The Violet Fairy Book (23 page)

In his absence Hans wandered from one treasure chamber to
another, sometimes trying to break off a little lump of gold, but
never able to do it. After awhile his host came back, but so
changed that Hans could not believe it was really he. His silken
clothes were of the brightest flame colour, richly trimmed with
gold fringes and lace; a golden girdle was round his waist, while
his head was encircled with a crown of gold, and precious stones
twinkled about him like stars in a winter's night, and in place
of his wooden stick he held a finely worked golden staff.

The lord of all this treasure locked the doors and put the keys
in his pocket, then led Hans into another room, where dinner was
laid for them. Table and seats were all of silver, while the
dishes and plates were of solid gold. Directly they sat down, a
dozen little servants appeared to wait on them, which they did so
cleverly and so quickly that Hans could hardly believe they had
no wings. As they did not reach as high as the table, they were
often obliged to jump and hop right on to the top to get at the
dishes. Everything was new to Hans, and though he was rather
bewildered he enjoyed himself very much, especially when the man
with the golden crown began to tell him many things he had never
heard of before.

'Between Christmas and the New Year,' said he, 'I often amuse
myself by wandering about the earth watching the doings of men
and learning something about them. But as far as I have seen and
heard I cannot speak well of them. The greater part of them are
always quarrelling and complaining of each other's faults, while
nobody thinks of his own.'

Hans tried to deny the truth of these words, but he could not do
it, and sat silent, hardly listening to what his friend was
saying. Then he went to sleep in his chair, and knew nothing of
what was happening.

Wonderful dreams came to him during his sleep, where the bars of
gold continually hovered before his eyes. He felt stronger than
he had ever felt during his waking moments, and lifted two bars
quite easily on to his back. He did this so often that at length
his strength seemed exhausted, and he sank almost breathless on
the ground. Then he heard the sound of cheerful voices, and the
song of the blacksmiths as they blew their bellows—he even felt
as if he saw the sparks flashing before his eyes. Stretching
himself, he awoke slowly, and here he was in the green forest,
and instead of the glow of the fire in the underworld the sun was
streaming on him, and he sat up wondering why he felt so strange.

At length his memory came back to him, and as he called to mind
all the wonderful things he had seen he tried in vain to make
them agree with those that happen every day. After thinking it
over till he was nearly mad, he tried at last to believe that one
night between Christmas and the New Year he had met a stranger in
the forest, and had slept all night in his company before a big
fire; the next day they had dined together, and had drunk a great
deal more than was good for them—in short, he had spent two
whole days revelling with another man. But here, with the full
tide of summer around him, he could hardly accept his own
explanation, and felt that he must have been the plaything or
sport of some magician.

Near him, in the full sunlight, were the traces of a dead fire,
and when he drew close to it he saw that what he had taken for
ashes was really fine silver dust, and that the half burnt
firewood was made of gold.

Oh, how lucky Hans thought himself; but where should he get a
sack to carry his treasure home before anyone else found it?
But necessity is the mother of invention: Hans threw off his fur
coat, gathered up the silver ashes so carefully in it that none
remained behind, laid the gold sticks on top, and tied up the bag
thus made with his girdle, so that nothing should fall out. The
load was not, in point of fact, very heavy, although it seemed so
to his imagination, and he moved slowly along till he found a
safe hiding-place for it.

In this way Hans suddenly became rich—rich enough to buy a
property of his own. But being a prudent man, he finally decided
that it would be best for him to leave his old neighbourhood and
look for a home in a distant part of the country, where nobody
knew anything about him. It did not take him long to find what
he wanted, and after he had paid for it there was plenty of money
left over. When he was settled, he married a pretty girl who
lived near by, and had some children, to whom on his death-bed he
told the story of the lord of the underworld, and how he had made
Hans rich.

(Ehstnische Marchen.)

It is a great mistake to think that fairies, witches, magicians,
and such people lived only in Eastern countries and in such times
as those of the Caliph Haroun Al-Raschid. Fairies and their
like belong to every country and every age, and no doubt we
should see plenty of them now—if we only knew how.

