Chapter XII: Part 12

There was once upon a time a woman who had one son. This son maintained himself and his mother; he fed their one cow, and brought wood and carried it to the town for sale, and with the money bought bread to support his mother and himself. On one occasion he carried sticks to market, and bought bread and went homewards. As he went homewards with the bread, he went through a wood, came up to some shepherds, and saw that they were going to kill a puppy, and said to them: 'Don't kill it; the poor animal has done you no wrong; give it rather to me.' The shepherds said to him: 'What will you give us? Give us that loaf.' He gave them the loaf, took the dog, and carried it home. When he got home, his mother asked him: 'Have you brought any bread?' 'No, but I have bought a puppy with the bread.' She then said: 'Wherewith shall we support it, when we've nothing to eat ourselves?' 'Well, I'll go gather sticks, sell them, and buy bread.' He went a second time to gather sticks, took them and sold them, then bought bread, went through the wood, and saw where the shepherds were killing a kitten, and said to them: 'Don't kill the animal; it has done you no harm; rather give it to me?' They said to him: 'What will you give us?' He said: 'What should I give you, when I've got nothing?' The shepherds said: 'That loaf of bread.' He gave it them and carried the kitten home. The old woman was again anxiously expecting bread. When he got home his mother said to him: 'Do you bring me any bread?' 'No, but I've bought a kitten with the bread.' The old woman then said: 'You've nothing to eat yourself, much less the cat.' He then said: 'It, too, will be serviceable. I'll go gather sticks, sell them, and buy bread.' He went a third time, gathered and sold sticks, bought bread, and went homewards. Going through the wood, he saw the shepherds killing a snake, and said: 'Don't kill the snake, it has done you no harm; why should you kill it?' He begged for it, too, because he compassionated it; it was beautifully marked, and he fancied it. Then said the shepherds: 'What will you give us not to kill it?' He said: 'This little loaf of bread.' He gave it them, and they gave him the snake. He went home with the snake, and the snake said to him: 'Now feed me; when I grow up you shall carry me home.' When he got home his mother said to him: 'Why haven't you brought some bread? Why have you brought this?' He said: 'It, too, will be of service.' Then he went a fourth time to gather sticks, took them to market, sold them, bought four loaves of bread, and brought them home. Then they all ate their fill--the dog, the cat, the snake, his mother, and himself. He maintained the whole set of animals. The snake grew big; he now carried it home. It said to him: 'Do you hear? my mother will offer you gold and silver, but don't take any, but let her give you the lock which hangs behind the door. Whenever you want anything whatever, only knock on the lock; twelve young men will come, who will ask you: "What are your commands?" Only say what you wish for, and you will have it immediately.' When he carried it home, its parents asked him what he wanted for bringing their daughter home. He said according to his instructions: 'Nothing but that lock, which hangs behind the door.' They said to him: 'We can't give you that; and what good would you do yourself with the lock? Let us rather give you a quantity of money, as much as you can carry.' He then said: 'I don't wish for your money; only give me the lock.' When they long refused to give it him, he was about to depart. But they saw that he ought not to go away without payment, so gave him the lock. Now, when he had obtained the lock, and had gone a little distance from the house, he knocked on the lock, and immediately out came twelve young men, who asked him: 'What are your commands?' 'Only that you place me at home at once.' He immediately stood in front of his cottage, and when his mother saw him, she rejoiced: 'Oh, my son! you have come home; how miserable I have been because you were not at home!' 'Well, mamma, don't talk! we shall now live better than we have done hitherto; I have brought you such a thing, that we shall live with ease.' Then he gently knocked on the lock, and up darted the twelve young men: 'What are your commands?' 'Food and drink for me, my mother, the dog and the cat.' And so it was. This pleased the old woman, and she loved her son still more.

