin Classics) (3 page)

A man was working in the service of the king as a groundskeeper, and he had a son who was a real burden. One day he flew into a rage with the boy and said: “Why don’t you just beat it, and let’s hope that you learn some sense by going out into the world!”

Hans left home for the wide world. One evening he discovered an old castle in some overgrown woods. Thrilled, he walked up to the entrance, crossed the threshold, and walked through its many rooms. He heard not a soul, and he saw no one at all. Exhausted, he sat down in one of the rooms. A woman dressed in black came in, put food and drink on the table, pointed to a bed, and left without saying a word. At midnight a vicious man in black walked in, and he tortured the boy and tried to choke him.

The next morning, the woman appeared again, this time dressed in gray, and she brought him food and drink for the entire day, without saying a word. That very night two men appeared and tortured him even more cruelly than the man from the night before had. The boy made up his mind to leave and packed up his belongings in the morning. Just then the woman, this time dressed in white, entered the room. She asked him to spend just one more night there. It wouldn’t hurt him to do that. But the midnight hour brought even harsher torture. This time there were three men, and they beat him, punched him, and tossed him up in the air and caught him. An hour passed and the luminous woman in white reappeared
with thunder and lightning in the air and drove the brutes away.

It turned out that the woman was a princess who had fallen under a spell, and the curse was now broken. She gave her hand to Hans as a reward. He was dressed up in magnificent clothes and given as many servants as he wanted, as well as untold wealth.

Even in the midst of all this joy Hans did not forget his father, and he asked his wife to let him leave for a short time. She gave him a ring in case anything might go wrong. All he had to do was turn it, and she would be there to help him.

“Be careful, and don’t use it to summon me if it’s not necessary,” she advised him.

Hans left for home with his attendants. He found his old father, who was still working hard on the king’s grounds. The man did not recognize him. Hans introduced himself to the king, who arranged a feast to honor the noble guest.

At the ball all the knights danced with their wives. Hans was not allowed to dance with anyone, because all the men were jealous of his good looks. The knights made fun of him when he claimed that his wife was more beautiful than all the others. Hans was so annoyed that he turned the ring. Now the stunned crowd watched stylish carriages roll in, and Hans, or rather the prince from foreign lands, took his wife’s arm and led her into the hall. She was more beautiful than anyone else there.

The morning after the feast, Hans was abandoned. His old clothes were laid out on the bed, and on the floor was a pair of iron shoes. A note was attached, and it read: “I’m punishing you by leaving. Don’t try to find me. You will never discover where I am, even if you wear out these iron shoes.” He picked up the ring and tried to turn it, but it was no use. He was so humiliated that he left the castle at once and began searching for traces of his runaway wife, but he could not even find the castle where they had lived together in such happiness.

His travels led him to a mountain, where he discovered three fellows fighting over three precious objects: a sack that was always full of money, a pair of boots that took you a
hundred miles at a step, and a cloak that made you invisible. Hans offered to help settle the dispute, but first he wanted to make sure that everything was fair and square. He took the sack and emptied it out a few times, and each time it filled back up again with gold. He put the cloak on, and no one could see him. Then he quickly put on the shoes and fled with the sack. After a while he noticed that a little man was running right next to him. It was the wind, and it had to be in the next town within the hour so that it could dry the freshly washed clothes of a princess, who was planning to get married that day. Hans said: “Wait a moment; we’ll go there together!” Since the wind was always behind him, he put it on a long leash, so the two of them could no longer be parted.

As soon as the wind reached the town, it began to send gusts into the clothes hung up to dry. Hans was not very well dressed, but he went right into the first inn he saw and sat down at a table. The innkeeper paid no attention to him. When Hans tossed some coins at him, the whole place swung into action to take care of him. From what he overheard, it became clear that the princess who was to be married the next day was his wife. During the ceremony, Hans stood behind the altar in his invisibility cloak and knocked the parson’s book out of his hands. Every time the groom was about to say, “I do,” Hans slugged him in the mouth so hard that the sound echoed in the chapel. The ceremony could not be completed, and so everyone went off to dinner.

