The Red Fairy Book, Andrew Lang [book club recommendations txt] 📗

and told her all as it had happened.

 

`Change thyself into a gold ring, and set thyself on my finger,’

said the Princess.

 

`No, that will not do,’ said Jack, `for then Farmer Weatherbeard

will make the King fall sick, and there will be no one who can make

him well again before Farmer Weatherbeard comes and cures him,

and for that he will demand the gold ring.’

 

`I will say that it was my mother’s, and that I will not part with

it,’ said the Princess.

 

So Jack changed himself into a gold ring, and set himself on

the Princess’s finger, and Farmer Weatherbeard could not get at

him there. But then all that the youth had foretold came to

pass.

 

The King became ill, and there was no doctor who could cure

him till Farmer Weatherbeard arrived, and he demanded the ring

which was on the Princess’s finger as a reward.

 

So the King sent a messenger to the Princess for the ring.

She, however, refused to part with it, because she had inherited it

from her mother. When the King was informed of this he fell

into a rage, and said that he would have the ring, let her have

inherited it from whom she might.

 

`Well, it’s of no use to be angry about it,’ said the Princess, `for

I can’t get it off. If you want the ring you will have to take the

finger too!’

 

`I will try, and then the ring will very soon come off,’ said

Farmer Weatherbeard.

 

`No, thank you, I will try myself,’ said the Princess, and she

went away to the fireplace and put some ashes on the ring.

 

So the ring came off and was lost among the ashes.

 

Farmer Weatherbeard changed himself into a hare, which

scratched and scraped about in the fireplace after the ring until the

ashes were up to its ears. But Jack changed himself into a fox,

and bit the hare’s head off, and if Farmer Weatherbeard was

possessed by the evil one all was now over with him.[25]

 

[25] From P. C. Asbjornsen.

MOTHER HOLLE

ONCE upon a time there was a widow who had two daughters;

one of them was pretty and clever, and the other ugly and

lazy. But as the ugly one was her own daughter, she liked her far

the best of the two, and the pretty one had to do all the work of the

house, and was in fact the regular maid of all work. Every day she

had to sit by a well on the high road, and spin till her fingers were

so sore that they often bled. One day some drops of blood fell on

her spindle, so she dipped it into the well meaning to wash it, but, as

luck would have it, it dropped from her hand and fell right in. She

ran weeping to her stepmother, and told her what had happened,

but she scolded her harshly, and was so merciless in her anger that

she said:

 

`Well, since you’ve dropped the spindle down, you must just go

after it yourself, and don’t let me see your face again until you bring

it with you.’

 

Then the poor girl returned to the well, and not knowing what

she was about, in the despair and misery of her heart she sprang

into the well and sank to the bottom. For a time she lost all

consciousness, and when she came to herself again she was lying in a

lovely meadow, with the sun shining brightly overhead, and a

thousand flowers blooming at her feet. She rose up and wandered

through this enchanted place, till she came to a baker’s oven full of

bread, and the bread called out to her as she passed:

 

`Oh! take me out, take me out, or I shall be burnt to a cinder. I

am quite done enough.’

 

So she stepped up quickly to the oven and took out all the loaves

one after the other. Then she went on a little farther and came to

a tree laden with beautiful rosy-cheeked apples, and as she passed

by it called out:

 

`Oh I shake me, shake me, my apples are all quite ripe.’

 

She did as she was asked, and shook the tree till the apples fell

like rain and none were left hanging. When she had gathered them

all up into a heap she went on her way again, and came at length

to a little house, at the door of which sat an old woman. The old

dame had such large teeth that the girl felt frightened and wanted

to run away, but the old woman called after her:

 

`What are you afraid of, dear child? Stay with me and be my

little maid, and if you do your work well I will reward you

handsomely; but you must be very careful how you make my bed—you

must shake it well till the feathers fly; then people in the world

below say it snows, for I am Mother Holle.’

 

She spoke so kindly that the girl took heart and agreed readily

to enter her service. She did her best to please the old woman,

and shook her bed with such a will that the feathers flew about like

snow-flakes; so she led a very easy life, was never scolded, and

lived on the fat of the land. But after she had been some time

with Mother Holle she grew sad and depressed, and at first she

hardly knew herself what was the matter. At last she discovered

that she was homesick, so she went to Mother Holle and said:

 

`I know I am a thousand times better off here than I ever was

in my life before, but notwithstanding, I have a great longing to go

home, in spite of all your kindness to me. I can remain with you no

longer, but must return to my own people.’