Now it came into his head that he should like to get married, and he said to his mother: 'Mamma, go you to our king, and ask him to give me his daughter to wife.' His mother jeered him: 'What is this nonsense that you are talking?' 'Well, go you to the king and tell him!' The old woman did not venture to go at once; but at last go she did, and told the king that her son wished to marry his daughter. The king said to her: 'Good! provided he performs for me what I shall command him; if he breaks up these hills by to-morrow morning, as far as my eyes can see, so that the best wheat shall grow, and I shall eat a cake from it to-morrow, then it is good; if that shall not be done, he will lose his head.' She went home weeping: 'My son, you have done an evil thing; the king has said to you, you must break up all these hills by to-morrow morning, as far as the king's eyes can see, so that the best wheat shall grow there, and the king shall eat a cake from it to-morrow; and if that be not done, you will lose your head.' 'Well, mamma, if that's all he said, then she will be mine.' 'Ah! my sonny! how can this be? You cannot do it.' 'Don't talk, mamma, but let us go to sleep; you will see whether all will be ready to-morrow or no.' They took their supper, and his mother went off to sleep. Then he knocked on the lock, and out sprang the twelve young men. 'What are your commands?' 'I ask that these hills be broken up, as far as the king's eyes can see, and the best wheat must grow there.' It was done. In the morning the old woman went to the king with the cake. The king rose up and saw that it was really accomplished, and the old woman was waiting with the cake. The king came out, and she said to him: 'Good-morning; I have brought it.' Then the king said: 'Good! he has done this; now tell him that by to-morrow he must clear all the woods, as far as he can see, and the best vineyards must be there, and he' (the king) 'must eat grapes and drink new wine to-morrow; and if he does not do this, he will lose his head.' She went again weeping home, and told her son all that the king had said to her. But he only smiled and said: 'Well, well, only go to sleep, you will see whether all will be ready to-morrow or no.' When they had supped, the old woman went off to sleep, and he knocked on the lock, and the twelve young men sprang out: 'What are your commands?' 'I command that these woods be all cleared, and that they produce the best grapes.' This, too, was done. In the morning the king rose up and saw that the change was really effected. The old woman, too, was really waiting for him with grapes and new wine. The king said to her: 'Well, good! tell your son that he must accomplish one thing more, and then he will win my daughter. If he shall have as much cattle, and such a castle as I have, he will win my daughter; if not, he will lose his head.' The old woman went home again, and told him what the king said. Then he knocked on the lock, and immediately out sprang the twelve young men: 'What are your commands?' He ordered that by the morrow a better castle must be built than the king had ever seen, and that he must have more cattle than the king, and there must be a covered way from his castle to the king's, and that a better garden must be formed, and in it all kinds of trees, and all sorts of birds to sing in it. This, too, came to pass. On the morrow he caused his six best horses to be harnessed, and went to fetch the king's daughter, to go to the wedding. Then the king said that there should be wedding festivities for five years. They were married, and the wedding festivities took place. Entrance was free to everyone. The festivities had already lasted three years, when the king's resources were exhausted. Then said the young man: 'Now I will entertain for three years.' The king of the sea came, too, to the festivities, and fancied the king's daughter, whom the other had married. Once upon a time he saw how he knocked upon the lock, and that which he wanted immediately presented itself. When they went to sleep, the king of the sea stole the lock, and knocked upon it; up sprang the twelve young men: 'What are your commands?' 'That this castle and this lady be placed on the black sea.' It was done. In the morning the young man and his mother were terrified out of their wits, because they were lying in a simple cottage. But he knew at once that he had lost the lock. Then he went to the king and prayed him to take charge of his mother, that he might go to look for his castle. Well, he went to look for it, with his dog and cat. He approached that sea, saw his castle, and said: 'Cat and dog, do you see our castle? But how shall we get into it?' They went to the sea and sat down. He was weary, and fell asleep as he sat. Then said the dog and the cat: 'Let us go for the lock.' The dog said: 'You can't swim; sit on my back; I will carry you.' They went and came up to the wall. Then said the dog: 'I can't climb up a wall.' The cat said to him: 'You hang on somehow behind me.' And thus they arrived at the corridor. Now said the cat: 'You, dog, stay outside; I'll go in by myself.' The king of the sea had just such a cat. The cat went to the door and mewed: 'Miau.' Then said the king of the sea: 'Let the cat in.' Then the cat went in and took the lock so neatly that the king of the sea didn't see it; he then went to the door and mewed: 'Miau.' Then said the king of the sea: 'Let the cat out.' The cat went out, and the dog asked it: 'Have you got it?' 'I have; only go.' They went over the wall and into the sea; and when they were already not far from their master, the dog wanted to have hold of the lock, to carry it up to his master, and said to the cat: 'Give me the lock; if you don't, I will throw you into the sea.' Then they squabbled, and the lock fell into the sea, and a fish swallowed it; but the cat seized the fish, and said: 'If you don't give up the lock I will kill you.' The fish said: 'Don't kill me; I'll give you the lock,' and immediately brought the lock up. They went to their master, and carried up the lock. When their master awoke and rose up, he said: 'In what condition have you come?' They said: 'Our master, we have brought the lock.' 'Where is it?' 'Here.' Then he took it and knocked upon it, and out sprang the twelve young men: 'What are your commands?' 'I command that my castle be placed where it was, as well as that king and my wife.' It was done. Then he went into the castle, and she immediately ran to him and they kissed each other. But he caused the king of the sea to be impaled on a spit in the midst of the sea. Thus he obtained his castle back again, and lived happily with his wife, but the king of the sea was destroyed.

LV.--THE SHE-WOLF.

