Then he also repeated what the duke had said, and that he had sent his greetings to the king.
All this made the king somewhat dizzy, and he had to set his crown on the table and scratch his head. It was beyond his comprehension--for all that he was a king; since he could have sworn that it had all come to pa.s.s in the course of a single night, and if the duke were not the devil himself, he was at least a magician.
And as he sat there and thought, the princess came in.
"G.o.d greet you, father," she said, "I had a most strange and lovely dream last night."
"And what did you dream, my girl?" said the king.
"O, I dreamt that I was in the new castle over yonder, and there was a duke, handsome and so splendid beyond anything I could have imagined, and now I want a husband."
"What, you want a husband, and you have never even deigned to look at a man; that is very strange!" said the king.
"Be that as it may," said the princess, "but that is how I feel now; and I want a husband, and the duke is the husband I want," she concluded.
The king simply could not get over the astonishment the duke had caused him.
Suddenly he heard an extraordinary beating of drums, and sounding of trumpets and other instruments of every kind. And a message came that the duke had arrived with a great retinue, all so magnificently attired that every seam of their dresses was sparkling with gold and silver. The king, in his crown and finest robe of state, stood looking down the stairway, and the princess was all the more in favor of carrying out her idea as quickly as possible.
The duke greeted the king pleasantly, and the king returned his greeting in the same way, and discussing their affairs together they became good friends. There was a great banquet, and the duke sat beside the princess at the table. What they said to each other I do not know, but the duke knew so well how to talk that, no matter what he said, the princess could not say no, and so he went to the king and begged for her hand. The king could not exactly refuse it, for the duke was the kind of a man whom it was better to have for a friend than for an enemy; but he could not give his answer out of hand, either. First he wished to see the duke"s castle, and know how matters stood with regard to this, that and the other--which was natural.
So it was agreed that they should pay the duke a visit and bring the princess with them, in order that she might examine his possessions, and with that they parted.
When the duke reached home, La.s.se had a lively time of it, for he was given any number of commissions. But he rushed about, carrying them out, and everything was arranged so satisfactorily that when the king arrived with his daughter, a thousand pens could not have described it. They went through all the rooms and looked around, and everything was as it should be, and even better thought the king, who was very happy. Then the wedding was celebrated and when it was over, and the duke returned home with his young wife, he, too, gave a splendid banquet, and that is how it went.
After some time had pa.s.sed, the duke one evening heard the words:
"Is my master content now?" It was La.s.se, though the duke could not see him.
"I am well content," answered the duke, "for you have brought me all that I have."
"But what did I get for it?" said La.s.se.
"Nothing," replied the duke, "but, heaven above, what was I to give you, who are not flesh and blood, and whom I cannot even see," said he. "Yet if there be anything I can do for you, why let me know what it is, and I will do it."
"I would very much like to have the little sc.r.a.p of paper that you keep in the box," said La.s.se.
"If that is all you want, and if such a trifle is of any service to you, your wish shall be granted, for I believe I know the words by heart now," said the duke.
La.s.se thanked him, and said all the duke need do, would be to lay the paper on the chair beside his bed, when he went to sleep, and that he would fetch it during the night.
This the duke did, and then he went to bed and fell asleep.
But toward morning the duke woke up, freezing so that his teeth chattered, and when he had fully opened his eyes, he saw that he had been stripped of everything, and had scarcely a shirt to his name. And instead of lying in the handsome bed in the handsome bed-room in the magnificent castle, he lay on the big chest in the old hut. He at once called out:
"La.s.se, my thrall!" But there was no answer.
Then he cried again:
"La.s.se, my thrall!" Again there was no answer. So he called out as loudly as he could:
"La.s.se, my thrall!" But this third call was also in vain.
Now he began to realize what had happened, and that La.s.se, when he obtained the sc.r.a.p of paper, no longer had to serve him, and that he himself had made this possible. But now things were as they were, and there stood the duke in the old hut, with scarcely a shirt to his name. The princess herself was not much better off, though she had kept her clothes; for they had been given her by her father, and La.s.se had no power over them.
