The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales (Penguin Classics) (7 page)

One day a little gray lady met a woodcutter in the forest. It was raining, and she was carrying a dirty old sack on her shoulders. “Are you having a hard time too?” she asked.

“I’ve seen better days,” the woodcutter replied.

“I can help you, if you do as I tell you. In fourteen years I want you to bring me something that you do not yet know to exist.” And then the old woman vanished. When the woodcutter returned home and told his wife what had happened, she became frightened, for she felt sure she was with child. “Nothing good can come of that!” she said to him.

The woodcutter’s wife gave birth to a boy, who grew to be a tall lad. When he turned fourteen, he ran into the woods, and his mother ran right after him. The little gray woman was waiting for him, and when she saw his mother, she threw the sack over her head and turned her into a white mare. The woman caught the boy, and the boy held the horse by the reins. The woman skipped around in front of him and took the boy deep into the woods to her castle. They went to the stables, and she said: “Do as I say. You don’t need to give this horse much to eat, but feed the brown one well.” The boy had no idea what had happened to his mother, and he did exactly as he was told. After a few days the woman reappeared and praised the boy, for the white horse was thin as a rail, and the brown one well fed and healthy. The woman left, and the mare nearly collapsed.

The boy loosened the sack under the harness. All of a sudden the horse started talking to him: “Give me more food. I am your mother!” The boy didn’t have to hear that twice, and
as soon as the mare had recovered and was strong enough to trot, he fled with it. They marched into the woods, down to the sea, and then on out into the world.

The two reached a palace, and of course there was a royal stable there too. The boy rode in on horseback. The mare was just fine, but what use did they have for the boy?

It turned out that one of the cooks at the palace had died, and so the boy was asked if he knew how to cook. He hesitated for a moment, ran back to the stable, and asked his mother what he should say. The mare said: “Just say yes to anything they ask.” And so the boy became a cook. He would sneak from the kitchen into the stables to get advice from his mother. When the dishes at the table all began to smell and taste better than ever before, the young cook was summoned, and he appeared in the hall with a cap on his head.

The king was annoyed. The princes and princesses laughed and the youngest asked him: “Do you have some kind of problem with your hair?”

The boy blushed and said: “Yes.”

And from then on he was known as Lousehead.

The king sent him from the kitchen to the gardens. The royal gardens were a wilderness of weeds and thistles. By following his mother’s instructions, the boy was able to turn it into a little paradise, and he grew apples and pears, lettuce, radishes, and garlic. The sons and daughters of the king and the king himself came to see the garden. The children teased him, but the king had nothing but praise for him.

One day, war broke out, and the three princes had to go to battle. The stableboy went with them and rode his mare. During the battle he said to the princes: “Stay close to me.” The youngest did as he said, but the others did not, and the enemy captured them. Lousehead raced like a lightning bolt toward a fire-breathing dragon guarding the prisoners, and he rescued them and won the battle.

The king was so pleased that he would have been happy to give Lousehead one of his daughters in marriage, but none of them wanted to marry him. And so he went back to the garden and carried out his many chores there. One day the sun was
beating down so hard on his back that he could barely stand it anymore. He tore the cap off his head and dragged himself into the shade. A beautiful pair of eyes was following his every movement.

After a time the king became ill, and the doctors were unable to help him. It was proclaimed that the person who could heal him would receive the hand of one of the princesses. Many suitors appeared but they were unappealing. The young gardener answered the call as well. He wanted to do something to make the king feel better, and he decided to give him some medicinal roots, which just happened to work. The king rose up from his bed, summoned his daughters, and said: “Which one of you wants to marry Lousehead?” The two eldest remained silent, but the youngest smiled, gave him her hand, and then took off his cap. Everyone could now see that he had golden locks rather than an itchy scalp.

A tailor went out into the world one day, sword by his side. After a while, he was exhausted and took a nap, falling asleep right on top of his hat. When he woke up, red flies were buzzing all over some cow dung in the road. He found them so annoying that he took out his sword and killed seven of them. Then he pulled out the chalk he used in his trade and wrote on his hat: “Seven with one blow!”

A kitchen boy working for a count happened to be walking in the same direction as the tailor and read the words on his hat. He rushed ahead to let the count know about this fellow. The count was eager to see the brave tailor as soon as possible, and he sent several men out to request an audience.