Hans mingled with the beggars waiting for scraps, and whenever the servants walked by with food or drink, he would grab something and divide it among his starving neighbors. At one point his ring fell on the ground. A servant noticed it, picked it up, and took it to the princess, because her initials were engraved on it. The princess summoned the stranger to her side. He showed her the iron shoes and how worn down they were from his search. She was overjoyed to see her husband again. The two of them made up, and then they had a real wedding.

A wealthy prince was married to a beautiful woman. The two had no children, and that was a source of great sorrow for the prince. As for the princess, she was consumed with envy whenever anyone in the kingdom gave birth to a child.

One day the prince and the princess were visiting a village, and they looked on as a festive group made its way into the local church. A farmer was having his triplets baptized, and everyone in the village had gathered to celebrate. The princess was planning to put a stop to the festivities, but the prince made fun of her, mocking the fact that she was aching to have something that a mere peasant possessed. It was her own fault that she had no children, he added. The princess flew into a rage right then and there and accused the farmer’s wife of infidelity, claiming that a woman could never have more than one child at a time with her husband. When the prince returned home, he held a mirror up to the princess’s face so that she could see how ugly she looked. To her horror, she saw in the mirror the head of a shaggy wolf, red-eyed, baring its teeth.

It turned out that the princess, without knowing it, was actually pregnant at the time. She gave birth to seven boys in seven days, one after another. She remembered what she had said earlier to the farmer’s wife. The prince was not at home, and she decided to send the midwife out to a wolf’s lair, with the seven boys wrapped up in an apron. It happened that the prince was hunting right in that area, and he ran into the midwife. “What are you doing here?” he asked. She immediately owned up to her evil intentions, and the prince rewarded her
by running her through with a sword. He had the boys raised by a loyal subject.

Eighteen years went by, and the prince was planning a grand feast. Seven boys with long hair, all equally handsome and dressed alike, appeared at the feast. The princess could feel her heart pounding when she set eyes on the boys, and she began to tremble.

During the meal the prince jokingly asked how to punish a mother who throws her sons to the wolves. “She should dance to death in red-hot iron shoes,” was the answer. And so the princess condemned herself to that very punishment. The prince acknowledged the boys as his legitimate children, and they became known as “the wolves.”

A carpenter who had landed in jail sent word to the king: “If you spare my life, I will make something the likes of which the world has never before seen!” The king agreed to the bargain, and the carpenter presented the king with a trunk. When the king sat down on it, the trunk began to roar and lifted itself off the ground. Then it flew out one window and in through the other. The king kept the trunk and put it in his private museum.

The king had a son who liked to wear red boots. He was always getting new toys and breaking them. One day someone decided to give him the trunk as a plaything. The boy used his hammer on the trunk because he wanted to turn it into a carriage. A servant tied a cord to it, prepared it for an outing, and hauled the little rascal around in it. The boy had not been in the carriage for long when it lifted itself up to the window, and even though the servant was shouting loudly and pulling on the cord, it flew up in the air like a shot and vanished from sight. Everyone rushed around in a panic, and some horsemen tried to catch up with him, but it was no use.

The flight lasted for a long time. When its cord finally got caught in the branches of a tree, the trunk came to a stop. There was a stork’s nest at the top of the tree, and the boy rested up there for a while. He left the trunk in the tree and decided to climb down and take a look at the town that he had spied from his perch. There he met a shoemaker looking for an
apprentice. The prince with the red boots decided to take the job, and he worked there for many years.

A king with no children was living in that very town. There had been a prophecy that he would have a daughter, and it was said that she would bring disgrace upon him once she was grown up. That would happen at the moment when she set eyes on a stranger for the first time in her life. When the queen gave birth to a daughter, the king worried for a long time about what to do. He decided to build a tower as high as the skies and to lock the princess up in a room at the very top. And that’s what he did.

