THE THREE SILVER CITRONSA Persian Story
There was once a King who had three sons, and he loved them all equally, one no more than the other.
When he had grown old and felt his strength leaving him, he called the three Princes before him.
“My sons,” said he, “I am no longer young, and soon the time will come when I must leave you. I have it in mind to give the kingdom to one or the other of you now and not to leave it for you to quarrel over after I have gone. You have reached a time of life when you should marry. Go forth into the world and seek, each one of you, a bride for himself. He who brings home the most beautiful Princess shall have the kingdom.”
The three Princes were well content withwhat their father said. At once the two elder ones made ready to set out; but the youngest one said he would wait a bit. “It is not right,” said he, “that our father should be left alone in his old age. I will wait until my brothers return, and then I too will start out to try my fortune in the world.”
That was good hearing for the older Princes, for they had always been a bit jealous of their younger brother and were just as well pleased not to have him with them.
Before they set out they packed a bag full of food to carry with them, for they had no wish to starve by the wayside. They took baked meats and boiled meats, and little cakes and big cakes, and fine white bread, and wine to drink.
Well, off they set, and on they went, a short way and a long way, until they came to the edge of a forest, and there they sat down in the shade to eat; and when they spread the food out before them it made a fine feast I can tell you.
Just as they were about to begin an oldwoman came hobbling out of the forest. She was so old that her nose and her chin met and she was so bent that she could barely get along even with the help of the crutch she had.
“Good masters, give me a bite and a sup, I beg of you,” she said. “It is a hundred years since I have tasted anything but black bread.”
“If you have lived on black bread that long you can live on it a little longer,” said one of the Princes, and then they both laughed. However, they bade the old crone come back there after they had gone, and it might be she would find some broken bits lying round, and those she might have if she cared to gather them up.
Then the Princes went on eating and drinking, and after they had finished they journeyed on again.
Presently they came to a cross roads, and there they separated; one went east and one went west. The eldest Prince took the east road, and soon it brought him to a castle, and in this castle lived a Princess who was as pretty as a picture. It was not long before the Princewon her to be his wife, for he was a stout and comely lad, and as soon as they were married he set out for home, taking his bride with him.
As it happened with the eldest Prince, so it did with the second brother. He also found a castle and a Princess, and won her to be his bride, and brought her home with him to his father’s house; and when the two Princesses met it was hard to choose between them, they were both so pretty. It seemed as though the kingdom would have to be divided between the elder brothers and their pretty brides.
But first it was only right that the youngest Prince should have a chance, so now that his brothers had returned he was ready to set out into the wide world and see what sort of a beauty he could pick up. His brothers laughed at him, for they had never had much of an opinion of his wit, even though they were jealous of him.
“Only see that she has two eyes and a stout pair of hands,” said they. “Our Princesses will find something for her to do about the palace, no doubt, and as for you, you shall always havea warm place in the chimney corner where you can sit.”
The youngest Prince answered never a word, but he put some food in a scrip and off he set.
He journeyed on and on, a short way and a long way, and then he too came to the forest and sat down in the shade to eat, as his brothers had done before him.
Presently the old crone came hobbling out from the forest, and she was more bent and hideous than ever.
“Good youth, give me a bite and sup, I beg of you,” she said. “It is a hundred years since I have tasted anything but black bread.”
“Then it is high time you had something else to eat,” said the Prince, and he gave her the best of all he had, both food and wine.
The old woman ate and drank, and by the time she finished there was little enough left for the Prince. Then she drew out from her sleeve a pretty little pipe and gave it to him. “Take this,” she said, “and if there is anything you wish for play a tune upon the pipe, and it may help you to find it.”
After that she disappeared into the forest again.
The Prince hung his scrip over his shoulder, and then he was ready to set out, but first he thought he might as well see what the pipe was good for. He set it to his lips and blew a tune.
Immediately a score of little black Trolls with long noses appeared before him. “Master, here we are!” they cried. “What would you have of us?”