The count told him: “There are three giants terrorizing my lands. If you can defeat them, you will win my castle, my lands, and the hand of my daughter.” The count’s huntsmen took the tailor deep into the forest and left him there to fend for himself.

The tailor was terrified and climbed up a tree to take a look around. Just then some giants were gathering right beneath the tree in which he was perched. They made a fire, ate, drank, and went to sleep. The tailor took some stones and let one drop on the chest of the shortest giant, then another on the fellow sleeping next to him, and finally he dropped one on the tallest. The giants started quarreling among themselves, and each one was sure that the other had been trying to disturb his sleep. The tallest of the three rose up and grabbed the two others by the throat, choking them until they dropped dead.

The tailor climbed down the tree, chopped off the heads of
all three, and skewered their tongues with his sword. He took everything to the count and said: “I’ve now rid the land of those three oafs for you, and it was really no trouble at all.”

The lady of the castle was insulted that her beautiful, proud daughter would have to marry a tailor. She persuaded the count to send the good-natured lad into the woods to do battle with a dangerous unicorn. Once again the count’s men took the tailor into the woods and left him there completely on his own. Before long the unicorn came galloping through the woods. The tailor quickly hid behind a tall aspen tree. The wild beast charged the tree, and its horn got stuck in the tree trunk. The unicorn was unable to move.

The tailor returned to the count to let him know that he had caught that old “billy goat” out in the woods, and the count’s men could bring him back whenever they wanted.

The count’s wife still didn’t want to have anything to do with the tailor. The count himself had to ask the tailor to fight his enemies, who were making rapid advances on his territory. He told the tailor to choose a horse from the royal stables. The soldiers were already lined up at the castle. But the horses in the stables were all wild stallions. Way in back there was an old nag, and even if you whipped that horse, all it would do was swish its tail. The tailor chose to ride that one, for he knew that old dogs are wiser than young ones.

And so he rode out with the soldiers. Before long they heard music coming from the enemy camp. The old nag started trotting toward the place where the horns were sounding. Right in their way was a field cross. The tailor, who was just about to fall off the old nag, grabbed on to the cross with both arms. But the cross was beginning to fall apart, and he couldn’t get a grip. It broke off in his hands. Off he galloped toward the heathen soldiers. They in turn believed that Christ himself was hurtling toward them, and they sped off. When the music died down, the nag turned around and slowly made its way back home, rider on its back.

Now at last the wedding was going to take place, for better or for worse. An honest servant revealed to the brave tailor that his bride was planning to kill him on their wedding night.
When the two entered the bedroom, the groom hung his sword on the bedstead and helped his bride into the bed. Then he pretended to be sleeping, and the minute he heard the door open and saw the assassins walk into his bedroom, he started talking in his sleep, saying: “I have killed seven with one blow, slain three giants, caught a dangerous unicorn, and made infidels flee. I won’t have any trouble with these fellows.”

The men quickly fell to their knees and begged for mercy. The bride asked him to forgive her for planning his murder. She promised to love him forever.

A farmer had three daughters, and they were all young and beautiful. The three were so determined to build up a good dowry for themselves that they ended up spinning all day long and never took a moment to help out their father. One day the man went into the woods, feeling mildly annoyed already, and then he tripped over a rotting tree stump. Suddenly a dwarf jumped out before him and said: “You will never have to work another day of your life if you just let me spend the night with one of your daughters.”

The farmer agreed to the deal. When he returned home, the table was set with the most exquisite dishes. Everyone was thrilled by this stroke of good fortune, and the eldest of the sisters offered to let the dwarf sleep in her bed for one night. When night fell, there was a knock at the door, and the eldest opened it. All she could see was a trough in flames; terrified, she slammed the door.

The next day, there was nothing on the table, and so the farmer went back to the woods. This time, the dwarf was standing on a rock, waiting for him, and he was furious that he had been swindled. The farmer calmed him down and promised him the second daughter for that very night. He returned home and found the table set once again.

But the second daughter also didn’t want to have anything to do with that burning trough. Now the dwarf was really angry, and he showed up the next day at the door and demanded that they make amends for humiliating him. Just then, Anna, the youngest, offered to invite the little man into her bed, and she kept her word. When she saw the trough in
flames, she jumped into it, hugged and kissed whatever was there, and asked it to come to her room. At that very moment, the monstrous thing turned into a handsome prince, and the girl took a shine to him right away. The next day he gave her a spindle, a bobbin, and a spinning wheel, all made of gold, and they could even be taken apart. He told her that they were a token of his love and that he would come back soon and bring her home as his bride.

