"That may be," said the man, "but I shall not relish it; besides, if thou desirest to eat, I have somewhat here that may satisfy thee."
"If that is true," answered the giant, "thou mayest make thy mind easy; it was only for want of something better that I wished to devour thee."
Then they went in and placed themselves at the table, and the man brought out bread, meat, and wine in plenty.
"This pleases me well," said the giant, and he ate to his heart"s content. After a while the man asked him if he could tell him where the golden castle of Stromberg was.
"I will look on my land-chart," said the giant, "for on it all towns and villages and houses are marked."
So he fetched the land-chart which was in his room, and sought for the castle, but it was not to be found.
"Never mind," said he, "I have up-stairs in the cupboard much bigger maps than this; we will have a look at them." And so they did, but in vain.
And now the man wanted to pursue his journey, but the giant begged him to stay a few days longer, until his brother, who had gone to get in a store of provisions, should return. When the brother came, they asked him about the golden castle of Stromberg.
"When I have had time to eat a meal and be satisfied, I will look at the map."
That being done, he went into his room with them, and they looked at his maps, but could find nothing: then he fetched other old maps, and they never left off searching until they found the golden castle of Stromberg, but it was many thousand miles away.
"How shall I ever get there?" said the man.
"I have a couple of hours to spare," said the giant, "and I will set you on your way, but I shall have to come back and look after the child that we have in the house with us."
Then the giant bore the man until within about a hundred hours" journey from the castle, and saying,
"You can manage the rest of the way by yourself," he departed; and the man went on day and night, until at last he came to the golden castle of Stromberg. It stood on a mountain of gla.s.s, and he could see the enchanted Princess driving round it, and then pa.s.sing inside the gates.
He was rejoiced when he saw her, and began at once to climb the mountain to get to her; but it was so slippery, as fast as he went he fell back again. And when he saw this he felt he should never reach her, and he was full of grief, and resolved at least to stay at the foot of the mountain and wait for her. So he built himself a hut, and sat there and waited a whole year; and every day he saw the Princess drive round and pa.s.s in, and was never able to reach her.
One day he looked out of his hut and saw three robbers fighting, and he called out, "Mercy on us!" Hearing a voice, they stopped for a moment, but went on again beating one another in a dreadful manner. And he cried out again, "Mercy on us!" They stopped and listened, and looked about them, and then went on again. And he cried out a third time, "Mercy on us!" and then, thinking he would go and see what was the matter, he went out and asked them what they were fighting for. One of them told him he had found a stick which would open any door only by knocking at it; the second said he had found a cloak which, if he put it on, made him invisible; the third said he was possessed of a horse that would ride over everything, even the gla.s.s mountain. Now they had fought because they could not agree whether they should enjoy these things in common or separately.
"Suppose we make a bargain," said the man; "it is true I have no money, but I have other things yet more valuable to exchange for these; I must, however, make trial of them beforehand, to see if you have spoken truth concerning them."
So they let him mount the horse, and put the cloak round him, and they gave him the stick into his hand, and as soon as he had all this he was no longer to be seen; but laying about him well, he gave them all a sound thrashing, crying out,
"Now, you good-for-nothing fellows, you have got what you deserve; perhaps you will be satisfied now!"
Then he rode up the gla.s.s mountain, and when he reached the castle gates he found them locked; but he beat with his stick upon the door and it opened at once. And he walked in, and up the stairs to the great room where sat the Princess with a golden cup and wine before her: she could not see him so long as the cloak was on him, but drawing near to her he pulled off the ring she had given him, and threw it into the cup with a clang.
"This is my ring," she cried, "and the man who is to set me free must be here too!"
But though she sought through the whole castle she found him not; he had gone outside, seated himself on his horse, and thrown off the cloak. And when she came to look out at the door, she saw him and shrieked out for joy; and he dismounted and took her in his arms, and she kissed him, saying,
"Now hast thou set me free from my enchantment, and to-morrow we will be married."
THE FROG PRINCE
IN the old times, when it was still of some use to wish for the thing one wanted, there lived a King whose daughters were all handsome, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun himself, who has seen so much, wondered each time he shone over her because of her beauty. Near the royal castle there was a great dark wood, and in the wood under an old linden-tree was a well; and when the day was hot, the King"s daughter used to go forth into the wood and sit by the brink of the cool well, and if the time seemed long, she would take out a golden ball, and throw it up and catch it again, and this was her favourite pastime.
Now it happened one day that the golden ball, instead of falling back into the maiden"s little hand which had sent it aloft, dropped to the ground near the edge of the well and rolled in. The king"s daughter followed it with her eyes as it sank, but the well was deep, so deep that the bottom could not be seen. Then she began to weep, and she wept and wept as if she could never be comforted. And in the midst of her weeping she heard a voice saying to her,
"What ails thee, king"s daughter? thy tears would melt a heart of stone."
And when she looked to see where the voice came from, there was nothing but a frog stretching his thick ugly head out of the water.
"Oh, is it you, old waddler?" said she; "I weep because my golden ball has fallen into the well."
"Never mind, do not weep," answered the frog; "I can help you; but what will you give me if I fetch up your ball again?"
"Whatever you like, dear frog," said she; "any of my clothes, my pearls and jewels, or even the golden crown that I wear."
"Thy clothes, thy pearls and jewels, and thy golden crown are not for me," answered the frog; "but if thou wouldst love me, and have me for thy companion and play-fellow, and let me sit by thee at table, and eat from thy plate, and drink from thy cup, and sleep in thy little bed,--if thou wouldst promise all this, then would I dive below the water and fetch thee thy golden ball again."
"Oh yes," she answered; "I will promise it all, whatever you want, if you will only get me my ball again."
But she thought to herself, "What nonsense he talks! as if he could do anything but sit in the water and croak with the other frogs, or could possibly be any one"s companion."
But the frog, as soon as he heard her promise, drew his head under the water and sank down out of sight, but after a while he came to the surface again with the ball in his mouth, and he threw it on the gra.s.s.
The King"s daughter was overjoyed to see her pretty play-thing again, and she caught it up and ran off with it.
"Stop, stop!" cried the frog; "take me up too; I cannot run as fast as you!"
But it was of no use, for croak, croak after her as he might, she would not listen to him, but made haste home, and very soon forgot all about the poor frog, who had to betake himself to his well again.
The next day, when the King"s daughter was sitting at table with the King and all the court, and eating from her golden plate, there came something pitter patter up the marble stairs, and then there came a knocking at the door, and a voice crying "Youngest King"s daughter, let me in!"
And she got up and ran to see who it could be, but when she opened the door, there was the frog sitting outside. Then she shut the door hastily and went back to her seat, feeling very uneasy. The King noticed how quickly her heart was beating, and said,
"My child, what are you afraid of? is there a giant standing at the door ready to carry you away?"
"Oh no," answered she; "no giant, but a horrid frog."
"And what does the frog want?" asked the King.
"O dear father," answered she, "when I was sitting by the well yesterday, and playing with my golden ball, it fell into the water, and while I was crying for the loss of it, the frog came and got it again for me on condition I would let him be my companion, but I never thought that he could leave the water and come after me; but now there he is outside the door, and he wants to come in to me."
And then they all heard him knocking the second time and crying,
"Youngest King"s daughter, Open to me!
By the well water What promised you me?
Youngest King"s daughter Now open to me!"
"That which thou hast promised must thou perform," said the King; "so go now and let him in."
So she went and opened the door, and the frog hopped in, following at her heels, till she reached her chair. Then he stopped and cried,