“I did not know I was your master,” thought the Prince, but what he said was, “What I want is the prettiest Princess in twelve kingdoms for a bride, and if you can get me such a one I’ll thank you kindly.”
“We know where to find such a Princess, and we can show you the way,” said the oldest and blackest of the Trolls, “but we ourselves cannot touch her. You will have to win her for yourself.”
Well, that suited the Prince, and if they would only show him the Princess he would do his best to get her. So off they set, and presently they came to a high mountain, and it belonged to the King of the Trolls. The Prince blewupon the pipe again, and the mountain opened before him. He went in, and there he was in a great chamber, where the Troll kept the three daughters of three Kings whom he had taken captive and brought there, and they were so beautiful that their beauty lighted the whole place so there was no need of lamps.
When the girls saw the Prince they were terrified and began to run about this way and that, looking for a place to hide; but they could find no place, for the chamber was quite smooth and bare. Then they changed themselves into three silver citrons and rolled about this way and that, all over the room.
The Prince was terribly distressed that the girls had changed into citrons, for they were so lovely that he would have been glad to have any one of them for a wife.
However, he took up the citrons and hid them in his bosom, and then, as there seemed nothing better to do, he set out for home again, for after having seen three such beauties as that he would never be satisfied with any one else.
After a while as he journeyed he came to thewood where he had seen the old crone before, and there she was, waiting for him.
“Well, and did you get what you set out to search for?” she asked.
“I did and I didn’t,” answered the Prince;—and then he told her the whole story and showed her the three citrons that he still carried in his bosom. “They are three beauties, I can tell you,” said he, “but of what use are they as long as they remain as citrons?”
“I may be able to help you again,” said the old hag. She then gave him a silver knife and a little golden cup. “Keep the citrons until you come to a running stream. Then take one,—whichever one you please,—and cut it open with this knife. At once one of the Princesses will appear. She will ask you for a drink of water. Give it to her immediately in this golden cup, and after that she will remain with you and you can have her for your wife.”
The Prince was delighted. He took the knife and cup and thanked the old woman gratefully, and then she again disappeared in the shadow of the forest.
The Prince journeyed on until he came to a running stream, and it was not so very far from his father’s palace. Then he got out the knife and the cup and one of the citrons. He cut the citron, and at once one of the Princesses appeared before him. If she had looked a beauty when he saw her in the mountain she was ten times lovelier, now that he saw her in the light of day. The Prince could only gape and gape at her.
“Give me a cup of water to drink,” demanded the Princess; but the Prince was so busy staring at her that he did not move, and in a moment the Princess vanished from before him, and where she went he could not tell. He was filled with grief over the loss of her, but she was gone, and that was all of it.
Then the Prince took out the second citron. “This time I will be ready for her,” he thought. He took his knife and cut the second citron. At once the second Princess appeared before him.
“Give me a cup of water to drink,” she demanded. But again the Prince was so overcomeby her beauty that he could no more move than if he had been rooted to the ground, and the next moment she too disappeared from before his eyes.
The Prince was in despair. He ran this way and that way, calling aloud and trying to find her, but she had vanished like the fading of a breath.
And now there was only one other citron left, and the Prince trembled at the thought of opening it, for he was afraid he would lose this third Princess as he had the others. At last he drew it from his bosom and prepared to cut it, but first he filled the golden cup and set it ready to his hand. Then he seized the knife and with one stroke divided the citron in two.
At once the third Princess stood before him, and though the others had been beautiful she exceeded them in beauty as the full moon exceeds the stars in splendor.
“Give me a cup of water,” said she; and this time the Prince was ready. Almost before she could speak he had caught up the golden cup and presented it to her.
The Princess took the cup and drank, and then she smiled upon him so brightly that he was dazzled.
“Now I am yours, and you are mine,” said she, “and where you go I will follow, for I have no one in all the wide world but you.”
