The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales (Penguin Classics) (16 page)

Once there was a king who had three exquisitely beautiful daughters. But the trio had been kidnapped by three royal giants. One day three fellows came to the castle to beg. They were told curtly that they would have to bring back the three princesses before they were given anything at all.

The three lads made up their minds to find the princesses, and they scattered in different directions. The first one discovered an empty house in the woods. He walked in and found no one there, just a roast goose on the spit. Famished, he took the meat from the spit and started eating it. While he was feasting, a little gray man with a long beard appeared and asked the fellow to give him a small bite. Just as the kind boy was leaning down to give him a taste, the rascal jumped on his back and began choking him so hard that the lad took to his heels as soon as he got away.

The same thing happened to the second fellow. The third was a little more clever, and when the gnome asked him for a bite to eat, he said: “Chop some wood for me, and then you will have your reward!” The little one went out and chopped some wood. The tip of his beard got stuck in the crack of a log he had split, and he was caught. He shouted for help, but the fellow refused to come to his aid unless he told him where the princesses were. The little man said: “If you get this piece of wood off me, I will help you out.” The boy did not trust him at all, and so he carried the gnome with his beard still stuck in the log.

The two reached a hill with an opening that led way down. A basket was hanging there from a string. The boy climbed in and lowered himself while the gnome stayed up at the top with his two companions, who had met up with him again. The basket came to a stop on the ground, and the boy found himself in a spacious house, a beautiful place with a red floor. He looked around and found a sword dangling from the wall in one room. It swayed back and forth. He found a whistle in the drawer of a table, and began to blow on it. Suddenly the sword fell right down into his hands.

He made his way through a long wide passage to a glass door, and when he looked through it he saw one of the princesses, the youngest. She was sitting by one of the giants, and he had three heads. The young man cleared his throat, and the giant stuck his three heads out the door. With his mighty sword the fellow chopped the giant’s heads off in one stroke. Now the princess was free. He took her to the basket and pulled on the cord to have her taken back up.

Later he discovered a second room with the second princess and a third room with the third princess. Each one was sitting next to her giant husband, and the second one had six heads; the third, nine in all. The young man did to these two what he had done to the first. Then he put the princesses in the basket and sent them back up aboveground. And so he was the last person left underground. He didn’t quite trust his companions up there and decided to test just how well disposed they were to him. And so he put the eighteen giant heads in the basket.

When the basket was halfway up, his comrades let go of the rope, and all the heads fell down and lay in pieces at his feet. Since he was at a loss as to what to do, he took out his whistle and used it. Suddenly a horde of little gray men appeared, all wanting to know what he desired, for he was their master. When they learned that he wished to reach the top again, they gave him a staff of iron. “If you want to make an opening anywhere, just tap the wall with this staff. And in case you need us, all you have to do is stamp your foot.”

The young man emerged from the mountain and returned to town. He took an apprenticeship with a goldsmith. The
goldsmith had received a commission from the king to make a crown for his eldest daughter. He was delighted to have a capable apprentice, and he turned the work over to him.

That night the lad asked for a roasted calf and as much wine as he could drink. When he was alone he stamped his foot on the ground. The gnomes appeared and brought him the crown of one of the princesses in the giant’s chambers. They stayed all night, and they ate their fill and drank until they were tipsy. In the morning the young man placed the exquisite crown on the master goldsmith’s table, and he proudly took it to the king, who commissioned a second one, just like it, for his other daughter. The apprentice agreed to do the additional work for his master, in exchange for food and drink. The gnomes appeared again as soon as he stamped his foot, and they ate and drank their fill. In the morning, a second crown was ready.

Exactly the same thing happened with the crown for the youngest princess. She recognized who had written her name, which was also inscribed on her ring, and told the king. He summoned the master and asked about the origin of the crowns. The master revealed that it was the work of his apprentice, and now everyone knew who had really rescued the princesses.

The king gave him the hand of his youngest daughter, as well as the kingdom as his reward. The two companions, who married the sisters, had to serve as his vassals.

There once lived a miller with two sons named Hans and Michael. He owned two mills. When he grew older, he arranged for his sons to marry, divided the mills between them, lay down to rest, and died.

Hans’s wife was with child before long, and Hans began to think that it would be a good idea if his sister-in-law were also pregnant. Then the two children would grow up together, and the mills would stay in the family, with the children as owners.