There was an enchanted mill, so that no one could stay there, because a she-wolf always haunted it. A soldier went once into the mill to sleep. He made a fire in the parlour, went up into the garret above, bored a hole with an auger in the floor, and peeped down into the parlour. A she-wolf came in and looked about the mill to see whether she could find anything to eat. She found nothing, and then went to the fire, and said: 'Skin down! skin down! skin down!' She raised herself upon her hind-legs, and her skin fell down. She took the skin, and hung it on a peg, and out of the wolf came a damsel. The damsel went to the fire, and fell asleep there. He came down from the garret, took the skin, nailed it fast to the mill-wheel, then came into the mill, shouted over her, and said: 'Good-morning, damsel! how do you do?' She began to scream: 'Skin on me! skin on me! skin on me!' But the skin could not come down, for it was fast nailed. The pair married, and had two children. As soon as the elder son got to know that his mother was a wolf, he said to her: 'Mamma! mamma! I have heard that you are a wolf.' His mother replied: 'What nonsense you are talking! How can you say that I am a wolf?' The father of the two children went one day into the field to plough, and his son said: 'Papa, let me, too, go with you.' His father said: 'Come.' When they had come to the field, the son asked his father: 'Papa, is it true that our mother is a wolf?' His father said: 'It is.' The son inquired: 'And where is her skin?' His father said: 'There it is, on the mill-wheel.' No sooner had the son got home, than he said at once to his mother: 'Mamma! mamma! you are a wolf! I know where your skin is.' His mother asked him: 'Where is my skin?' He said: 'There, on the mill-wheel.' His mother said to him: 'Thank you, sonny, for rescuing me.' Then she went away, and was never heard of more.

LVI.--MILUTIN.

A certain man had two children--one a boy, and the other a girl. This man required his children to relate to him every morning what they had dreamed. Indeed, the girl related her dream, whatever she had dreamed, every morning, but the boy did not, for he dreamed every night what eventually happened to him; he dreamed that he killed a king, took to wife a count's daughter, and became king in the kingdom in which he killed the king. Exasperated at this, his father thought the reason why he did not tell his dream was because he was afraid, and drove him out along a road, and beat him so that he cried piteously. A count was driving past, and heard the child crying. He ordered his servant to go to the man, and tell him not to beat the child, but say how much he should give him to take it away himself. The man said, in reply, that he need only take it away from before his eyes. He immediately took it, and delivered it to the count, and the count took it away home. The count had one daughter, who took a great affection for the boy. It was also a custom with the count that the children were obliged to relate what they dreamed. But he would not reveal his dream to the count, and say what he had dreamed; and he had dreamed the very same dream that he had dreamed at his father's. Then the count became very angry, and caused a vault to be built in his garden, inside which he was to be thrown, and it was to be constructed of such masonry that nobody should be able to give him anything to eat, and that no light should by possibility enter it. But the count's daughter, who was very sorry for the boy, went out to the masons, and promised them a purse of money, only to construct it in such a manner that she would be able to give him food at night. This the masons did, in return for the good money. He was seven years inside, and unable to sit or lie.