The Prince was almost wild with happiness. He kissed her hands and looked with joy upon her face.
But she was dressed only in a linen shift.
The Prince took off his cloak and wrapped it about her. “Climb up into a tree,” said he, “and hide yourself among the branches, and I will go to the castle and bring you from thence robes and jewels and all things fitting for such a beautiful Princess to wear.”
To this the Princess agreed. The Prince helped her to climb up among the branches of a tree that overhung the water, and then he hastened away to the castle.
The beauty sat there among the leaves waiting for his return, and the time of waiting was long, for when the Prince reached the castle he was obliged to stay and tell the whole story tohis father before the King would permit him to return with the robes and jewels he had promised to bring to his bride.
The Princess took the cup and drank.
The Princess took the cup and drank.
Meanwhile an ugly kitchen wench who worked in the castle came to fetch water from the spring, for every day the Princesses required it for their baths. The girl had brought with her an earthen jar to hold the water.
As she leaned over the stream to fill the jar she looked down into the water and saw the face of the Princess reflected there, as she peered out from the leaves above.
The servant wench, whose name was Lucy, thought it was the reflection of her own face that she saw. She gazed upon it with wonder and joy. “Ah! Ah!” she cried. “What a beauty I am; why did no one ever tell me so? Not even the two Princesses are as beautiful as I.” She knelt there, staring and staring at the reflection. Then in a rage she sprang to her feet.
“And they send me to draw water for them! Me, who ought to sit on a throne above them all. But I’ll no longer be their slave. I’llbreak their water jar to pieces, and if they send me with others I’ll break them too!”
With that she threw down the jar with such violence that it was broken into bits, and then she stamped about with rage.
The sight amused the Princess so that she laughed aloud. The servant wench looked up and saw the lovely face peering out at her from among the green leaves; it was the same beautiful face she had seen reflected in the water.
“Who are you? What are you doing up there among the leaves?” she asked in a thick voice.
“I am the promised bride of the Prince who has just gone up to the castle,” answered the beauty. “He has gone to fetch fine robes and jewels that I may dress myself properly before I appear before his father.”
When she said this an evil thought came into the servant wench’s head.
“Come down,” said she, “and I will dress your hair for you; I have often done this for the other Princesses, and I can arrange it so that you will look even more beautiful when the Prince returns.”
The Princess was nothing loath. She had no thought of evil. She climbed down from the tree and sat herself upon a rock, while Lucy looped and pinned her hair in place and wove a crown of flowers to place upon it. “Come now, and see how beautiful you are,” said the servant.
She led the Princess to the place where the stream was deepest, and then, when the beauty stooped to look at herself in the water, Lucy pushed her in. After that she stripped herself to her shift, and hid her clothes under a rock, and climbed up into the tree. There she sat among the leaves, peering out just as the Princess had done.
Presently the Prince returned, bringing with him all sorts of beautiful clothes and gifts for his Princess bride. What was his amazement to see, instead of the beauty he left in the tree, the ugly face of the servant wench smiling down at him from among the leaves.
“What are you doing there?” he cried. “And what have you done with the Princess?”
“Alas,” said the servant maid, pretending toweep, “I am the Princess. After you left me a wicked enchantress came by this way and changed me into this shape.”
The Prince was filled with grief and horror at these words. However, he believed her and could not find it in his heart to punish her for a misfortune she could not help. He showed her the robes and jewels he had brought, and the servant wench made haste to come down and dress herself in them. When she had done this she looked more hideous than ever. The Prince could hardly bear to look at her, his grief and shame were so great. Nevertheless he took her by the hand and led her back to the castle.
There the King was waiting full of impatience to see the bride of his youngest son, this most beautiful Princess in all of twelve kingdoms. But when the Prince brought the ugly servant wench before him he could hardly believe his eyes.
“This a beauty!” he cried. “Are you a fool or do you take me for one? It is an insult to bring me such a creature for a daughter-in-law.”