 

`Your desire to go home pleases me,’ said Mother Holle, `and

because you have served me so faithfully, I will show you the way

back into the world myself.’

 

So she took her by the hand and led her to an open door, and as

the girl passed through it there fell a heavy shower of gold all over

her, till she was covered with it from top to toe.

 

`That’s a reward for being such a good little maid,’ said Mother

Holle, and she gave her the spindle too that had fallen into the

well. Then she shut the door, and the girl found herself back in

the world again, not far from her own house; and when she came to the

courtyard the old hen, who sat on the top of the wall, called out:

 

`Click, clock, clack,

Our golden maid’s come back.’

 

Then she went in to her stepmother, and as she had returned

covered with gold she was welcomed home.

 

She proceeded to tell all that had happened to her, and when

the mother heard how she had come by her riches, she was most

anxious to secure the same luck for her own idle, ugly daughter;

so she told her to sit at the well and spin. In order to make her

spindle bloody, she stuck her hand into a hedge of thorns and pricked

her finger. Then she threw the spindle into the well, and jumped

in herself after it. Like her sister she came to the beautiful meadow,

and followed the same path. When she reached the baker’s oven

the bread called out as before:

 

`Oh! take me out, take me out, or I shall be burnt to a cinder.

I am quite done enough.’

 

But the good-for-nothing girl answered:

 

`A pretty joke, indeed; just as if I should dirty my hands for you!’

 

And on she went. Soon she came to the apple tree, which cried:

 

`Oh ! shake me, shake me, my apples are all quite ripe.’

 

`I’ll see myself farther,’ she replied, `one of them might fall on

my head.’

 

And so she pursued her way. When she came to Mother Holle’s

house she wasn’t the least afraid, for she had been warned about

her big teeth, and she readily agreed to become her maid. The first

day she worked very hard, and did all her mistress told her, for she

thought of the gold she would give her; but on the second day she

began to be lazy, and on the third she wouldn’t even get up in the

morning. She didn’t make Mother Holle’s bed as she ought to

have done, and never shook it enough to make the feathers fly. So

her mistress soon grew weary of her, and dismissed her, much to the

lazy creature’s delight.

 

`For now,’ she thought, `the shower of golden rain will come.’

 

Mother Holle led her to the same door as she had done her sister,

but when she passed through it, instead of the gold rain a kettle full

of pitch came showering over her.

 

`That’s a reward for your service,’ said Mother Holle, and she

closed the door behind her.

 

So the lazy girl came home all covered with pitch, and when the

old hen on the top of the wall saw her, it called out:

 

`Click, clock, clack,

Our dirty slut’s come back.’

 

But the pitch remained sticking to her, and never as long as she

lived could it be got off.[26]

 

[26] Grimm.

MINNIKIN

THERE was once upon a time a couple of needy folk who lived

in a wretched hut, in which there was nothing but black want;

so they had neither food to eat nor wood to burn. But if they had

next to nothing of all else they had the blessing of God so far as

children were concerned, and every year brought them one more.

The man was not overpleased at this. He was always going about

grumbling and growling, and saying that it seemed to him that

there might be such a thing as having too many of these good

gifts; so shortly before another baby was born he went away into

the wood for some firewood, saying that he did not want to see the

new child; he would hear him quite soon enough when he began to

squall for some food.

 

As soon as this baby was born it began to look about the room.

`Ah, my dear mother!’ said he, `give me some of my brothers’ old

clothes, and food enough for a few days, and I will go out into the

world and seek my fortune, for, so far as I can see, you have children

enough.’

 

`Heaven help thee, my son!’ said the mother, `that will never

do; thou art still far too little.’

 

But the little creature was determined to do it, and begged and

prayed so long that the mother was forced to let him have some

old rags, and tie up a little food for him, and then gaily and happily

he went out into the world.

 

But almost before he was out of the house another boy was

born, and he too looked about him, and said, `Ah, my dear mother!

give me some of my brothers’ old clothes, and food for some days,

and then I will go out into the world and find my twin brother, for

you have children enough.’

 

`Heaven help thee, little creature! thou art far too little for that,’

said the woman; `it would never do.’

 

But she spoke to no purpose, for the boy begged and prayed

until he had got some old rags and a bundle of provisions, and then

he