Household Tales quotes

In old times when wishing still helped one, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself, which has seen so much, was astonished whenever it shone in her face.

Close by the King’s castle lay a great dark forest, and under an old lime-tree in the forest was a well, and when the day was very warm, the King’s child went out into the forest and sat down by the side of the cool …

I am again asked to be godmother, and, as the child has a white ring round its neck, I cannot refuse.” The good mouse consented, but the cat crept behind the town walls to the church, and devoured half the pot of fat.

“Nothing ever seems so good as what one keeps to oneself,”

said she, and was quite satisfied with her day’s work.

“All gone” was already on the poor mouse’s lips; scarcely had she spoken it before the cat sprang on her, seized her, and swallowed her down.

Verily, that is the way of the world.

“Oh no,” said the little angels, “that would be a sin. The Virgin Mary has forbidden it, and it might easily cause thy unhappiness.”

Then she was silent, but the desire in her heart was not stilled, but gnawed there and tormented her, and let her have no rest.

And once when the angels had all gone out, she thought, “Now I am quite alone, and I could peep in. If I do it, no one will ever know.”

She spoke kindly to her, and said,

“He who repents his sin and acknowledges it, is forgiven.”

Then she gave her the three children, untied her tongue, and granted her happiness for her whole life.

“Not so fast,” replied the youth.

“If I am to die, I shall have to have a say in it.”

“I will soon seize thee,” said the fiend.

The miller thought to himself, “The wolf wants to deceive someone,” and refused; but the wolf said, “If thou wilt not do it, I will devour thee.” Then the miller was afraid, and made his paws white for him.

Truly men are like that.

So now the wretch went for the third time to the house-door, knocked at it and said, “Open the door for me, children, your dear little mother has come home, and has brought every one of you something back from the forest with her.”

Then the King continued, “

My love for her is so great, that if all the leaves on all the trees were tongues, they could not declare it.

I will give my life to win her. Thou art my most Faithful John, thou must help me.”

Did not the great dog bring you the whole of the slaughtered cow three days ago?” Then the butcher grew angry, snatched a broomstick and drove him out.

“Wait a while,” said the peasant, “there is still some justice in the world!”

and went to the royal palace and begged for an audience. He was led before the King, who sat there with his daughter, and asked him what injury he had suffered. “Alas!”

Then the King grew angry, and said, “Thou art a boor.”

“Ah, Lord King,” replied the peasant, “what can you expect from an ox, but beef?”

“Stop,” answered the King, “thou shalt have another reward. Be off now, but come back in three days, and then thou shalt have five hundred counted out in full.”

They walked the whole day over meadows, fields, and stony places; and when it rained the little sister said,

“Heaven and our hearts are weeping together.”

In the evening they came to a large forest, and they were so weary with sorrow and hunger and the long walk, that they lay down in a hollow tree and fell asleep.

she let the hair down. The King’s son ascended, but he did not find his dearest Rapunzel above, but the enchantress, who gazed at him with wicked and venomous looks. “Aha!” she cried mockingly, “

Thou wouldst fetch thy dearest, but the beautiful bird sits no longer singing in the nest; the cat has got it, and will scratch out thy eyes as well.

Rapunzel is lost to thee; thou wilt never see her more.” The King’s son was beside himself with pain, and in his despair he leapt down from the tower. He escaped with his life, but the thorns into which he fell, pierced his eyes.

The man said, “What shall I do?

Marriage is a joy and also a torment.

” At length as he could come to no decision, he pulled off his boot, and said, “Take this boot, it has a hole in the sole of it.

The man’s heart was heavy, and he thought “it would be better for thee to share the last mouthful with thy children.” The woman, however, would listen to nothing that he had to say, but scolded and reproached him.

He who says A must say B, likewise, and as he had yielded the first time, he had to do so a second time also.

The children were, however, still awake and had heard the conversation.

When a child fell into her power, she killed it, cooked and ate it, and that was a feast day with her.

Witches have red eyes, and cannot see far, but they have a keen scent like the beasts, and are aware when human beings draw near.