The older Princes and their brides did not try to hide their scorn or laughter, but the servant sank on her knees, weeping, and repeated to the king the same story she had told the Prince. She assured him that she had been as beautiful as the day when she had climbed up into the tree and would be so still if the wicked enchantress had not passed by and bewitched her.
The King frowned and stroked his beard. “Yours is a sad case,” said he, “and since the Prince has given his word to marry you, marry you he must. Perchance sometime your beauty may return.”
He then gave orders that Lucy should be shown to the apartments prepared for the Princess and that she should be waited on and served just as though she were the beauty his son had promised him.
But the heart of the Prince was like a stone in his bosom, and he could not bear to look upon the ugly one who was to be his bride.
Now when the Princess had been pushed into the water she had not been drowned, as Lucythought. Instead she changed into a beautiful silver fish that swam about in the stream or hid under a grassy bank.
Now there was another servant who came down to the stream for water instead of Lucy, and one day when this servant dipped the jar into the water the fish swam into it, and she carried it back to the castle with her.
It was so pretty that she showed it to the Prince, hoping it might cheer him for a moment.
No sooner had the Prince looked upon the fish than he grew quite light and happy. He would not let the servant take the fish away but kept it with him in a crystal bowl and now he no longer grieved so bitterly about his bride.
Lucy did not know why the Prince had grown happier. She thought perhaps he had begun to love her. But when she found that he scarcely ever came to see her, but spent all his time watching the fish, she became very angry.
She bribed a servant to steal the fish from the Prince’s room and bring it to her. Thenshe had a fire built and threw the fish into it to burn.
No sooner did the flames touch the fish, however, than it changed into a beautiful silver bird and flew out of the window.
The false Princess was frightened. “There is some magic here,” thought she, “and magic that will prove my ruin.”
And now the silver bird sat on a branch outside the Princess’s window and sang and sang. The Prince heard it, and his heart was filled with joy, he knew not why, and he forgot the fish that had disappeared from the bowl.
Lucy also heard it and was more frightened than ever. She sent for the servant who had stolen the fish and bribed him to set a net to catch the bird. This he did one day when the Prince was away, and then he brought the bird to the false Princess. But she shuddered at sight of it as though she were cold, and bade him take it outside and wring its neck.
This the servant was loath to do, but he dared not disobey her. He carried the bird outside and did as she commanded, and three drops ofblood fell on the ground just below the Prince’s window.
The next morning when the Prince awoke he saw with amazement that a beautiful citron tree was growing outside of his window. Its trunk was silver, and its leaves were silver, and on the branch nearest his window hung three silver citrons, and they were exactly like the silver citrons he had brought from the Troll’s home under the mountain.
The Prince saw them hanging there, and his heart was filled with joy and hope as he looked at them. He reached out and plucked them and hid them in his bosom. Then he took the silver knife and the golden cup and hastened down to the stream where he had opened the citrons before.
He cut the first citron, and at once the first Princess appeared and asked him for a drink of water, but he scarcely looked at her, and she fled away.
He cut the second citron, and the second Princess appeared and demanded water, but he never stirred, and she too vanished.
Then he filled the golden cup with water and with a trembling hand cut the third citron.
Immediately the third Princess appeared. “Give me of the water to drink,” said she.
At once the Prince handed her the golden cup. She drank deeply, and then she smiled upon him, and it was his own dear love who stood before him more beautiful than ever.
The Prince could hardly believe in his good fortune. But the Princess told him all that had happened to her—how Lucy had pushed her into the water, and how she had been changed first into a fish, and then into a bird, and then into a citron as she had been before. The Prince could not wonder and marvel enough. He took her by the hand and led her up to the castle, and her golden hair fell all about her so that she seemed to be clothed in a shimmering golden mantle.
When she appeared before the King he was amazed at the beauty of her, and when the Prince told him that this was his true bride and not the other, his happiness knew no bounds. The whole palace resounded with rejoicings.Only Lucy was so terrified that she ran and jumped out of a window and broke her neck.