Michael learned that his own wife was ill and could never have children. He went to his brother’s house and said: “My wife will never be able to have children. How about this? If you have a son, I will adopt him, and he can be my heir.” Hans was all too happy to hear those words, and he waited impatiently for his wife to deliver their child. To Hans’s disappointment, his wife gave birth to a girl, named Marie. Michael said: “I’m not about to give the mill to a girl. I want a boy with my name!”

The girl was adorable and flourished as she grew older. Her mother was delighted to have a girl who was so pleasant and happy even when she was helping out with chores. The little girl felt sad from time to time. “Everyone I know has a brother or sister, but not me,” she complained.

One day when she was playing alone in the parlor, she grumbled about that again, and elves came in through the floorboards. They were hoping to be her brothers and sisters and wanted to play with her and teach her things, without her
parents knowing about it. The child kept their secret, and the little elves kept her company when she was by herself. They taught her how to read and write, and they also taught her the art of knitting. The girl’s mother could not figure out why her daughter liked to be home alone so much, but she began leaving the house for even longer periods of time. She decided to send the girl to an aunt living in another place so that she would get an education. How astonished she was when she learned from her daughter that she could do everything already. The girl showed her the pretty things she had knit. The mother was thrilled.

When the girl, who had a lovely face and a fine figure, turned sixteen, her father wanted her to marry a wealthy man in a nearby town. The girl didn’t want to, for the elves had told her that she would be unhappy with the man. He would squander everything they owned and then abandon her.

Marie had a second reason for turning down her father’s proposal. There was a handsome, hardworking young man at the mill, and she was devoted to him. She told her father about him. He replied in a sober manner: “You aren’t interested in my proposal? So be it. But you can’t marry the apprentice until he hangs nine bags filled with gold on the spokes of the wheels in the mill.” The elves burst out laughing when they heard that, and they comforted the unhappy girl by telling her that they would help her out.

Around that time, news came that the prince of the kingdom was on his deathbed, and that the doctors had exhausted every possibility of healing him. The elves rushed over to Marie and said: “We made the prince ill, but he won’t come to any harm. You are going to save his life. Tomorrow your father will be leaving on a trip, and you can go into town and give the prince a small dose of this medicine. He will recover from his illness right away.”

Marie went over to the palace and let the queen know that she would be able to heal her son. The queen somehow had faith in this visitor, who had an honest face. She was taken to the patient, and she gave him a dose of the medicine she had with her. All at once he was healthy again. Marie was given a
bag full of money. She took it home, but she was not entirely happy. How would she manage to find eight more bags? The elves were shrewd and said to her: “Let’s see just how much money is in that bag.” It turned out to be nine hundred talers. The elves found nine bags, filled each with a hundred talers, and tied them up with little red ribbons. Then they said: “Marie, your father may be a little ill-mannered at times, but he is a man of his word. Tomorrow is Sunday, and he won’t be operating the mill. While he is at church, go hang the little bags on the spokes of the wheel. You can show him the bags when he returns home. And then ask him if you can marry the apprentice. Your father may make a face and scratch himself behind his ears. But he won’t break his promise.” And so Marie married the man she loved, and her father was more cheerful and contented than ever before.

Marie did not forget what the elves had done for her, and she brought them all kinds of tasty morsels. They thanked her and said: “Don’t forget us, Marie, and in a year there will be another joyful event in your life.” After the usual time had passed, Marie gave birth to a boy. Her father was beside himself with joy. Michael, who had abandoned the mill after his wife’s death, came to see them. He said to Hans: “Give me the boy, and you and your wife can come live with me. You can manage the business. I have enough to live on.”

And so Marie was given her father’s mill and lived happily ever after with her husband.

Once there was a king who had two handsome sons. They looked so much alike that it was impossible to tell them apart.

The elder of the two decided to go on a journey. He took leave of his father and his brother. He was very fond of his brother, and as he was leaving, he handed him a small vial filled with water, saying: “If the water turns cloudy, it means that I’m ill. If it turns red, it means that I’m dead.” And with those words, off he went, on the road until he reached a city where a young woman was ruling as queen of the land.

The prince was handsome and well mannered. It did not take him long to win the affection of the royal lady, and before much time passed she offered him her hand in marriage and her throne. He became king of the country and lived happily with his wife.