In a large town in Germany there lived, some couple of hundred
years ago, a cobbler and his wife. They were poor and
hard-working. The man sat all day in a little stall at the
street corner and mended any shoes that were brought him. His
wife sold the fruit and vegetables they grew in their garden in
the Market Place, and as she was always neat and clean and her
goods were temptingly spread out she had plenty of customers.

The couple had one boy called Jem. A handsome, pleasant-faced
boy of twelve, and tall for his age. He used to sit by his
mother in the market and would carry home what people bought from
her, for which they often gave him a pretty flower, or a slice of
cake, or even some small coin.

One day Jem and his mother sat as usual in the Market Place with
plenty of nice herbs and vegetables spread out on the board, and
in some smaller baskets early pears, apples, and apricots. Jem
cried his wares at the top of his voice:

'This way, gentlemen! See these lovely cabbages and these fresh
herbs! Early apples, ladies; early pears and apricots, and all
cheap. Come, buy, buy!'

As he cried an old woman came across the Market Place. She
looked very torn and ragged, and had a small sharp face, all
wrinkled, with red eyes, and a thin hooked nose which nearly met
her chin. She leant on a tall stick and limped and shuffled and
stumbled along as if she were going to fall on her nose at any
moment.

In this fashion she came along till she got to the stall where
Jem and his mother were, and there she stopped.

'Are you Hannah the herb seller?' she asked in a croaky voice as
her head shook to and fro.

'Yes, I am,' was the answer. 'Can I serve you?'

'We'll see; we'll see! Let me look at those herbs. I wonder if
you've got what I want,' said the old woman as she thrust a pair
of hideous brown hands into the herb basket, and began turning
over all the neatly packed herbs with her skinny fingers, often
holding them up to her nose and sniffing at them.

The cobbler's wife felt much disgusted at seeing her wares
treated like this, but she dared not speak. When the old hag had
turned over the whole basket she muttered, 'Bad stuff, bad stuff;
much better fifty years ago—all bad.'

This made Jem very angry.

'You are a very rude old woman,' he cried out. 'First you mess
all our nice herbs about with your horrid brown fingers and sniff
at them with your long nose till no one else will care to buy
them, and then you say it's all bad stuff, though the duke's cook
himself buys all his herbs from us.'

The old woman looked sharply at the saucy boy, laughed
unpleasantly, and said:

'So you don't like my long nose, sonny? Well, you shall have
one yourself, right down to your chin.'

As she spoke she shuffled towards the hamper of cabbages, took up
one after another, squeezed them hard, and threw them back,
muttering again, 'Bad stuff, bad stuff.'

'Don't waggle your head in that horrid way,' begged Jem
anxiously. 'Your neck is as thin as a cabbage-stalk, and it
might easily break and your head fall into the basket, and then
who would buy anything?'

'Don't you like thin necks?' laughed the old woman. 'Then you
sha'n't have any, but a head stuck close between your shoulders
so that it may be quite sure not to fall off.'

'Don't talk such nonsense to the child,' said the mother at last.

'If you wish to buy, please make haste, as you are keeping other
customers away.'

'Very well, I will do as you ask,' said the old woman, with an
angry look. 'I will buy these six cabbages, but, as you see, I
can only walk with my stick and can carry nothing. Let your boy
carry them home for me and I'll pay him for his trouble.'

The little fellow didn't like this, and began to cry, for he was
afraid of the old woman, but his mother ordered him to go, for
she thought it wrong not to help such a weakly old creature; so,
still crying, he gathered the cabbages into a basket and followed
the old woman across the Market Place.

It took her more than half an hour to get to a distant part of
the little town, but at last she stopped in front of a small
tumble-down house. She drew a rusty old hook from her pocket and
stuck it into a little hole in the door, which suddenly flew
open. How surprised Jem was when they went in! The house was
splendidly furnished, the walls and ceiling of marble, the
furniture of ebony inlaid with gold and precious stones, the
floor of such smooth slippery glass that the little fellow
tumbled down more than once.