When Hänsel and Grethel came into her neighborhood, she laughed maliciously, and said mockingly, “I have them, they shall not escape me again!”

How they did rejoice and embrace each other, and dance about and kiss each other! And as they had no longer any need to fear her, they went into the witch’s house, and in every corner there stood chests full of pearls and jewels.

“These are far better than pebbles!”

said Hänsel, and thrust into his pockets whatever could be got in, and Grethel said, “I, too, will take something home with me,” and filled her pinafore full.

The King had a daughter who was very beautiful, but she was also very strange. She had made a vow to take no one as her lord and husband who did not promise to let himself be buried alive with her if she died first.

“If he loves me with all his heart,” said she, “of what use will life be to him afterwards?”

On her side she would do the same, and if he died first, would go down to the grave with him.

So he stood and looked at her, and it was just as if he was looking at the bright sun. When he had stood looking at her thus for a short time, he said,

“Ah, wife, if you are Pope, do let well alone!”

But she looked as stiff as a post, and did not move or show any signs of life. Then said he, “Wife, now that you are Pope, be satisfied, you cannot become anything greater now.”

The tailor sprang nimbly down, seized the tree with both arms as if he had been carrying it, and said to the giant,

“Thou art such a great fellow, and yet canst not even carry the tree!”

They went on together, and as they passed a cherry-tree, the giant laid hold of the top of the tree where the ripest fruit was hanging, bent it down, gave it into the tailor’s hand, and bade him eat.

“That would indeed be a fine thing for a man like me!” thought the little tailor.

“One is not offered a beautiful princess and half a kingdom every day of one’s life!”

“Oh, yes,” he replied, “I will soon subdue the giants, and do not require the help of the hundred horsemen to do it; he who can hit seven with one blow has no need to be afraid of two.”

Had he known that it was no warlike hero, but a little tailor who was standing before him, it would have gone to his heart still more than it did.

The wedding was held with great magnificence and small joy, and out of a tailor a king was made.

After some time the young Queen heard her husband say in his dreams at night, “Boy, make me the doublet, and patch the pantaloons, or else I will rap the yard-measure over thine ears.”

But she could not get her big toe into it, and the shoe was too small for her. Then her mother gave her a knife and said,

“Cut the toe off; when thou art Queen thou wilt have no more need to go on foot.”

The maiden cut the toe off, forced the foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the King’s son. Then he took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her.

The bird’s work was to fly every day into the forest and bring back wood. The mouse had to carry water, light the fire, and lay the table, but the sausage had to cook.

He who is too well off is always longing for something new.

One day, therefore, the bird met with another bird, on the way, to whom it related its excellent circumstances and boasted of them.

“

Oh! but, grandmother, what a terrible big mouth you have!

”

“

The better to eat you with!

”

“Ah, but red-comb,” said the donkey, “you had better come away with us.

We are going to Bremen; you can find something better than death everywhere: you have a good voice, and if we make music together it must have some quality!

”

After this the robbers did not trust themselves in the house again; but it suited the four musicians of Bremen so well that they did not care to leave it any more.

And the mouth of him who last told this story is still warm.

The ferryman came and bade him get in, and when they got to the other shore he put the oar in his hand and sprang out. But from this time forth the King had to ferry, as a punishment for his sins.

Perhaps he is ferrying still? If he is, it is because no one has taken the oar from him.

She replied, “

Dear father, do with me what you will, I am your child.

” Thereupon she laid down both her hands, and let them be cut off. The devil came for the third time, but she had wept so long and so much on the stumps, that after all they were quite clean.

Then she was alarmed, and became uncertain whether she really was Clever Elsie or not, and said, “

Is it I, or is it not I?

” But she knew not what answer to make to this, and stood for a time in doubt; at length she thought, “I will go home and ask if it be I, or if it be not I, they will be sure to know.”

I should long ago have had no chairs, benches, seats, nay, not even an oven-fork, but should have thrown everything down at the sinners. Henceforth thou canst stay no longer in heaven, but must go outside the door again. Then go where thou wilt.

No one shall give punishment here, but I alone, the Lord.

