The Violet Fairy Book (5 page)

'To-morrow night,' said they, 'the horrible creature will come
for his dinner, and the cries you have heard were uttered by the
girl before you, upon whom the lot has fallen.'

And when the young man asked if the girl was carried off straight
from her home, they answered no, but that a large cask was set in
the forest chapel, and into this she was fastened.

As he listened to this story, the young man was filled with a
great longing to rescue the maiden from her dreadful fate. The
mention of the chapel set him thinking of the scene of the
previous night, and he went over all the details again in his
mind. 'Who is Schippeitaro?' he suddenly asked; 'can any of you
tell me?'

'Schippeitaro is the great dog that belongs to the overseer of
our prince,' said they; 'and he lives not far away.' And they
began to laugh at the question, which seemed to them so odd and
useless.

The young man did not laugh with them, but instead left the hut
and went straight to the owner of the dog, whom he begged to lend
him the animal just for one night. Schippeitaro's master was not
at all willing to give him in charge to a man of whom he knew
nothing, but in the end he consented, and the youth led the dog
away, promising faithfully to return him next day to his master.
He next hurried to the hut where the maiden lived, and entreated
her parents to shut her up safely in a closet, after which he
took Schippeitaro to the cask, and fastened him into it. In the
evening he knew that the cask would be placed in the chapel, so
he hid himself there and waited.

At midnight, when the full moon appeared above the top of the
mountain, the cats again filled the chapel and shrieked and
yelled and danced as before. But this time they had in their
midst a huge black cat who seemed to be their king, and whom the
young man guessed to be the Spirit of the Mountain. The monster
looked eagerly about him, and his eyes sparkled with joy when he
saw the cask. He bounded high into the air with delight and
uttered cries of pleasure; then he drew near and undid the bolts.

But instead of fastening his teeth in the neck of a beautiful
maiden, Schippeitaro's teeth were fastened in HIM, and the youth
ran up and cut off his head with his sword. The other cats were
so astonished at the turn things had taken that they forgot to
run away, and the young man and Schippeitaro between them killed
several more before they thought of escaping.

At sunrise the brave dog was taken back to his master, and from
that time the mountain girls were safe, and every year a feast
was held in memory of the young warrior and the dog Schippeitaro.

(Japanische Marchen.)

(Lithuanian fairy tale.)

Once on a time there were three princes, who had a step-sister.
One day they all set out hunting together. When they had gone
some way through a thick wood they came on a great grey wolf with
three cubs. Just as they were going to shoot, the wolf spoke and
said, 'Do not shoot me, and I will give each of you one of my
young ones. It will be a faithful friend to you.'

So the princes went on their way, and a little wolf followed each
of them.

Soon after they came on a lioness with three cubs. And she too
begged them not to shoot her, and she would give each of them a
cub. And so it happened with a fox, a hare, a boar, and a bear,
till each prince had quite a following of young beasts padding
along behind him.

Towards evening they came to a clearing in the wood, where three
birches grew at the crossing of three roads. The eldest prince
took an arrow, and shot it into the trunk of one of the birch
trees. Turning to his brothers he said:

'Let each of us mark one of these trees before we part on
different ways. When any one of us comes back to this place, he
must walk round the trees of the other two, and if he sees blood
flowing from the mark in the tree he will know that that brother
is dead, but if milk flows he will know that his brother is
alive.'

So each of the princes did as the eldest brother had said, and
when the three birches were marked by their arrows they turned to
their step-sister and asked her with which of them she meant to
live.

'With the eldest,' she answered. Then the brothers separated
from each other, and each of them set out down a different road,
followed by their beasts. And the step-sister went with the
eldest prince.

After they had gone a little way along the road they came into a
forest, and in one of the deepest glades they suddenly found
themselves opposite a castle in which there lived a band of
robbers. The prince walked up to the door and knocked. The
moment it was opened the beasts rushed in, and each seized on a
robber, killed him, and dragged the body down to the cellar.
Now, one of the robbers was not really killed, only badly
wounded, but he lay quite still and pretended to be dead like the
others. Then the prince and his step-sister entered the castle
and took up their abode in it.

The next morning the prince went out hunting. Before leaving he
told his step-sister that she might go into every room in the
house except into the cave where the dead robbers lay. But as
soon as his back was turned she forgot what he had said, and
having wandered through all the other rooms she went down to the
cellar and opened the door. As soon as she looked in the robber
who had only pretended to be dead sat up and said to her:

'Don't be afraid. Do what I tell you, and I will be your friend.

If you marry me you will be much happier with me than with your
brother. But you must first go into the sitting-room and look in
the cupboard. There you will find three bottles. In one of them
there is a healing ointment which you must put on my chin to heal
the wound; then if I drink the contents of the second bottle it
will make me well, and the third bottle will make me stronger
than I ever was before. Then, when your brother comes back from
the wood with his beasts you must go to him and say, "Brother,
you are very strong. If I were to fasten your thumbs behind your
back with a stout silk cord, could you wrench yourself free?"
And when you see that he cannot do it, call me.'

When the brother came home, the step-sister did as the robber had
told her, and fastened her brother's thumbs behind his back. But
with one wrench he set himself free, and said to her, 'Sister,
that cord is not strong enough for me.'

The next day he went back to the wood with his beasts, and the
robber told her that she must take a much stouter cord to bind
his thumbs with. But again he freed himself, though not so
easily as the first time, and he said to his sister:

'Even that cord is not strong enough.'

The third day, on his return from the wood he consented to have
his strength tested for the last time. So she took a very strong
cord of silk, which she had prepared by the robber's advice, and
this time, though the prince pulled and tugged with all his
might, he could not break the cord. So he called to her and
said: 'Sister, this time the cord is so strong I cannot break
it. Come and unfasten it for me.'