Now came a time when king sent a staff to the count, and said he would attack him with an army, if he did not tell him on which side the staff opened. Now the damsel came at night, and brought the lad food, saying: 'Now, I have brought you food for the last time, because a king has sent us a staff, and my father must open it; if he does not open it, he will attack us with an army. We must perish under the open sky, but you in this vault.' He replied that she was not to frighten herself, 'but go, lie down, and soon jump up and say to your father: "My dear papa, I have dreamt of good luck for us." He will say: "What?" Reply to him: "I dreamt that I should tell you that, if you will open the staff, you need only fill a tub with water, and put the staff in it; the staff will turn with that side up on which it opens."' Even so it came to pass. Her father did so, sealed up the staff on that side, and sent it to the king. The king wrote back to him: 'You have certainly done it, but not with your own stupid head. But you have one hard by your house, of whom you know not; he has done this for you.' Then he wrote a letter again to the count, and said: 'I shall send you three horses all alike, and you must tell me how many years old each is.' And all alike they were. One was one year old, the second two, and the third three years old. Then the damsel took him food, and said to him: 'Now I am bringing you food for the last time; you will have to die here, and we in the open air, for the king has sent us three horses exactly alike, and we must tell him how old each is.' He replied that she must go and lie down, and say that she had dreamt thus: that he must prepare three heaps of oats of three different years, and let the horses go to the oats, and they would go of themselves each to his own heap; the one which was one year old would go to the one-year-old oats, the second to the second, and the third to the third heap. She told him this. And it came to pass just as she told him. Then he wrote in reply to the king, and the king to him: 'Certainly, you have done this, but not with your own stupid head; but you have another who does it for you, of whom you are not aware. But I shall send you one thing more. I shall send you, on a given day, at the hour when you will be at dinner, a war-mace, weighing three hundredweight; it will strike the spoon out of your mouth. You must throw it back to me just as I threw it to you.' Indeed, this, too, came to pass. The mace flew in, knocked his spoon out of his hands, and flew off with speed into the cellar, inside which it stuck so fast that a score of soldiers couldn't move, much less throw, it. Now the count assembled, and invited all people, but no one was able to do it. She took him food again, and said to him: 'You have set us free twice, but certainly the third time you will not be able to do so, and now you will die here, and all of us in the open air.' He then asked her what sort of work it was that had to be done. She told him, and he answered: 'Go home and lie down, then get up and say that you have dreamt that no one else but I can do it, so I tell you; but the count will not believe you, yet will think, since you have twice dreamed with success, that possibly now, too, it may be true.' And so it came to pass. The count caused him to be dug out. He saw how weak he was, and said: 'I am stronger than he, but I can't throw it; how, then, can he throw it?' He then said: 'Go to a certain king; he has nine hundred cows, and has them all registered when each was calved. Buy for me one cow, which is neither more nor less than nine years old, and whatever he says you are to pay for it, pay. If you pay one kreutzer less, I shall be two hundredweight lighter.' Well, he went thither, and inquired whether he had such a cow. The king answered that he had. Then he asked the price. The king replied: 'Nine thousand pieces of silver.' He paid them, drove it home, and had it slaughtered immediately. The young man then said that he must be three months by himself in a house, without anybody being allowed to go in to him. Now he took at once two pounds of beef, but did not eat the flesh, but only the soup. This lasted for three months. Well, the cook told the count that he would not eat the flesh, in order to serve his own interests. Then the count went himself to him, and asked him why he would not eat the flesh. He replied that something must be brought him to eat. Now he took a piece, threw it upon the wall, and said to the count: 'You see the flesh has fallen down, and the soup has stuck to the wall; and so it is with me: the soup abides with me, and the flesh goes down from me.' Then he went out to look at the mace. He was already able to move it. Then he went in for three months to eat. Then he was able, with his left hand, to throw it two hundred fathoms high into the air. He went in once more to eat for three months. Now he was exceedingly strong, and told the count to write freely to the king, that on such and such a day, at such and such an hour, the mace would arrive, and knock the spoon out of his mouth at dinner. In fact, so it was. He threw it a hundred and twenty-five hours walk into the other kingdom. Now the king saw that he had done this also. Then he wrote to him: 'Certainly you have done all that I told you, but not with your own stupid head, but he has done it for you, whom you caused to be walled up in a vault. But you must send him here to me, that I may see him.' But he wanted to slay him. Now, the count was unwilling to let him go, but, nevertheless, he was obliged to do so. 'But do you know what, count? Cause all your people to be summoned hither, and we will select as many as ever we can that resemble me.' There were only nine such, and he was himself the tenth. Now he told him to have exactly similar uniforms made for them all, so that, at any rate, no one would know one to be different from another, and to provide similar horses for all, and then he would go thither. Even so it came to pass. Then the ten went. But before they arrived at the town, he said to them: 'Indeed, you don't know why we are going thither; we are going to be put to death; but I tell you not to be in any wise afraid. This king will give you the word of command when we enter: "Milutin (such was the boy's name), dismount!" Then you must all dismount so that no one is behindhand, but all alike, and at once. Then he will say: "Milutin, go into the house!"--all go into the house. "Milutin, shut the door!"--all off to shut it. "Milutin, take your seat at table!"--all do it at once. "Milutin, go to bed!"--all off to bed at once.' Even so it was. Thus the king could in no wise recognise him, and did not venture to slaughter them, but ordered his servant to conceal himself under a bed, and listen which spoke most wisely, and put a mark upon him. Now they all lay down, and began to converse as to what would come out of this. Milutin then said: 'Doubtless, till now he has not recognised me, and will ride after me, and will overtake us; but never mind that, only kneel down and pray to God. Then notice well: if I first emit fire out of my mouth, kill yourselves; but if he emits it first, have no fear whatever; this signifies to you that human flesh will seethe in human blood.' The man under the bed heard this speech, and cut off a piece from the heel of his boot. Morning arrived, and Milutin told them that each must look well at his clothes: maybe there would be some mark on someone's uniform. But all at once he observed that just his boot-heel had been cut off, and said: 'All give me your boots, that I may cut off each of the heels just as I have mine cut off.' Now the king came to summon them: 'Milutin, come to breakfast!' and they all went at once. And the king saw that they all had a similar mark, and, therefore, did not know which to put to death. Then he reprimanded the servant. Now said the king: 'Milutin, go home!' and they all went homeward at once. But erelong the king recognised Milutin by his horse--for he had the horse from the count--and overtook him. They immediately knelt down, as he had previously bidden them, and he began first to fight on horseback, but nothing came of it. Then they both dismounted from their horses, and fought thus, each leaping against the other so that the earth quaked under them. Thus they fought terribly for some time. But all at once they observed that the king emitted fire out of his mouth, and then Milutin afterwards. Then the king spat pure fire out of his mouth at Milutin, and Milutin also spat fire. The two fought on in this frightful manner; but suddenly Milutin overcame the king, threw him down, cut off his head, and carried it home to the count. Now all was merriment, and Milutin married the count's daughter, took possession of the realm of the king whom he had slain, and there was a grand festival. That's the end.