The young apprentice with the red boots heard from another fellow about the princess locked up in the tower. He learned that she had been up there in the clouds for many years, pining away. She was said to be very beautiful. One day he returned to the tree that had a stork’s nest in it, climbed back up, got into the trunk, and decided to see the princess by flying through the tower window. He spent all his free time there, and soon enough, word got out about what was going on between them.

The father was absolutely beside himself. He smeared some tar on the windowsill in order to catch the birdman flying in through the window. Before long a red boot was found stuck on the sill. The boot made the rounds, as the king had ordered, and it went from hand to hand and foot to foot. The reward set aside for the person whose foot fit the boot was still to be had. One day the old boot arrived at the place where the shoemaker’s apprentice was living. He did not realize he was falling into a trap and pulled the boot on. It fit perfectly. The scoundrel was arrested at once and put in jail.

The princess was supposed to reveal the name of her beloved. “If you tell us his name, you can marry him. Listen carefully, and you will hear workers sawing boards to make your marriage bed!” the king told her. But in fact he had ordered the building of a funeral pyre, where both of them would be burned to cinders. The princess refused to reveal the name, and the fate of both was sealed.

Everyone in town gathered around to weep for the two
unfortunate souls and bemoan their fate. They were standing right on a stack of firewood, embracing and looking calm and collected when smoke and flames began to engulf them. The apprentice pressed down on the trunk concealed beneath them. It roared away like a winged horse through the smoke and flames, high up into the air. All the king and his people could do was stare at them as the two flew away.

When the prince with the red boots arrived back home and was reunited with his parents, he had become wise to the ways of the world. He married the beautiful princess, and in the end, he ruled over two kingdoms.

A king had a son with hair of gold. One day the king went hunting in the woods and encountered a giant of a man leaning against a tree. He blew his hunting horn, summoned his men, and they caught the wild man. The king was thrilled by the capture and decided to hold a celebration. He invited many neighboring rulers to the festivities.

Goldenlocks, the king’s only son, was playing with a ball one day, and it landed in the wild man’s cage. The wild man tossed it right back. But the next time around, the giant kept the ball and said that he would not return it until Goldenlocks agreed to set him free. While his father was sleeping, the boy tiptoed over to him and took the key from the chain around his neck. He set the wild man free and put the key back on the chain. The festivities were just about to begin, and the wild man was supposed to appear before all the monarchs gathered in the hall. But he was nowhere to be found. The king flew into a rage and swore that he would punish the crime, even if it had been committed by his own flesh and blood.

One person at the court knew exactly what had happened, and he betrayed Goldenlocks. The king was so upset that he tore at his garments, but he ended up condemning his own son and ordered him to be killed in the wilderness. As proof that he was dead, the servants were supposed to bring back tongue, eye, and finger of the boy.

The men who took the prince into the woods were so moved by how young he was that they decided to find a way out. They
hailed a young shepherd who was in the woods with his dog and said: “Do you like this fellow’s fine clothes? You can have them in exchange for your dog and your little finger.”

Right then and there, the shepherd boy bit off his finger and exchanged clothes with Goldenlocks. The servants cut out the dog’s tongue and eye, took the shepherd’s finger, and brought them all to the king. Goldenlocks had nothing left but a piece of white cloth, which he used to hide his hair. He traveled to a distant land, where he met a gardener, but the man had no interest in hiring a boy dressed in rags. Still, he finally agreed to let him stay on and even took a liking to him.

Every day the gardener would cut flowers and make bouquets for the three daughters of the king ruling over this distant realm. Goldenlocks would bind the flowers together and bring them to the girls. The youngest of the three was also the most beautiful, and so he always tied her bouquet with some strands of his golden hair. She liked that, and soon she liked the gardener’s helper as well.

One day it was announced that the eldest of the king’s daughters was to be married and that she would wed the man to whom she gave her bouquet of flowers. Suitors came from all over the world, and she chose one of the princes. She handed him her bouquet and traveled home with him. Later, the same events came to pass with another prince and the second daughter of the king.

