days now passed; but when Thursday came, the queen again rose out of the sea, and at midnight entered the king's chamber. There again, bending sorrowfully over the infant's cradle, she said: "God bless thee, dear young son of mine! But the king he sleeps in the witch's arms. Shall I thee see." "Who was that who spoke?" inquired the king, starting out of his sleep. "I heard 'nothing," answered the false queen, who was acting the part of queen. But when the watches rushed forward to seize the queen, she disappeared in the ocean. On the third Thursday night the king himself kept watch, and with him were many priests, clerks, and other learned men. And now, when the queen was in the act of leaving the little prince's cradle, all perceived that she was fastened round the ancle by a heavy iron chain. Seeing this, one of the clerks cast his Bible at the chain, and no sooner had the holy volume touched the links than the sorcery was dissolved, the chain brake, and rushed down into the sea with a great noise and rattling. Thus was the queen rescued from the sea; and every one can easily conceive the king's delight at having recovered her. On the following day the king made a great feast, at which were assembled many men of high lineage and degree from all parts of the kingdom. While the guests were sitting at table, and making merry, the king recounted all that had befallen his queen; but no one knew of whom he spoke. Then turning to the old Troll-wife, he said: "What punishment do they deserve who have attempted to destroy so innocent a person?" The crone answered: "They were well worthy to be cast into boiling tar." Then," said the king, "thou hast pronounced judgment on thyself." So he commanded the witch to be boiled in tar; and her daughter shared the same fate. But the king took again his true wife, with whom he lived happily the rest of his days. 2. THE WREATH. From South Småland. THERE was once a man who had two daughters, an own daughter and a stepdaughter. The man's daughter was good-hearted and friendly; but the stepdaughter was ugly and of evil disposition, which was, moreover, fostered by her mother. One day, the man with his daughter went to the forest to hew wood; but the weather was cold, and it rained hard. When they returned in the evening, the man found he had left his axe behind, whereupon he said to his wife: "My dear, let thy daughter go after the axe, for mine is both weary and wet; she has been the whole day out in the rain." But the woman answered: "Oh, the weather is not so bad but that thy daughter can very well go. If she is wet already, she will bear a shower or two all the better." Thus the poor stepdaughter was obliged to go, be the weather as it might, to seek after her father's axe. When she reached the spot where the axe lay, three little doves were sitting on the haft, and looking very sad. The maiden felt pity for the little birds, and addressed them kindly: "My poor little doves, fly home to your little dwelling, then you will avoid being out in the rain and getting wet. I must go home with my father's axe, otherwise I shall be chided by my stepmother. Fly now your ways, little doves." Saying this, she took some bread from her evening meal, crumbled it, and gave it to the birds. She then took up the axe, and proceeded homewards. But the doves flew to the top of a high tree, and consulted together how they should reward the friendly girl for her kindheartedness. One of them said: "I will give her a wreath." The second said: "I will give her birds in it." "And I," added the third, "will give, that no one shall take away the wreath without causing it to wither." Having so spoken, the little doves flew away. When the maiden returned home, she had on her head a wreath of the most beautiful flowers, and among the roses there sat small birds, that sung so delightfully that the like had never been heard. The stepmother and her daughter could ill brook that the stepdaughter should possess anything so precious; so they took the wreath from her, and set it on the head of the crone's daughter. But no sooner had they so done than the birds were silent, and the flowers shed their leaves. Then the crone sent her own daughter out into the forest, that she might also get a wreath as well as her half-sister. But no sooner had the girl cast her eyes on the three doves, perched on the haft of the axe, than, unable to repress her evil disposition, she screamed: "Ye filthy animals, who has given you permission to sit there and befoul my father's axe? Away, or I will help you." The crone's daughter then took up the axe and went her way. But the doves flew to the top of a high tree, and consulted together what reward they should bestow on the girl for her hard words. They agreed that the crone's daughter should never be able to say anything but "Ye filthy animals." And so it came to pass. But from that hour the crone and her daughter could not endure the poor stepdaughter, and sought to cause her all the harm and vexation in their power. It happened one day that the king's son was passing through the forest, and caught sight of the maiden with the beautiful wreath and the singing birds. Being smitten with her beauty, he took her with him to the palace, and married her. But the false stepmother, watching her opportunity during the prince's absence, pushed her stepdaughter into the sea, and placed her own daughter in her stead. When the king returned the wreath had disappeared, and the queen could say nothing but "Ye filthy animals!" This to every one seemed wonderful, and the prince was sorely afflicted thereat. The queen, who had been cast into the deep, arose thrice from thence, and conversed with her dog. On the first night she went up on the shore, and said :— "My little dog, art thou asleep? Lies the false Troll-wife in my consort's arms? But the third night the The second night the same took place. prince himself was on the watch, and seized his wife just as she was in the act of returning to the sea. She then changed her form, and became various sorts of animals, both fishes and birds; but the prince, nevertheless, held fast. At last she was changed, as it seemed, into a tar-pot. The prince, then, drawing his sword, cut through the tar-pot, and in the same instant the enchantment was dissolved, and there stood before the prince a fair damsel, having on her head a wreath, in which a number of little birds were singing. Joy and gladness were now diffused over the whole palace, because the prince had recovered his right consort. On the following day the prince caused a great feast to be prepared. In the midst of the festive mirth he asked the old Troll-beldam what punishment those merited who would deprive a fellow-creature of life. The stepmother answered: " 'They well deserved to be put in a tun set round with spikes, and rolled down a hill." Then said the prince: "Thou hast pronounced judgment on thyself." The crone and her daughter were afterwards rolled to death in a tun set round with spikes; and the prince with his wife lived long and happy. 