The Crimson Fairy Book
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'My master, Count Piro, sends you these pears,' he said, 'and asks
for an answer to his proposal.'
'Tell the count that the wedding can take place whenever he
pleases,' answered the king, and, filled with pride, the fox trotted
back to deliver his message.
'But I can't bring the princess here, little fox?' cried the young man
in dismay.
'You leave everything to me,' answered the fox; ' have I not
managed well so far?'
And up at the palace preparations were made for a grand wedding,
and the youth was married to the princess.
After a week of feasting, the fox said to the king: 'My master
wishes to take his young bride home to his own castle.'
'Very well, I will accompany them,' replied the king; and he ordered
his courtiers and attendants to get ready, and the best horses in his
stable to be brought out for himself, Count Piro and the princess.
So they all set out, and rode across the plain, the little fox running
before them.
He stopped at the sight of a great flock of sheep, which was feeding
peacefully on the rich grass. 'To whom do these sheep belong?'
asked he of the shepherd. 'To an ogre,' replied the shepherd.
'Hush,' said the fox in a mysterious manner. 'Do you see that crowd
of armed men riding along? If you were to tell them that those
sheep belonged to an ogre, they would kill them, and then the ogre
would kill you! If they ask, just say the sheep belong to Count
Piro; it will be better for everybody.' And the fox ran hastily on, as
he did not wish to be seen talking to the shepherd.
Very soon the king came up.
'What beautiful sheep!' he said, drawing up his horse. 'I have none
so fine in my pastures. Whose are they?'
'Count Piro's,' answered the shepherd, who did not know the king.
'Well, he must be a very rich man,' thought the king to himself, and
rejoiced that he had such a wealthy son-in-law.
Meanwhile the fox had met with a huge herd of pigs, snuffling
about the roots of some trees.
'To whom do these pigs belong?' he asked of the swineherd.
'To an ogre,' replied he.
'Hush!' whispered the fox, though nobody could hear him; 'do you
see that troop of armed men riding towards us? If you tell them
that the pigs belong to the ogre they will kill them, and then the
ogre will kill you! If they ask, just say that the pigs belong to
Count Piro; it will be better for everybody.' And he ran hastily on.
Soon after the king rode up.
'What fine pigs!' he said, reining in his horse. 'They are fatter than
any I have got on my farms. Whose are they?'
'Count Piro's,' answered the swineherd, who did not know the king;
and again the king felt he was lucky to have such a rich son-in-law.
This time the fox ran faster than before, and in a flowery meadow
he found a troop of horses feeding. 'Whose horses are these?' he
asked of the man who was watching them.
'An ogre's,' replied he.
'Hush!' whispered the fox, 'do you see that crowd of armed men
coming towards us? If you tell them the horses belong to an ogre
they will drive them off, and then the ogre will kill you! If they ask,
just say they are Count Piro's; it will be better for everybody.' And
he ran on again.
In a few minutes the king rode up.
'Oh, what lovely creatures! how I wish they were mine!' he
exclaimed. 'Whose are they?'
Count Piro's,' answered the man, who did not know the king; and
the king's heart leapt as he thought that if they belonged to his rich
son-in-law they were as good as his.
At last the fox came to the castle of the ogre himself. He ran up the
steps, with tears falling from his eyes, and crying:
'Oh, you poor, poor people, what a sad fate is yours!'
'What has happened?' asked the ogre, trembling with fright.
'Do you see that troop of horsemen who are riding along the road?
They are sent by the king to kill you!'
'Oh, dear little fox, help us, we implore you!' cried the ogre and his
wife.
'Well, I will do what I can,' answered the fox. 'The best place is for
you both to hide in the big oven, and when the soldiers have gone
by I will let you out.'
The ogre and ogress scrambled into the oven as quick as thought,
and the fox banged the door on them; just as he did so the king
came up.
'Do us the honour to dismount, your Majesty,' said the fox, bowing
low. 'This is the palace of Count Piro!'
'Why it is more splendid than my own!' exclaimed the king, looking
round on all the beautiful things that filled the hall. But why are
there no servants?'
'His Excellency the Count Piro wished the princess to choose them
for herself,' answered the fox, and the king nodded his approval.