But the kingdom was given to the youngest Prince, and he and the Princess reigned there in peace and happiness as long as they lived.
THE MAGIC PIPEA Norse Tale
There was once three brothers, all the sons of the same father and mother.
The two elder were hard-working, thrifty lads, who had no care except as to how they might better themselves in the world. But the youngest, whose name was Boots, was not thrifty at all. He was a do-nothing and was quite content to sit in the chimney corner and warm his shins and think about things.
One day the eldest son came to his father and said, “I have it in mind to go over yonder to the King’s castle and take service there, for I hear the King has need of a herdsman to take care of his hares for him. The wages are six dollars a week, and if any one can keep the herd together and bring them safe home every nightwithout losing one of them the King will give him the Princess for a wife.”
The father was pleased when he heard this. Six dollars a week was fair pay, and it would be a fine thing if the lad could win the Princess for his wife. At any rate it was worth trying for.
So the eldest son cocked his hat over one ear, and off he set for the palace.
He had not gone so very far when he came to the edge of a forest, and there was an old crone with a green nose a yard long, and it was caught in a crack of a log. She was dancing and hopping about, but for all her dancing and hopping she got no farther than that one spot, for her nose held her there.
The lad stopped and stared at her, and she looked so funny to his mind that he laughed and laughed till his sides ached.
“You gawk!” screamed the old hag. “Come and drive a wedge in the crack so I can get my nose out. Here I have stood for twice a hundred years, and no Christian soul has come to set me free.”
“If you have stood there twice a hundred years you might as well stay a while longer. As for me, I’m expected at the King’s palace, and I have no time to waste driving wedges,” said the lad, and away he went, one foot before the other, leaving the old crone with her nose still in the crack.
When the lad came to the palace, he knocked at the door and told the man who opened it that he had come to see about the place of herdsman. When the man heard this he brought the lad straight to the King, and told him what the lad had come for.
The King listened and nodded his head. Yes, he was in need of a herdsman and would be glad to take the lad into his service, and the wages were just as the youth thought, with a chance of winning the Princess to boot. But there was one part of the bargain that had been left out. If the lad failed to keep the herd together and lost so much as even one small leveret, he was to receive such a beating as would turn him black and blue.
That part of the bargain was not such pleasant hearing as the rest of it. Still the lad had a mind to try for the Princess. So he was taken out to the paddock where the hares were, and a pretty sight it was to see them hopping and frisking about, hundreds and hundreds of them, big and little.
All morning the hares were kept there in the paddock with the new herdsman watching them, and as long as that was the case everything went well. But later on the hares had to be driven out on the hills for a run and a bite of fresh grass, and then the trouble began. The lad could no more keep them together than if they had been sparks from a fire. Away they sped, some one way and some another, into the woods and over the hills,—there was no keeping track of them. The lad shouted and ran and ran and shouted till the sweat poured down his face, but he could not herd them back. By the time evening came he had scarce a score of them to drive home to the palace.
And there on the steps stood the King with a stout rod in his hands, all ready to give the lada beating. And a good beating it was, I can tell you. When the King had finished with him he could hardly stand. Home he went with only his sore bones for wages.
Then it was the second brother’s turn. He also had a mind to try his hand at keeping the King’s hares, with the chance of winning the Princess for a wife. Off he set along the same road his brother had taken, and after a while he came to the place where the old crone was dancing about with her long, green nose still caught in the crack of a log. He was just as fond of a good laugh as his brother was, and he stood for a while to watch her, for he thought it a merry sight. He laughed and laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks, and the old hag was screaming with rage.
“You gawk! Come and drive a wedge into the crack so that I can get my nose out,” she bawled. “Here I have been for twice a hundred years and no Christian soul has come to set me free.”