_ILLYRIAN-SLOVENISH STORIES._

I am afraid that our delightful friend Oliver Goldsmith has pre-occupied the British mind with a certain amount of prejudice against the region,

'Where the rude Carinthian boor
On strangers shuts th' inhospitable door.'

But if the said rude and inhospitable person had been addressed in a tongue 'understanded of the people,' his reception of the 'Traveller' might possibly have been very different. Be that as it may, the folklore tales of the Styrian and Carinthian Slavonians are full of interest, and in them we certainly find the fullest account of the Vilas, and even a Vila marriage with a human being, which ends in an unfortunate separation, like those in Irish legends between mermaids and men. No. 57 gives us a singular variant of 'Cinderella,' in which the circumstances are different down to the conclusion, which is similar to that of the Bulgarian version, No. 37. No. 58 carries us completely into wonderland, where several old acquaintances will meet us in new dresses and relations. In No. 59 we have a singular legend of a white snake, an animal connected with which there are also superstitions in the Scotch Highlands.

The backwardness of the Slovenes is mainly due to the ferocity with which Protestantism was stamped out by Ferdinand II., who, as well as his father, Ferdinand I., wrote his name in blood in the annals of Bohemia. (See Morfill's 'Slavonic Literature,' pp. 176, 177.)

As regards the language, the dual is as fully developed as in Lusatian.

LVII.--THE FRIENDSHIP OF A VILA AND OF THE MONTHS.

A wicked woman married a poor man, who had already a little daughter named Maritza. Afterwards God gave her a daughter of her own, whom she loved and cherished more than her own eyes. On her stepdaughter, who was a good and very handsome child, she could scarcely bear to cast a look; therefore she drove her about, teased and tormented her, in order as soon as possible to make an end of her; she threw her the poorest remnants of food and everything, just as she would have done to a dog. Indeed, she would have given her a snake's tail to eat, if she had had one at hand; and instead of a bed, she sent her to sleep in an old trough.

When her so-called mother saw that the girl, in spite of all this, was good and patient, and grew handsomer than her daughter, she thought and thought how to find a pretext to get rid of the orphan out of the house, and devised one.

One day she sent her daughter and stepdaughter to wash wool; to her own daughter she gave white wool, to her stepdaughter black, and said to her with sharp threats: 'If you don't wash the black wool as white as my daughter will hers, don't come home any more, or else I shall beat you out of the house.' The poor stepdaughter wept piteously, entreated her, and said that it was impossible for her to do this. But all in vain. Seeing that there was no mercy for her, she tied up the wool and went weeping after her half-sister. When they came to the water, they undid their bundles, and began to wash, when a beautiful fair damsel from somewhere joined and saluted them: 'Good luck, friends! do you want any help?' The stepmother's daughter said with a scornful laugh: 'I want no help; my wool will soon be white; but our stepdaughter's yonder will not be so in a hurry.' Thereupon the strange damsel stepped up to the sorrowful Maritza, saying: 'Come! let us see whether that wool will allow itself to be washed white.' Both began immediately to rinse and wash, and in a jiffy the black wool became as white as fresh-fallen snow. When they had finished washing, her fair friend vanished nobody knew whither. The stepmother, seeing the white wool, was amazed and angry, because she had no excuse for driving her stepdaughter away.

Some time after this came sharp cold and snow. The wicked stepmother was continually thinking how best to persecute her unfortunate stepdaughter, and now ordered her: 'Take a basket and go off to the mountain; there gather me ripe strawberries for the new year. If you don't bring me them, it will be better for you to stay on the mountain.' The orphan Maritza wept piteously, entreated her and said: 'How shall poor I procure ripe strawberries in sharp winter cold?' But all in vain. She was obliged to take the basket and go.

As she was going all in tears over the mountain she met twelve young men, whom she saluted courteously. They received the salutation in a friendly manner, and asked her: 'Whither are you wading, dear girl, in the snow thus in tears?' She told them the whole story prettily. The young men said to her: 'We will help you if you will tell us which month of the whole year is the best?' Maritza said in reply: 'They are all good, but the month of March is the best, for it brings us most hope.' They were pleased with her answer, and said: 'Go into the first glen on the sunny side; there you will get as many strawberries as you wish.' And indeed she brought her stepmother a basketful of most excellent strawberries for the new year, and told her that the young men whom she had met on the mountain had shown them to her.

