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

us; we others will go out and fetch food.’ So they went

forth into the wood, and shot hares and roe-deer, birds and wood-pigeons, and any other game they came across. They always

brought their spoils home to Benjamin, who soon learnt to make

them into dainty dishes. So they lived for ten years in this little

house, and the time slipped merrily away.

 

In the meantime their little sister at home was growing up quickly.

She was kind-hearted and of a fair countenance, and she had a gold

star right in the middle of her forehead. One day a big washing was

going on at the palace, and the girl looking down from her window

saw twelve men’s shirts hanging up to dry, and asked her mother:

 

`Who in the world do these shirts belong to? Surely they are

far too small for my father?’

 

And the Queen answered sadly: `Dear child, they belong to your

twelve brothers.’

 

`But where are my twelve brothers?’ said the girl. `I have

never even heard of them.’

 

`Heaven alone knows in what part of the wide world they are

wandering,’ replied her mother.

 

Then she took the girl and opened the locked-up room; she

showed her the twelve coffins filled with shavings, and with the

little pillow laid in each.

 

`These coffins,’ she said, `were intended for your brothers, but

they stole secretly away before you were born.’

 

Then she to tell her all that had happened, and when

she had finished her daughter said:

 

`Do not cry, dearest mother; I will go and seek my brothers till

I find them.’

 

So she took the twelve shirts and went on straight into the

middle of the big wood. She walked all day long, and came in the

evening to the little enchanted house. She stepped in and found a

youth who, marvelling at her beauty, at the royal robes she wore,

and at the golden star on her forehead, asked her where she came

from and whither she was going.

 

`I am a Princess,’ she answered, `and am seeking for my twelve

brothers. I mean to wander as far as the blue sky stretches over

the earth till I find them.’

 

Then she showed him the twelve shirts which she had taken

with her, and Benjamin saw that it must be his sister, and

said:

 

`I am Benjamin, your youngest brother.’

 

So they wept for joy, and kissed and hugged each other again

and again. After a time Benjamin said:

 

`Dear sister, there is still a little difficulty, for we had all agreed

that any girl we met should die at our hands, because it was for the

sake of a girl that we had to leave our kingdom.’

 

`But,’ she replied, `I will gladly die if by that means I can restore

my twelve brothers to their own.’

 

`No,’ he answered, `there is no need for that; only go and hide

under that tub till our eleven brothers come in, and I’ll soon make

matters right with them.’

 

She did as she was bid, and soon the others came home from

the chase and sat down to supper.

 

`Well, Benjamin, what’s the news?’ they asked.

But he replied, `I like that; have you nothing to tell me?’

 

`No,’ they answered.

 

Then he said: `Well, now, you’ve been out in the wood all the

day and I’ve stayed quietly at home, and all the same I know more

than you do.’

 

`Then tell us,’ they cried.

 

But he answered: `Only on condition that you promise faithfully

that the first girl we meet shall not be killed.’

 

`She shall be spared,’ they promised, `only tell us the news.’

 

Then Benjamin said: `Our sister is here!’ and he lifted up the

tub and the Princess stepped forward, with her royal robes and with

the golden star on her forehead, looking so lovely and sweet and

charming that they all fell in love with her on the spot.

 

They arranged that she should stay at home with Benjamin and

help him in the house work, while the rest of the brothers went out

into the wood and shot hares and roe-deer, birds and wood-pigeons.

And Benjamin and his sister cooked their meals for them. She

gathered herbs to cook the vegetables in, fetched the wood, and

watched the pots on the fire, and always when her eleven brothers

returned she had their supper ready for them. Besides this, she

kept the house in order, tidied all the rooms, and made herself so

generally useful that her brothers were delighted, and they all lived

happily together.

 

One day the two at home prepared a fine feast, and when they were

all assembled they sat down and ate and drank and made merry.

 

Now there was a little garden round the enchanted house, in

which grew twelve tall lilies. The girl, wishing to please her

brothers, plucked the twelve flowers, meaning to present one to

each of them as they sat at supper. But hardly had she plucked

the flowers when her brothers were turned into twelve ravens, who

flew croaking over the wood, and the house and garden vanished also.

 

So the poor girl found herself left all alone in the wood, and as

she looked round her she noticed an old woman standing close

beside her, who said:

 

`My child, what have you done? Why didn’t you leave the

flowers alone? They were your twelve brothers. Now they are

changed for ever into ravens.’

 

The girl asked, sobbing: `Is there no means of setting them

free?’

