The Violet Fairy Book (13 page)

'What are you doing there?' asked the dragon.

'You can see for yourself,' answered Stan, going quietly on with
his work.

'Why are you tying the trees together?'

'Not to give myself unnecessary work; when I pull up one, all the
others will come up too.'

'But how will you carry them home?'

'Dear me! don't you understand that I am going to take the whole
forest back with me?' said Stan, tying two other trees as he
spoke.

'I'll tell you what,' cried the dragon, trembling with fear at
the thought of such a thing; 'let me carry the wood for you, and
you shall have seven times seven sacks full of ducats.'

'You are a good fellow, and I agree to your proposal,' answered
Stan, and the dragon carried the wood.

Now the three days' service which were to be reckoned as a year
were over, and the only thing that disturbed Stan was, how to get
all those ducats back to his home!

In the evening the dragon and his mother had a long talk, but
Stan heard every word through a crack in the ceiling.

'Woe be to us, mother,' said the dragon; 'this man will soon get
us into his power. Give him his money, and let us be rid of
him.'

But the old mother was fond of money, and did not like this.

'Listen to me,' said she; 'you must murder him this very night.'

'I am afraid,' answered he.

'There is nothing to fear,' replied the old mother. 'When he is
asleep take the club, and hit him on the head with it. It is
easily done.'

And so it would have been, had not Stan heard all about it. And
when the dragon and his mother had put out their lights, he took
the pigs' trough and filled it with earth, and placed it in his
bed, and covered it with clothes. Then he hid himself
underneath, and began to snore loudly.

Very soon the dragon stole softly into the room, and gave a
tremendous blow on the spot where Stan's head should have been.
Stan groaned loudly from under the bed, and the dragon went away
as softly as he had come. Directly he had closed the door, Stan
lifted out the pigs' trough, and lay down himself, after making
everything clean and tidy, but he was wise enough not to shut his
eyes that night.

The next morning he came into the room when the dragon and his
mother were having their breakfast.

'Good morning,' said he.

'Good morning. How did you sleep?'

'Oh, very well, but I dreamed that a flea had bitten me, and I
seem to feel it still.'

The dragon and his mother looked at each other. 'Do you hear
that?' whispered he. 'He talks of a flea. I broke my club on
his head.'

This time the mother grew as frightened as her son. There was
nothing to be done with a man like this, and she made all haste
to fill the sacks with ducats, so as to get rid of Stan as soon
as possible. But on his side Stan was trembling like an aspen,
as he could not lift even one sack from the ground. So he stood
still and looked at them.

'What are you standing there for?' asked the dragon.

'Oh, I was standing here because it has just occurred to me that
I should like to stay in your service for another year. I am
ashamed that when I get home they should see I have brought back
so little. I know that they will cry out, "Just look at Stan
Bolovan, who in one year has grown as weak as a dragon." '

Here a shriek of dismay was heard both from the dragon and his
mother, who declared they would give him seven or even seven
times seven the number of sacks if he would only go away.

'I'll tell you what!' said Stan at last. 'I see you don't want
me to stay, and I should be very sorry to make myself
disagreeable. I will go at once, but only on condition that you
shall carry the money home yourself, so that I may not be put to
shame before my friends.'

The words were hardly out of his mouth before the dragon had
snatched up the sacks and piled them on his back. Then he and
Stan set forth.

The way, though really not far, was yet too long for Stan, but at
length he heard his children's voices, and stopped short. He did
not wish the dragon to know where he lived, lest some day he
should come to take back his treasure. Was there nothing he
could say to get rid of the monster? Suddenly an idea came into
Stan's head, and he turned round.

'I hardly know what to do,' said he. 'I have a hundred children,
and I am afraid they may do you harm, as they are always ready
for a fight. However, I will do my best to protect you.'

A hundred children! That was indeed no joke! The dragon let
fall the sacks from terror, and then picked them up again. But
the children, who had had nothing to eat since their father had
left them, came rushing towards him, waving knives in their right
hands and forks in their left, and crying, 'Give us dragon's
flesh; we will have dragon's flesh.'

At this dreadful sight the dragon waited no longer: he flung
down his sacks where he stood and took flight as fast as he
could, so terrified at the fate that awaited him that from that
day he has never dared to show his face in the world again.

(Adapted from Rumanische Marchen.)

Once upon a time in the country of Japan there lived two frogs,
one of whom made his home in a ditch near the town of Osaka, on
the sea coast, while the other dwelt in a clear little stream
which ran through the city of Kioto. At such a great distance
apart, they had never even heard of each other; but, funnily
enough, the idea came into both their heads at once that they
should like to see a little of the world, and the frog who lived
at Kioto wanted to visit Osaka, and the frog who lived at Osaka
wished to go to Kioto, where the great Mikado had his palace.

So one fine morning in the spring they both set out along the
road that led from Kioto to Osaka, one from one end and the other
from the other. The journey was more tiring than they expected,
for they did not know much about travelling, and half way between
the two towns there arose a mountain which had to be climbed. It
took them a long time and a great many hops to reach the top, but
there they were at last, and what was the surprise of each to see
another frog before him! They looked at each other for a moment
without speaking, and then fell into conversation, explaining the
cause of their meeting so far from their homes. It was
delightful to find that they both felt the same wish—to learn a
little more of their native country—and as there was no sort of
hurry they stretched themselves out in a cool, damp place, and
agreed that they would have a good rest before they parted to go
their ways.

'What a pity we are not bigger,' said the Osaka frog; 'for then
we could see both towns from here, and tell if it is worth our
while going on.'

'Oh, that is easily managed,' returned the Kioto frog. 'We have
only got to stand up on our hind legs, and hold on to each other,
and then we can each look at the town he is travelling to.'

