Part 14 (1/2)

We must fly this very night, or we are lost. Take an axe, and strike off the head of the white-headed calf with a heavy blow, and then split the skull in two with a second stroke. In the brain of the calf you will find a s.h.i.+ning red reel, which you must bring me. I will arrange whatever else is needful.” The prince thought, ”I would rather kill an innocent calf than sacrifice both myself and this dear girl, and if our flight succeeds, I shall see my home once more. The peas I sowed must have sprung up by this time, so that we cannot miss our way.”

He went into the stall, and found the cow and the calf lying asleep near together, and they slept so fast that they did not hear his approach.

But when he struck off the calf's head, the cow groaned very loud, as if she had had a bad dream. He hastened to split the calf's skull with the second blow, and lo! the whole stall suddenly became as light as if it was day. The red reel fell out of the brain, and shone like a little sun. The prince wrapped it carefully in a cloth, and hid it in his bosom. It was fortunate that the cow did not wake, or she would have begun to roar so loud that she might easily have roused her master too.

The prince found the maiden waiting for him at the gate with a small bundle on her arm. ”Where is the reel?” she whispered. ”Here,” replied the prince, and gave it to her. ”Now we must hasten our flight,” said she, and she unravelled a small part of the reel from the cloth that its s.h.i.+ning light might illuminate the darkness of the way like a lantern.

As the prince had expected, the peas had all sprung up, so that they could not miss the way. The maiden then told the prince that she had once overheard a conversation between the old man and his grandmother, and had learned that she was a princess whom the Old Boy had stolen from her parents by a trick. The prince knew the real state of the case better, but kept silence, rejoicing inwardly that he had succeeded in freeing the poor girl. The travellers must have gone a long way before the day began to break.

The Old Boy did not wake till late In the morning, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes for a long time before he remembered that he was going to devour the couple. After waiting for them a good while he said to himself, ”Perhaps they haven't quite finished their preparations for the wedding.” But at last he got tired of waiting so long, and shouted out, ”Ahoy, man and maid, what has become of you?” He repeated the cry several times, shouting and cursing, but neither man nor maid appeared.

At last he scrambled out of bed in a rage, and went in search of the defaulters. But he found the house empty, and discovered, too, that the beds had not been slept in. Then he rushed into the stall, and when he saw the calf slaughtered and the magic reel stolen, he comprehended all.

He cursed till everything was black, and opened the third spirit-house, sending his messengers forth to seek the fugitives. ”Bring me them just as you find them, for I must have them,” said the Old Boy, and the spirits flew forth like the wind.

The fugitives were just crossing a great plain, when the maiden suddenly stopped and said, ”All is not as it should be. The reel moves in my hand, and we are certainly pursued.” When they looked back, they saw a black cloud rus.h.i.+ng towards them with great speed. Then the maiden turned the reel thrice in her hand and said:

”Hear me, reel, and reel, O hearken; Fain would I become a streamlet, Where as fish my lover's swimming.”

Instantly they were both transformed. The maiden flowed away like a brook, and the prince swam in the water like a little fish. The spirits rushed past, and turned after a time, and flew back home; but they did not touch the brook or the fish. As soon as the pursuers were gone, the brook became a maiden, and the fish a youth, and they continued their journey in human form.

When the spirits returned, weary and empty-handed, the Old Boy asked if they had not noticed anything unusual on their journey.

”Nothing at all,” they answered, ”but a brook on the plain, with a single fish swimming in it.”

The old man growled angrily, ”There they were! there they were!”

Immediately he threw open the doors of the fifth pen and let out the spirits, commanding them to drink up the water of the brook, and to capture the fish; and the spirits flew off like the wind.

The travellers were just approaching the edge of a wood, when the maiden stopped, saying, ”All is not as it should be. The reel moves again in my hand.” They looked round, and saw another cloud in the sky, darker than the first, and with red borders. ”These are our pursuers,” she cried, and turned the reel three times round in her hand, saying:

”Hear me, reel, and reel, O hear me; Change us both upon the instant: I'll become a wild rose-briar, And my love a rose upon it.”

Instantly the maiden was changed into a wild rose-bush, and the youth hung upon it in the form of a rose. The spirits rushed away over their heads, and did not return for some time; but they saw nothing of the brook and the fish, and they did not trouble about the wild rose-tree.

As soon as their pursuers were gone, the rose-tree and the rose again became a maiden and a youth, and after their short rest they hurried away.

”Have you found them?” cried the old man, when the spirits returned and crouched before him.

”No,” answered their leader; ”we found neither brook nor fish on the plain.”

”Did you see nothing else remarkable on the way?” asked their master.

The leader answered, ”We saw nothing but a wild rose-bush on the edge of the wood, with a single rose upon it.” ”Fools!” cried the old man, ”there they were! there they were!” He threw open the door of the seventh pen, and sent out his most powerful spirits to search for the fugitives. ”Bring them me just as you find them, for I must have them, dead or alive. Tear up the accursed rose-tree by the roots, and bring everything else with you that looks strange.” And the spirits rushed forth like a tempest.

The fugitives were just resting in the shade of a wood, and strengthening themselves for further efforts with food and drink.

Suddenly the maiden cried out, ”All is not right, for the reel feels as if it was being pulled from my bosom. We are certainly again pursued, and the danger is close at hand, but the wood still hides us from our enemies.” Then she took the reel from her bosom, and turned it over three times in her hand, saying:

”Hear me reel, and reel, O hear me; To a puff of wind transform me, To a gnat transform my lover.”

Instantly they were both transformed, and the maiden rose into the air as a puff of wind, and the prince sported in the breeze like a gnat. The mighty host of spirits swept over them like a tempest, and returned some time afterwards, as they could neither find the rose-bush nor anything else remarkable. But they were hardly gone before the youth and the maiden resumed their proper forms, and the maiden cried out, ”Now we must make haste, before the old man himself comes to look for us, for he would know us under any disguise.”