The Violet Fairy Book (16 page)

'Why, I seem to see something moving in that net I set. I must
just go and see what it is.'

He ran to it, and when he had looked in it he called to his wife:

'Just look! Here is actually a four-footed creature caught in
the net. I do believe it's a hare.'

'Good heavens!' cried his wife. 'How did the hare get into your
net? It IS a hare, so you needn't say it isn't. After all,
people must have said the truth—-'

But her husband only shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as
if he could not believe his own eyes.

'Now what are you standing there for, stupid?' cried his wife.
'Take up the hare. A nice fat hare is a dinner for a feast day.'

The old man caught up the hare, and they drove on to the place
where the treasure was buried. They swept the twigs away, dug up
the earth, took out the pot, and drove home again with it.

And now the old couple had plenty of money and were cheery and
comfortable. But the wife was very foolish. Every day she asked
a lot of people to dinner and feasted them, till her husband grew
quite impatient. He tried to reason with her, but she would not
listen.

'You've got no right to lecture me!' said she. 'We found the
treasure together, and together we will spend it.'

Her husband took patience, but at length he said to her: 'You
may do as you please, but I sha'n't give you another penny.'

The old woman was very angry. 'Oh, what a good-for-nothing
fellow to want to spend all the money himself! But just wait a
bit and see what I shall do.'

Off she went to the governor to complain of her husband.

'Oh, my lord, protect me from my husband! Ever since he found
the treasure there is no bearing him. He only eats and drinks,
and won't work, and he keeps all the money to himself.'

The governor took pity on the woman, and ordered his chief
secretary to look into the matter.

The secretary called the elders of the village together, and went
with them to the man's house.

'The governor,' said he, 'desires you to give all that treasure
you found into my care.'

The man shrugged his shoulders and said: 'What treasure? I know
nothing about a treasure.'

'How? You know nothing? Why your wife has complained of you.
Don't attempt to tell lies. If you don't hand over all the money
at once you will be tried for daring to raise treasure without
giving due notice to the governor about it.'

'Pardon me, your excellency, but what sort of treasure was it
supposed to have been? My wife must have dreamt of it, and you
gentlemen have listened to her nonsense.'

'Nonsense, indeed,' broke in his wife. 'A kettle full of gold
and silver, do you call that nonsense?'

'You are not in your right mind, dear wife. Sir, I beg your
pardon. Ask her how it all happened, and if she convinces you
I'll pay for it with my life.'

'This is how it all happened, Mr. Secretary,' cried the wife.
'We were driving through the forest, and we saw a pike up in the
top of a tree—-'

'What, a PIKE?' shouted the secretary. 'Do you think you may
joke with me, pray?'

'Indeed, I'm not joking, Mr. Secretary! I'm speaking the bare
truth.'

'Now you see, gentlemen,' said her husband, 'how far you can
trust her, when she chatters like this.'

'Chatter, indeed? I!! Perhaps you have forgotten, too, how we
found a live hare in the river?'

Everyone roared with laughter; even the secretary smiled and
stroked his beard, and the man said:

'Come, come, wife, everyone is laughing at you. You see for
yourself, gentlemen, how far you can believe her.'

'Yes, indeed,' said the village elders, 'it is certainly the
first time we have heard that hares thrive in the water or fish
among the tree tops.'

The secretary could make nothing of it all, and drove back to the
town. The old woman was so laughed at that she had to hold her
tongue and obey her husband ever after, and the man bought wares
with part of the treasure and moved into the town, where he
opened a shop, and prospered, and spent the rest of his days in
peace.

What a life that poor man led with his wife, to be sure! Not a
day passed without her scolding him and calling him names, and
indeed sometimes she would take the broom from behind the stove
and beat him with it. He had no peace or comfort at all, and
really hardly knew how to bear it.

One day, when his wife had been particularly unkind and had
beaten him black and blue, he strolled slowly into the fields,
and as he could not endure to be idle he spread out his nets.

