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

bade her bathe on one side of the stem,

dry herself on another, and dress on the third. When the girl had

done all that, she had grown so lovely that no one on earth could rival

her. Splendid clothing was given to her, and a horse, with hair

partly of gold, partly of silver, and partly of something more precious

still. The girl sprang into the saddle, and rode as swift as an arrow

to the palace. As she turned into the courtyard of the castle the

King’s son came out to meet her, tied her steed to a pillar, and led

her in. He never left her side as they passed through the castle

rooms; and all the people gazed at her, and wondered who the

lovely maiden was, and from what castle she came; but no one

knew her—no one knew anything about her. At the banquet the

Prince invited her to sit next him in the place of honour; but the

witch’s daughter gnawed the bones under the table. The Prince

did not see her, and thinking it was a dog, he gave her such a push

with his foot that her arm was broken. Are you not sorry for the

witch’s daughter? It was not her fault that her mother was a witch.

 

Towards evening the good man’s daughter thought it was time

to go home; but as she went, her ring caught on the latch of the

door, for the King’s son had had it smeared with tar. She did not

take time to pull it off, but, hastily unfastening her horse from the

pillar, she rode away beyond the castle walls as swift as an arrow.

Arrived at home, she took off her clothes by the birch tree, left her

horse standing there, and hastened to her place behind the stove.

In a short time the man and the woman came home again too, and

the witch said to the girl:

 

`Ah! you poor thing, there you are to be sure! You don’t

know what fine times we have had at the palace! The King’s son

carried my daughter about, but the poor thing fell and broke her

arm.’

 

The girl knew well how matters really stood, but she pretended

to know nothing about it, and sat dumb behind the stove.

 

The next day they were invited again to the King’s banquet.

 

`Hey! old man,’ said the witch, `get on your clothes as quick

as you can; we are bidden to the feast. Take you the child; I will

give the other one work, lest she weary.’

 

She kindled the fire, threw a potful of hemp seed among the

ashes, and said to the girl:

 

`If you do not get this sorted, and all the seed back into the pot,

I shall kill you!’

 

The girl wept bitterly; then she went to the birch tree, washed

herself on one side of it and dried herself on the other; and this

time still finer clothes were given to her, and a very beautiful

steed. She broke off a branch of the birch tree, struck the hearth

with it, so that the seeds flew into the pot, and then hastened to the

castle.

 

Again the King’s son came out to meet her, tied her horse to a

pillar, and led her into the banqueting hall. At the feast the girl sat

next him in the place of honour, as she had done the day before.

But the witch’s daughter gnawed bones under the table, and the

Prince gave her a push by mistake, which broke her leg—he had

never noticed her crawling about among the people’s feet. She

was VERY unlucky!

 

The good man’s daughter hastened home again betimes, but the

King’s son had smeared the door-posts with tar, and the girl’s

golden circlet stuck to it. She had not time to look for it, but

sprang to the saddle and rode like an arrow to the birch tree.

There she left her horse and her fine clothes, and said to her

mother:

 

`I have lost my circlet at the castle; the door-post was tarred,

and it stuck fast.’

 

`And even had you lost two of them,’ answered her mother, `I

would give you finer ones.’

 

Then the girl hastened home, and when her father came home

from the feast with the witch, she was in her usual place behind

the stove. Then the witch said to her:

 

`You poor thing! what is there to see here compared with what

WE have seen at the palace? The King’s son carried my daughter

from one room to another; he let her fall, ‘tis true, and my child’s

foot was broken.’

 

The man’s daughter held her peace all the time, and busied

herself about the hearth.

 

The night passed, and when the day began to dawn, the witch

awakened her husband, crying:

 

`Hi! get up, old man! We are bidden to the royal banquet.’

 

So the old man got up. Then the witch gave him the child,

saying:

 

`Take you the little one; I will give the other girl work to do,

else she will weary at home alone.’

 

She did as usual. This time it was a dish of milk she poured

upon the ashes, saying:

 

`If you do not get all the milk into the dish again before I come

home, you will suffer for it.’

 

How frightened the girl was this time! She ran to the birch

tree, and by its magic power her task was accomplished; and then

she rode away to the palace as before. When she got to the courtyard

she found the Prince waiting for her. He led her into the

hall, where she was highly honoured; but the witch’s daughter

sucked the bones under the table, and crouching at the people’s feet

she got an eye knocked out, poor thing! Now no one knew any

more than before about the good man’s daughter, no one knew

whence she came; but the Prince had had the threshold smeared

with tar, and as she fled her gold slippers stuck to it. She reached

the birch tree, and laying aside her finery, she said:

 

`Alas I dear little mother, I have lost my gold slippers!’