When the youngest of the three princesses had come of age, the king arranged the festivities. The young woman had a bouquet with golden hair wrapped around it, and she looked at the many princes gathered around and said: “There’s no one here for me!” The king summoned knights and nobles, but once again the princess said: “There’s no one here for me!” Then citizens and artisans were summoned. The princess moved through their ranks until she set eyes on the young gardener, and to him she gave her bouquet. The princess married the young gardener and moved into his hut.

Not much later the king became ill, and word was put out that the only way to heal him was with apples from paradise. Everyone left to search for the apples, even the young gardener.
He traipsed around in the woods, and there he met the wild giant a second time. “I already know what you are looking for,” the giant said. “Take this club and strike the rock over there with it. Move fast after that; otherwise you will die.”

The gardener took the club, went over to the rock, and struck it. He found himself in an enchanted garden awash in bright sunlight, full of flowers and branches with leaves of gold and silver, and fruits made of precious stones. The tree of paradise was growing right in the middle of that garden. He dashed over to it and picked two apples from its branches. Just then an aroma was released, one so powerful that he nearly swooned. The entrance to the rock began to close behind him with a crash, and he raced out in the nick of time.

On the way home he stopped at a tavern and saw his new brothers-in-law. They were eager to have the apples from paradise. “Why not?” said the gardener. “As long as you’re willing to be marked on your backs with the gallows.” They agreed, made the trade, and the gardener returned home.

Before long the king fell ill again, and this time it was said that snake’s milk might be able to cure him. The gardener went back to the wild man and managed to get two drops of snake’s milk in the same way he had acquired the apples. He received them from the radiantly beautiful snake queen in the palace of the enchanted garden. When he stopped at the tavern, the brothers-in-law wanted the drops as well, and he handed them over, but only on condition that they let themselves be marked on their backs with the rack.

The king recovered, but a terrible war broke out. The people rallied to the king’s side to drive out the enemy. His sons-in-law appeared with their armies, but for a long time the battle was undecided.

The gardener’s wife did not want her husband to join up. She feared for his life and allowed him to observe the conflict only from a distance. He used that chance to run off and return to the wild man, who gave him armor, a horse, and a sword. He flew off to battle. But the conflict was still not settled, and a weeklong armistice was declared. After that, war broke out again, and the wild man sought out the gardener,
armed him, and told him that victory should still not be decisive.

War broke out a third time, and this time the wild man told the gardener that it was time for a real victory. The gardener took his invincible sword and struck down his enemies. In the heat of battle between friends and foe, the king accidentally injured the gardener’s foot.

Once the battle was over, the king tore a kerchief from his neck and bandaged the wound of the gardener, whom he didn’t recognize: The gardener was covered up, from head to toe, by his suit of armor.

Not much later, the king decided to host a banquet and wanted to invite all of his sons-in-law. He went over to the garden where his daughter was living. Looking over the fence, he could see the gardener bandaging his injured foot with the king’s own kerchief. He was mystified, but did not let on that he knew anything and persuaded the gardener to attend the banquet.

When the gardener arrived at the banquet hall, he was wearing ordinary clothes and still had on the white head covering. He was given a seat between his two brothers-in-law.

“I will not sit between two fellows who have been marked by the rack or the gallows,” the gardener declared, and he described what they had done with the apples from paradise and the snake’s milk. After the uproar, it was decided that the two should be broken on the rack. But the gardener pleaded for mercy, and it was granted.

The king wondered why the gardener was wounded, and he also wanted to know how he had come by the kerchief. “I wounded a brave young soldier during the battle and bound his wound with my kerchief. I’d also like to know exactly why you are wearing that strange head covering.”

Messengers from a distant land suddenly crowded the great hall and announced: “Our king has died, and we are seeking a new king, his son, Prince Goldenlocks. By using wisely the sorcery of the wonders in the garden, the charms of the snake queen, and the powers of the invincible sword, Prince Goldenlocks liberated the wild man and lifted the curse on him. And
all the while he has been toiling here in humble service.” The gardener blushed, took off his head covering, and his long golden locks fell down to his shoulders.

He was declared king in his homeland and true heir to his wife’s fortune.