”

thou shalt give me some light.” Then she changed the girl into a block of wood, and threw it into the fire. And when it was in full blaze she sat down close to it, and warmed herself by it, and said, “

That shines bright for once in a way.

”

“Oho!” said she, “then thou hast seen the witch in her proper costume.

I have been waiting for thee, and wanting thee a long time already; thou shalt give me some light.

” Then she changed the girl into a block of wood, and threw it into the fire. And when it was in full blaze she sat down close to it, and warmed herself by it, and said, “That shines bright for once in a way.”

“

I am Death, and I make all equal.

”

There he saw how thousands and thousands of candles were burning in countless rows, some large, others half-sized, others small. Every instant some were extinguished, and others again burnt up, so that the flames seemed to leap hither and thither in perpetual change.

“See,” said Death, “these are the lights of men’s lives. The large ones belong to children, the half-sized ones to married people in their prime, the little ones belong to old people; but children and young folks likewise have often only a tiny candle.”

“Show me the light of my life,” said the physician, and he thought that it would be still very tall.

“Ah, dear godfather,” said the horrified physician, “light a new one for me, do it for love of me, that I may enjoy my life, be King, and the husband of the King’s beautiful daughter.”

“I cannot,” answered Death, “one must go out before a new one is lighted.”

“Then place the old one on a new one, that will go on burning at once when the old one has come to an end,” pleaded the physician.

“

Oh, you goose, your father would surely love his child far more than the fowls in the yard!

”

Betimes next morning the forester got up and went out hunting, and when he was gone the children were still in bed. Then Lina said to Fundevogel, “

If thou wilt never leave me, I too will never leave thee.

”

But the duck swam quickly to her, seized her head in its beak and drew her into the water, and there the old witch had to drown.

Then the children went home together, and were heartily delighted, and if they are not dead, they are living still.

now we will celebrate our wedding.” Then the maids-in-waiting came and put on her the most splendid clothing, and her father and his whole court came and wished her happiness in her marriage with King Thrushbeard, and the joy now began in earnest.

I wish you and I had been there too.

But hardly had she a bit of it in her mouth than she fell down dead. Then the Queen looked at her with a dreadful look, and laughed aloud and said, “

White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony-wood! this time the dwarfs cannot wake you up again.

”

“Oh, Queen, in this land thou art fairest of all.”

Then her envious heart had rest, so far as an envious heart can have rest.

The dwarfs, when they came home in the evening, found Snow-white lying upon the ground; she breathed no longer and was dead.

When Catherine awoke again after a long sleep she was standing there half-naked, and said to herself,

“Is it I, or is it not I? Alas, it is not I.”

In the meantime night came, and Catherine ran into the village, knocked at her husband’s window, and cried, “Frederick.”

She answered,

“I am good for nothing but to have boots thrown at my head.”

He continued, “Where didst thou get the ring which was in the soup?”

“See what a braggart thou art!” said the fox.

“Thou throwest thy hatchet so far that thou canst not fetch it back again!”

And when she came home she drank, in her gladness of heart, a draught of wine, and as wine excites a desire to eat, she tasted the best of whatever she was cooking until she was satisfied, and said,

“The cook must know what the food is like.”

It came to pass that the master one day said to her, “Grethel, there is a guest coming this evening; prepare me two fowls very daintily.”

They were once sitting thus when the little grandson of four years old began to gather together some bits of wood upon the ground. “What are you doing there?” asked the father.

“I am making a little trough,” answered the child, “for father and mother to eat out of when I am big.”

The man and his wife looked at each other for a while, and presently began to cry.

The boy told him that he was taking the goose to a christening-feast. “Just lift her,” added he, and laid hold of her by the wings; “how heavy she is—she has been fattened up for the last eight weeks.

Whoever has a bit of her when she is roasted will have to wipe the fat from both sides of his mouth.

”

“

There is no man under the sun so fortunate as I,

” he cried out. With a light heart and free from every burden he now ran on until he was with his mother at home.

Then she arose, and drove them through the meadow before her, until the bride looked out of the window. The little chickens pleased her so much that she immediately came down and asked if they were for sale. “

Not for money or land, but for flesh and blood; let me sleep another night in the chamber where the bridegroom sleeps.