What kind of bird do you think he caught in his net? He caught
a crane, and the crane said, 'Let me go free, and I'll show
myself grateful.'

The man answered, 'No, my dear fellow. I shall take you home,
and then perhaps my wife won't scold me so much.'

Said the crane: 'You had better come with me to my house,' and
so they went to the crane's house.

When they got there, what do you think the crane took from the
wall? He took down a sack, and he said:

'Two out of a sack!'

Instantly two pretty lads sprang out of the sack. They brought
in oak tables, which they spread with silken covers, and placed
all sorts of delicious dishes and refreshing drinks on them. The
man had never seen anything so beautiful in his life, and he was
delighted.

Then the crane said to him, 'Now take this sack to your wife.'

The man thanked him warmly, took the sack, and set out.

His home was a good long way off, and as it was growing dark, and
he was feeling tired, he stopped to rest at his cousin's house by
the way.

The cousin had three daughters, who laid out a tempting supper,
but the man would eat nothing, and said to his cousin, 'Your
supper is bad.'

'Oh, make the best of it,' said she, but the man only said:
'Clear away!' and taking out his sack he cried, as the crane had
taught him:

'Two out of the sack!'

And out came the two pretty boys, who quickly brought in the oak
tables, spread the silken covers, and laid out all sorts of
delicious dishes and refreshing drinks.

Never in their lives had the cousin and her daughters seen such a
supper, and they were delighted and astonished at it. But the
cousin quietly made up her mind to steal the sack, so she called
to her daughters: 'Go quickly and heat the bathroom: I am sure
our dear guest would like to have a bath before he goes to bed.'

When the man was safe in the bathroom she told her daughters to
make a sack exactly like his, as quickly as possible. Then she
changed the two sacks, and hid the man's sack away.

The man enjoyed his bath, slept soundly, and set off early next
morning, taking what he believed to be the sack the crane had
given him.

All the way home he felt in such good spirits that he sang and
whistled as he walked through the wood, and never noticed how the
birds were twittering and laughing at him.

As soon as he saw his house he began to shout from a distance,
'Hallo! old woman! Come out and meet me!'

His wife screamed back: 'You come here, and I'll give you a good
thrashing with the poker!'

The man walked into the house, hung his sack on a nail, and said,
as the crane had taught him:

'Two out of the sack!'

But not a soul came out of the sack.

Then he said again, exactly as the crane had taught him:

'Two out of the sack!'

His wife, hearing him chattering goodness knows what, took up her
wet broom and swept the ground all about him.

The man took flight and rushed oft into the field, and there he
found the crane marching proudly about, and to him he told his
tale.

'Come back to my house,' said the crane, and so they went to the
crane's house, and as soon as they got there, what did the crane
take down from the wall? Why, he took down a sack, and he said:

'Two out of the sack!'

And instantly two pretty lads sprang out of the sack, brought in
oak tables, on which they laid silken covers, and spread all
sorts of delicious dishes and refreshing drinks on them.

'Take this sack,' said the crane.

The man thanked him heartily, took the sack, and went. He had a
long way to walk, and as he presently got hungry, he said to the
sack, as the crane had taught him:

'Two out of the sack!'

And instantly two rough men with thick sticks crept out of the
bag and began to beat him well, crying as they did so:

'Don't boast to your cousins of what you have got,
One—two—
Or you'll find you will catch it uncommonly hot,
One—two—'

And they beat on till the man panted out:

'Two into the sack.'

The words were hardly out of his mouth, when the two crept back
into the sack.

Then the man shouldered the sack, and went off straight to his
cousin's house. He hung the sack up on a nail, and said:
'Please have the bathroom heated, cousin.'

The cousin heated the bathroom, and the man went into it, but he
neither washed nor rubbed himself, he just sat there and waited.

Meantime his cousin felt hungry, so she called her daughters, and
all four sat down to table. Then the mother said:

'Two out of the sack.'