3. In A. I. Arwidsson's "Läse- och Läro-bok för Ungdom"* is given a variation from Östergöttland, in which this story is combined with that of "The Little Gold Shoe"+. This version concludes as follows: : When the stepdaughter (the cinder-girl) had been married some time to the foreign prince, he was obliged to return to his own country; but his consort remained behind with her wicked stepmother, until she had given birth to a child. When the stepdaughter was on the eve of departure, she was persuaded to take the crone's daughter with her as a court attendant. But the base Troll bored a hole in the ship's bottom, and transformed her half-sister into a seasnake. When the snake scented the sea air it hastened through the hole, and was received by a Sea-troll, who was the crone's daughter's godmother. The false female then put on her half-sister's likeness, and joined the prince, who received her with great joy. But the stepdaughter's little dog, Locke, was never cheerful afterwards; the little infant wept uninterruptedly; and a weight lay on the prince's mind. The false wife was bad of heart and hated by every one. The little dog lay in a room at the end of the palace, that was occupied by an aged female who nursed the prince's child. One night a loud noise was heard proceeding from the sea, and the old nurse was terrified with the rattling and clank of chains outside the door. * Stockholm, 1830, Del. i. pp. 19-25. † See the story hereafter. Shortly after she heard her former mistress speaking to the little dog, saying : "Locke, my little dog, Art thou still alive?" The dog answered— "Yes, I am so, my lady." The voice continued Locke, Locke, let me in." The door was now opened, and the enchanted princess stept in. She asked "Does my little child yet weep?" Locke answered "Yes, it does so, my lady." The princess continued "Does the false Troll yet sleep in my consort's arms?” Locke answered Yes, my lady, she does so." The princess added: "I will return home on two Thursday evenings yet, and then never again. The Sea-troll now tugged at the chain, and the princess went back to the ocean. On the following Thursday night, the prince himself came and listened to his wife's conversation with the little dog. When he observed that all was not as it should be, he consulted one skilled in the magic art. This person instructed him to go on the sabbath night and harden an axe and a pair of steel gloves in charcoal of the linden and serpent's venom; also to set in the room three vessels, one full of water, one of wine, and the third of milk. The king's son did, in every point, as he had been directed; so when Thursday came, and the princess appeared for the third time, the prince rushed forward, and cut the chain by which she was confined. At the same moment a loud noise was heard out in the sea. But the king's son seized his consort, and held her fast with his iron gloves. She was then changed into a sea-serpent, that strove to bite everything near it, and to tear itself loose; but the prince did not let go his hold. He then carried the serpent to the vessel that was filled with water, when a skin fell off from it. He next lifted it into the vessel filled with wine, and a second skin fell off. Lastly, he placed it in the vessel filled with milk, when there stood before him a beautiful princess white as milk, and the king's son recognised his consort who had been enchanted. Locke was now again cheerful, the little child ceased its weeping, and the weight fell from the mind of the prince. But the false crone's daughter was condemned to be buried alive. 4. According to another version from Östergöttland, the false stepmother, by her magic art, raised a violent storm, through which the maiden perished in the sea. The Troll afterwards sent her own daughter in another vessel, and she became the prince's bride. But the true bride rose three several nights from the water, and sighed : "Alas! alas! it is so cold in the ocean's depth !" The third night the king's son was present, and conversed with her. About the time of cock-crowing the maiden was about to return to the sea; but the king's son held her fast, notwithstanding her many transformations. The enchantment was then dissolved, and the stepmother and her daughter were condemned to be cast into melted lead. 5. A remarkable though incomplete version from Westmanland relates that the king causes the young man to be cast into a pen of serpents; but his sister, who had been swallowed by the ocean, rose on three Thursday nights from the water, and came to the king's palace, and stopt in the apartment leading to the king's bedchamber, opened her golden casket, combed her long fair hair, and said: "I comb my hair, And let fall many a tear: My brother lies in the serpents' pen." On the third night, the king himself was on the watch, and severed the chain by which the damsel was confined. The enchantment was then dissolved, and the king made her his queen. 6. In a version from Upland it is related how the fair maiden laid her head on her stepmother's knee to be combed ; but the girl having fallen asleep, the false beldam, watching her opportunity, cast her stepdaughter overboard, and placed her own daughter in the other's stead. The story adds, that when the maiden came by night out of the sea to converse with her dog, she sat by the window combing her long hair, from which the most costly pearls fell on the ground. These pearls had attached themselves to the damsel's locks, while she was in the ocean. 7. Another variation from Upland makes the story begin thus :-A stepmother sends both her daughters to the well for water, giving her own daughter a pail, and the stepdaughter a sieve. The continuation accords with the story of "Jungfru Svanhvita and Jungfru Räfrumpa." 8. A version, also from Upland, makes the damsel, who is cast into the sea, to be transformed into a serpent, which the king cuts in three pieces, when it becomes a most beautiful princess. The story concludes by burning the false stepmother and her daughter on a pile. 9. Another version of the story has been given from Upland by the well-known German scholar, H. R. von Schröter, which is mentioned by the Brothers Grimm, but is of little value. *Instead of a lion's den, as at p. 52. Och lät henne löska sig. Kinder- und Hausmärchen, Th. iii. pp. 406-407. |