 

`No,’ said the old woman, `there is only one way in the whole

world, and that is so difficult that you won’t free them by it, for

you would have to be dumb and not laugh for seven years, and if

you spoke a single word, though but an hour were wanting to the

time, your silence would all have been in vain, and that one word

would slay your brothers.’

 

Then the girl said to herself: `If that is all I am quite sure I

can free my brothers.’ So she searched for a high tree, and when

she had found one she climbed up it and spun all day long, never

laughing or speaking one word.

 

Now it happened one day that a King who was hunting in the

wood had a large greyhound, who ran sniffing to the tree on which

the girl sat, and jumped round it, yelping and barking furiously.

The King’s attention was attracted, and when he looked up and beheld

the beautiful Princess with the golden star on her forehead, he

was so enchanted by her beauty that he asked her on the spot to

be his wife. She gave no answer, but nodded slightly with her

head. Then he climbed up the tree himself, lifted her down, put

her on his horse and bore her home to his palace.

 

The marriage was celebrated with much pomp and ceremony,

but the bride neither spoke nor laughed.

 

When they had lived a few years happily together, the King’s

mother, who was a wicked old woman, began to slander the young

Queen, and said to the King:

 

`She is only a low-born beggar maid that you have married;

who knows what mischief she is up to? If she is deaf and can’t

speak, she might at least laugh; depend upon it, those who don’t

laugh have a bad conscience.’ At first the King paid no heed to

her words, but the old woman harped so long on the subject, and

accused the young Queen of so many bad things, that at last he let

himself be talked over, and condemned his beautiful wife to death.

 

So a great fire was lit in the courtyard of the palace, where she

was to be burnt, and the King watched the proceedings from an

upper window, crying bitterly the while, for he still loved his wife

dearly. But just as she had been bound to the stake, and the

flames were licking her garments with their red tongues, the very

last moment of the seven years had come. Then a sudden rushing

sound was heard in the air, and twelve ravens were seen flying

overhead. They swooped downwards, and as soon as they touched

the ground they turned into her twelve brothers, and she knew that

she had freed them.

 

They quenched the flames and put out the fire, and, unbinding

their dear sister from the stake. they kissed and hugged her again

and again. And now that she was able to open her mouth and

speak, she told the King why she had been dumb and not able to

laugh.

 

The King rejoiced greatly when he heard she was innocent, and

they all lived happily ever afterwards.[22]

 

[22] Grimm.

RAPUNZEL

ONCE upon a time there lived a man and his wife who were very

unhappy because they had no children. These good people

had a little window at the back of their house, which looked into

the most lovely garden, full of all manner of beautiful flowers and

vegetables; but the garden was surrounded by a high wall, and no

one dared to enter it, for it belonged to a witch of great power, who

was feared by the whole world. One day the woman stood at the

window overlooking the garden, and saw there a bed full of the

finest rampion: the leaves looked so fresh and green that she longed

to eat them. The desire grew day by day, and just because she

knew she couldn’t possibly get any, she pined away and became

quite pale and wretched. Then her husband grew alarmed and

said:

 

`What ails you, dear wife?’

 

`Oh,’ she answered, `if I don’t get some rampion to eat out of

the garden behind the house, I know I shall die.’

 

The man, who loved her dearly, thought to himself, `Come! rather

than let your wife die you shall fetch her some rampion, no matter

the cost.’ So at dusk he climbed over the wall into the witch’s

garden, and, hastily gathering a handful of rampion leaves, he

returned with them to his wife. She made them into a salad, which

tasted so good that her longing for the forbidden food was greater

than ever. If she were to know any peace of mind, there was

nothing for it but that her husband should climb over the garden

wall again, and fetch her some more. So at dusk over he got,

but when he reached the other side he drew back in terror, for

there, standing before him, was the old witch.

 

`How dare you,’ she said, with a wrathful glance, `climb into

my garden and steal my rampion like a common thief? You shall

suffer for your foolhardiness.’

 

`Oh!’ he implored, `pardon my presumption; necessity alone

drove me to the deed. My wife saw your rampion from her window,

and conceived such a desire for it that she would certainly have

died if her wish had not been gratified.’ Then the Witch’s anger

was a little appeased, and she said:

 

`If it’s as you say, you may take as much rampion away with

you as you like, but on one condition only—that you give me the

child your wife will shortly bring into the world. All shall go well

with it, and I will look after it like a mother.’

 

The man in his terror agreed to everything she asked, and as soon

as the child was born the Witch appeared, and having given it the

name of Rapunzel, which is the same as rampion, she carried it off

with her.