The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales (Penguin Classics) (5 page)

A wealthy merchant learned that the town of Dillenberg housed many treasures. There was a marble fountain right in the center of town. It was said that if you listened carefully, you could hear a clock striking there on the hour, and if you searched around in its works long enough, you would find the key to a magnificent castle. The merchant was haunted by this knowledge, and one day he said to his coachman: “Make sure the horses are fed first thing in the morning. I’m planning to go on the road.”

The next day he left, taking his three daughters with him. That night the horses had to pull with all their might to draw the carriage up a steep mountain with a castle at its top. When the merchant climbed out of the carriage, there was nothing in sight but a huge pile of rocks. As he walked around it, he heard awful noises—howling and then banging. The merchant stood still for some time, and then the noise came closer. Suddenly there was nothing but silence.

When the merchant returned to the carriage, he discovered to his horror that his three daughters had vanished. And the coachman was fast asleep. “Where are my daughters?” he shouted. The coachman leaped up from his seat. He had no idea what had happened. He had dreamed about a little old man with a long beard who had taken the girls from the carriage and disappeared with them. The faithful servant had been unable to call for help.

On the return journey, the distraught merchant cried out: “I will bequeath my entire fortune to the person who can bring
back my three daughters. And if it takes three to do it, each one will have one of my daughters as his wife.”

The news spread like wildfire. Many young men showed up, hoping to help him, but the merchant accepted only the three handsomest suitors. These three left late at night, and they too reached the pile of rocks. Behind it was a magnificent building. They entered it cautiously, and there they found a room filled with precious objects. On a table in the room, there was a sword, and next to it was a note with the words: “This sword will let you cut through anything.” The youngest in the trio took the sword, and the three continued walking through the rooms. In the last of them was a golden cradle, with a beautiful child, pale as the moon. One of the three volunteered to keep watch over the child, when suddenly, out of the blue, a dwarf with a long beard appeared and attacked him, scratching his face badly.

The young man wanted to chase him down, but the dwarf had already vanished. The second young man did not fare any better. On the third night, the third suitor kept watch, sword in hand. The dwarf returned, and the fearless young man grabbed him by the beard, wedging it between two doors. “Now you’ll get what you deserve!” But the dwarf tore so hard at the beard that it came off, and he raced away.

The young man told his companions about what had happened. “I now know where the dwarf holes up!” he said, and he showed the other two a deep well. Two of them took a rope and let themselves down into the well, but they could not find the bottom. Only the third young man landed, and he discovered a long passageway that led to a lovely garden and a magnificent building. He entered and found a beautiful woman in the first room. She was the eldest daughter of the merchant. At her feet stood a huge lion. As soon as the lion discovered a stranger in the room, it leaped up, opened its jaws wide, and was about to attack. The stranger grabbed his sword and slew the lion.

In the next room was another young woman, and this time there were three young lions. The young man killed all of them with a single blow. In the final room was a golden cradle, this time with the dwarf in it. The youngest of the merchant’s three daughters was rocking it. The young man took his sword and
chopped off the dwarf’s head. And that is how he rescued all three of the merchant’s daughters.

The three sisters went back with him, and they returned to the bottom of the well. The young man shouted up to his companions: “Throw the rope down so that the three girls can climb out of here!” And that’s how he was going to save the three daughters of the merchant. But the two young men above had their own ideas. “If we leave him down in the well, we can divide the merchant’s wealth between the two of us.” They tossed down the rope after pulling up the daughters but didn’t pull it back up for him. Then off they went.

The young man had been betrayed, and he returned to the underground castle. He looked at the many precious objects in it and walked through a garden that had all kinds of birds flying around, but there seemed to be no way out. Suddenly a snake with jaws wide open slithered toward him. He took his sword and chopped off its head. When the birds discovered that the snake was dead, the most magnificent of them flew over to him and said: “You have slain our worst enemy, a monster that had been taking the young from our nests. Let me carry you away from here and bring you back home. Just hop on my wings.”