But he did not return. Anna soon grew lovesick. She set out with her golden objects, searching for him. When the moon rose, she asked whether it knew where her beloved was tarrying. The moon was sorry to report that it could not see everything going on down below and advised her to ask the sun. She waited until the sun rose and asked it to tell her where her beloved was. The sun was merciful and allowed the girl to put her foot in one of its slippers, so that she could keep up with it. The two moved along swiftly, covering two miles with every step until finally, at the top of a mountain, Anna was able to remove her foot from the slipper. And that was when the mountain exploded and tossed her down into a cave.

There she found an old woman who was waiting on her beloved. Anna asked if she could sleep next to the man who was her master. Every night she gave the woman one of her golden gifts.

On the third morning the spell was broken. The mountain and the cavern had disappeared. In their place was a magnificent castle belonging to the handsome prince. Gratitude and love united the two in marital bliss.

A king appointed the most handsome of all his soldiers as his bodyguard. One day he dispatched him to a rich nobleman, who made a point of protecting his wondrously beautiful daughter from soldiers by telling her: “Anna, don’t exchange a single word with a soldier!” But this soldier happened to like the beautiful young woman, and Anna happened to like him as well. Before long, they were on intimate terms with each other, and the bodyguard asked the nobleman for his daughter’s hand. The girl’s father was furious when he heard the request, for Anna was his only daughter, and the bodyguard was sure to be nothing but a fortune hunter.

Some time passed, and Anna gave birth to a sweet little prince. The nobleman said to the guard: “If you reach the top of the mountain made of glass and steal three golden feathers from the tail of the dragon there, I will let you marry my daughter.”

The guard began the long march to the mountain. On his way, he passed through a kingdom and had to report the purpose of his visit to the local ruler. When the king learned that the young man was on his way to the dragon, he told him to ask about the golden chain that he had lost some time ago. The soldier would not be able to travel through his kingdom unless he put that question to the dragon.

A year later he was given a task by another king: “I have a fig tree that bears no fruit. Ask the dragon why!”

Another year passed and he met two ferrymen, who
wondered how long they would have to keep rowing across the river until the curse on them was lifted.

Finally the guard reached the glass mountain. Since the dragon was not at home, the soldier told his story to the dragon’s wife. She fidgeted and squirmed, and then said: “I’m not allowed to let anyone in the house. When my husband returns, you won’t be safe.” The guard pleaded with her until finally she agreed to let him hide in a corner of the room. She brought him something to eat, and he fell asleep. The dragon came home, ate and drank, and then he fell into a deep sleep. While he was snoring, his wife pulled a golden feather from his tail. He woke up and shouted: “Why did you give me a shove?”

“Oh,” she replied, “I was just dreaming about a king who lost a golden chain, and he wanted to know where it was.”

“It’s at the bottom of a very dark dungeon. If it stays there for one more year, it will belong to me.” He went back to sleep. His wife pulled out a second feather. “Why are you pinching me?”

“I was dreaming about a fig tree that bears no fruit.”

“A forbidden fruit is buried beneath it.” She pulled out a third feather and asked about the two ferrymen who were waiting to be liberated. The dragon was now infuriated, but he told her: “The next time they row someone across, they must shout, ‘We’re free!’”

The bodyguard traveled back home. When the two rowers saw him, they shouted over to him and asked if he had found a solution. He told them to row him to the other side, and then he repeated what the dragon had said.

Next came the king with the fig tree. The guard told him about the forbidden fruit under the tree and was rewarded with an army and lots of money. A year later he reached the king who was looking for his lost chain. The king started digging in the right place, and there it was. At last the guard could ride back home.

The young man had been away for six years, and in that time the nobleman had gone broke and was now selling dishes. The guard wanted to get revenge, and he rode to the marketplace with his soldiers and ordered them to break all the
dishes. The nobleman protested, and the guard threw some money at his feet: “Here you go, old man. Buy yourself some new dishes!” The next day, the guard had the dishes destroyed again. “Have you figured out who I am?” The nobleman did not recognize him until the guard showed him the three feathers taken from the dragon. The nobleman thanked him and expressed his genuine remorse. Now he was finally willing to give the king’s bodyguard the hand of his daughter in marriage. He himself received a good position at the court, and so they all lived happily ever after.