Some days later, when the weather had become milder, the mother said to her own daughter: 'Go now into the mountain for strawberries; maybe you will find those young men, and they will give you similar good fortune, for they have shown themselves so wonderfully kind to our greasy stepdaughter.' The daughter dressed herself grandly, took the basket, and skipped off merrily on to the mountain. When she got there, she did actually meet the twelve young men, to whom she said haughtily: 'Show me where the strawberry-plants grow, as you showed our stepdaughter.' The young men said: 'Good! provided you guess which month is the best of the whole year.' She answered quickly: 'They are all bad, and the month of March is the worst.' But at that speech the whole mountain clouded over in a jiffy, and a storm beat upon her so that she scarcely panted home alive. The young men were the twelve months.

Meanwhile the goodness and beauty of the ill-used stepdaughter was noised about in the district, and a young, rich and honourable lord arranged with her stepmother to come on such and such a day with his retinue to betroth the stepdaughter to be his wife. The stepmother, jealous of the orphan, did not tell her a single word of this, but thought to thrust her own daughter surreptitiously into this good fortune.

When the appointed evening came the infamous stepmother packed her stepdaughter off in good time to the trough to sleep, then cleared up the house, prepared supper, dressed out her daughter to the best of her ability, and placed her at table with some knitting in her hands. Thereupon up came the betrothal party; the stepmother welcomed them, conducted them into the house, and said to them: 'There is my dear stepdaughter.' But what good was it? For in the house they had a cock, who began with all his might, and without intermission, to crow: 'Kukuriku, pretty Maritza in trough! kukuriku, pretty Maritza in trough!' and so forth. When the betrothal party understood and comprehended the cock's crowing, they insisted that the real stepdaughter must come out of the trough, and when they saw her, they could not sufficiently express their admiration at her beauty and grace, and took her away with them that very evening, and the wicked stepmother and her daughter remained put to shame before all people. Maritza was happy with her husband and with all her house to a great age and an easy death, for a Vila and all the months were her friends.

LVIII.--THE FISHERMAN'S SON.

Once upon a time there was a lord on the Danube who had a fisherman to catch fish for him. This lord was preparing a great banquet, and ordered his fisherman to catch three hundredweight of fish in three days. On the first day the fisherman went early in the morning to catch the fish. But he could not obtain any. The second day he went again very early in the morning. He made the round of the water, but again took none. The third day came. The fisherman went to catch fish, and went on till mid-day, but could not net any. In the afternoon he determined to go home by the waterside, and carried himself as if he were very much out of sorts. Suddenly up sailed a striped boat. In the boat sat a gentleman clad in green. He questioned the fisherman saying: 'Man, why are you so sorrowful here by the water?' The fisherman said: 'How should I not be sorrowful? My lord ordered me to catch three hundredweight of fish in three days; to-day is the last day, and I have not obtained any.' Then said the gentleman: 'Promise me that which you don't know that you have, and you shall to-day catch plenty.' The fisherman thought to himself: 'What I don't know that I have, I shall easily do without, if I do promise him.' And the gentleman at the same time added: 'And I will wait twenty years. In twenty years you will be able to fulfil your promise.' 'Agreed,' said the fisherman. He cast his nets and drew them out full of fish. He cast them a second time, and it was just the same. He cast them once more. The gentleman said to him: 'Only send home for them to come with a waggon and four horses.' They came with four horses. They packed the fish in, so that they scarcely drew them with the four horses. But before they went home the gentleman asked the fisherman: 'But do you know what you have promised me?' The fisherman said: 'My lord, I do not. What I don't know that I have, I have promised you, be it what it may.' The gentleman smiled, and said: 'You don't know that your wife will be the mother of a son, and this son you have promised to me. When twenty years have elapsed, you must just bring him here.' Then the fisherman took the fish home. On the one hand he was glad, on the other very downcast. When he brought them home his lord began to grumble, saying: 'You're a thorough fool! Why did a messenger come to me to say that you could not obtain any? Now you have brought me such a quantity that I hardly know where to stow them.' The fisherman excused himself, and related to his lord the whole series of occurrences from beginning to end. Afterwards he put a question to his lord: 'God only knows how it will be now, since I have done such an evil thing, that I have promised him my son.' His lord said: 'What of that? Twenty years is a long time. By then all may be changed.'

