The Red Fairy Book - Andrew Lang (best novels for beginners TXT) 📗

come and talk to her.

Among other things the witch told her that she understood all

magic arts, and that she could foretell the future, and knew the

healing powers of herbs and plants.

 

`I shall be grateful to you all my life, old dame,’ said the

Princess, `if you will tell me what is the matter with my husband.

Why is he a Pig by day and a human being by night?’

 

`I was just going to tell you that one thing, my dear, to show

you what a good fortune-teller I am. If you like, I will give you a

herb to break the spell.’

 

`If you will only give it to me,’ said the Princess, `I will give

you anything you choose to ask for, for I cannot bear to see him in

this state.’

 

`Here, then, my dear child,’ said the witch, `take this thread,

but do not let him know about it, for if he did it would lose its

healing power. At night, when he is asleep, you must get up very

quietly, and fasten the thread round his left foot as firmly as

possible; and you will see in the morning he will not have changed

back into a Pig, but will still be a man. I do not want any reward.

I shall be sufficiently repaid by knowing that you are happy. It

almost breaks my heart to think of all you have suffered, and I only

wish I had known it sooner, as I should have come to your rescue

at once.’

 

When the old witch had gone away the Princess hid the thread

very carefully, and at night she got up quietly, and with a beating

heart she bound the thread round her husband’s foot. Just as she

was pulling the knot tight there was a crack, and the thread broke,

for it was rotten.

 

Her husband awoke with a start, and said to her, `Unhappy

woman, what have you done? Three days more and this unholy

spell would have fallen from me, and now, who knows how long I

may have to go about in this disgusting shape? I must leave you

at once, and we shall not meet again until you have worn out three

pairs of iron shoes and blunted a steel staff in your search for me.’

So saying he disappeared.

 

Now, when the Princess was left alone she began to weep and

moan in a way that was pitiful to hear; but when she saw that

her tears and groans did her no good, she got up, determined to go

wherever fate should lead her.

 

On reaching a town, the first thing she did was to order three

pairs of iron sandals and a steel staff, and having made these

preparations for her journey, she set out in search of her husband. On

and on she wandered over nine seas and across nine continents;

through forests with trees whose stems were as thick as beer-barrels; stumbling and knocking herself against the fallen branches,

then picking herself up and going on; the boughs of the trees hit

her face, and the shrubs tore her hands, but on she went, and never

looked back. At last, wearied with her long journey and worn out

and overcome with sorrow, but still with hope at her heart, she

reached a house.

 

Now who do you think lived there? The Moon.

 

The Princess knocked at the door, and begged to be let in that

she might rest a little. The mother of the Moon, when she saw her

sad plight, felt a great pity for her, and took her in and nursed and

tended her. And while she was here the Princess had a little

baby.

 

One day the mother of the Moon asked her:

 

`How was it possible for you, a mortal, to get hither to the

house of the Moon?’

 

Then the poor Princess told her all that happened to her, and

added `I shall always be thankful to Heaven for leading me

hither, and grateful to you that you took pity on me and on my

baby, and did not leave us to die. Now I beg one last favour of

you; can your daughter, the Moon, tell me where my husband is?’

 

`She cannot tell you that, my child,’ replied the goddess, `but,

if you will travel towards the East until you reach the dwelling of

the Sun, he may be able to tell you something.’

 

Then she gave the Princess a roast chicken to eat, and warned

her to be very careful not to lose any of the bones, because they

might be of great use to her.

 

When the Princess had thanked her once more for her hospitality

and for her good advice, and had thrown away one pair of

shoes that were worn out, and had put on a second pair, she tied up

the chicken bones in a bundle, and taking her baby in her arms and

her staff in her hand, she set out once more on her wanderings.

 

On and on and on she went across bare sandy deserts, where the

roads were so heavy that for every two steps that she took forwards

she fell back one; but she struggled on till she had passed these

dreary plains; next she crossed high rocky mountains, jumping

from crag to crag and from peak to peak. Sometimes she would

rest for a little on a mountain, and then start afresh always

farther and farther on. She had to cross swamps and to scale

mountain peaks covered with flints, so that her feet and knees and

elbows were all torn and bleeding, and sometimes she came to a

precipice across which she could not jump, and she had to crawl

round on hands and knees, helping herself along with her staff.

