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

three girls. `Why, where

is your reverence going so fast?’ cried he; `don’t forget there is

to be a christening to-day;’ and he ran after him, caught him by

the sleeve, and hung on to it himself: As the five of them trotted

along in this fashion one after the other, two peasants were coming

from their work with their hoes. On seeing them the parson called

out and begged them to come and rescue him and the clerk. But

no sooner did they touch the clerk than they stuck on too, and so

there were seven of them running after Dullhead and his goose.

 

After a time they all came to a town where a King reigned whose

daughter was so serious and solemn that no one could ever manage

to make her laugh. So the King had decreed that whoever should

succeed in making her laugh should marry her.

 

When Dullhead heard this he marched before the Princess with

his goose and its appendages, and as soon as she saw these seven

people continually running after each other she burst out laughing,

and could not stop herself. Then Dullhead claimed her as his

bride, but the King, who did not much fancy him as a son-in-law,

made all sorts of objections, and told him he must first find a man

who could drink up a whole cellarful of wine.

 

Dullhead bethought him of the little grey man, who could, he

felt sure, help him; so he went off to the forest, and on the very

spot where he had cut down the tree he saw a man sitting with a

most dismal expression of face.

 

Dullhead asked him what he was taking so much to heart, and

the man answered: `I don’t know how I am ever to quench this

terrible thirst I am suffering from. Cold water doesn’t suit me at

all. To be sure I’ve emptied a whole barrel of wine, but what is one

drop on a hot stone?’

 

`I think I can help you,’ said Dullhead. `Come with me, and

you shall drink to your heart’s content.’ So he took him to the

King’s cellar, and the man sat down before the huge casks and

drank and drank till he drank up the whole contents of the cellar

before the day closed.

 

Then Dullhead asked once more for his bride, but the King felt

vexed at the idea of a stupid fellow whom people called `Dullhead’

carrying off his daughter, and he began to make fresh conditions.

He required Dullhead to find a man who could eat a mountain of

bread. Dullhead did not wait to consider long but went straight off

to the forest, and there on the same spot sat a man who was drawing

in a strap as tight as he could round his body, and making a most

woeful face the while. Said he: `I’ve eaten up a whole oven full of

loaves, but what’s the good of that to anyone who is as hungry as

I am? I declare my stomach feels quite empty, and I must draw

my belt tight if I’m not to die of starvation.’

 

Dullhead was delighted, and said: `Get up and come with me,

and you shall have plenty to eat,’ and he brought him to the King’s

Court.

 

Now the King had given orders to have all the flour in his

kingdom brought together, and to have a huge mountain baked of

it. But the man from the wood just took up his stand before the

mountain and began to eat, and in one day it had all vanished.

 

For the third time Dullhead asked for his bride, but again the

King tried to make some evasion, and demanded a ship `which could

sail on land or water! When you come sailing in such a ship,’ said

he, `you shall have my daughter without further delay.’

 

Again Dullhead started off to the forest, and there he found the

little old grey man with whom he had shared his cake, and who

said: `I have eaten and I have drunk for you, and now I will give

you the ship. I have done all this for you because you were kind

and merciful to me.’

 

Then he gave Dullhead a ship which could sail on land or water,

and when the King saw it he felt he could no longer refuse him

his daughter.

 

So they celebrated the wedding with great rejoicings; and after

the King’s death Dullhead succeeded to the kingdom, and lived

happily with his wife for many years after.[30]

 

[30] Grimm.

THE SEVEN FOALS

THERE was once upon a time a couple of poor folks who lived in

a wretched hut, far away from everyone else, in a wood. They

only just managed to live from hand to mouth, and had great difficulty

in doing even so much as that, but they had three sons, and

the youngest of them was called Cinderlad, for he did nothing else

but lie and poke about among the ashes.

 

One day the eldest lad said that he would go out to earn his living;

he soon got leave to do that, and set out on his way into the world.

He walked on and on for the whole day, and when night was beginning

to fall he came to a royal palace. The King was standing

outside on the steps, and asked where he was going.

 

`Oh, I am going about seeking a place, my father,’ said the youth.