It came to pass. The fisherman's wife became the mother of a boy. He grew up right handsome. When he became a little older they sent him to school. At school he learnt so well, that at sixteen he had learnt enough to be ordained a priest. But his father and mother said: 'Not a priest, for he is promised. Let us rather place him for four years more in the black school.' When he had completed the course of the black school, he came back to the Danube, with all before him in the future, as if he were about to succeed, and behind in the past, because he had already been successful. Then said he to his father: 'Father, now it is time for us to go.' The father: 'To go? whither?' The son: 'Whither you promised me.' The father: 'Who promised you any whither?' The son: 'What? don't you know to whom you promised me twenty years ago? Let us go to that piece of water, where you then went to catch fish.' The father became very sorrowful. The son then said: 'Don't be afraid. Only quickly coat over arm and follow me. Only you must do what I instruct you to do. If you obey me, no harm will happen to you and me.' On the way he also instructed his father as follows: 'When we come to that piece of water, the striped boat will sail up just as when you caught the fish. In it will sit the gentleman in green to whom you promised me. The gentleman will push the boat to the shore in shallow water. I shall step on it with one foot, and stand on dry land with the other. Then say: "My son, I commend you to God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. May these three always be with you!" When you have uttered these holy words I shall spring into the boat.' Everything happened exactly as the son told his father and instructed him on the way. The striped boat sailed up on the water. In it was the gentleman dressed in green. The son stepped with one foot on the boat, and stood with the other on dry land. His father commended him to God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The son sprang on board the boat, and the gentleman pushed it from the shore. All at once all sank, the boat, the gentleman, and the son. The father was terribly frightened, and cried out at the top of his voice: 'Jesus, Maria! my son has gone down to hell!' He then crept home very sorrowful.

His son passed through the water into a town which is called Perdonkorten.[20] In this town all the population was enchanted. He walked and walked about the town, but nowhere was there anybody. Hunger took possession of him, but he could get nothing to eat. He bethought himself of going to catch some fish. He went to the water, caught some, lit a fire, cooked them, and ate his fill. He then went into the shade, laid himself down, and fell asleep. He dreamt that he was told to go to pass the night in a lordly castle, to seat himself at table, to light a taper on each side of him, and wait. He did according as he had dreamt. The clock struck midnight, when suddenly the door opened outside of itself. A huge snake glided into the house. It came up opposite the young man, and besought him: 'Kiss me.' He cursed it, and said: 'Take thyself off from me, Satan! Thou hast no power over me.' The snake retired through the door. Thereupon day broke. The young man walked and walked again about the town. He saw here and there carriages ready harnessed, but no human being. In the afternoon he went again to the water to catch fish. When he had eaten his fill, he went into the shade. He lay down, and soon fell asleep. Erelong he dreamt what would have happened, if he had kissed the snake. He woke up, and thought: 'This evening I will go back, and will kiss it if it comes.' In fact, he went again into the same house, seated himself at table, lit two tapers, and waited. The clock struck twelve. The door opened. Through it glided a very much larger snake, with two heads. It came up the room opposite him, and besought him again: 'Kiss me!' Terror seized him, for it was much more horrible than the one he had seen the preceding night. Therefore he cursed it again: 'Take thyself off from me, Satan! Thou hast no power over me.' The snake again quitted the house. Afterwards day broke. He went again into the town, caught fish, and ate his fill. When he had eaten, he went into the shade, lay down, and fell asleep. Ere long he dreamt again: 'Thou wouldst, nevertheless, have only done rightly if thou hadst kissed the snake.' He woke up, and said: 'This evening I will kiss it, even if it appears still more terrible.' In the evening he went into the same house. He seated himself at table, lit two tapers, and waited. When the tower clock struck twelve, the door opened. A terrible snake glided in. It had three heads, and was still larger than the one he saw the preceding evening. It came puffing opposite him. It began to twine round him, and beseech him: 'Kiss me!' He pressed his lips to it, and kissed it.

[20] German, 'Wundergarten.'

As soon as he had kissed it, the snake turned into a beautiful maiden, as beautiful as a damsel could be. The snake was the enchanted daughter of the lord of the castle. After the kiss, all belonging to the castle, and the whole town, were disenchanted. Erelong the father and mother of the disenchanted daughter came into the room. They welcomed him with the greatest joy. The father said to him: 'Friend, I give you my kingdom and my daughter, if she pleases you.' He replied: 'Let us wait a bit, that we may make a little acquaintance with each other.' Thereupon they prepared a grand supper. They supped, and did not go to bed till late. In the morning they got up. The young man and the damsel went a walk in the town. The whole town rejoiced over him, and pointed at him, saying: 'That is our deliverer.'

