Andrew Lang_Fairy Book 06 (16 page)

Then all the brothers cried together, 'We will dig a great hole,
and fill it with burning wood, and spread a covering over the
top; and when the man-eater arrives we will push him into it.' So
they all set to work and prepared the great hole, and set fire to
the wood, till it was reduced to a mass of glowing charcoal. And
when the man-eater came, and called as usual, 'Udea, what did you
see your grandfather doing?' she answered, 'I saw him pull off
the ass' skin and devour the ass, and he fell in the fire, and
the fire burned him up.'

Then the man-eater was filled with rage, and he flung himself
upon the iron door and burst it in. On the other side stood
Udea's seven brothers, who said, 'Come, rest yourself a little on
this mat.' And the man-eater sat down, and he fell right into the
burning pit which was under the mat, and they heaped on more
wood, till nothing was left of him, not even a bone. Only one of
his finger-nails was blown away, and fell into an upper chamber
where Udea was standing, and stuck under one of the nails of her
own fingers. And she sank lifeless to the earth.

Meanwhile her brothers sat below waiting for her and wondering
why she did not come. 'What can have happened to her!' exclaimed
the eldest brother. 'Perhaps she has fallen into the fire, too.'
So one of the others ran upstairs and found his sister stretched
on the floor. 'Udea! Udea!' he cried, but she did not move or
reply. Then he saw that she was dead, and rushed down to his
brothers in the courtyard and called out, 'Come quickly, our
sister is dead!' In a moment they were all beside her and knew
that it was true, and they made a bier and laid her on it, and
placed her across a camel, and said to the camel, 'Take her to
her mother, but be careful not to halt by the way, and let no man
capture you, and see you kneel down before no man, save him who
shall say "string"
[1]
to you. But to him who
says "string," then kneel.'

So the camel started, and when it had accomplished half its
journey it met three men, who ran after it in order to catch it;
but they could not. Then they cried 'Stop!' but the camel only
went the faster. The three men panted behind till one said to the
others, 'Wait a minute! The string of my sandal is broken!' The
camel caught the word 'string' and knelt down at once, and the
men came up and found a dead girl lying on a bier, with a ring on
her finger. And as one of the young men took hold of her hand to
pull off the ring, he knocked out the man-eater's finger-nail,
which had stuck there, and the maiden sat up and said, 'Let him
live who gave me life, and slay him who slew me!' And when the
camel heard the maiden speak, it turned and carried her back to
her brothers.

Now the brothers were still seated in the court bewailing their
sister, and their eyes were dim with weeping so that they could
hardly see. And when the camel stood before them they said,
'Perhaps it has brought back our sister!' and rose to give it a
beating. But the camel knelt down and the girl dismounted, and
they flung themselves on her neck and wept more than ever for
gladness.

'Tell me,' said the eldest, as soon as he could speak, 'how it
all came about, and what killed you.'

'I was waiting in the upper chamber,' said she, 'and a nail of
the man-eater's stuck under my nail, and I fell dead upon the
ground. That is all I know.'

'But who pulled out the nail?' asked he.

'A man took hold of my hand and tried to pull off my ring, and
the nail jumped out and I was alive again. And when the camel
heard me say "Let him live who gave me life, slay him who slew
me!" it turned and brought me back to the castle. That is my
story.'

She was silent and the eldest brother spoke. 'Will you listen to
what I have to say, my brothers?'

And they replied, 'How should we not hear you? Are you not our
father as well as our brother?'

'Then this is my advice. Let us take our sister back to our
father and mother, that we may see them once more before they
die.'

And the young men agreed, and they mounted their horses and
placed their sister in a litter on the camel. So they set out.

At the end of five days' journey they reached the old home where
their father and mother dwelt alone. And the heart of their
father rejoiced, and he said to them, 'Dear sons, why did you go
away and leave your mother and me to weep for you night and day?'

'Dear father,' answered the son, 'let us rest a little now, and
then I will tell you everything from the beginning.'

'All right,' replied the father, and waited patiently for three
days.

And on the morning of the fourth day the eldest brother said,
'Dear father, would you like to hear our adventures?'

'Certainly I should!'

'Well, it was our aunt who was the cause of our leaving home, for
we agreed that if the baby was a sister she should wave a white
handkerchief, and if it was a brother, she should brandish a
sickle, for then there would be nothing to come back for, and we
might wander far away. Now our aunt could not bear us, and hated
us to live in the same house with her, so she brandished the
sickle, and we went away. That is all our story.'

And that is all this story.

(Märchen und Gedichte aus der Stadt Tripolis. Von Hans Stumme.)

Once upon a time there was a king who had three daughters; they
were all beautiful, but the youngest was the fairest of the
three. Now it happened that one day their father had to set out
for a tour in a distant part of his kingdom. Before he left, his
youngest daughter made him promise to bring her back a wreath of
wild flowers. When the king was ready to return to his palace, he
bethought himself that he would like to take home presents to
each of his three daughters; so he went into a jeweller's shop
and bought a beautiful necklace for the eldest princess; then he
went to a rich merchant's and bought a dress embroidered in gold
and silver thread for the second princess, but in none of the
flower shops nor in the market could he find the wreath of wild
flowers that his youngest daughter had set her heart on. So he
had to set out on his homeward way without it. Now his journey
led him through a thick forest. While he was still about four
miles distant from his palace, he noticed a white wolf squatting
on the roadside, and, behold! on the head of the wolf, there was
a wreath of wild flowers.

Then the king called to the coachman, and ordered him to get down
from his seat and fetch him the wreath from the wolf's head. But
the wolf heard the order and said: 'My lord and king, I will let
you have the wreath, but I must have something in return.'

'What do you want?' answered the king. 'I will gladly give you
rich treasure in exchange for it.'

