Household Tales, Jacob Grimm [the unexpected everything txt] 📗

a while they found another man who was lying on the ground with his ear laid to the turf. “What art thou doing there?” asked the King’s son.

“I am listening,” replied the man.

“What art thou listening to so attentively?”

“I am listening to what is just going on in the world, for nothing escapes my ears; I even hear the grass growing.”

“Tell me,” said the prince, “what thou hearest at the court of the old Queen who has the beautiful daughter.”

Then he answered, “I hear the whizzing of the sword that is striking off a wooer’s head.”

The King’s son said, “I can make use of thee, come with me.” They went onwards, and then saw a pair of feet lying and part of a pair of legs, but could not see the rest of the body. When they had walked on for a great distance, they came to the body, and at last to the head also. “Why,” said the prince, “what a tall rascal thou art!”

“Oh,” replied the Tall One, “that is nothing at all yet; when I really stretch out my limbs, I am three thousand times as tall, and taller than the highest mountain on earth. I will gladly enter your service, if you will take me.”

“Come with me,” said the prince, “I can make use of thee.” They went onwards and found a man sitting by the road who had bound up his eyes. The prince said to him, “Hast thou weak eyes, that thou canst not look at the light?”

“No,” replied the man, “but I must not remove the bandage, for whatsoever I look at with my eyes, splits to pieces, my glance is so powerful. If you can use that, I shall be glad to serve you.”

“Come with me,” replied the King’s son, “I can make use of thee.” They journeyed onwards and found a man who was lying in the hot sunshine, trembling and shivering all over his body, so that not a limb was still. “How canst thou shiver when the sun is shining so warm?” said the King’s son.

“Alack,” replied the man, “I am of quite a different nature. The hotter it is, the colder I am, and the frost pierces through all my bones; and the colder it is, the hotter I am. In the midst of ice, I cannot endure the heat, nor in the midst of fire, the cold.”

“Thou art a strange fellow,” said the prince, “but if thou wilt enter my service, follow me.” They travelled onwards, and saw a man standing who made a long neck and looked about him, and could see over all the mountains. “What art thou looking at so eagerly?” said the King’s son.

The man replied, “I have such sharp eyes that I can see into every forest and field, and hill and valley, all over the world.”

The prince said, “Come with me if thou wilt, for I am still in want of such an one.”

And now the King’s son and his six servants came to the town where the aged Queen dwelt. He did not tell her who he was, but said, “If you will give me your beautiful daughter, I will perform any task you set me.”

The sorceress was delighted to get such a handsome youth as this into her net, and said, “I will set thee three tasks, and if thou art able to perform them all, thou shalt be husband and master of my daughter.”

“What is the first to be?”

“Thou shalt fetch me my ring which I have dropped into the Red Sea.”

So the King’s son went home to his servants and said, “The first task is not easy. A ring is to be got out of the Red Sea. Come, find some way of doing it.”

Then the man with the sharp sight said, “I will see where it is lying,” and looked down into the water and said, “It is sticking there, on a pointed stone.”

The Tall One carried them thither, and said, “I would soon get it out, if I could only see it.”

“Oh, is that all!” cried the Stout One, and lay down and put his mouth to the water, on which all the waves fell into it just as if it had been a whirlpool, and he drank up the whole sea till it was as dry as a meadow. The Tall One stooped down a little, and brought out the ring with his hand. Then the King’s son rejoiced when he had the ring, and took it to the old Queen.

She was astonished, and said, “Yes, it is the right ring. Thou hast safely performed the first task, but now comes the second. Dost thou see the meadow in front of my palace? Three hundred fat oxen are feeding there, and these must thou eat, skin, hair, bones, horns and all, and down below in my cellar lie three hundred casks of wine, and these thou must drink up as well, and if one hair of the oxen, or one little drop of the wine is left, thy life will be forfeited to me.”

“May I invite no guests to this repast?” inquired the prince, “no dinner is good without some company.”

The old woman laughed maliciously, and replied, “Thou mayst invite one for the sake of companionship, but no more.”

The King’s son went to his servants and said to the Stout One, “Thou shalt be my guest today, and shalt eat thy fill.” Hereupon the Stout One stretched himself out and ate the three hundred oxen without leaving one single hair, and then he asked if he was to have nothing but his breakfast. He drank the wine straight from the casks without feeling any need of a glass, and he licked the last drop from his fingernails. When the meal was over, the prince went to the old woman, and told her that the second task also was performed.

She wondered at this and said, “No one has ever done so much before, but one