The old woman took out a silver whistle and blew it till the
sound rang through the house. Immediately a lot of guinea pigs
came running down the stairs, but Jem thought it rather odd that
they all walked on their hind legs, wore nutshells for shoes, and
men's clothes, whilst even their hats were put on in the newest
fashion.

'Where are my slippers, lazy crew?' cried the old woman, and hit
about with her stick. 'How long am I to stand waiting here?'

They rushed upstairs again and returned with a pair of cocoa nuts
lined with leather, which she put on her feet. Now all limping
and shuffling was at an end. She threw away her stick and walked
briskly across the glass floor, drawing little Jem after her. At
last she paused in a room which looked almost like a kitchen, it
was so full of pots and pans, but the tables were of mahogany and
the sofas and chairs covered with the richest stuffs.

'Sit down,' said the old woman pleasantly, and she pushed Jem
into a corner of a sofa and put a table close in front of him.
'Sit down, you've had a long walk and a heavy load to carry, and
I must give you something for your trouble. Wait a bit, and I'll
give you some nice soup, which you'll remember as long as you
live.'

So saying, she whistled again. First came in guinea pigs in
men's clothing. They had tied on large kitchen aprons, and in
their belts were stuck carving knives and sauce ladles and such
things. After them hopped in a number of squirrels. They too
walked on their hind legs, wore full Turkish trousers, and little
green velvet caps on their heads. They seemed to be the
scullions, for they clambered up the walls and brought down pots
and pans, eggs, flour, butter, and herbs, which they carried to
the stove. Here the old woman was bustling about, and Jem could
see that she was cooking something very special for him. At last
the broth began to bubble and boil, and she drew off the saucepan
and poured its contents into a silver bowl, which she set before
Jem.

'There, my boy,' said she, 'eat this soup and then you'll have
everything which pleased you so much about me. And you shall be
a clever cook too, but the real herb—no, the REAL herb you'll
never find. Why had your mother not got it in her basket?'

The child could not think what she was talking about, but he
quite understood the soup, which tasted most delicious. His
mother had often given him nice things, but nothing had ever
seemed so good as this. The smell of the herbs and spices rose
from the bowl, and the soup tasted both sweet and sharp at the
same time, and was very strong. As he was finishing it the
guinea pigs lit some Arabian incense, which gradually filled the
room with clouds of blue vapour. They grew thicker and thicker
and the scent nearly overpowered the boy. He reminded himself
that he must get back to his mother, but whenever he tried to
rouse himself to go he sank back again drowsily, and at last he
fell sound asleep in the corner of the sofa.

Strange dreams came to him. He thought the old woman took off
all his clothes and wrapped him up in a squirrel skin, and that
he went about with the other squirrels and guinea pigs, who were
all very pleasant and well mannered, and waited on the old woman.

First he learned to clean her cocoa-nut shoes with oil and to rub
them up. Then he learnt to catch the little sun moths and rub
them through the finest sieves, and the flour from them he made
into soft bread for the toothless old woman.

In this way he passed from one kind of service to another,
spending a year in each, till in the fourth year he was promoted
to the kitchen. Here he worked his way up from under-scullion to
head-pastrycook, and reached the greatest perfection. He could
make all the most difficult dishes, and two hundred different
kinds of patties, soup flavoured with every sort of herb—he had
learnt it all, and learnt it well and quickly.

When he had lived seven years with the old woman she ordered him
one day, as she was going out, to kill and pluck a chicken, stuff
it with herbs, and have it very nicely roasted by the time she
got back. He did this quite according to rule. He wrung the
chicken's neck, plunged it into boiling water, carefully plucked
out all the feathers, and rubbed the skin nice and smooth. Then
he went to fetch the herbs to stuff it with. In the store-room
he noticed a half-opened cupboard which he did not remember
having seen before. He peeped in and saw a lot of baskets from
which came a strong and pleasant smell. He opened one and found
a very uncommon herb in it. The stems and leaves were a bluish
green, and above them was a little flower of a deep bright red,
edged with yellow. He gazed at the flower, smelt it, and found
it gave the same strong strange perfume which came from the soup
the old woman had made him. But the smell was so sharp that he
began to sneeze again and again, and at last—he woke up!