 

`Let them be,’ was her mother’s reply; `if you need them I

shall give you finer ones.’

 

Scarcely was she in her usual place behind the stove when her

father came home with the witch. Immediately the witch began

to mock her, saying:

 

`Ah! you poor thing, there is nothing for you to see here, and

WE—ah: what great things we have seen at the palace! My little

girl was carried about again, but had the ill-luck to fall and get her

eye knocked out. You stupid thing, you, what do you know about

anything?’

 

`Yes, indeed, what can I know?’ replied the girl; `I had

enough to do to get the hearth clean.’

 

Now the Prince had kept all the things the girl had lost, and he

soon set about finding the owner of them. For this purpose a great

banquet was given on the fourth day, and all the people were

invited to the palace. The witch got ready to go too. She tied a

wooden beetle on where her child’s foot should have been, a log of

wood instead of an arm, and stuck a bit of dirt in the empty socket

for an eye, and took the child with her to the castle. When all the

people were gathered together, the King’s son stepped in among

the crowd and cried:

 

`The maiden whose finger this ring slips over, whose head this

golden hoop encircles, and whose foot this shoe fits, shall be my

bride.’

 

What a great trying on there was now among them all! The

things would fit no one, however.

 

`The cinder wench is not here,’ said the Prince at last; `go and

fetch her, and let her try on the things.’

 

So the girl was fetched, and the Prince was just going to hand

the ornaments to her, when the witch held him back, saying:

 

`Don’t give them to her; she soils everything with cinders;

give them to my daughter rather.’

 

Well, then the Prince gave the witch’s daughter the ring, and

the woman filed and pared away at her daughter’s finger till the

ring fitted. It was the same with the circlet and the shoes of gold.

The witch would not allow them to be handed to the cinder wench;

she worked at her own daughter’s head and feet till she got the

things forced on. What was to be done now? The Prince had to

take the witch’s daughter for his bride whether he would or no; he

sneaked away to her father’s house with her, however, for he was

ashamed to hold the wedding festivities at the palace with so strange

a bride. Some days passed, and at last he had to take his bride

home to the palace, and he got ready to do so. Just as they were

taking leave, the kitchen wench sprang down from her place by the

stove, on the pretext of fetching something from the cowhouse, and

in going by she whispered in the Prince’s ear as he stood in the

yard:

 

`Alas! dear Prince, do not rob me of my silver and my gold.’

 

Thereupon the King’s son recognised the cinder wench; so he

took both the girls with him, and set out. After they had gone some

little way they came to the bank of a river, and the Prince threw

the witch’s daughter across to serve as a bridge, and so got over

with the cinder wench. There lay the witch’s daughter then, like a

bridge over the river, and could not stir, though her heart was

consumed with grief. No help was near, so she cried at last in her

anguish:

 

`May there grow a golden hemlock out of my body! perhaps

my mother will know me by that token.’

 

Scarcely had she spoken when a golden hemlock sprang up from

her, and stood upon the bridge.

 

Now, as soon as the Prince had got rid of the witch’s daughter

he greeted the cinder wench as his bride, and they wandered together

to the birch tree which grew upon the mother’s grave. There they

received all sorts of treasures and riches, three sacks full of gold,

and as much silver, and a splendid steed, which bore them home to

the palace. There they lived a long time together, and the young

wife bore a son to the Prince. Immediately word was brought to

the witch that her daughter had borne a son—for they all believed

the young King’s wife to be the witch’s daughter.

 

`So, so,’ said the witch to herself; `I had better away with my

gift for the infant, then.’

 

And so saying she set out. Thus it happened that she came to

the bank of the river, and there she saw the beautiful golden

hemlock growing in the middle of the bridge, and when she began to

cut it down to take to her grandchild, she heard a voice moaning:

 

`Alas! dear mother, do not cut me so!’

 

`Are you here?’ demanded the witch.

 

`Indeed I am, dear little mother,’ answered the daughter

`They threw me across the river to make a bridge of me.’

 

In a moment the witch had the bridge shivered to atoms, and

then she hastened away to the palace. Stepping up to the young

Queen’s bed, she began to try her magic arts upon her, saying:

 

`Spit, you wretch, on the blade of my knife; bewitch my knife’s

blade for me, and I