But instead of coming she called to the robber, who rushed into
the room brandishing a knife, with which he prepared to attack
the prince.

But the prince spoke and said:

'Have patience for one minute. I would like before I die to blow
three blasts on my hunting horn—one in this room, one on the
stairs, and one in the courtyard.'

So the robber consented, and the prince blew the horn. At the
first blast, the fox, which was asleep in the cage in the
courtyard, awoke, and knew that his master needed help. So he
awoke the wolf by flicking him across the eyes with his brush.
Then they awoke the lion, who sprang against the door of the cage
with might and main, so that it fell in splinters on the ground,
and the beasts were free. Rushing through the court to their
master's aid, the fox gnawed the cord in two that bound the
prince's thumbs behind his back, and the lion flung himself on
the robber, and when he had killed him and torn him in pieces
each of the beasts carried off a bone.

Then the prince turned to the step-sister and said:

'I will not kill you, but I will leave you here to repent.' And
he fastened her with a chain to the wall, and put a great bowl in
front of her and said, 'I will not see you again till you have
filled this bowl with your tears.'

So saying, he called his beasts, and set out on his travels.
When he had gone a little way he came to an inn. Everyone in the
inn seemed so sad that he asked them what was the matter.

'Ah,' replied they, 'to-day our king's daughter is to die. She
is to be handed over to a dreadful nine-headed dragon.'

Then the prince said: 'Why should she die? I am very strong, I
will save her.'

And he set out to the sea-shore, where the dragon was to meet the
princess. And as he waited with his beasts round him a great
procession came along, accompanying the unfortunate princess:
and when the shore was reached all the people left her, and
returned sadly to their houses. But the prince remained, and
soon he saw a movement in the water a long way off. As it came
nearer, he knew what it was, for skimming swiftly along the
waters came a monster dragon with nine heads. Then the prince
took counsel with his beasts, and as the dragon approached the
shore the fox drew his brush through the water and blinded the
dragon by scattering the salt water in his eyes, while the bear
and the lion threw up more water with their paws, so that the
monster was bewildered and could see nothing. Then the prince
rushed forward with his sword and killed the dragon, and the
beasts tore the body in pieces.

Then the princess turned to the prince and thanked him for
delivering her from the dragon, and she said to him:

'Step into this carriage with me, and we will drive back to my
father's palace.' And she gave him a ring and half of her
handkerchief. But on the way back the coachman and footman spoke
to one another and said:

'Why should we drive this stranger back to the palace? Let us
kill him, and then we can say to the king that we slew the dragon
and saved the princess, and one of us shall marry her.'

So they killed the prince, and left him dead on the roadside.
And the faithful beasts came round the dead body and wept, and
wondered what they should do. Then suddenly the wolf had an
idea, and he started off into the wood, where he found an ox,
which he straightway killed. Then he called the fox, and told
him to mount guard over the dead ox, and if a bird came past and
tried to peck at the flesh he was to catch it and bring it to the
lion. Soon after a crow flew past, and began to peck at the dead
ox. In a moment the fox had caught it and brought it to the
lion. Then the lion said to the crow:

'We will not kill you if you will promise to fly to the town
where there are three wells of healing and to bring back water
from them in your beak to make this dead man alive.'

So the crow flew away, and she filled her beak at the well of
healing, the well of strength, and the well of swiftness, and she
flew back to the dead prince and dropped the water from her beak
upon his lips, and he was healed, and could sit up and walk.

Then he set out for the town, accompanied by his faithful beasts.

And when they reached the king's palace they found that
preparations for a great feast were being made, for the princess
was to marry the coachman.

So the prince walked into the palace, and went straight up to the
coachman and said: 'What token have you got that you killed the
dragon and won the hand of the princess? I have her token
here—this ring and half her handkerchief.'

And when the king saw these tokens he knew that the prince was
speaking the truth. So the coachman was bound in chains and
thrown into prison, and the prince was married to the princess
and rewarded with half the kingdom.

One day, soon after his marriage, the prince was walking through
the woods in the evening, followed by his faithful beasts.
Darkness came on, and he lost his way, and wandered about among
the trees looking for the path that would lead him back to the
palace. As he walked he saw the light of a fire, and making his
way to it he found an old woman raking sticks and dried leaves
together, and burning them in a glade of the wood.

As he was very tired, and the night was very dark, the prince
determined not to wander further. So he asked the old woman if
he might spend the night beside her fire.

'Of course you may,' she answered. 'But I am afraid of your
beasts. Let me hit them with my rod, and then I shall not be
afraid of them.'

'Very well,' said the prince, 'I don't mind'; and she stretched
out her rod and hit the beasts, and in one moment they were
turned into stone, and so was the prince.

Now soon after this the prince's youngest brother came to the
cross-roads with the three birches, where the brothers had parted
from each other when they set out on their wanderings.
Remembering what they had agreed to do, he walked round the two
trees, and when he saw that blood oozed from the cut in the
eldest prince's tree he knew that his brother must be dead. So
he set out, followed by his beasts, and came to the town over
which his brother had ruled, and where the princess he had
married lived. And when he came into the town all the people
were in great sorrow because their prince had disappeared.

But when they saw his youngest brother, and the beasts following
him, they thought it was their own prince, and they rejoiced
greatly, and told him how they had sought him everywhere. Then
they led him to the king, and he too thought that it was his
son-in-law. But the princess knew that he was not her husband,
and she begged him to go out into the woods with his beasts, and
to look for his brother till he found him.