In the autumn months, the royal couple would move to a smaller castle at the edge of the forest. One evening the king and his wife were looking out the window and noticed the battlements of a castle nearby. The king asked the queen about the mysterious castle.

“It’s an enchanted place,” she replied. “Don’t ever go in there, because no one who goes in ever returns.”

The king’s curiosity was aroused. He arranged a hunt for the next day, taking his servants with him into the woods, along with his faithful companions—a tame lion, a bear, and a wolf. As he was leaving, the queen begged him not to go near the enchanted castle. She asked the servants to make sure that
they would always keep an eye on her husband and especially that he would not go near the enchanted castle.

The king was excited by the idea of an adventure, and he devised a scheme to rid himself of his entourage. All he needed was some nice strong wine to put them all to sleep at the inn, and once they were slumbering, he could slip away to the castle, accompanied by his faithful animals.

On his way he crossed a bridge over the moat around the castle. There he saw a little old lady dressed in rags, who was holding her hands behind her back in such a way that he could not see her arms. She asked the king for alms. He felt sorry for the poor woman and gave her a gold coin. The old woman told him that she had no hands and asked him to put the coin on the ground. The well-meaning king leaned over and was about to put the gold coin at her feet when she struck him with a whip hidden under her clothing. He turned into stone. The lion, bear, and wolf also became statues.

In the meantime, the king’s entourage had woken up at the inn, and it soon dawned on them that the king was gone. After searching for him everywhere, the servants returned to the queen with heavy hearts. She wept day and night, grieving for her lost husband. She put on a mourning dress, and no one could console her for the loss of her husband and his terrible end.

Some time passed and the king’s younger brother decided one day to look at the bottle given to him by his brother. The water in it was turning red. Fearing the worst, he traveled in disguise from one kingdom to the next, from one city to the next, until finally he reached the place where his brother’s wife was living. While she was telling him her tale of sorrow, he realized that her husband must be his brother. He had fallen in love with the queen and decided to take advantage of the resemblance to his brother. He had clothes made up in the same style and color that the king wore, put them on, and went to the castle. The servants were sure that he was their master, and they threw themselves at his feet, so elated that they kissed the hem of his clothing.

The queen was half-dazed when she heard the joyful news.
She took her “husband” into the bedroom and tenderly reproached him for failing to send news for an entire year. The new king was very cautious about what he said and avoided answering her questions as much as possible.

The two lived happily for some time, until the queen moved back to the palace at the end of the woods. She was standing at the window looking at the mysterious castle, when her husband asked about it. When the queen became suspicious, he changed the subject. After all, his brother had already asked about it, but he vowed to figure out what was going on in the castle.

The new king arranged a hunt, put the servants to sleep with wine, crossed the bridge to the castle, and found the statues of stone at the gate. The poor old woman without hands asked once again for alms.

The king raised his sword and threatened to kill the old woman if she did not tell him right away what had happened to his brother. He insisted on seeing her hands, but she refused, telling him that they were repulsive to look at. At last, the old woman had had enough of his questions and pulled out her whip. She was about to strike the king, but he was prepared for her tricks, and let his sword land. The hand holding the whip fell to the ground. He picked up the whip quickly and held it tight. She refused to tell him anything, until he started swinging his sword over her head, and at that point she gave him a second whip, which she told him he could use to disenchant the stone figures. She pointed out exactly where his brother and the three animals were.

The false king touched every single stone with his magic whip, and then finally he lifted the curse on his brother and the animals, who were shocked to see him standing there. The brothers embraced, and everyone thanked their rescuer warmly for breaking the spell. There were celebrations in the castle.

The joyful feelings did not last long. When the king learned that his brother had betrayed him with the queen, he flew into a rage and could not restrain himself. Drawing his sword, he plunged it into his brother’s chest. Everyone fled the castle,
horrified by this terrible deed. The true king began searching for his wife, and she was looking for him, too. Their joy was boundless when they found each other, although tarnished by the feelings of pain about the brother who had betrayed them and his violent death. A messenger brought the news that the brother was in fact not dead and that he was still alive and had returned home. His little pet dog had stayed by his side, licked his wounds, and stopped the flow of blood. The two brothers realized that the old woman had most likely blinded the brother and provoked him to carry out the violent deed. They reconciled and returned home.

The reunited couple lived happily for many years and passed on their peaceful and calm kingdom to their children.