”

There stood the poor maiden who had wandered so far and was again forsaken. She sat down and cried, but at last she took courage and said, “

Still I will go as far as the wind blows and as long as the cock crows, until I find him,

” and she went forth by long, long roads, until at last she came to the castle where both of them were living together;

Then she said, “Ah, Heaven!” and the three drops of blood answered, “

If thy mother knew, her heart would break.

” But the King’s daughter was humble, said nothing, and mounted her horse again.

The miller rejoiced, and said that the mill was now released from the spell, and wanted to give him much money as a reward. But he said, “

Money, I will not have, I have enough of it.

” So he took his meal on his back, went home, and told the bailiff that he had done what he had been told to do, and would now have the reward agreed on.

When the head-servant had finished his work, he climbed up and said, “

Just look what a beautiful necktie I have on

,” and behold it was the millstone which he was wearing round his neck. The head-servant now wanted to take his reward, but the bailiff again begged for a fortnight’s delay.

He answered, “I am fishing.” The messenger asked how he could fish when there was no water there? The peasant said, “

It is as easy for me to fish on dry land as it is for an ox to have a foal.

” The messenger went back and took the answer to the King, who ordered the peasant to be brought to him and told him that this was not his own idea, and he wanted to know whose it was?

“Little shrimp,” said the prince, “that is nothing to thee,” and rode on without giving him another look. But the dwarf bewitched him, and he, like the other, rode into a ravine, and could neither go forwards nor backwards.

So fare haughty people.

As the second son also remained away, the youngest begged to be allowed to go forth to fetch the water, and at last the King was obliged to let him go.

“Beware!” said the second. “

Bears like sweet things, and if he takes a fancy to thee, he will eat thee up.

”

And the second continued, “

But the wedding will be a merry one, for bears dance well.

” The bride was silent, and did not let them vex her. Bearskin, however, travelled about the world from one place to another, did good where he was able, and gave generously to the poor that they might pray for him.

Suddenly he let the stick fail and said, “

You are the stupidest goose that ever waddled on God’s earth, but I am sorry for you.

I will go out into the highways and wait for three days to see if I find anyone who is still stupider than you.

She drove her oxen away, and the peasant thought, “

That woman has a perfect talent for folly

, if she really brings the money, my wife may think herself fortunate, for she will get no beating.” It was not long before she came in a great hurry with the money, and with her own hands put it in his pocket.

Then he lighted his pipe, sat down in his grandfather’s chair, and said, “It was a good stroke of business to get a sleek horse and a great purse full of money into the bargain, for two lean cows.

If stupidity always brought in as much as that, I would be quite willing to hold it in honor.

” So thought the peasant, but you no doubt prefer the simple folks.

… back for the second time, but when it no longer saw the crown, it crept up to the wall, and in its grief smote its little head against it as long as it had strength to do so, until at last it lay there dead.

If the girl had but left the crown where it was, the snake would certainly have brought still more of its treasures out of the hole.

A snake cries, “Huhu, huhu.”

and then she married him, and he was rich, so rich that he had enough for all the rest of his life.

After this, let no one ever say that anyone who is silly can never become a person of importance.

Hill and vale do not come together, but the children of men do, good and bad.

In this way a shoemaker and a tailor once met with each other in their travels. The tailor was a handsome little fellow who was always merry and full of enjoyment.

He gave the bottle back to the tailor, and said, “

I spoke civilly to you; one speaks well after much drinking, but not after much thirst.

Shall we travel together?”

“That is just where I want to go,” answered the shoemaker. “In a small nest there is nothing to earn, and in the country, people like to go barefoot.”

They travelled therefore onwards together, and always set one foot before the other like a weasel in the snow.

Both of them had time enough, but little to bite and to break.

“That is just where I want to go,” answered the shoemaker. “

In a small nest there is nothing to earn, and in the country, people like to go barefoot.