Instantly two rough men crept out of the sack, and began to beat
the cousin as they cried:

'Greedy pack! Thievish pack!
One—two—
Give the peasant back his sack!
One—two—'

And they went on beating till the woman called to her eldest
daughter: 'Go and fetch your cousin from the bathroom. Tell him
these two ruffians are beating me black and blue.'

'I've not finished rubbing myself yet,' said the peasant.

And the two ruffians kept on beating as they sang:

'Greedy pack! Thievish pack!
One—two—
Give the peasant back his sack!
One—two—'

Then the woman sent her second daughter and said: 'Quick, quick,
get him to come to me.'

'I'm just washing my head,' said the man.

Then she sent the youngest girl, and he said: 'I've not done
drying myself.'

At last the woman could hold out no longer, and sent him the sack
she had stolen.

NOW he had quite finished his bath, and as he left the bathroom
he cried:

'Two into the sack.'

And the two crept back at once into the sack.

Then the man took both sacks, the good and the bad one, and went
away home.

When he was near the house he shouted: 'Hallo, old woman, come
and meet me!'

His wife only screamed out:

'You broomstick, come here! Your back shall pay for this.'

The man went into the cottage, hung his sack on a nail, and said,
as the crane had taught him:

'Two out of the sack.'

Instantly two pretty lads sprang out of the sack, brought in oak
tables, laid silken covers on them, and spread them with all
sorts of delicious dishes and refreshing drinks.

The woman ate and drank, and praised her husband.

'Well, now, old man, I won't beat you any more,' said she.

When they had done eating, the man carried off the good sack, and
put it away in his store-room, but hung the bad sack up on the
nail. Then he lounged up and down in the yard.

Meantime his wife became thirsty. She looked with longing eyes
at the sack, and at last she said, as her husband had done:

'Two out of the sack.'

And at once the two rogues with their big sticks crept out of the
sack, and began to belabour her as they sang:

'Would you beat your husband true?
Don't cry so!
Now we'll beat you black and blue!
Oh! Oh!'

The woman screamed out: 'Old man, old man! Come here, quick!
Here are two ruffians pommelling me fit to break my bones.'

Her husband only strolled up and down and laughed, as he said:
'Yes, they'll beat you well, old lady.'

And the two thumped away and sang again:

'Blows will hurt, remember, crone,
We mean you well, we mean you well;
In future leave the stick alone,
For how it hurts, you now can tell,
One—two—'

At last her husband took pity on her, and cried:

'Two into the sack.'

He had hardly said the words before they were back in the sack
again.

From this time the man and his wife lived so happily together
that it was a pleasure to see them, and so the story has an end.

(From Russiche Marchen.)

Long, long ago an old couple lived in a village, and, as they had
no children to love and care for, they gave all their affection
to a little dog. He was a pretty little creature, and instead of
growing spoilt and disagreeable at not getting everything he
wanted, as even children will do sometimes, the dog was grateful
to them for their kindness, and never left their side, whether
they were in the house or out of it.

One day the old man was working in his garden, with his dog, as
usual, close by. The morning was hot, and at last he put down
his spade and wiped his wet forehead, noticing, as he did so,
that the animal was snuffling and scratching at a spot a little
way off. There was nothing very strange in this, as all dogs are
fond of scratching, and he went on quietly with his digging, when
the dog ran up to his master, barking loudly, and back again to
the place where he had been scratching. This he did several
times, till the old man wondered what could be the matter, and,
picking up the spade, followed where the dog led him. The dog
was so delighted at his success that he jumped round, barking
loudly, till the noise brought the old woman out of the house.

Curious to know if the dog had really found anything, the husband
began to dig, and very soon the spade struck against something.
He stooped down and pulled out a large box, filled quite full
with shining gold pieces. The box was so heavy that the old
woman had to help to carry it home, and you may guess what a
supper the dog had that night! Now that he had made them rich,
they gave him every day all that a dog likes best to eat, and the
cushions on which he lay were fit for a prince.