“If you have been there that long it will not hurt to stay a bit longer,” said the youth.“I’m no woodsman, and besides that I’m on my way to the King’s palace to win a Princess for a wife.” And away he went, leaving the old woman screaming after him.
After a while the second brother came to the palace, and when the servants heard why he had come they were not slow in bringing him before the King. Yes, the King was as much in need of a herdsman for his hares as ever, but was the lad willing to run the risk of having only a beating for his pains?
Yes, the lad was willing to run that risk, for he was almost sure he could keep the herd together, and it was not every day one had a chance of winning a Princess for a wife.
So they took him out to the paddock where the hares were. All morning he herded them there as his brother had done before him, and that was an easy task. But it was in the afternoon that the trouble began. For no sooner did the fresh wind of the hillside ruffle up their fur than away they fled, this way and that, kicking up their heels behind them. It was invain the lad chased after them and shouted and sweated; he could not keep them together. In the end he had scarcely threescore of them to drive back to the palace in the evening.
And the King was waiting for him with a cudgel in his hands, and if the lad did not get a good drubbing that day, then nobody ever did. When the King finished with him he was black and blue from his head to his heels, and that is all he got for trying to win a Princess for a wife.
Now after the second son had come home again with his doleful tale, Boots sat and thought and thought about what had happened. After a while, however, he rose up and shook the ashes from his clothes and said that now it was his turn to have a try at winning the Princess for his wife.
When the elder brothers heard that they scoffed and hooted. Boots was no better than a numskull anyway, and how could he hope to succeed where they had failed.
Well, all that might be true or it might not, but at any rate he was for having a try at thisbusiness, so off he set, just as the other two had before him.
After a while he came to the log where his brothers had seen the hag with her nose caught in the crack, and there she was still, for no one had come by in the meantime to set her free. He stood and stared and stared, for it was a curious sight.
“Oh, you gawk! Why do you stand there staring?” cried the old hag. “Here I have been for twice a hundred years, and no Christian soul will take the trouble to set me free. Drive a wedge into the crack so that I may get my nose out.”
“That I will and gladly, good mother,” said the youth. “Two hundred years is a long time for one to have one’s nose pinched in a crack.”
Quickly he found a wedge and drove it into the crack with a stone, and then the old hag pulled her nose out.
“Now you have done me a good turn, and I have it in mind to do the same for you,” she said. With that she took a pretty little pipe out of the pocket of her skirt. “Do you takethis,” she said, “and it will come in handy if you’re on your way to the King’s palace. If you blow on the right end of the whistle the things around you will be blown every which way as if a strong wind had struck them, and if you blow on the wrong end of it they will be gathered together again. And those are not the only tricks the pipe has, for if any one takes it from you, you have only to wish for it, and you can wish it back into your fingers again.”
Boots took the pipe and thanked the old hag kindly, and then he bade her good-by and went on his way to the King’s palace.
When the King heard what Boots had come for, he was no less ready to take him for a herdsman than he had been to take his brothers. “But, mind you, you shall have a drubbing that will make your bones ache if you come back in the evening with even the smallest leveret missing from the herd,” said the King.
Yes, that was all right. The lad was ready to take the risk, so all morning Boots herded the hares in the paddock, and in the afternoon he took them out to the hills, as the bargainwas. There the hares could no longer be kept in a herd. They kicked up their heels and away they went, every which way.
So that was the game, was it? Boots was very willing to play it, too.He took out his pipe and blew a tune on the right end of it, and away the hares flew faster than they had intended, as though a strong wind had blown them. Presently there was not one left on the hill. Then the lad lay down in the sun and fell asleep.
When he awoke it was toward evening and time to be bringing the hares back to the castle, but not one of them was in sight.
Then Boots sat up, and shook the hair out of his eyes and blew on the wrong end of the pipe. Immediately there was the whole herd before him, drawn up in ranks just like soldiers. Not even one of the smallest leverets was missing.
“That is well,” said Boots. “And now we’ll be going home again.”