” They travelled therefore onwards together, and always set one foot before the other like a weasel in the snow.

even my coat does not go as far as it might. Besides, why should we not find the right way? Bread for two days, and that’s enough.” Each, therefore, bought his own bread, and then they tried their luck in the forest.

It was as quiet there as in a church.

No wind stirred, no brook murmured, no bird sang, and through the thickly-leaved branches no sunbeam forced its way. The shoemaker spoke never a word, the heavy bread weighed down his back until the perspiration streamed down his cross and gloomy face.

The tailor called to remembrance what his mother had formerly said to him when he had been eating secretly in the pantry. “

Eat what one can, and suffer what one must.

” When he had consumed his dearly-bought bread, he got on his legs again, forgot his misery and comforted himself with the thought that he could always see enough with one eye.

The little tailor saw that here also nothing was to be done. “

Three dishes empty and nothing on the fourth is a bad dinner!

” He dragged himself therefore with his starved-out stomach into the town, and as it was just striking twelve, all was ready-cooked for him in the inn, and he was able to sit down at once to dinner.

When the latter caught sight of the tailor, and saw that he had once more two healthy eyes, his conscience troubled him. “Before he takes revenge on me,” thought he to himself, “I must dig a pit for him.”

He, however, who digs a pit for another, falls into it himself.

In the evening when work was over and it had grown dusk, he stole to the King and said, “Lord King, the tailor is an arrogant fellow and has boasted that he will get the gold crown back again which was lost in ancient times.”

… however, the mother would not stop crying, it came one night, in the little white shroud in which it had been laid in its coffin, and with its wreath of flowers round its head, and stood on the bed at her feet, and said, “

Oh, mother, do stop crying, or I shall never fall asleep in my coffin, for my shroud will not dry because of all thy tears, which fall upon it.

” The mother was afraid when she heard that, and wept no more. The next night the child came again, and held a little light in its hand, and said, “Look, mother, my shroud is nearly dry, and I can rest in my grave.”

But the false mother and the bride had to depart.

And the mouth of the person who last told all this is still warm.

The little tailor did not let himself be frightened away, but was quite delighted, and said, “

Boldly ventured is half won.

”

When the bear saw that, he turned round and ran away. The tailor drove quietly to church, and the princess was married to him at once, and he lived with her as happy as a woodlark.

Whosoever does not believe this, must pay a thaler.

And when the Jew was dying, the last words he said were, “

The bright sun will bring it to light

,” and thereupon he died. The tailor’s apprentice felt in his pockets and sought for money, but he found nothing but eight farthings, as the Jew had said.

Then the three said he must give them a great deal of money, or they would set his house on fire. He gave them what he had, and whatever he could get together, and the three went away with it.

It was enough for the rest of their lives, but they would rather have had their own proper organs.

In the days when wishing was still of some use, a King’s son was bewitched by an old witch, and shut up in an iron stove in a forest.

There he passed many years, and no one could deliver him. Then a King’s daughter came into the forest, who had lost herself, and could not find her father’s kingdom again.

The huntsman aimed, and shot the eggs, all five as the father had desired, and that at one shot.

He certainly must have had some of the powder for shooting round corners.

“Now it’s your turn,” said the father to the fourth son; “you shall sew the eggs together again, and the young birds that are inside them as well, and you must do it so that they are not hurt by the shot.”

“

I am listening to what is just going on in the world, for nothing escapes my ears; I even hear the grass growing.

”

But she did not recognize him until he took her in his arms, kissed her, and said, “

I suffered much for thee and now thou, too, hast had to suffer for me.

” And then the wedding was celebrated, and he who has told you all this, wishes that he, too, had been present at it.

Once on a time there lived a King and a Queen, who were rich, and had everything they wanted, but no children. The Queen lamented over this day and night, and said, “

I am like a field on which nothing grows.

” At last God gave her her wish, but when the child came into the world, it did not look like a human child, but was a little donkey. When the mother saw that, her lamentations and outcries began in real earnest;

He, however, was unwilling, and said,

“I am no common stable-ass, I am a noble one.”

Then they said, “If that is what thou art, seat thyself with the men of war.”