The young man climbed up on the bird’s back, and after flying for some time, the bird landed on a path in the forest. “Just stay on this road and you will reach home.” And sure enough, he reached home. He inquired about the health of the merchant’s daughters. Everyone told him that two of the daughters were already married. There was no news about the third suitor, not even from the men who had accompanied him on the journey. The fellow had received a ring from the youngest of the three daughters. He went to see the merchant and told him everything, but the merchant refused to believe him. He summoned his youngest daughter to ask if the young man was her rescuer. “If he has my ring,” she said, “then he is the man who rescued us.” The young man took the ring from his finger, put it on the table, and the girl acknowledged it as her own.

And so the fellow became the husband of the youngest of the merchant’s three daughters. His two companions were punished for their crimes.

There once was a couple, and they worked hard to make ends meet. They lived in a tiny house with their two children. One day, the parents died, and the children were left with no money at all.

A coach drove up to the house, and the children were so sure that some work was coming their way that they almost flew out of the house. The squire in the coach saw the boy right away, but the girl was shy and remained hidden behind the door. The boy asked the squire if he needed a coachman, and he replied: “Yes, of course I could use a coachman. Pack up your belongings, and you can start work right away.” The boy was beside himself with joy, even though he felt sad about leaving his sister all alone. But he promised her that he would never abandon her. She gave him a miniature portrait of herself, and they took leave of each other with tears in their eyes. The coach hurtled off and was gone in a flash.

Late in the evening the coach pulled up to the squire’s castle. The squire showed the boy his room, and he unpacked the few things he had with him. He hung the picture of his sister on the wall. Every night he prayed that she would not come to any harm.

The squire observed this habit, and one day he asked about the portrait in his room. “It’s a likeness of my beloved sister. And every night I pray that she will stay happy and healthy and that no one will harm her.” The squire wanted to take a closer look at the image, and the boy gave it to him, but not without some reluctance. The man gazed at the face for a
while and then said: “If your sister is really as beautiful as she looks in this portrait, I want her to be my wife. But if the portrait is not a faithful likeness, I’ll lock her up in a tower.” The boy told him that his sister was even more beautiful than the portrait, and with great excitement he prepared the horses for the journey back home.

The squire’s mother had a malicious old chambermaid, who was known to be an evil witch. She slipped into the carriage unbeknownst to anyone and was filled with envy when she witnessed the joy of the reunited siblings. For the return trip the young woman was wearing her most beautiful garments and was seated next to the chambermaid, to whom no one had paid any attention. Her brother said from the driver’s seat: “Don’t stick your head out the window or you might get scratched by the branches!”

The girl couldn’t hear what he was saying and asked: “What did you say?”

“You should stick your head out the window,” the old woman said. “There are marvelous birds flying overhead.” The girl put her head out the window, and some twigs and branches scratched her beautiful face.

The horses took the carriage past a pond, and the boy said to his sister: “Don’t lean out the window or you might fall into the water.”

“What did you say?” she asked.

“You should lean out the window,” the old witch said. “Some beautiful little fish are swimming in the pond.” The girl leaned out the window, and the old woman pushed her so hard that she fell out of the carriage and into the water. The boy never saw a thing.

When the coach pulled up to the castle, the squire was eager to see his bride, but no one was in the carriage except for the witch, who had made herself invisible. The enraged squire threw the boy into a dungeon and hung the portrait by the hearth. At night a guard saw someone come into the room and speak to the mirror on the wall:

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, the parting was sweet, and now I bring greetings. Tell me where my brother has gone.”

“He’s lying hidden in the squire’s dungeon.”

“Where is my portrait?”

“It’s by the hearth out in the open.”

“Where is the old chambermaid?”

“She’s asleep in the squire’s bed.”

The next morning, the terrified guard reported everything he had heard. The squire had two men stand watch the next evening, and they reported exactly what the first guard had seen. “Tonight and tomorrow night I will keep watch with you,” the squire said, and he sat down in front of the mirror, sword in hand, and waited. When the clock struck eleven, a form appeared before the mirror and spoke the same words as during the past two nights.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, the parting was sweet, and now I bring greetings. Tell me where my brother has gone.”

“He’s hidden in the squire’s dungeon.”

“Where is my portrait?”

“It’s by the hearth out in the open.”

“Where is the old chambermaid?”

“She’s asleep in the squire’s bed.”

Just then the mirror shattered and the young woman was standing there in all her beauty, with just a little scratch on her face. She told the squire about all the terrible things the chambermaid had done, how she had given her orders and then shoved her into the water.