Now the young man was content with all. Only he still felt sorry, when he bethought himself: 'Here am I in such good fortune, while my father on the Danube is thinking that I have fallen into the abyss of hell. If I could only just go to my father on the Danube, to tell him of my luck, I should then be completely content.' Thereupon the damsel said to him: 'I have something such that you could easily go to your father, if you would but be sure to come back.' He said: 'You know that I shall come. Nowhere have I had such good fortune as here.' Now they agreed that she would wait for him seven years, if he did not return before. The damsel gave him a certain ring, and said: 'Here is this ring, look through it, and think to yourself that you would like to be with your father by the Danube, and you will find yourself there. When you wish to come back to me, look again through the ring, and think to yourself that you would like to be with me, and you will find yourself here with me. But you must not show it to anybody, lest you lose it. If you lose it, it will be very difficult for you ever to come to us.' The young man looked through the ring, thought to himself that he would like to be with his father by the Danube, and in a moment there he was. His father and mother were very, very glad to see him safe and sound once more. They asked him all manner of questions. He related to them how he had darted through the water into an enchanted city, and what had been his hap afterwards. The whole household jumped for joy at hearing how fortunate he had been. Especially rejoiced was his mother, who walked continually on tiptoe for joy. Afterwards his father took him to his lord, for whom he still caught fish. There, again, the whole household rejoiced greatly over him. The lord had two daughters. Erelong he said to him: 'Stay with us. I will give you a portion of my kingdom and one daughter, if it pleases you.' He thought to himself: 'There there awaits me a whole kingdom, and a larger one than this. The lady, too, there, is handsomer than this one.' Nevertheless he said within himself: 'Suppose I stay here a day or two. I shall easily go back before the time is out. Seven years don't pass so quickly.'

It came to pass that he went a walk one day with the two daughters. On the road the silly fellow showed them the ring, and told them how he had come back into that country. They thought to themselves: 'Behold! if we could but take that ring from him, then he would be glad to stay with us.' They went a little farther on, and one of them said: 'Let us sit down a bit here in the shade.' They sat down on the grass under a tree. They had not sat there long when one of them said to him: 'Listen! listen! What have you got in your hair?' He: 'I don't know that I've anything.' She: 'You have something; you have indeed. Let me look at your head.' Now she began to examine and stroke his head till he fell fast asleep. The other, on seeing this, put her hand quickly into his pocket, and took out his ring. They rose up, and prolonged their walk. They walked and walked about the country, when he put his hand into his pocket, and found that the ring was no longer there. He said: 'I've lost my ring. What shall I do now?' They said: 'Let us go back. We will look for it. Maybe we shall find it.' They went back to the self-same place where they had been sitting. They helped him to look for it carefully. They looked for it in vain, for one of them had got it in her own pocket.

After this, he remained five years more in that house. When the fifth year had elapsed, he said: 'This won't do. If I remain here, I shall never get to Perdonkorten. Now go I must. There will be two years for me, eventually, to get there.' Once upon a time he was benighted. He went through thickets, where there was no living soul. He espied a light on another hill. He said: 'Thither I must go. There will be people there.' He went thither. There was nobody at home but a woman. He asked whether they would take him in for the night. The woman said to him: 'I would willingly take you in for the night, but I do not advise you to stay here. My three brothers are three thieves. When night is over, they will come home, and will soon put you to death.' He said: 'Never fear! Only bring me a pint of wine, that I may drink and wait for them here at the table.' When night was over, up came the three brothers home. He sat in the house at the table, and busied himself with the wine. They asked him: 'Who are you?' He replied: 'I don't know who I am. I'm a poor fellow who roams hither and thither in the world, wheresoever I must.' They said: 'But to what family do you belong?' He said: 'That also I don't know. All through I am knocking about in the world. Nowhere am I at home.' They said: 'What is your name? How do you write yourself?' He had gone through the course of study at the black school; therefore he knew how they wrote their names, and that they had lost a brother. He therefore told them their surname, and the name of their lost brother. They said: 'You are indeed our own brother, whom we lost many years ago.' He said: 'It is easy to see that I am.' They asked him: 'But are you willing to take up our business?' He said: 'Why not, if your business is honest, and one can easily get one's living from it?' They said: 'From our handicraft a living is got right easily. At home we do nothing at all, and have always plenty to eat and plenty to drink.' He inquired: 'What have you gained to-day?' They replied: 'To-day we have gained more than we ever gained before. We have obtained shoes: whoever puts them on will fly two hundred miles in half an hour. We have obtained a mantle: whoever wraps himself in it, nobody sees him. We have obtained a hat: whoever puts it on his head, and throws it before him, hills open themselves to him, so that he follows it whithersoever he will.' He: 'But is this true?' They: 'It is.' He: 'Now, then, let's try this dress on me. We'll see how it will fit me.' He put on the shoes, wrapped himself in the mantle, clapped the hat on his head, and stepped a little way from them. He asked them: 'But don't you really see me?' They said: 'Nobody sees you.' Then he gave a jump, so that the earth quaked. They hurried after him, as it were, in the dark; but he escaped them, for nobody saw him.