He then rode on, leaving the bridal pair in the castle. But when it
was dark and all was still, the fox crept downstairs and lit the
kitchen fire, and the ogre and his wife were burned to death. The
next morning the fox said to Count Piro:
'Now that you are rich and happy, you have no more need of me;
but, before I go, there is one thing I must ask of you in return:
when I die, promise me that you will give me a magnificent coffin,
and bury me with due honours.'
'Oh, little, little fox, don't talk of dying,' cried the princess, nearly
weeping, for she had taken a great liking to the fox.
After some time the fox thought he would see if the Count Piro was
really grateful to him for all he had done, and went back to the
castle, where he lay down on the door-step, and pretended to be
dead. The princess was just going out for a walk, and directly she
saw him lying there, she burst into tears and fell on her knees beside
him.
'My dear little fox, you are not dead,' she wailed; 'you poor, poor
little creature, you shall have the finest coffin in the world!'
'A coffin for an animal?' said Count Piro. 'What nonsense! just take
him by the leg and throw him into the ditch.'
Then the fox sprang up and cried: 'You wretched, thankless beggar;
have you forgotten that you owe all your riches to me?'
Count Piro was frightened when he heard these words, as he
thought that perhaps the fox might have power to take away the
castle, and leave him as poor as when he had nothing to eat but the
pears off his tree. So he tried to soften the fox's anger, saying that
he had only spoken in joke, as he had known quite well that he was
not really dead. For the sake of the princess, the fox let himself be
softened, and he lived in the castle for many years, and played with
Count Piro's children. And when he actually did die, his coffin was
made of silver, and Count Piro and his wife followed him to the
grave.
[From Sicilianische Mahrchen.]
The Rogue And The Herdsman
In a tiny cottage near the king's palace there once lived an old man,
his wife, and his son, a very lazy fellow, who would never do a
stroke of work. He could not be got even to look after their one
cow, but left her to look after herself, while he lay on a bank and
went to sleep in the sun. For a long time his father bore with him,
hoping that as he grew older he might gain more sense; but at last
the old man's patience was worn out, and he told his son that he
should not stay at house in idleness, and must go out into the world
to seek his fortune.
The young man saw that there was no help for it, and he set out
with a wallet full of food over his shoulder. At length he came to a
large house, at the door of which he knocked.
'What do you want?' asked the old man who opened it. And the
youth told him how his father had turned him out of his house
because he was so lazy and stupid, and he needed shelter for the
night.
'That you shall have,' replied the man; 'but to-morrow I shall give
you some work to do, for you must know that I am the chief
herdsman of the king.'
The youth made no answer to this. He felt, if he was to be made to
work after all, that he might as well have stayed where he was. But
as he did not see any other way of getting a bed, he went slowly in.
The herdsman's two daughters and their mother were sitting at
supper, and invited him to join them. Nothing more was said about
work, and when the meal was over they all went to bed.
In the morning, when the young man was dressed, the herdsman
called to him and said:
'Now listen, and I will tell you what you have to do.'
'What is it?' asked the youth, sulkily.
'Nothing less than to look after two hundred pigs,' was the reply.
'Oh, I am used to that,' answered the youth.
'Yes; but this time you will have to do it properly,' said the
herdsman; and he took the youth to the place where the pigs were
feeding, and told him to drive them to the woods on the side of the
mountain. This the young man did, but as soon as they reached the
outskirts of the mountain they grew quite wild, and would have run
away altogether, had they not luckily gone towards a narrow
ravine, from which the youth easily drove them home to his father's
cottage.
'Where do all these pigs come from, and how did you get them?'
asked the old man in surprise, when his son knocked at the door of
the hut he had left only the day before.
'They belong to the king's chief herdsman,' answered his son. 'He
gave them to me to look after, but I knew I could not do it, so I
drove them straight to you. Now make the best of your good
fortune, and kill them and hang them up at once.'
'What are you talking about?' cried the father, pale with horror.
'We should certainly both be put to death if I did any such thing.'
'No, no; do as I tell you, and I will get out of it somehow,' replied
the young man. And in the end he had his way. The pigs were
killed, and laid side by side in a row. Then he cut off the tails and
tied them together with a piece of cord, and swinging the bundle
over his back, he returned to the place where they should have been
feeding. Here there was a small swamp, which was just what he
wanted, and finding a large stone, he fastened the rope to it, and
sank it in the swamp, after which he arranged the tails carefully one
by one, so that only their points were seen sticking out of the water.