This idea pleased the Osaka frog so much that he at once jumped
up and put his front paws on the shoulders of his friend, who had
risen also. There they both stood, stretching themselves as high
as they could, and holding each other tightly, so that they might
not fall down. The Kioto frog turned his nose towards Osaka, and
the Osaka frog turned his nose towards Kioto; but the foolish
things forgot that when they stood up their great eyes lay in the
backs of their heads, and that though their noses might point to
the places to which they wanted to go their eyes beheld the
places from which they had come.

'Dear me!' cried the Osaka frog, 'Kioto is exactly like Osaka.
It is certainly not worth such a long journey. I shall go home!'

'If I had had any idea that Osaka was only a copy of Kioto I
should never have travelled all this way,' exclaimed the frog
from Kioto, and as he spoke he took his hands from his friend's
shoulders, and they both fell down on the grass. Then they took
a polite farewell of each other, and set off for home again, and
to the end of their lives they believed that Osaka and Kioto,
which are as different to look at as two towns can be, were as
like as two peas.

(Japanische Marchen.)

Once upon a time there lived a man who wasted all his money, and
grew so poor that his only food was a few grains of corn, which
he scratched like a fowl from out of a dust-heap.

One day he was scratching as usual among a dust-heap in the
street, hoping to find something for breakfast, when his eye fell
upon a small silver coin, called an eighth, which he greedily
snatched up. 'Now I can have a proper meal,' he thought, and
after drinking some water at a well he lay down and slept so long
that it was sunrise before he woke again. Then he jumped up and
returned to the dust-heap. 'For who knows,' he said to himself,
'whether I may not have some good luck again.'

As he was walking down the road, he saw a man coming towards him,
carrying a cage made of twigs. 'Hi! you fellow!' called he,
'what have you got inside there?'

'Gazelles,' replied the man.

'Bring them here, for I should like to see them.'

As he spoke, some men who were standing by began to laugh, saying
to the man with the cage: 'You had better take care how you
bargain with him, for he has nothing at all except what he picks
up from a dust-heap, and if he can't feed himself, will he be
able to feed a gazelle?'

But the man with the cage made answer: 'Since I started from my
home in the country, fifty people at the least have called me to
show them my gazelles, and was there one among them who cared to
buy? It is the custom for a trader in merchandise to be summoned
hither and thither, and who knows where one may find a buyer?'
And he took up his cage and went towards the scratcher of
dust-heaps, and the men went with him.

'What do you ask for your gazelles?' said the beggar. 'Will you
let me have one for an eighth?'

And the man with the cage took out a gazelle, and held it out,
saying, 'Take this one, master!'

And the beggar took it and carried it to the dust-heap, where he
scratched carefully till he found a few grains of corn, which he
divided with his gazelle. This he did night and morning, till
five days went by.

Then, as he slept, the gazelle woke him, saying, 'Master.'

And the man answered, 'How is it that I see a wonder?'

'What wonder?' asked the gazelle.

'Why, that you, a gazelle, should be able to speak, for, from the
beginning, my father and mother and all the people that are in
the world have never told me of a talking gazelle.'

'Never mind that,' said the gazelle, 'but listen to what I say!
First, I took you for my master. Second, you gave for me all you
had in the world. I cannot run away from you, but give me, I
pray you, leave to go every morning and seek food for myself, and
every evening I will come back to you. What you find in the
dust-heaps is not enough for both of us.'

'Go, then,' answered the master; and the gazelle went.

When the sun had set, the gazelle came back, and the poor man was
very glad, and they lay down and slept side by side.

In the morning it said to him, 'I am going away to feed.'

And the man replied, 'Go, my son,' but he felt very lonely
without his gazelle, and set out sooner than usual for the
dust-heap where he generally found most corn. And glad he was
when the evening came, and he could return home. He lay on the
grass chewing tobacco, when the gazelle trotted up.

'Good evening, my master; how have you fared all day? I have
been resting in the shade in a place where there is sweet grass
when I am hungry, and fresh water when I am thirsty, and a soft
breeze to fan me in the heat. It is far away in the forest, and
no one knows of it but me, and to-morrow I shall go again.'

So for five days the gazelle set off at daybreak for this cool
spot, but on the fifth day it came to a place where the grass was
bitter, and it did not like it, and scratched, hoping to tear
away the bad blades. But, instead, it saw something lying in the
earth, which turned out to be a diamond, very large and bright.
'Oh, ho!' said the gazelle to itself, 'perhaps now I can do
something for my master who bought me with all the money he had;
but I must be careful or they will say he has stolen it. I had
better take it myself to some great rich man, and see what it
will do for me.'

Directly the gazelle had come to this conclusion, it picked up
the diamond in its mouth, and went on and on and on through the
forest, but found no place where a rich man was likely to dwell.
For two more days it ran, from dawn to dark, till at last early
one morning it caught sight of a large town, which gave it fresh
courage.

The people were standing about the streets doing their marketing,
when the gazelle bounded past, the diamond flashing as it ran.
They called after it, but it took no notice till it reached the
palace, where the sultan was sitting, enjoying the cool air. And
the gazelle galloped up to him, and laid the diamond at his feet.

The sultan looked first at the diamond and next at the gazelle;
then he ordered his attendants to bring cushions and a carpet,
that the gazelle might rest itself after its long journey. And
he likewise ordered milk to be brought, and rice, that it might
eat and drink and be refreshed.

And when the gazelle was rested, the sultan said to it: 'Give me
the news you have come with.'

And the gazelle answered: 'I am come with this diamond, which is
a pledge from my master the Sultan Darai. He has heard you have
a daughter, and sends you this small token, and begs you will
give her to him to wife.'

And the sultan said: 'I am content. The wife is his wife, the
family is his family, the slave is his slave. Let him come to me
empty-handed, I am content.'