A crab was chasing a hare which was running away at full speed, and high up on the roof lay a cow which had climbed up there. In that country the flies are as big as the goats are here.

Open the window, that the lies may fly out.

“Now, dear John,” said the master when he had got up to him, “hast thou found the cow which I sent thee to seek?”

“No, master,” he answered, “I have not found the cow, but then I have not looked for it.”

“Then what hast thou looked for, John?”

Let no one ever say that a poor tailor cannot do great things and win high honors

; all that is needed is that he should go to the right smithy, and what is of most consequence, that he should have good luck.

So fat Trina became Harry’s wife, and led out both the goats. Harry had a good time of it, and had no work that he required to rest from but his own idleness. He only went out with her now and then, and said,

“I merely do it that I may afterwards enjoy rest more, otherwise one loses all feeling for it.”

But fat Trina was no less idle. “Dear Harry,” said she one day, “why should we make our lives so toilsome when there is no need for it, and thus ruin the best days of our youth?

So fat Trina became Harry’s wife, and led out both the goats.

Harry had a good time of it, and had no work that he required to rest from but his own idleness.

He only went out with her now and then, and said, “I merely do it that I may afterwards enjoy rest more, otherwise one loses all feeling for it.”

Lazy Harry did not like to leave his bed before noon.

“He who rises early,” said he, “wastes his substance.”

One morning when he was still lying amongst the feathers in broad daylight, resting after his long sleep, he said to his wife, “Women are fond of sweet things, and thou art always tasting the honey in private;

“God save us!” cried the father, “what’s that? Now thou hast broken our little house to pieces!”

“Don’t grow any grey hairs about that, dear father,” answered Hans; “there, in that sack, is more than is wanting for a new house.”

The father and Hans at once began to build a new house; to buy cattle and land, and to keep a farm.

she, however, got away from me, and left me quite spitefully. Then I hurried after her, and in order to bring her back to her duty, I threw at her as a well-meant admonition whatever came readily to hand.

I have shared joy and sorrow with her also, for whenever I hit her I was full of joy, and she of sorrow, and if I missed her, then she was joyful, and I sorry.

” The judges were not satisfied with this answer, but gave him the reward he deserved.

In former days every sound still had its meaning and application.

When the smith’s hammer resounded, it cried, “Strike away! strike away.”

“Strike home! strike home!” screamed the crowd outside to the valiant hero.

“Anyone who was standing where I am standing,” answered he, “would not cry, strike home!”

He certainly did plant his foot one rung higher on the ladder, but then he began to tremble, and half-fainting, went back again.

When it rains porridge I have no spoon. I am always to play merry pranks, and make faces which force people to laugh, and if they give me an apple, and I bite into it, why it is sour!

How often sadness hides itself behind mirth!

I shall never be able to hold out for thirty years.” God was gracious and took off ten.

“Ah! Lord,” he answered, “it may seem as if that were the case, but it is quite different.

When it rains porridge I have no spoon.

I am always to play merry pranks, and make faces which force people to laugh, and if they give me an apple, and I bite into it, why it is sour! How often sadness hides itself behind mirth!

“ ‘I do not know, and can compare my love with nothing.’ But her father insisted that she should name something. So she said at last, ‘

The best food does not please me without salt, therefore I love my father like salt.

’

When she had finished, she dipped the skin also in the water, and then laid it on the meadow, so that it should bleach in the moonlight, and dry again. But how the maiden was changed! Such a change as that was never seen before!

When the gray mask fell off, her golden hair broke forth like sunbeams, and spread about like a mantle over her whole form.

Her eyes shone out as brightly as the stars in heaven, and her cheeks bloomed a soft red like apple-blossom.

This much is certain, that the old woman was no witch, as people thought, but a wise woman, who meant well. Very likely it was she who, at the princess’s birth, gave her the gift of weeping pearls instead of tears.

That does not happen nowadays, or else the poor would soon become rich.

It is right and necessary that the entire world should be supplied from thy children; if they were all princes and lords, who would grow corn, thresh it, grind and bake it? Who would be blacksmiths, weavers, carpenters, masons, labourers, tailors and seamstresses?