When everything was in order, he hastened home to his master with
such a sorrowful face that the herdsman saw at once that something
dreadful had happened.
'Where are the pigs?' asked he.
'Oh, don't speak of them!' answered the young man; 'I really can
hardly tell you. The moment they got into the field they became
quite mad, and each ran in a different direction. I ran too, hither
and thither, but as fast as I caught one, another was off, till I was in
despair. At last, however, I collected them all and was about to
drive them back, when suddenly they rushed down the hill into the
swamp, where they vanished completely, leaving only the points of
their tails, which you can see for yourself.'
'You have made up that story very well,' replied the herdsman.
'No, it is the real truth; come with me and I'll prove it.' And they
went together to the spot, and there sure enough were the points of
the tails sticking up out of the water. The herdsman laid hold of the
nearest, and pulled at it with all his might, but it was no use, for the
stone and the rope held them all fast. He called to the young man
to help him, but the two did not succeed any better than the one
had done.
'Yes, your story was true after all; it is a wonderful thing,' said the
herdsman. 'But I see it is no fault of yours. and I must put up with
my loss as well as I can. Now let us return home, for it is time for
supper.
Next morning the herdsman said to the young man: 'I have got
some other work for you to do. To-day you must take a hundred
sheep to graze; but be careful that no harm befalls them.'
'I will do my best,' replied the youth. And he opened the gate of
the fold, where the sheep had been all night, and drove them out
into the meadow. But in a short time they grew as wild as the pigs
had done, and scattered in all directions. The young man could not
collect them, try as he would, and he thought to himself that this
was the punishment for his laziness in refusing to look after his
father's one cow.
At last, however, the sheep seemed tired of running about, and then
the youth managed to gather them together, and drove them, as
before, straight to his father's house.
'Whose sheep are these, and what are they doing here?' asked the
old man in wonder, and his son told him. But when the tale was
ended the father shook his head.
'Give up these bad ways and take them back to your master,' said
he.
'No, no,' answered the youth; 'I am not so stupid as that! We will
kill them and have them for dinner.'
'You will lose your life if you do,' replied the father.
'Oh, I am not sure of that!' said the son, 'and, anyway, I will have
my will for once.' And he killed all the sheep and laid them on the
grass. But he cut off the head of the ram which always led the
flock and had bells round its horns. This he took back to the place
where they should have been feeding, for here he had noticed a high
rock, with a patch of green grass in the middle and two or three
thick bushes growing on the edge. Up this rock he climbed with
great difficulty, and fastened the ram's head to the bushes with a
cord, leaving only the tips of the horns with the bells visible. As
there was a soft breeze blowing, the bushes to which the head was
tied moved gently, and the bells rang. When all was done to his
liking he hastened quickly back to his master.
'Where are the sheep?' asked the herdsman as the young man ran
panting up the steps.
'Oh! don't speak of them,' answered he. 'It is only by a miracle that
I am here myself.'
'Tell me at once what has happened,' said the herdsman sternly.
The youth began to sob, and stammered out: 'I--I hardly know how
to tell you! They--they--they were so--so troublesome--that I could
not manage them at all. They--ran about in--in all directions, and I-
-I--ran after them and nearly died of fatigue. Then I heard a--a
noise, which I--I thought was the wind. But--but--it was the sheep,
which, be--before my very eyes, were carried straight up--up into
the air. I stood watching them as if I was turned to stone, but there
kept ringing in my ears the sound of the bells on the ram which led
them.'
'That is nothing but a lie from beginning to end,' said the herdsman.
'No, it is as true as that there is a sun in heaven,' answered the
young man.
'Then give me a proof of it,' cried his master.
'Well, come with me,' said the youth. By this time it was evening
and the dusk was falling. The young man brought the herdsman to
the foot of the great rock, but it was so dark you could hardly see.
Still the sound of sheep bells rang softly from above, and the
herdsman knew them to be those he had hung on the horns of his
ram.
'Do you hear?' asked the youth.
'Yes, I hear; you have spoken the truth, and I cannot blame you for
what has happened. I must bear the loss as best as I can.'
He turned and went home, followed by the young man, who felt
highly pleased with his own cleverness.
