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Once upon
a time...
A man had a shepherd who served him many years faithfully and
honestly. One day, whilst herding his flock, this shepherd heard a
hissing sound, coming out of the forest near by, which he could not
account for. So he went into the wood in the direction of the noise
to try to discover the cause. When he approached the place he found
that the dry grass and leaves were on fire, and on a tree,
surrounded by flames, a snake was coiled, hissing with terror.
The shepherd stood wondering how the poor snake could escape, for
the wind was blowing the flames that way, and soon that tree would
be burning like the rest. Suddenly the snake cried: 'O shepherd! for
the love of heaven save me from this fire!'
Then the shepherd stretched his staff out over the flames and the
snake wound itself round the staff and up to his hand, and from his
hand it crept up his arm, and twined itself about his neck. The
shepherd trembled with fright, expecting every instant to be stung
to death, and said: 'What an unlucky man I am! Did I rescue you only
to be destroyed myself?' But the snake answered: 'Have no fear; only
carry me home to my father who is the King of the Snakes.' The
shepherd, however, was much too frightened to listen, and said that
he could not go away and leave his flock alone; but the snake said:
'You need not be afraid to leave your flock, no evil shall befall
them; but make all the haste you can.'
So he set off through the wood carrying the snake, and after a time
he came to a great gateway, made entirely of snakes intertwined one
with another. The shepherd stood still with surprise, but the snake
round his neck whistled, and immediately all the arch unwound
itself.
'When we are come to my father's house,' said his own snake to him,
'he will reward you with anything you like to ask silver, gold,
jewels, or whatever on this earth is most precious; but take none of
all these things, ask rather to understand the language of beasts.
He will refuse it to you a long time, but in the end he will grant
it to you.'
Soon after that they arrived at the house of the King of the Snakes,
who burst into tears of joy at the sight of his daughter, as he had
given her up for dead. 'Where have you been all this time?' he
asked, directly he could speak, and she told him that she had been
caught in a forest fire, and had been rescued from the flames by the
shepherd. The King of the Snakes, then turning to the shepherd, said
to him: 'What reward will you choose for saving my child?'
'Make me to know the language of beasts,' answered the shepherd,
'that is all I desire.'
The king replied: 'Such knowledge would be of no benefit to you, for
if I granted it to you and you told any one of it, you would
immediately die; ask me rather for whatever else you would most like
to possess, and it shall be yours.'
But the shepherd answered him: 'Sir, if you wish to reward me for
saving your daughter, grant me, I pray you, to know the language of
beasts. I desire nothing else'; and he turned as if to depart.
Then the king called him back, saying: 'If nothing else will satisfy
you, open your mouth.' The man obeyed, and the king spat into it,
and said: 'Now spit into my mouth.' The shepherd did as he was told,
then the King of the Snakes spat again into the shepherd's mouth.
When they had spat into each other's mouths three times, the king
said:
'Now you know the language of beasts, go in peace; but, if you value
your life, beware lest you tell any one of it, else you will
immediately die.'
So the shepherd set out for home, and on his way through the wood he
heard and understood all that was said by the birds, and by every
living creature. When he got back to his sheep he found the flock
grazing peacefully, and as he was very tired he laid himself down by
them to rest a little. Hardly had he done so when two ravens flew
down and perched on a tree near by, and began to talk to each other
in their own language: 'If that shepherd only knew that there is a
vault full of gold and silver beneath where that lamb is lying, what
would he not do?' When the shepherd heard these words he went
straight to his master and told him, and the master at once took a
waggon, and broke open the door of the vault, and they carried off
the treasure. But instead of keeping it for himself, the master, who
was an honourable man, gave it all up to the shepherd, saying: 'Take
it, it is yours. The gods have given it to you.' So the shepherd
took the treasure and built himself a house. He married a wife, and
they lived in great peace and happiness, and he was acknowledged to
be the richest man, not only of his native village, but of all the
country-side. He had flocks of sheep, and cattle, and horses without
end, as well as beautiful clothes and jewels.
One day, just before Christmas, he said to his wife: 'Prepare
everything for a great feast, to-morrow we will take things with us
to the farm that the shepherds there may make merry.' The wife
obeyed, and all was prepared as he desired. Next day they both went
to the farm, and in the evening the master said to the shepherds:
'Now come, all of you, eat, drink, and make merry. I will watch the
flocks myself to-night in your stead.' Then he went out to spend the
night with the flocks.
When midnight struck the wolves howled and the dogs barked, and the
wolves spoke in their own tongue, saying:
'Shall we come in and work havoc, and you too shall eat flesh?' And
the dogs answered in their tongue: 'Come in, and for once we shall
have enough to eat.'
Now amongst the dogs there was one so old that he had only two teeth
left in his head, and he spoke to the wolves, saying: 'So long as I
have my two teeth still in my head, I will let no harm be done to my
master.'
All this the master heard and understood, and as soon as morning
dawned he ordered all the dogs to be killed excepting the old dog.
The farm servants wondered at this order, and exclaimed: 'But
surely, sir, that would be a pity?'
The master answered: 'Do as I bid you'; and made ready to return
home with his wife, and they mounted their horses, her steed being a
mare. As they went on their way, it happened that the husband rode
on ahead, while the wife was a little way behind. The husband's
horse, seeing this, neighed, and said to the mare: 'Come along, make
haste; why are you so slow?' And the mare answered: 'It is very easy
for you, you carry only your master, who is a thin man, but I carry
my mistress, who is so fat that she weights as much as three.' When
the husband heard that he looked back and laughed, which the wife
perceiving, she urged on the mare till she caught up with her
husband, and asked him why he laughed. 'For nothing at all,' he
answered; 'just because it came into my head.' She would not be
satisfied with this answer, and urged him more and more to tell her
why he had laughed. But he controlled himself and said: 'Let me be,
wife; what ails you? I do not know myself why I laughed.' But the
more he put her off, the more she tormented him to tell her the
cause of his laughter. At length he said to her: 'Know, then, that
if I tell it you I shall immediately and surely die.' But even this
did not quiet her; she only besought him the more to tell her.
Meanwhile they had reached home, and before getting down from his
horse the man called for a coffin to be brought; and when it was
there he placed it in front of the house, and said to his wife:
'See, I will lay myself down in this coffin, and will then tell you
why I laughed, for as soon as I have told you I shall surely die.'
So he lay down in the coffin, and while he took a last look around
him, his old dog came out from the farm and sat down by him, and
whined. When the master saw this, he called to his wife: 'Bring a
piece of bread to give to the dog.' The wife brought some bread and
threw it to the dog, but he would not look at it. Then the farm cock
came and pecked at the bread; but the dog said to it: 'Wretched
glutton, you can eat like that when you see that your master is
dying?' The cock answered: 'Let him die, if he is so stupid. I have
a hundred wives, which I call together when I find a grain of corn,
and as soon as they are there I swallow it myself; should one of
them dare to be angry, I would give her a lesson with my beak. He
has only one wife, and he cannot keep her in order.'
As soon as the man understood this, he got up out of the coffin,
seized a stick, and called his wife into the room, saying: 'Come,
and I will tell you what you so much want to know'; and then he
began to beat her with the stick, saying with each blow: 'It is
that, wife, it is that!' And in this way he taught her never again
to ask why he had laughed.
The Language of Beasts
from the Crimson Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
