Chapter III: Front Matter (3)

Three years had now gone, the time to which the prince had limited his stay, and now the old king thought that he might have had the apples of youth and the water of immortality, and by his impatience he had lost them and all his sons into the bargain. There was nobody now left him but his daughter, the princess, and she too now declared that she also would set out to seek her husband, and the apples of youth and the water of life at the same time. The old king was rejoiced to let her go, for he thought of nothing but of renewing his youth, and no price seemed too great to pay it. He had lost all his sons in the quest, and now he was willing to risk the loss of his daughter and sole child, the prop and last comfort of his age.

So the princess kissed the old king, her father, and bade him be of good cheer, for that if she was in life she would come back to him, and, if possible, with the precious apples and water in her hands. Then she set forth with the old king's blessing, and after she had wept herself weary as she walked along, she wiped the tears from her eyes, looked steadfastly into the wide world before her, and wandered on many, many days, till finally she came to a mountain by which an old woman sat and played with a golden apple. The princess asked the old woman if she knew the way to the prince who lived with his stepmother in a castle east of the sun and west of the world?

"How camest _thou_ to know him?" asked the old woman. "Art thou, indeed, the maiden that he should have married?" "Yes," replied the princess; "I am she."

"So! thou art really she!" said the old woman. "Yes! my child," continued she, "I would gladly help thee, but I know no more of the castle than that it is east of the sun and west of the world, and thither canst thou not go, I fear. But I will lend thee my horse, and on that thou canst ride to my sister, and perhaps she can tell thee. When thou comest to my sister, then strike the horse behind the left ear, and let it come home again. Thou canst also take with thee this golden apple, for it may probably be useful to thee. But before thou settest out, thou must stay all night with me."

The princess thanked her, and stayed all night, and when it was early morning the old woman said, "Stay a moment, I am queen of the beasts, and we will find out if any of them know where the castle lies that is east of the sun and west of the world." So the old woman went out before the door, and whistled aloud three times; and there came the beasts hurrying from all quarters--lions, and bisons, and wild horses, and many another creature, great and small; but none of them could tell the way to the castle.

Then the princess mounted on the horse, and rode on and on for an immense way. She rode over vast grey heaths, and over stony hills, and through ancient mossy woods, till she came to a very old woman who sat at the foot of a mountain with a golden reel. The princess asked her whether she was not the sister of the queen of beasts, and whether she could tell her the way to the castle that was east of the sun and west of the world.

The old woman replied that truly she was sister to the queen of the beasts, but that she knew no more of the castle than that it was east of the sun and west of the world, and that the princess would not, she feared, easily get there. But, added she, "I am queen of the birds, and in the morning I will ask them if any of them know the way to the castle, for some of them fly very far. But, for my part, I have lived here while the trees have grown up and rotted down several times, and no one ever asked me the way to this castle before. However, I will lend thee my horse, and on that canst thou ride to my other sister, the queen of the fishes, if the birds know nothing. When thou comest to my sister, strike the horse behind the left ear, and bid it come home again. And, besides this, thou canst take this golden reel with thee, for it may prove useful to thee."

In the morning the old woman went out before the door, and whistled three times aloud, and from all quarters of the sky, from wood and mountain, came the birds flying--hawk and eagle, swallow and swift, the travelling cuckoo, and the ancient phoenix, came sweeping down with a great rush of pinions, but none of them could tell the way to the castle. The phoenix had once seen it, but so long ago, and in a former life, that she remembered nothing more than that she was dreadfully weary with her flight from it homewards.

The princess mounted the horse, and again rode on for days and weeks, over huge, huge grey heaths and stony mountains, and through mossy woods. At length she came to where another old woman sat at the foot of a mountain, and spun from a golden distaff. The princess asked if she were the sister of the queen of the birds, and whether she could tell her anything of the prince who lived in the castle east of the sun and west of the world?