'I do not want rich treasure,' replied the wolf. 'Only promise to
give me the first thing that meets you on your way to your
castle. In three days I shall come and fetch it.'

And the king thought to himself: 'I am still a good long way from
home, I am sure to meet a wild animal or a bird on the road, it
will be quite safe to promise.' So he consented, and carried the
wreath away with him. But all along the road he met no living
creature till he turned into the palace gates, where his youngest
daughter was waiting to welcome him home.

That evening the king was very sad, remembering his promise; and
when he told the queen what had happened, she too shed bitter
tears. And the youngest princess asked them why they both looked
so sad, and why they wept. Then her father told her what a price
he would have to pay for the wreath of wild flowers he had
brought home to her, for in three days a white wolf would come
and claim her and carry her away, and they would never see her
again. But the queen thought and thought, and at last she hit
upon a plan.

There was in the palace a servant maid the same age and the same
height as the princess, and the queen dressed her up in a
beautiful dress belonging to her daughter, and determined to give
her to the white wolf, who would never know the difference.

On the third day the wolf strode into the palace yard and up the
great stairs, to the room where the king and queen were seated.

'I have come to claim your promise,' he said. 'Give me your
youngest daughter.'

Then they led the servant maid up to him, and he said to her:
'You must mount on my back, and I will take you to my castle.'
And with these words he swung her on to his back and left the
palace.

When they reached the place where he had met the king and given
him the wreath of wild flowers, he stopped, and told her to
dismount that they might rest a little.

So they sat down by the roadside.

'I wonder,' said the wolf, 'what your father would do if this
forest belonged to him?'

And the girl answered: 'My father is a poor man, so he would cut
down the trees, and saw them into planks, and he would sell the
planks, and we should never be poor again; but would always have
enough to eat.'

Then the wolf knew that he had not got the real princess, and he
swung the servant-maid on to his back and carried her to the
castle. And he strode angrily into the king's chamber, and spoke.

'Give me the real princess at once. If you deceive me again I
will cause such a storm to burst over your palace that the walls
will fall in, and you will all be buried in the ruins.'

Then the king and the queen wept, but they saw there was no
escape. So they sent for their youngest daughter, and the king
said to her: 'Dearest child, you must go with the white wolf, for
I promised you to him, and I must keep my word.'

So the princess got ready to leave her home; but first she went
to her room to fetch her wreath of wild flowers, which she took
with her. Then the white wolf swung her on his back and bore her
away. But when they came to the place where he had rested with
the servant-maid, he told her to dismount that they might rest
for a little at the roadside. Then he turned to her and said: 'I
wonder what your father would do if this forest belonged to him?'

And the princess answered: 'My father would cut down the trees
and turn it into a beautiful park and gardens, and he and his
courtiers would come and wander among the glades in the summer
time.'

'This is the real princess,' said the wolf to himself. But aloud
he said: 'Mount once more on my back, and I will bear you to my
castle.'

And when she was seated on his back he set out through the woods,
and he ran, and ran, and ran, till at last he stopped in front of
a stately courtyard, with massive gates.

'This is a beautiful castle,' said the princess, as the gates
swung back and she stepped inside. 'If only I were not so far
away from my father and my mother!'

But the wolf answered: 'At the end of a year we will pay a visit
to your father and mother.'

And at these words the white furry skin slipped from his back,
and the princess saw that he was not a wolf at all, but a
beautiful youth, tall and stately; and he gave her his hand, and
led her up the castle stairs.

One day, at the end of half a year, he came into her room and
said: 'My dear one, you must get ready for a wedding. Your eldest
sister is going to be married, and I will take you to your
father's palace. When the wedding is over, I shall come and fetch
you home. I will whistle outside the gate, and when you hear me,
pay no heed to what your father or mother say, leave your dancing
and feasting, and come to me at once; for if I have to leave
without you, you will never find your way back alone through the
forests.'

When the princess was ready to start, she found that he had put
on his white fur skin, and was changed back into the wolf; and he
swung her on to his back, and set out with her to her father's
palace, where he left her, while he himself returned home alone.
But, in the evening, he went back to fetch her, and, standing
outside the palace gate, he gave a long, loud whistle. In the
midst of her dancing the princess heard the sound, and at once
she went to him, and he swung her on his back and bore her away
to his castle.

Again, at the end of half a year, the prince came into her room,
as the white wolf, and said: 'Dear heart, you must prepare for
the wedding of your second sister. I will take you to your
father's palace to-day, and we will remain there together till
to-morrow morning.'

So they went together to the wedding. In the evening, when the
two were alone together, he dropped his fur skin, and, ceasing to
be a wolf, became a prince again. Now they did not know that the
princess's mother was hidden in the room. When she saw the white
skin lying on the floor, she crept out of the room, and sent a
servant to fetch the skin and to burn it in the kitchen fire. The
moment the flames touched the skin there was a fearful clap of
thunder heard, and the prince disappeared out of the palace gate
in a whirlwind, and returned to his palace alone.

But the princess was heart-broken, and spent the night weeping
bitterly. Next morning she set out to find her way back to the
castle, but she wandered through the woods and forests, and she
could find no path or track to guide her. For fourteen days she
roamed in the forest, sleeping under the trees, and living upon
wild berries and roots, and at last she reached a little house.
She opened the door and went in, and found the wind seated in the
room all by himself, and she spoke to the wind and said: 'Wind,
have you seen the white wolf?'

And the wind answered: 'All day and all night I have been blowing
round the world, and I have only just come home; but I have not
seen him.'

But he gave her a pair of shoes, in which, he told her, she would
be able to walk a hundred miles with every step. Then she walked
through the air till she reached a star, and she said: 'Tell me,
star, have you seen the white wolf?'