'I should not be surprised if the tasks I set you were too difficult,
and that you were tired of them,' said the herdsman next morning;
'but to-day I have something quite easy for you to do. You must
look after forty oxen, and be sure you are very careful, for one of
them has gold-tipped horns and hoofs, and the king reckons it
among his greatest treasures.'
The young man drove out the oxen into the meadow, and no sooner
had they got there than, like the sheep and the pigs, they began to
scamper in all directions, the precious bull being the wildest of all.
As the youth stood watching them, not knowing what to do next, it
came into his head that his father's cow was put out to grass at no
great distance; and he forthwith made such a noise that he quite
frightened the oxen, who were easily persuaded to take the path he
wished. When they heard the cow lowing they galloped all the
faster, and soon they all arrived at his father's house.
The old man was standing before the door of his hut when the great
herd of animals dashed round a corner of the road, with his son and
his own cow at their head.
'Whose cattle are these, and why are they here?' he asked; and his
son told him the story.
'Take them back to your master as soon as you can,' said the old
man; but the son only laughed, and said:
'No, no; they are a present to you! They will make you fat!'
For a long while the old man refused to have anything to do with
such a wicked scheme; but his son talked him over in the end, and
they killed the oxen as they had killed the sheep and the pigs. Last
of all they came to the king's cherished ox.
The son had a rope ready to cast round its horns, and throw it to
the ground, but the ox was stronger than the rope, and soon tore it
in pieces. Then it dashed away to the wood, the youth following;
over hedges and ditches they both went, till they reached the rocky
pass which bordered the herdsman's land. Here the ox, thinking
itself safe, stopped to rest, and thus gave the young man a chance
to come up with it. Not knowing how to catch it, he collected all
the wood he could find and made a circle of fire round the ox, who
by this time had fallen asleep, and did not wake till the fire had
caught its head, and it was too late for it to escape. Then the young
man, who had been watching, ran home to his master.
'You have been away a long while,' said the herdsman. 'Where are
the cattle?'
The young man gasped, and seemed as if he was unable to speak.
At last he answered:
'It is always the same story! The oxen are--gone--gone!'
'G-g-gone?' cried the herdsman. 'Scoundrel, you lie!'
'I am telling you the exact truth,' answered the young man.
'Directly we came to the meadow they grew so wild that I could not
keep them together. Then the big ox broke away, and the others
followed till they all disappeared down a deep hole into the earth.
It seemed to me that I heard sounds of bellowing, and I thought I
recognised the voice of the golden horned ox; but when I got to the
place from which the sounds had come, I could neither see nor hear
anything in the hole itself, though there were traces of a fire all
round it.'
'Wretch!' cried the herdsman, when he had heard this story, 'even if
you did not lie before, you are lying now.'
'No, master, I am speaking the truth. Come and see for yourself.'
'If I find you have deceived me, you are a dead man, said the
herdsman; and they went out together.
'What do you call that?' asked the youth. And the herdsman looked
and saw the traces of a fire, which seemed to have sprung up from
under the earth.
'Wonder upon wonder,' he exclaimed, 'so you really did speak the
truth after all! Well, I cannot reproach you, though I shall have to
pay heavily to my royal master for the value of that ox. But come,
let us go home! I will never set you to herd cattle again,
henceforward I will give you something easier to do.'
'I have thought of exactly the thing for you,' said the herdsman as
they walked along, ' and it is so simple that you cannot make a
mistake. Just make me ten scythes, one for every man, for I want
the grass mown in one of my meadows to-morrow.'
At these words the youth's heart sank, for he had never been trained
either as a smith or a joiner. However, he dared not say no, but
smiled and nodded.
Slowly and sadly he went to bed, but he could not sleep, for
wondering how the scythes were to be made. All the skill and
cunning he had shown before was of no use to him now, and after
thinking about the scythes for many hours, there seemed only one
way open to him. So, listening to make sure that all was still, he
stole away to his parents, and told them the whole story. When
they had heard everything, they hid him where no one could find
him.
Time passed away, and the young man stayed at home doing all his
parents bade him, and showing himself very different from what he
had been before he went out to see the world; but one day he said
to his father that he should like to marry, and have a house of his
own.
'When I served the king's chief herdsman,' added he, 'I saw his
daughter, and I am resolved to try if I cannot win her for my wife.'