"Yes," replied the old woman, "I am the sister of the queen of the birds; and art thou indeed the princess that the prince married?" "Yes," said the princess; but the old woman knew nothing of the way more than the two former ones. "East from the sun and west of the world lies the castle," she said, "that is true, but thither canst thou never go. Three times have the trees grown up and rotted down here, since I lived on this spot, and thou art the first person that has asked the way to the castle. Wait, however, till morning, and we will ask the fishes, for I am queen of the fishes, and some of them swim very far."

So in the morning the old woman took the princess down to the sea-shore, and she whistled three times, and the fish came swimming from all quarters. The herrings which travel the shores of sunny countries came, and the shark, and the huge whale, but none of them had ever travelled so far; only the whale had heard that he had relations very far south, and that there was an island east of the sun and west of the world that they sometimes sailed round, but the way to it the whale knew not.

"So then," said the old woman, "there is nothing for it but to inquire of the winds, for they travel farther than beast, or bird, or fish; and first thou shalt go to the east wind, which is nearest. I will lend thee my horse to ride thither, and when thou comest to the east wind, strike the horse behind the left ear, and bid him come home; and take this golden distaff with thee, for it may probably be of great use to thee. God speed thee on thy journey, for it is a long one, and I know not how thou canst get there, but shouldst thou ever travel this way again, I pray thee let me know how it went with thee."

So the princess thanked the queen of the fishes for all her kindness, promised if she lived to let her know what befel her, and, mounting the horse, rode away to the east wind. Over many a moor and mountain, and through many a mossy wood she rode on for a long, long time before she came to the east wind. But at length she arrived, and asked him whether he could tell her how she might come to the prince who lived in the island and in the castle which lies east of the sun and west of the world?

"Of the prince," said the east wind, "I have indeed heard, and of the castle too, but the way can I not tell thee, for I have never blown so far. But I will take thee to my brother, the west wind; very likely he may know, for he is much stronger than I am, and blows farther. Thou canst seat thyself on my back, and I will bear thee thither."

The princess seated herself on his back, and away he went. When they came to the west wind, the east wind said, "I have brought thee a maiden who has married the prince who lives in the castle east of the sun and west of the world--canst thou tell her the way thither?"

"Nay," said the west wind, "so far have I never blown. But if thou wilt, maiden, set thyself on my back, and I will carry thee to the south wind, for he is far stronger than I am, and blows and wanders about everywhere."

The princess seated herself on his back, and it was not long before they were at the south wind; and the west wind said, "I have brought thee a maiden who has married the prince of the castle east of the sun and west of the world--canst thou bear her thither?"

"Nay," said the south wind, "I know not the way. In my time I have blown about a good deal, but so far as that I never reached. But I will carry the maiden to my brother, the north wind, who is the oldest and strongest of us all, and if he cannot tell thee the way, then never wilt thou find it."

The princess seated herself on the back of the swift south wind, and away he went at such a rate that the very heath trembled. They were quickly at the north wind, but he was so wild and furious, that long before they reached him he blew actual snow and ice in their faces.

"What do you want?" growled he out, so that a shudder went through them like cold water.

"Oh! thou must not be so rude with us," said the south wind, "for it is I, thy brother, and this is a maiden who has married the prince who lives in the island castle east of the sun and west of the world. Thither will she, and would now ask counsel of thee how to yet there."

"Well," said the north wind, "I know the place well where it lies. I once blew an aspen leaf thither, but I was so fatigued that I was not able to blow again for many a blessed day. But if thou really wilt go thither," said he to the princess, "and art not afraid, I will take thee on my back, and see whether I cannot blow thee thither."

The princess said she must and would go if there were any possible way. That she was not in the least afraid, and would dare everything, let it be as terrible as it might.

"Here, then, must thou stay all night," said the north wind; "for we must have the whole day before us if we mean to reach the place."