 

`Wilt thou serve me, and watch my seven foals?’ asked the

King. `If thou canst watch them for a whole day and tell me at

night what they eat and drink, thou shalt have the Princess and

half my kingdom, but if thou canst not, I will cut three red stripes

on thy back.’

 

The youth thought that it was very easy work to watch the

foals, and that he could do it well enough.

 

Next morning, when day was beginning to dawn, the King’s

Master of the Horse let out the seven foals; and they ran away,

and the youth after them just as it chanced, over hill and dale, through

woods end bogs. When the youth had run thus for a long time he

began to be tired, and when he had held on a little longer he was

heartily weary of watching at all, and at the same moment he came

to a cleft in a rock where an old woman was sitting spinning with

her distaff in her hand.

 

As soon as she caught sight of the youth, who was running after

the foals till the perspiration streamed down his face, she cried:

 

`Come hither, come hither, my handsome son, and let me comb

your hair for you.’

 

The lad was willing enough, so he sat down in the cleft of the

rock beside the old hag, and laid his head on her knees, and she

combed his hair all day while he lay there and gave himself up to

idleness.

 

When evening was drawing near, the youth wanted to go.

 

`I may just as well go straight home again,’ said he, `for it is

no use to go to the King’s palace.’

 

`Wait till it is dusk,’ said the old hag, `and then the King’s

foals will pass by this place again, and you can run home with

them; no one will ever know that you have been lying here all day

instead of watching the foals.’

 

So when they came she gave the lad a bottle of water and a bit

of moss, and told him to show these to the King and say that this

was what his seven foals ate and drank.

 

`Hast thou watched faithfully and well the whole day long?’

said the King, when the lad came into his presence in the evening.

 

`Yes, that I have!’ said the youth.

 

`Then you are able to tell me what it is that my seven foals eat

and drink,’ said the King.

 

So the youth produced the bottle of water and the bit of moss

which he had got from the old woman, saying:

 

`Here you see their meat, and here you see their drink.’

 

Then the King knew how his watching had been done, and fell

into such a rage that he ordered his people to chase the youth back

to his own home at once; but first they were to cut three red

stripes in his back, and rub salt into them.

 

When the youth reached home again, anyone can imagine what

a state of mind he was in. He had gone out once to seek a place,

he said, but never would he do such a thing again.

 

Next day the second son said that he would now go out into the

world to seek his fortune. His father and mother said `No,’ and

bade him look at his brother’s back, but the youth would not give

up his design, and stuck to it, and after a long, long time he got

leave to go, and set forth on his way. When he had walked all day

he too came to the King’s palace, and the King was standing outside

on the steps, and asked where he was going; and when the youth

replied that he was going about in search of a place, the King said

that he might enter into his service and watch his seven foals. Then

the King promised him the same punishment and the same reward

that he had promised his brother.

 

The youth at once consented to this and entered into the King’s

service, for he thought he could easily watch the foals and inform

the King what they ate and drank.

 

In the grey light of dawn the Master of the Horse let out the

seven foals, and off they went again over hill and dale, and off went

the lad after them. But all went with him as it had gone with his

brother. When he had run after the foals for a long, long time and

was hot and tired, he passed by a cleft in the rock where an old

woman was sitting spinning with a distaff, and she called to him:

 

`Come hither, come hither, my handsome son, and let me comb

your hair.’

 

The youth liked the thought of this, let the foals run where

they chose, and seated himself in the cleft of the rock by the side

of the old hag. So there he sat with his head on her lap, taking his

ease the livelong day.

 

The foals came back in the evening, and then he too got a bit of

moss and a bottle of water from the old hag, which things he was to

show to the King. But when the King asked the youth: `Canst

thou tell me what my seven foals eat and drink?’ and the youth

showed him the bit of moss and the bottle of water, and said: `Yes

here may you behold their meat, and here their drink,’ the King

once more became wroth, and commanded that three red stripes

should be cut on the lad’s back, that salt should be strewn upon

them, and that he should then be instantly chased back to his own

home. So when the youth got home again he too related all

that had happened to him, and he too said that he had gone out in

search of a place once, but that never would he do it again.

 

On the third day Cinderlad wanted to set out. He had a fancy

to try to watch the seven foals himself, he said.

 

The two