She finished by saying: “If you had not redeemed me today, I would have been lost forever.”

The old witch was burned at the stake. The coachman was freed from the dungeon and treated like a son. The portrait on the hearth was given a place of honor in the finest room of the castle, and the marriage was celebrated in splendor.

And if they have not died, they are living happily today.

An innkeeper lost his wife. He was afraid that his daughter would feel lonely, and so he decided to remarry. The new wife bore him two children, and the child from the husband’s first marriage became a thorn in the woman’s flesh. Her name was Ashfeathers, for she had to sort the millet from the ashes, which her stepmother mixed in on purpose. She was never allowed to leave the kitchen. When her father returned from his travels, she received nothing, even though her two sisters were given presents. One day, when her father set out on another journey, she called after him in a forlorn tone: “This time bring back something for me!”

While traveling, the father remembered his daughter’s words just as the branch of a hazelnut tree was grazing his hat. There were six nuts on it. He took the branch with him and gave it to his eldest daughter. While she was fetching water from the well for her father, the branch fell into the water. She didn’t dare go back home. And in fact when she did return, her stepmother immediately began complaining when she learned about it: “You are just hopeless! I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again. Go in the kitchen, and stay there!” And then she said to her husband: “If you had spent some real money on her, it would have been wasted. She’s just so stupid.”

In desperation Ashfeathers returned to the well. A dwarf was sitting near it and said to her: “Don’t bother looking for that little branch. You won’t find it. But when you go to church, be sure to recite these words:

Today I’m just a kitchen maid,

Send me shoes, done in gold braid.

And give to me the finest gown,

Papa will sing all night in town.”

Before going to church that Sunday, Ashfeathers went down to the well to wash her hands. In a flash she was completely clean, and a beautiful dress, gold shoes, and white silk stockings appeared at the edge of the well. She had turned into the most beautiful princess imaginable, and a little dove was perched on each shoulder.

Ashfeathers walked over to the church. Her stepsisters had no idea who she was. But the two little doves began cooing whenever they looked at their beautiful mistress. Once the service was over, Ashfeathers rushed back to the well, took off her beautiful clothes, and put the patched ones back on. At home everyone was talking about the beautiful maiden. No one knew who she was. One man in particular, a stranger, had taken note of her. “She must become my wife!” he thought to himself, and he asked everyone about her. But no one could say who she was.

The following Sunday she disappeared again, right after church. On the third Sunday, the stranger spread some tar on the stairs. When Ashfeathers walked down the stairs, one of her shoes got stuck. She didn’t worry about losing the shoe and raced back to the well to put her tattered clothes back on. The stranger took the shoe home with him. He told his coachman: “Harness the horses! We are going to find that beautiful woman.” The carriage stopped at the very inn where Ashfeathers was working in the kitchen.

The stranger said to the innkeeper: “You must have very beautiful daughters. I would like to marry one of them! I will marry the one whose foot fits this shoe.” But the shoe did not fit the first girl, for her big toe was too fat. The innkeeper’s daughter did not hesitate for a moment; she cut off her toe. Then the shoe fit. The nobleman invited her to join him in the carriage, but the man’s dog kept barking: “We have a bride missing a toe!”

“Turn around,” the gentleman said. “We have the wrong person.” At the inn, the second daughter tried on the shoe. Since it did not fit, she cut off her heel. On the way home, the little dog barked: “That’s not the right bride! She has no heel!” The coachman turned around again and went back to the inn. He insisted that there must be another daughter living there. The innkeeper’s wife shouted: “There are no others!” When the gentleman refused to take no for an answer, the woman went and fetched Ashfeathers from the filthy hearth. The girl ran back to the well to wash her hands and face. The dwarf was there, and he gave her the beautiful garments as well as the hazelnut branch she had lost. It had turned into solid gold. Ashfeathers wore it on her dress. Back at home the gentleman put the golden shoe on her. Just imagine, it fit perfectly.

The innkeeper’s wife could not bear to see how Ashfeathers had turned into such a beautiful young woman. Just then the little dog barked: “At last we have found the true bride!” The gentleman climbed into the carriage with the beautiful maiden, and the carriage drove away to the magnificent castle, where the two lived happily ever after.

The father was invited to the wedding, but the mother and two sisters were not allowed to attend.