Off he set for the palace, driving the hares before him, and as soon as he came near enoughhe could see the King standing on the steps waiting for him with a stout cudgel in his hand,—for he had no thought but that Boots would fail in his task.
When he saw the whole herd come hopping home, as tame as sheep, and turning into the paddock, he could hardly believe his eyes. He hurried after and began to count them. He counted them over and over again, and not one was missing.
Well, Boots had brought them all back safely that time, but the question was whether he could do it again.
Boots thought he could. Indeed, he was sure he could. So the next afternoon he set out for the hills, whistling merrily as he tramped along with the hares hopping before him.
That day things happened just as they had before. As soon as the hares began to stray Boots took his pipe and blew them away as though they were so much chaff. He lay down and slept until it was time to take them home again, and then he blew them together with the wrong end of the pipe.
When the King found the lad had brought the whole herd home again for the second time he was greatly troubled, for he had no mind to give the Princess to Boots for a bride. So the third day he bade the Princess go out to the hills and hide herself among the bushes and watch and see how it was that Boots managed to keep the hares together.
This the Princess did. She hid back of the bushes; she saw Boots come tramping up the hill with the hares frisking before him; she saw him blow them away with his pipe as though they had been so many dry leaves in the wind, and then, after he had had a nap, she saw him blow them together again.
Then the Princess must and would have that pipe. She came out from the bushes and offered to buy it. She offered ten dollars for it.
“No.”
“Fifty!”
“No!”
“A hundred!”
“No.” Boots had no wish to sell, butas it was the Princess, and as she seemed so set and determined on having it, he would tell her what he would do; he would sell the pipe for a hundred dollars if she would give him a kiss for every dollar she paid.
The Princess did not know what to say to that. It was not becoming that a Princess should kiss a herdsman; still she wanted the pipe and as that was the only way to get it she at last agreed. She paid the lad a hundred bright silver dollars, and she also gave him a hundred kisses out there on the hillside, with no one to look on but the hares.
Then she took the pipe and hastened home with it.
But small good the pipe did her. Just as she reached the palace steps the pipe slipped out of her fingers as though it had been buttered, and look as she might she could not find it again.
That was because the lad had wished it back to himself. At that very moment he was on his way home with the pipe in his pocket and the hares hopping before him in lines like soldiers.
When the King heard the story he thought and pondered. The Princess had told him nothing of the kisses. He thought she had bought the pipe for a hundred dollars, so the next day he sent the Queen out to the hillside with two hundred dollars in her pocket.
“The Princess is young and foolish,” said he. “She must have lost the pipe on the hillside, and no doubt the lad has it back by this time. Do you go out and see if you can buy it from him and if you once have your fingers on it you’ll not lose it, I’ll wager.”
So the Queen went out to the hillside and hid herself in the bushes, and she saw Boots blow the hares away and lie down to sleep and afterward blow them together again in a twinkling.
Then she came out from the bushes and offered to buy the pipe. At first the lad said no, and again no, and then no for the third time, but in the end he sold the pipe to the Queen for two hundred dollars and fifty kisses to go with them, and the Queen hoped the King would never hear of it. She took the pipe and hastened home with it, but she fared nobetter than the Princess, for just before she reached the palace the pipe disappeared from her fingers, and what had become of it she did not know.
When the King heard that he was a wroth and angry man. Now he himself would go out to the hill and buy the pipe, for there was no trusting the womenfolk. If he once had the pipe in his hands there would be no losing it again, and of that he felt very sure. So he mounted his old mare Whitey and rode over to the hillside. There he hid himself among the bushes, and he hid old Whitey there with him, and he watched until he had seen all that the others had told him about. Then he came out and tried to strike a bargain with the lad. But this time it seemed as though Boots would not sell the pipe,—neither for love nor money. The King offered him three hundred dollars, and four hundred dollars, and five hundred dollars for it, and still Boots said no.
