CATHERINE AND HER DESTINY
One day
Catherine was sitting in her own room when suddenly the door flew open, and in
came a tall and beautiful woman holding in her hands a little wheel.
'
Catherine,' she said, going up to the girl, ' whichwould you rather have — a
happy youth or a happy old age?'
' May it
please your majesty,' she said, ' I have brought you a ball of silk of the
colour you asked for, as no one else has any in the town.'
'Your
majesty,' asked one of the courtiers, 'shall I give the maiden its weight in
gold ?'
The king
agreed, and a pair of scales were brought ; and a handful of gold was placed in
one scale and the silken ball in the other. But lo ! let the king lay in the
scales as many gold pieces as he would, the silk was always heavier still. Then
the king took some larger scales, and heaped up all his treasures on the one
side, but the silk on the other outweighed them all.
HOW THE
HERMIT HELPED TO WIN THE KING'S DAUGHTERS
A little
way along they noticed another man in the middle of a stream, who was shooting
into the water.
But the
hermit bade him call the man who had the fog in his sack, and the sack was
opened and the fog flew out, and hung right round the king's ships, so that they
could see nothing.
THE WATER OF LIFE
Then she
looked round, and saw, lying in a hollow, the pool of the water of life. And
she took the brazen pitcher that she had brought with her, and filled it to the
brim. By the side of the pool stood the tree of beauty, with the talking bird
on one of its boughs ; and she caught the bird, and placed it in a cage, and
broke off one of the branches.
THE WOUNDED LION
Another
year passed by, and one morning when the maiden was out with her pigs she heard
a groan which sounded quite human. She ran to see what it was, and found her
old friend the lion, wounded through and through, fast dying under a tree.
So the
maiden departed and climbed up the mountain, but before she reached the top the
giant heard her footsteps, and rushed out breathing fire and flame, having a
sword in one hand and a club in the other. But she cried loudly that she had
brought him the coat, and thenhe grew quiet, and invited her to come into his
house.
THE MAN WITHOUT A HEART
' What !'
said the old man, ' promised ! I '11 make you eat your promises !
' And with
that he took his magic wand, and, murmuring a charm, he touched both
brothers
and brides, and immediately they were turned into grey stones.
Only the
youngest sister he had not bewitched.
He felt
hungry again, and, having still some provisions left, thought he had better
make
ready his
supper. When it was all spread out he cried as before, ' Anyone who cares to
share my meal is welcome.' He heard a sound overhead like the flapping of
wings, and a shadow was cast upon the ground. Then a huge griffin appeared,
saying :' I heard someone giving an invitation to eat; is there anything for
me?’
THE TWO BROTHERS
Then the
serpent made a rush at the youth with wideopen jaws to swallow him at one gulp,
but the young man leaped aside and drew
his sword, and fought till he had cut off all the seven heads. And when the
great serpent lay dead at his feet he loosed the bonds of the
king's
daughter,…
She scowled
at the young man and said, ' With a single one of the hairs of my head I can
turn you into stone.' ' Oh, wliat nonsense !' cried he. ' Be quiet, old woman. What
could you do with one hair? ' But the witch pulled out a hair and laid it on
his shoukler, and his limbs grew
cold and
heavy, and he could not stir.
THE GOLDEN LION
' Oho !'
said he, as he read, ' whoever can find the king's daughter shall have her to
wife. It is quite clear now what has befallen my brothers. But in spite of that
I think I must try my luck,' and he took the road to the castle.
And he
stared hard at the princess as she clapped her hands with joy and ran up to
them, crying, ' Oh, do let us keep that delicious beast for to-night; it will
make such a nice plaything.' The king did not stay lon'g, and when he left he handed
over the lion to the maidens, who amused themselves with it for some time, till
they got sleepy, and thought it was time to go to bed. But the princess took the
lion into her own room and laid it on the floor.
THE SPRIG OF ROSEMARY
…and then
she plucked at a sprig of sweet-smelling rosemary for herself. But the harder
she pulled the firmer seemed the plant, and at last, determined not to be beaten,
she gave one great tug, and the rosemary remained in her hands. Then she heard
a voice close to her saying, 'Well?' and turning she saw before her a handsome
young man, who asked why she had come to steal his firewood.
So the Moon
came out, and when she saw the maiden she knew her again, for she had watched
her sleeping both in the cottage and in the palace. And she spake toher and
said:
' Do you,
rich as you are, need help ?' Then the girl told her the whole story, and the
Moon
listened,
and was sorry for her; and though she could not tell her where to find her
husband,…
THE WHITE DOVE
Before the hour
was past the feathers were all nicely arranged : the dove flew out at the
window, and at the same moment the witch came in at the door.
At this the
witch became so furious that she danced about and knocked everything to pieces
that she could lay her hands upon, so that the splinters flew about the ears of
the prince and princess, who now stood there in her own beautiful shape.
THE DROLL'S DAUGHTER
The troll then
showed him the two bushels of money which he had earned that year, and the lad
was well content to remain in his service for another year.