At length, wearied to death, she reached the palace in which the

Sun lived. She knocked and begged for admission. The mother of

the Sun opened the door, and was astonished at beholding a mortal

from the distant earthly shores, and wept with pity when she

heard of all she had suffered. Then, having promised to ask her

son about the Princess’s husband, she hid her in the cellar, so that

the Sun might notice nothing on his return home, for he was always

in a bad temper when he came in at night. The next day the

Princess feared that things would not go well with her, for the

Sun had noticed that some one from the other world had been

in the palace. But his mother had soothed him with soft words,

assuring him that this was not so. So the Princess took heart

when she saw how kindly she was treated, and asked:

 

`But how in the world is it possible for the Sun to be angry?

He is so beautiful and so good to mortals.’

 

`This is how it happens,’ replied the Sun’s mother. `In the morning when]

he stands at the gates of paradise he is happy, and smiles on the whole

world, but during the day he gets cross, because he sees all the evil

deeds of men, and that is why his heat becomes so scorching; but

in the evening he is both sad and angry, for he stands at the gates

of death; that is his usual course. From there he comes back here.’

 

She then told the Princess that she had asked about her husband, but that her son had replied that he knew nothing about him,

and that her only hope was to go and inquire of the Wind.

 

Before the Princess left the mother of the Sun gave her a roast

chicken to eat, and advised her to take great care of the bones,

which she did, wrapping them up in a bundle. She then threw

away her second pair of shoes, which were quite worn out, and with

her child on her arm and her staff in her hand, she set forth on

her way to the Wind.

 

In these wanderings she met with even greater difficulties than

before, for she came upon one mountain of flints after another, out

of which tongues of fire would flame up; she passed through woods

which had never been trodden by human foot, and had to cross

fields of ice and avalanches of snow. The poor woman nearly

died of these hardships, but she kept a brave heart, and at length

she reached an enormous cave in the side of a mountain. This

was where the Wind lived. There was a little door in the railing

in front of the cave, and here the Princess knocked and begged for

admission. The mother of the Wind had pity on her and took her

in, that she might rest a little. Here too she was hidden away, so

that the Wind might not notice her.

 

The next morning the mother of the Wind told her that her

husband was living in a thick wood, so thick that no axe had been able

to cut a way through it; here he had built himself a sort of house

by placing trunks of trees together and fastening them with withes

and here he lived alone, shunning human kind.

 

After the mother of the Wind had given the Princess a chicken

to eat, and had warned her to take care of the bones, she advised

her to go by the Milky Way, which at night lies across the sky, and

to wander on till she reached her goal.

 

Having thanked the old woman with tears in her eyes for her

hospitality, and for the good news she had given her, the Princess

set out on her journey and rested neither night nor day, so great

was her longing to see her husband again. On and on she walked

until her last pair of shoes fell in pieces. So she threw them away

and went on with bare feet, not heeding the bogs nor the thorns

that wounded her, nor the stones that bruised her. At last she

reached a beautiful green meadow on the edge of a wood. Her

heart was cheered by the sight of the flowers and the soft cool

grass, and she sat down and rested for a little. But hearing the

birds chirping to their mates among the trees made her think with

longing of her husband, and she wept bitterly, and taking her child

in her arms, and her bundle of chicken bones on her shoulder, she

entered the wood.

 

For three days and three nights she struggled through it, but

could find nothing. She was quite worn out with weariness and

hunger, and even her staff was no further help to her, for in her

many wanderings it had become quite blunted. She almost gave

up in despair, but made one last great effort, and suddenly in a

thicket she came upon the sort of house that the mother of the

Wind had described. It had no windows, and the door was up

in the roof. Round the house she went, in search of steps, but

could find none. What was she to do? How was she to get in?

She thought and thought, and tried in vain to climb up to the

door. Then suddenly she bethought her of the chicken bones

that she had dragged all that weary way, and she said to

herself: `They would not all have told me to take such good care

of these bones if they had not had some good reason for doing

so. Perhaps now, in my hour of need, they may be of use to me.’

 

So she took the bones out of her bundle, and having thought

for a moment, she placed the