“Listen!” said Boots suddenly. “If you’ll go over there in the bushes and kiss old Whitey on the mouth five-and-twenty times, I’ll sellyou the pipe for five hundred dollars, but not otherwise.”
That was a thing the King was loath to do, for it ill befitted a king to kiss an old horse, but have the pipe he must and would; and besides there was nobody there to see him do it but Boots, and he did not count. “May I spread a handkerchief between old Whitey’s mouth and mine before I do it?” asked the King.
Yes, he might do that.
So the King went back into the bushes and spread his handkerchief over old Whitey’s mouth and kissed her through it five-and-twenty times. Then he came back and the lad gave him the pipe, and the King mounted and rode away with it, and he was well pleased with himself for his cleverness, and he held the pipe tight in one hand and the bridle in the other. “No danger of my losing it as the Queen and the Princess did,” thought he. But scarcely had the King reached the palace steps when the pipe slipped through his fingers like water, and what became of it he did not know.
But when Boots drove the hares home thatevening he had the pipe safely hidden away up his sleeve, though nobody knew it.
And now how about the Princess? Would the King keep his promise and give her to the herdsman for a wife?
But that was a thing the King and Queen could not bear to think of.
They put their heads together and talked and talked, and the more they talked the more unwilling they were to have a herdsman in the family. So in the end this is what they said. The Princess was a very clever girl, and she must have a clever lad for a husband. If Boots could tell bigger stories than the Princess then he should have her for a wife, but if she could tell bigger stories than he, then he should have three red strips cut from his back and be beaten all the way home.
To this Boots agreed.
Then the Princess began. “I looked out of my window,” said she, “and there was a tree that grew straight up to the sky, and the fruit of it was diamonds and pearls and rubies. I reached out and picked them and made myselfsuch a necklace as never was, and I might have it yet only I leaned over the well to look at myself in the waters, and the necklace fell off, and there it lies still at the bottom of the well for any one who cares to dive for it.”
“That is a pretty story!” said Boots; “but I can tell a better. When I was herding hares the Princess came up on the hill and gave me a hundred bright silver dollars and a hundred kisses as well, one for every dollar.”
Then the King scowled till his brows met, and the Princess grew as red as fire. “Oh, what a story!” cried she.
Then it was her turn again.
“I went to see my god-mother, and she took me for a ride in a golden coach drawn by six fleas, and the fleas were as big as horses, and they went so fast we were back again a day before we started.”
“That’s a good story,” said Boots, “but here’s a better. The Queen came out on the hillside and made me a present of two hundred dollars, and she kissed me over and over again; fifty kisses she gave me.”
“Is that true?” said the King to the Queen; and his face was as black as thunder.
“It’s a great wicked story,” cried the Queen, “and you must know it is.”
Then the Princess tried again. “I had six suitors, and I cared for one no more than another, but the seventh one was a demon, and he would have had me whether or no. He would have flown away with me before this, but I caught his tail in the crack of the door, and he howled most horribly. There he is still, if you care to look, unless he has vanished in a puff of smoke.”
“Now it is my turn,” said Boots, “and you may believe this or not, but it’s mostly true. The King came up on the hillside and kissed the old white mare twenty-five times. I was there and I saw. He kissed her twenty-five times, and he gave me five hundred dollars not to tell.”
When Boots told this right out before every one, the King was so ashamed he did not know which way to look. “There’s not a word of it true. It’s the biggest story I ever heard,” said he.
“Very well, then I have won the Princess,” said Boots. “And when shall we be married?”
And married they were that day week, for the King and Queen could no longer refuse to give Boots the Princess for a wife.
The Princess was willing, too, for Boots was a handsome, fine-looking lad. They had a great feast at the wedding, with plenty of cake and ale flowing like water. I was there, and I ate and drank with the best of them.
Pfst! There goes a mouse. Catch it and you may make a fine big cloak of its skin,—and that’s a story, too.