Now the duke had to explain everything to the princess, and beg her to leave him, since it would be best if he tried to get along as well as he could himself, said he. But this the princess would not do. She had a better memory for what the pastor had said when he married them, she told him, and that she was never, never to leave him.
At length the king awoke in his castle, and when he looked out of the window, he saw not a single stone of the other castle in which his son-in-law and his daughter lived. He grew uneasy and sent for his courtiers.
They came in, bowing and sc.r.a.ping.
"Do you see the castle there, on the other side of the forest?" he asked. They stretched their necks and opened their eyes. But they could see nothing.
"What has become of it?" said the king. But this question they were unable to answer.
In a short time the king and his entire court set out, pa.s.sed through the forest, and when they came to the place where the castle, with its great gardens, should have been standing, they saw nothing but juniper-bushes and scrub-pines. And then they happened to see the little hut amid the brush. He went in and--O the poor king!--what did he see?
There stood his son-in-law, with scarcely a shirt to his name, and his daughter, and she had none too much to wear, and was crying and sniveling at a fearful rate. "For heaven"s sake, what is the trouble here?" said the king. But he received no answer; for the duke would rather have died than have told him the whole story.
The king urged and pressed him, first amiably, then in anger; but the duke remained obstinate and would have nothing to say. Then the king fell into a rage, which is not very surprising, for now he realized that this fine duke was not what he purported to be, and he therefore ordered him to be hung, and hung on the spot. It is true that the princess pleaded earnestly for him, but tears and prayers were useless now, for he was a rascal and should die a rascal"s death--thus spake the king.
And so it was. The king"s people set up a gallows and put a rope around the duke"s neck. But as they were leading him to the gallows, the princess got hold of the hangman and gave him a gratuity, for which they were to arrange matters in such wise that the duke need not die. And toward evening they were to cut him down, and he and the princess would disappear. So the bargain was made. In the meantime they strung him up and then the king, together with his court and all the people, went away.
Now the duke was at the end of his rope. Yet he had time enough to reflect about his mistake in not contenting himself with an inch instead of reaching out at once for an ell; and that he had so foolishly given back the sc.r.a.p of paper to La.s.se annoyed him most of all. If I only had it again, I would show every one that adversity has made me wise, he thought to himself. But when the horse is stolen we close the stable door. And that is the way of the world.
And then he dangled his legs, since for the time being there was nothing else for him to do.
It had been a long, hard day for him, and he was not sorry when he saw the sun sinking behind the forest. But just as the sun was setting he suddenly heard a most tremendous Yo ho! and when he looked down there were seven carts of worn-out shoes coming along the road, and a-top the last cart was a little old man in gray, with a night-cap on his head. He had the face of some horrible specter, and was not much better to look at in other respects.
He drove straight up to the gallows, and stopped when he was directly beneath them, looked up at the duke and laughed--the horrible old creature!
"And is this the measure of your stupidity?" he said, "but then what is a fellow of your sort to do with his stupidity, if he does not put it to some use?"--and then he laughed again. "Yes, there you hang, and here I am carting off all the shoes I wore out going about on your silly errands. I wonder, sometimes, whether you can actually read what is written on that sc.r.a.p of paper, and whether you recognize it," said he, laughing again, indulging in all sorts of horse-play, and waving the sc.r.a.p of paper under the duke"s nose.
But all who are hanging on the gallows are not dead, and this time La.s.se was the greater fool of the two.
The duke s.n.a.t.c.hed--and tore the sc.r.a.p of paper from his hand!
"La.s.se, my thrall!"
"What does my master command?"
"Cut me down from the gallows at once, and restore the castle and everything else just as it was before, then when it is dark, bring the princess back to it."
Everything was attended to with alarming rapidity, and soon all was exactly as it had been before La.s.se had decamped.
When the king awoke the following morning, he looked out of the window as usual, and there the castle was standing as before, with its weatherc.o.c.ks gleaming handsomely in the sunlight. He sent for his courtiers, and they came in bowing and sc.r.a.ping.
"Do you see the castle over yonder?" asked the king.