Early in the morning the north wind awoke her; blew himself up, and made himself so huge and strong that it was quite terrible; and away they went through the air as if they would drive to the end of the world. There arose so tremendous a storm, that whole villages and woods were blown down; and when they came over the great sea the ships sank by hundreds. Away they went over the waters, and that so far that no mortal could conceive the distance. But the north wind began to grow weaker and weaker, so immense was the way, that he could scarcely blow any more; and he sank lower and lower down, till he at last flew so low that the waves of the ocean struck his feet.

"Art thou afraid?" demanded he of the princess.

"No, not in the least," said she.

And now they were not far from land. There lay the island, all beautiful with pleasant palm and cocoa trees, lifting their airy heads in the sunshine, and with green and flowery forests coming down to the edge of the clear sparkling water. There stood the lofty castle with its pleasant gardens and soft lawns sweeping to the sea, and many bright birds and wonderful flowers all about. They had really reached the island and the castle that lies east of the sun and west of the world. But the north wind had scarcely strength left to reach the land, and, in fact, he alighted on a rock which rose out of the sea at some distance from the strand.

"Here will I lie and rest myself a little," said the great rough north wind, "and, to tell the truth, I would fain be excused going any nearer to the island, for they are not used here to such rough visitors as I, and were I to settle as softly as possible, I should chill many of these gorgeous flowers and trees to death, and make those birds and butterflies fall senseless to the ground. Ho! there I see our friend the whale I will ask him to carry you over. Ho there! friend whale," said the north wind hoarsely, "come hither, and carry over to the island the princess who has married the prince there."

The whale came somewhat surlily to the task, and blowing up a huge stream of water to clear his voice, said,--

"If she go with me she mast go quickly, for I am in danger here. I have pursued some tender herrings to this side of the island for my breakfast; but if I am seen the people will shoot their arrows into me, and probably come off in boats and with harpoons after me. It is rather provoking that one cannot seek one's breakfast in peace without being called on to become a ferryman."

"Be civil, friend whale, as becomes thee," said the north wind. "I have blown along all day and night with the maiden, and surely it cannot hurt thy strong back just to bear her to the shore."

"Waste no more words," said the whale, edging his huge bulk to the side of the rock, "for there will soon be somebody spying us out."

So the north wind bade the princess good speed, and she began to climb upon the whale's back; but it was so steep and slippery, that she found it very difficult to ascend. Several times she slipped down again to the rock, and the whale began to snort and blow with impatience. At length the princess accomplished the ascent, and thanking the north wind, she was borne away towards the island. Before they reached it, however, the whale plunged down under water, and swam so far under the waves, that the princess thought she should certainly never come up alive. At length, however, the huge creature emerged, and the princess recovering her breath, and wiping the brine from her eyes and nostrils, asked the whale why he treated her so rudely?

"Why were you so long in getting up?" asked the whale. "Every minute of your delay might prepare an arrow for my hide; and methinks that great savage north wind, whom nobody can hurt, might just as well have carried you to the shore, when he had brought you so far; but these northern creatures are only barbarians."

The princess thought she knew which was the more civilized of the two; but she was too prudent to speak, as she might have this time gone to the very bottom of the sea. So she was silent, till the whale rubbed the green edge of the island with his side, when she leaped down, and spite of his rudeness, thanked him kindly for his good office.

The princess now approached the front of the castle, and seating herself under the windows, played with the golden apple, and the first person that she saw was the witch stepmother.

"What wilt thou have for thy golden apple?" demanded she of the princess as she threw open the window.

"That is not to sell, neither for gold nor money," said the princess.

"If thou wilt not sell it for gold nor for money, what then wilt thou take for it?" asked the stepmother. "I will give thee whatever thou desirest."

"Oh, then!" said the princess, "if thou wilt do that, thou shalt have it; and the price is, that I am admitted for an hour to see the prince who lives in this castle."

"That shalt thou," said the stepmother, and took the golden apple. But when the princess came into the prince's room, there he lay in such a deep sleep that the princess could not wake him. She called to him, shook him, wept and lamented aloud and passionately, but all in vain. She saw that he was held fast under a spell; and as soon as the hour was past came the stepmother, and chased the princess from the room and from the castle.

