Part 13 (1/2)

”Are you afraid?” asked the North Wind.

”No, not at all,” answered the maiden. By now they were not far distant from the land, and the North Wind had just enough strength left to be able to set down the maiden on the strand, beneath the windows of the castle that lay east of the sun and west of the moon. And then he was so wearied and wretched that he had to rest many a long day before he could set out for home again.

The next morning the maiden seated herself beneath the windows of the castle and played with the golden apple, and the first person who showed herself was the monster with the nose, whom the prince was to marry.

”What do you want for your golden apple?” asked the princess with the nose, as she opened the window.

”I will not sell it at all, either for gold or for money,” answered the maiden.

”Well, what do you want for it, if you will not sell it either for gold or for money?” asked the princess. ”Ask what you will!”

”I only want to speak to-night to the prince who lives here, then I will give you the apple,” said the maiden who had come with the North Wind.

The princess replied that this could be arranged, and then she received the golden apple. But when the maiden came into the prince's room in the evening, he was sleeping soundly. She called and shook him, wept and wailed; but she could not wake him, and in the morning, as soon as it dawned, the princess with the long nose came and drove her out.

That day the maiden again sat beneath the windows of the castle, and wound her golden reel. And all went as on the preceding day. The princess asked what she wanted for the reel, and the maiden answered that she would sell it neither for gold nor for money; but if she might speak that night to the prince, then she would give the reel to the princess. Yet when the maiden came to the prince, he was again fast asleep, and no matter how much she wept and wailed, and cried and shook, she could not wake him. But as soon as day dawned, and it grew bright, the princess with the long nose came and drove her out. And that day the maiden again seated herself beneath the windows of the castle, and spun with her golden spindle; and, of course, the princess with the long nose wanted to have that, too. She opened the window, and asked what she wanted for the golden spindle. The maiden replied, as she had twice before, that she would sell the spindle neither for gold nor money; but that the princess could have it if she might speak to the prince again that night. Yes, that she was welcome to do, said the princess, and took the golden spindle. Now it happened that some Christians, who were captives in the castle, and quartered in a room beside that of the prince, had heard a woman weeping and wailing pitifully in the prince's room for the past two nights. So they told the prince. And that evening when the princess came to him with his night-cap, the prince pretended to drink it; but instead poured it out behind his back, for he could well imagine that she had put a sleeping-powder into the cup. Then, when the maiden came in, the prince was awake, and she had to tell him just how she had found the castle.

”You have come just in the nick of time,” said he, ”for to-morrow I am to marry the princess; but I do not want the monster with the nose at all, and you are the only person who can save me. I will say that first I wish to see whether my bride is a capable housewife, and demand that she wash the three drops of tallow from my s.h.i.+rt. She will naturally agree to this, for she does not know that you made the spots, for only Christian hands can wash them out again, but not the hands of this pack of trolls. Then I will say I will marry none other than the maiden who can wash out the spots, and ask you to do so,” said the prince. And then both rejoiced and were happy beyond measure.

But on the following day, when the wedding was to take place, the prince said: ”First I would like to see what my bride can do!” Yes, that was no more than right, said his mother-in-law. ”I have a very handsome s.h.i.+rt,”

continued the prince, ”which I would like to wear at the wedding. But there are three tallow-spots on it, and they must first be washed out.

And I have made a vow to marry none other than the woman who can do this. So if my bride cannot manage to do it, then she is worthless.”

Well, that would not be much of a task, said the women, and agreed to the proposal. And the princess with the long nose at once began to wash.

She washed with all her might and main, and took the greatest pains, but the longer she washed and rubbed, the larger grew the spots.

”O, you don't know how to was.h.!.+” said her mother, the old troll-wife.

”Just give it to me!” But no sooner had she taken the s.h.i.+rt in her hand, than it began to look worse, and the more she washed and rubbed, the larger and blacker grew the spots. Then the other troll-women had to come and wash; but the longer they washed the s.h.i.+rt the uglier it grew, and finally it looked as though it had been hanging in the smokestack.

”Why, all of you are worthless!” said the prince. ”Outside the window sits a beggar-girl. I'm sure she is a better washer-woman than all of you put together. You, girl, come in here!” he cried out of the window; and when the maiden came in he said: ”Do you think you can wash this s.h.i.+rt clean for me?”

”I do not know,” answered the maiden, ”but I will try.” And no more had she dipped the s.h.i.+rt in the water than it turned as white as newly fallen snow, yes, even whiter.

”Indeed, and you are the one I want!” said the prince.

Then the old troll-woman grew so angry that she burst in two, and the princess with the long nose and the rest of the troll-pack probably burst in two as well, for I never heard anything more of them. The prince and his bride then freed all the Christians who had been kept captive in the castle, and packed up as much gold and silver as they could possibly take with them, and went far away from the castle that lies East of the sun and West of the moon.

NOTE

”East of the Sun and West of the Moon” (Asbjornsen and Moe, N.F.E., p. 200, No. 41). The maiden's journeys with the winds are here recounted in a colorful and imaginative manner, and the motive of the was.h.i.+ng out of the three drops of tallow is a delicate and ingenious development of the idea of the fateful candle.

XXIII

MURMUR GOOSE-EGG

Once upon a time there were five women who were standing in a field, mowing. Heaven had not given a single one of them a child, and each of them wanted to have one. And suddenly they saw a goose-egg of quite unheard-of size, well-nigh as large as a man's head. ”I saw it first,”

said the one. ”I saw it at the same time that you did,” insisted another. ”But I want it, for I saw it first of all,” maintained a third.