Each shall have his own place, so that one shall support the other, and all shall be fed like the limbs of one body.

”

There was once upon a time a miller who lived with his wife in great contentment. They had money and land, and their prosperity increased year by year more and more.

But ill-luck comes like a thief in the night

, as their wealth had increased so did it again decrease, year by year, and at last the miller could hardly call the mill in which he lived, his own.

They had now become rich folks, but the goldsmith, who, in accordance with his greedy disposition, had filled his pockets better, was as rich again as the tailor.

A greedy man, even if he has much, still wishes to have more

, so the goldsmith proposed to the tailor that they should wait another day, and go out again in the evening in order to bring back still greater treasures from the old man on the hill.

The giant was so terribly alarmed that he could not close an eye all night long for thinking what would be the best way to get rid of this accursed sorcerer of a servant.

Time brings counsel.

Next morning the giant and the tailor went to a marsh, round which stood a number of willow-trees.

She, however, had only said that to keep away greedy people, for there was honey in it. The boy crept under the bed, brought out the pot, and ate all that was in it.

“I do not know,” said he, “folks say death is bitter, but it tastes very sweet to me. It is no wonder that the farmer’s wife has so often longed for death.”

He seated himself in a little chair, and was prepared to die. But instead of becoming weaker he felt himself strengthened by the nourishing food.

Then she put her elbows on the table, laid her face in her two hands, and cried,

“Is there no one, then, on God’s earth to have pity on me?”

Then she heard a low voice which said, “Be comforted, my child, I have come to help thee.” The maiden looked up, and an old woman was by her side.

She hurried to the castle, and entered by the open door. The steps were spread with red cloth, and the golden balustrade beset with flowering trees. When she saw the splendour of the apartment, she stood as if turned to stone.

Who knows how long she might have stood there if she had not remembered the stepmother?

“Alas!” she said to herself, “if she could but be satisfied at last, and would give up making my life a misery to me.” The girl went and told her that the castle was ready.

And, secondly, it teaches, that when a man marries, he should take a wife in his own position, who looks just as he himself looks.

So whosoever is a hedgehog let him see to it that his wife is a hedgehog also, and so forth.

About this time, the son of the King was travelling about the country looking for a bride. He was not to choose a poor one, and did not want to have a rich one. So he said,

“She shall be my wife who is the poorest, and at the same time the richest.”

When he came to the village where the maiden dwelt, he inquired, as he did wherever he went, who was the richest and also the poorest girl in the place? They first named the richest;

The old man smiled and said, “Sir, you speak according to your knowledge, it is easy to see that you are not familiar with gardening. That tree there is old, and misshapen, no one can make it straight now.

Trees must be trained while they are young.

”

“Ah, father,” answered the son, “the young tree was bound to no post and has grown crooked, now it is too old, it will never be straight again. How have I got all that?

I have become a thief, but do not be alarmed, I am a master-thief.

For me there are neither locks nor bolts, whatsoever I desire is mine. Do not imagine that I steal like a common thief, I only take some of the superfluity of the rich.

At length she said,

“Even if he has become a thief, he is still my son, and my eyes have beheld him once more.”

They sat down to table, and once again he ate with his parents the wretched food which he had not eaten for so long.

When he had got to the top, he pushed the sack into the pigeon-house, and when the pigeons fluttered about, he said,

“Hark how glad the angels are, and how they are flapping their wings!”

Then he bolted the door upon them, and went away.

He went up to them and saw that they were disputing about a saddle which was lying on the ground before them, and which both of them wanted to have.

“What fools you are,” said he, “to quarrel about a saddle, when you have not a horse for it!”

“The saddle is worth fighting about,” answered one of the men; “whosoever sits on it, and wishes himself in any place, even if it should be the very end of the earth, gets there the instant he has uttered the wish.

“Stay here,” said the maiden, “I will help thee out of thy difficulty. Thou art tired, lay thy head in my lap, and sleep. When thou awakest again, thy work will be done.”

The drummer did not need to be told that twice.

As soon as his eyes were shut, she turned a wishing-ring and said, “Rise, water. Fishes, come out.”