ESBEN AND THE WITCH
Each one of
the eleven got a fine white horse and money for the journey, and so they said
farewell to
their father and their home, and rode away. As for Esben, no one had ever
thought about him; his brothers had not even said farewell to him.
Straightway
the stick carried him across the river and straight into the old witch's
courtyard. Esben had noticed that she had such a dove; so when he arrived in
the courtyard he shook the peas out of the bag, and the dove came fluttering
down to pick them up. Esben caught it at once, put it into the bag, and hurried
off before the witch caught sight of him ; but the next
moment she
came running, and shouted after him, ' Hey! is that you, Esben?'
‘Ye— e — s!'
' Is it you that has taken my dove ?' 'Ye — e — s !' ' Was it you that made me
kill my eleven daughters?' 'Ye — e — s !' ' Are you coming back again ?' ' That
may be,’ said Esben. 'Then you'll catch it,' shouted the witch.
The stick
carried Esben with the dove back to the king's palace, and his brothers were
greatly delighted.
When she
was going to draw the water from the well she set the lamp down on a stone
beside her.
Esben watched his chance, seized the lamp, and gave her a push from behind, so
that she plumped head first into the well. Then he made off with the lamp.
The witch
awoke, sprang out of bed, and caught hold of Esben.
' Are you
coming back again ?'
' No, never
again,' said Esben.
At this the
witch became so furious that she sprang into numberless pieces of flint, and
from this come all the flint stones that one finds about the country.
PRINCESS
MINON-MINETTE
But no
sooner had they finished their first bows and curtseys than a slight breeze
sprung up,
and began
to sway the princess, whose equerries had retired out of respect. The king went
forward to steady her, but the wind that he caused only drove her further away
from him. He rushed after her exclaiming, ' O princess ! are you really running
away from me ?'
' Good
gracious, no !' she replied.
…he started
on horseback at the very moment when the princess had been found by her
followers, wet to the skin, and blown against a rick.
He was
floating sadly along, not paying any heed to where he was going, when he saw in
the distance a beautiful, bright sort of bird coming towards him. His heart
beat fast — he did not know why— and as they both drew near the voice of the
princess exclaimed, ' Behold
the bird
without feathers and the bridge without an arch !' So their first meeting took
place in the air, but it was none the less happy for that; and the fan grew big
enough to hold the king as well as Aveline, who had hastened to give them some
good advice.
MAIDEN BRIGHT-EYE
The little
fellow was quite willing, and she gave him the biggest share of her pancakes. They
were not particularly good, but wheu one is hungry anything tastes well.
But when
they got out to sea. and Maiden Bright-eye came up on deck, the sister did as
her mother
had instructed her — she gave her a push and made her fall into the water.
KING LINDORM
Then the
lindorm began to writhe, and groan, and breathe heavily ; and after a little he
had cast his outer skin, which lay on the floor, hideous to behold. Then his
bride took off one of her snow-white shirts, and cast it on the lindorm's skin.
This time
she cracked the nut as soon as she came near the place where the spirits
appeared, and what then happened to them she could not see, but amid wild screams
and howls the contract was handed to her at the end of a long branch. The queen rode happy home to the
hut…
THE JACKAL,
THE DOVE, AND THE PANTHERS
Then the
baboon seized a stick, and poked it in the cleft of a rock, exclaiming, ' Well,
then, I should like to see your children !' The bees flew out in a huge swarm,
and made furiously
for the
panther, whom they attacked on all sides, while the baboon soon climbed up out
of the way, crying, as he perched himself on the branch of a tree, 'I wish you
joy of your children !' while from afar the jackal's voice was heard exclaiming:
' Sting her well ! don't let her go!'
THE LITTLE HARE
Between his
fright and his hurry he was almost dead of exhaustion when he reached his own
village, where the nyamatsanes could not follow him, because of their enemies
the dogs, which swarmed over all the roads. So they returned home.
Last of all
came the monkey with her baby on her back. She approached the ditch, and took a
blade of grass and tickled Big Lion's nose, and his nostrils moved in spite of
his efforts to keep them still. Then the monkey cried, ' Come, my baby, climb
on my back and let us go. What sort of a dead body is it that can still feel
when it is tickled? '
THE SPARROW WITH THE SLIT TONGUE
At length,
however, the lock gave way, and the lid flew open, when, O horror! instead of
gold and jewels, she saw before her serpents with glittering eyes and forky
tongues. And they twined themselves about her and darted poison into her veins,
and she died, and no man regretted her.
THE STORY OF CICCU
One very
hot evening, after they had been working hard all day, they fell asleep under a
tree in front of the hut. And as they slept there came by three fairies, who stopped
to look at them.
' What fine
fellows !' said one. ' Let us give them a present.'
As he put
his arms round her waist, the fairest in the world unwound the veil from her
head and cast it to the ground, and then she drew a ring from her finger and
flung it into the stream. But she said nothing, and they rode on fast, fast.
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