The next day the princess seated herself again before the castle, put yarn upon the golden reel, and began to wind it off into a ball. And now it happened just as it had done the day before. The stepmother asked what she would take for the golden reel, and she replied that it was not to be sold for money or gold; but if she might for just one hour more see the prince, she would give her the reel The stepmother gladly agreed, took the reel, and conducted the princess into the hall where the prince was. But he was, just as the day before, in so deep a sleep, that, spite of all that the princess could do, she could not wake him. She called to him, and shook him, and wept and lamented bitterly, but all in vain; and the moment that the hour was up, the stepmother came and chased her from the room and the castle.

The next day the princess seated herself with her golden distaff before the castle, and the instant that the stepmother saw her she longed to have the golden distaff. The princess would not sell it for money or gold, but again bargained for one hour more in the presence of the prince. But now the servants of the prince, who had heard the lamentations of a woman in his presence on the two former days, had told him, and the prince was full of wonder. He was under the power of the witch stepmother, because in three years' wandering through the world he had not found a woman who loved him sufficiently to ask him no questions as to whence he came and what he was. Therefore must he alternately sleep twelve hours a magic sleep, and twelve hours keep awake; during all which time the stepmother ruled over his kingdom and did as she pleased. But now, the servants having awoke his curiosity, when the stepmother brought him the wine at breakfast which locked him for twelve hours in unbreakable sleep, he pretended to drink it, but in reality poured it behind him. He was, therefore, awake when the princess entered, and was astonished and rejoiced beyond all bounds to see his wife again. She then related to him how it had gone with her, and how she had managed to reach the castle.

When she had told him all this, he said:--"Thou art come precisely at the right time, for the stepmother has been exercising her witchcraft to occasion me to marry another princess, which must have taken place if she could have retained her power over me for a week longer. But now is her power at an end, for it can endure no longer than till a true woman asserts her right as wife in this castle. Henceforth must she flee to her own kindred in the mountains of the mainland, and we are now free to do whatever we please."

Then the prince called in all his servants and showed them his true wife, and there was great rejoicing, but the false stepmother had already fled away. The prince held a great banquet of ten days, and showed the princess all the beauties of the castle and island.

After this she told him how her father, the old king, still longed for a draught of the fountain, and a taste of the apples which grew in his court, and begged that she might go and carry them. But the prince asked how she could go, for the north wind had long blown himself back to his place; and when the princess thought on this, and saw not how she was ever to quit the island, she was very sorrowful. Then the prince smiled, and said he would show her how she should go, and that he would go with her. He therefore ordered provisions and wine for a long journey, and commanded them to be carried down to the shore. But there was neither boat nor ship to be seen. Yet the prince took the princess by the hand and said, "Now we say farewell for the present to the island east of the sun and west of the world, and we will set sail to see the old king, thy father."

At this the princess wondered more and more. But when they were come down to the waters edge, the prince took from his pocket a small thing like a folded skin, and said, "This is the ship in which we shall sail." The princess laughed and thought it a jest, but the prince opened it, and behold it was like a small boat. He stretched it out so long as his arms could reach, and then set it upon the water, commanding one of his people to step into it. He did so, and there was then room for two. Another stepped into it, and there was immediately room for two more. Thus it continued to expand till twenty men were in it, when the prince ordered the provision and awnings for the voyage to be carried in, and then stepped in with the princess. And now the princess saw that there was ample room for all, and she and the prince sat under a canopy of blue and gold, and the ship seemed instinct with life, and impatient to set sail.[1]

[Footnote 1: Odin had his ship of this kind, called Skidbladnir, or the skating leaf, and in the Scandinavian Sagas such convenient vessels are frequently mentioned.]

Then said the prince to the ship, "Away, over land and water to the queen of the fishes!"