'It will cost you your life, if you do,' answered the father, shaking
his head.
'Well, I will do my best,' replied his son; 'but first give me the sword
which hangs over your bed!'
The old man did not understand what good the sword would do,
however he took it down, and the young man went his way.
Late in the evening he arrived at the house of the herdsman, and
knocked at the door, which was opened by a little boy.
'I want to speak to your master,' said he.
'So it is you?' cried the herdsman, when he had received the
message. 'Well, you can sleep here to-night if you wish.'
'I have come for something else besides a bed,' replied the young
man, drawing his sword, 'and if you do not promise to give me your
youngest daughter as my wife I will stab you through the heart.'
What could the poor man do but promise? And he fetched his
youngest daughter, who seemed quite pleased at the proposed
match, and gave the youth her hand.
Then the young man went home to his parents, and bade them get
ready to welcome his bride. And when the wedding was over he
told his father-in-law, the herdsman, what he had done with the
sheep, and pigs, and cattle. By-and-by the story came to the king's
ears, and he thought that a man who was so clever was just the man
to govern the country; so he made him his minister, and after the
king himself there was no one so great as he.
[From Islandische Mahrchen.]
Eisenkopf
Once upon a time there lived an old man who had only one son,
whom he loved dearly; but they were very poor, and often had
scarcely enough to eat. Then the old man fell ill, and things grew
worse than ever, so he called his son and said to him:
'My dear boy, I have no longer any food to give you, and you must
go into the world and get it for yourself. It does not matter what
work you do, but remember if you do it well and are faithful to
your master, you will always have your reward.'
So Peter put a piece of black bread in his knapsack, and strapping it
on his back, took a stout stick in his hand, and set out to seek his
fortune. For a long while he travelled on and on, and nobody
seemed to want him; but one day he met an old man, and being a
polite youth, he took off his hat and said: 'Good morning,' in a
pleasant voice. 'Good morning,' answered the old man; 'and where
are you going?'
'I am wandering through the country trying to get work,' replied
Peter.
'Then stay with me, for I can give you plenty,' said the old man, and
Peter stayed.
His work did not seem hard, for he had only two horses and a cow
to see after, and though he had been hired for a year, the year
consisted of but three days, so that it was not long before he
received his wages. In payment the old man gave him a nut, and
offered to keep him for another year; but Peter was home-sick; and,
besides, he would rather have been paid ever so small a piece of
money than a nut; for, thought he, nuts grow on every tree, and I
can gather as many as I like. However, he did not say this to the
old man, who had been kind to him, but just bade him farewell.
The nearer Peter drew to his father's house the more ashamed he
felt at having brought back such poor wages. What could one nut
do for him? Why, it would not buy even a slice of bacon. It was no
use taking it home, he might as well eat it. So he sat down on a
stone and cracked it with his teeth, and then took it out of his
mouth to break off the shell. But who could ever guess what came
out of that nut? Why, horses and oxen and sheep stepped out in
such numbers that they seemed as if they would stretch to the
world's end! The sight gave Peter such a shock that he wrung his
hands in dismay. What was he to do with all these creatures, where
was he to put them? He stood and gazed in terror, and at this
moment Eisenkopf came by.
'What is the matter, young man?' asked he.
'Oh, my friend, there is plenty the matter,' answered Peter. 'I have
gained a nut as my wages, and when I cracked it this crowd of
beasts came out, and I don't know what to do with them all!'
'Listen to me, my son,' said Eisenkopf. 'If you will promise never
to marry I will drive them all back into the nut again.'
In his trouble Peter would have promised far harder things than
this, so he gladly gave the promise Eisenkopf asked for; and at a
whistle from the stranger the animals all began crowding into the
nut again, nearly tumbling over each other in their haste. When the
last foot had got inside, the two halves of the shell shut close. Then
Peter put it in his pocket and went on to the house.
No sooner had he reached it than he cracked his nut for the second
time, and out came the horses, sheep, and oxen again. Indeed Peter
thought that there were even more of them than before. The old
man could not believe his eyes when he saw the multitudes of
horses, oxen and sheep standing before his door.
'How did you come by all these?' he gasped, as soon as he could
speak; and the son told him the whole story, and of the promise he
had given Eisenkopf.
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