And the ship cut smoothly away over the sunny waves without oar or sail, fleet as an arrow, till it reached the coast where the queen of the fishes lived. She was greatly delighted to see the princess return with the handsome prince, and in so wonderful a ship. The princess thanked her for her kindness in enabling her to reach her husband, and gave her one of the apples of youth, and a cup of the water; and no sooner had the old woman eaten the apple and drunk the water, than her wrinkles vanished from her skin, her hair from grey became black as the raven's plumes, and she stood there as a beautiful and stately maiden. The princess was not the less delighted than the queen of the birds, for she now saw that her father would certainly regain his youth. With many thanks on the part of the now beautiful queen of fishes, the prince and princess took their leave, assuring her that they should call on her sisters, the queen of birds and the queen of beasts, and give them also the same youth-renewing fruit and drink. Thither the wonderful ship sailed, and thence took its way at the prince's command to the court of the old king.

The old king was now become very weak, and lay at the point of death. All his six sons had returned, having spent all their money in riotous living in a distant city, and declared that they had been all round the world, and had inquired in all lands, and that nobody had ever heard of the castle east of the sun and west of the world. They protested that there was no such place, and no prince of such a place, and that his daughter would never return.

At this news the old king groaned bitterly, and lay helpless and sorrowful unto death. All his beautiful hopes of ever renewing his youth died in his heart; and while he was about to give up the ghost, his sons watched for his last breath, that they might seize on his treasures and spend them in riot and folly.

But just as they thought the old king's breath was departing, the prince and princess came sailing over the land in the ship, and stopped, to the amazement of all the courtiers, at the castle gate. Then entered the prince and the princess, who was weeping for joy. She bore in one hand a crystal flagon of the water of the fountain, and in the other a golden salver of the apples of youth; and kneeling by the old king's couch, she kissed him with many tears, and wet his lips with the water. All at once the old man's eyes gleamed with a sudden brightness; he raised himself on his elbows, and saw his daughter, with the prince by her side, stand weeping for joy, with the salver of fruit and the crystal flagon in her hand. Then he knew that she had reached the castle east of the sun and west of the world, and had come back for his sake. He eagerly stretched out his hand for the fruit, and having eaten one apple, he sprang from his couch with a bound such as he used when springing into battle, and then drinking a cup of the glittering water, he stood before them a stately man in wonderful beauty and strength. In his joy he stretched forth his arms and strode across the floor, and laying his hands on his sides as if to make sure how well he felt, he laughed and said, "Now again I am a king!"

Then he embraced and kissed his daughter, and also embraced affectionately the prince, praising them as the best of children that ever king had. But suddenly his face darkened with a frown, and he said, "What shall we do with those six nidings (worthless fellows) who call themselves my sons? They shall all be put to death."

But the prince and princess said, "Not so. They would buy their lives as the reward for having brought the king the renewal of his youth." The prince also requested that he might have the six sons delivered to him, engaging to make useful men of them in less than five years. To this the king, no longer called the old, readily consented; and when the feast of rejoicing was ended, the prince again took the wonderful ship from his pocket, and placing in it the six unworthy brothers, he bade the ship sail away to a region of wild and far-off mountains, where he delivered them to the keeping of the Dwarfs, who made them hew stone in the quarries, fell timber and shape it in the forests and work at the anvil in their smithies. There they laboured from day to day severely, and lived on the coarsest fare, till wisdom and better thoughts by degrees came into them, and they sent and petitioned that the king, their father, would forgive them, and place them in one of the lowest offices in his kingdom, where they might practise before all men the humility and gravity which they had acquired from the Dwarfs, and the solitude, the labour, and the frugal fair.

The king, having consented to this prayer, and found them true to their word, divided his kingdom amongst them, and sailed away with the prince and princess in the wonderful ship to the island east of the sun and west of the world, where he eats freely of the apples of youth, and drinks daily of the fountain of immortality, and feels that he is a king indeed.

THE HOLIDAYS AT BARENBURG CASTLE.

BY OTTILIE WILDERMUTH.