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Once upon
a time...
There was once a young Hunter who went boldly into the
forest. He had a merry and light heart, and as he went whistling
along there came an ugly old woman, who said to him, 'Good-day, dear
hunter! You are very merry and contented, but I suffer hunger and
thirst, so give me a trifle.' The Hunter was sorry for the poor old
woman, and he felt in his pocket and gave her all he could spare. He
was going on then, but the old woman stopped him and said, 'Listen,
dear hunter, to what I say. Because of your kind heart I will make
you a present. Go on your way, and in a short time you will come to
a tree on which sit nine birds who have a cloak in their claws and
are quarrelling over it. Then take aim with your gun and shoot in
the middle of them; they will let the cloak fall, but one of the
birds will be hit and will drop down dead. Take the cloak with you;
it is a wishing-cloak, and when you throw it on your shoulders you
have only to wish yourself at a certain place, and in the twinkling
of an eye you are there. Take the heart out of the dead bird and
swallow it whole, and early every morning when you get up you will
find a gold piece under your pillow.'
The Hunter thanked the wise woman, and thought to himself 'These are
splendid things she has promised me, if only they come to pass!' So
he walked on about a hundred yards, and then he heard above him in
the branches such a screaming and chirping that he looked up, and
there he saw a heap of birds tearing a cloth with their beaks and
feet, shrieking, tugging, and fighting, as if each wanted it for
himself. 'Well,' said the Hunter, 'this is wonderful! It is just as
the old woman said'; and he took his gun on his shoulder, pulled the
trigger, and shot into the midst of them, so that their feathers
flew about. Then the flock took flight with much screaming, but one
fell dead, and the cloak fluttered down. Then the Hunter did as the
old woman had told him: he cut open the bird, found its heart,
swallowed it, and took the cloak home with him. The next morning
when he awoke he remembered the promise, and wanted to see if it had
come true. But when he lifted up his pillow, there sparkled the gold
piece, and the next morning he found another, and so on every time
he got up. He collected a heap of gold, but at last he thought to
himself, 'What good is all my gold to me if I stay at home? I will
travel and look a bit about me in the world.' So he took leave of
his parents, slung his hunting knapsack and his gun round him, and
journeyed into the world.
It happened that one day he went through a thick wood, and when he
came to the end of it there lay in the plain before him a large
castle. At one of the windows in it stood an old woman with a most
beautiful maiden by her side, looking out. But the old woman was a
witch, and she said to the girl, 'There comes one out of the wood
who has a wonderful treasure in his body which we must manage to
possess ourselves of, darling daughter; we have more right to it
than he. He has a bird's heart in him, and so every morning there
lies a gold piece under his pillow.'
She told her how they could get hold of it, and how she was to coax
it from him, and at last threatened her angrily, saying, 'And if you
do not obey me, you shall repent it!'
When the Hunter came nearer he saw the maiden, and said to himself,
'I have travelled so far now that I will rest, and turn into this
beautiful castle; money I have in plenty.' But the real reason was
that he had caught sight of the lovely face.
He went into the house, and was kindly received and hospitably
entertained. It was not long before he was so much in love with the
witch-maiden that he thought of nothing else, and only looked in her
eyes, and whatever she wanted, that he gladly did. Then the old
witch said, 'Now we must have the bird-heart; he will not feel when
it is gone.' She prepared a drink, and when it was ready she poured
it in a goblet and gave it to the maiden, who had to hand it to the
hunter.
'Drink to me now, my dearest,' she said. Then he took the goblet,
and when he had swallowed the drink the bird-heart came out of his
mouth. The maiden had to get hold of it secretly and then swallow it
herself, for the old witch wanted to have it. Thenceforward he found
no more gold under his pillow, and it lay under the maiden's; but he
was so much in love and so much bewitched that he thought of nothing
except spending all his time with the maiden.
Then the old witch said, 'We have the bird-heart, but we must also
get the wishing-cloak from him.'
The maiden answered, 'We will leave him that; he has already lost
his wealth!'
The old witch grew angry, and said, 'Such a cloak is a wonderful
thing, it is seldom to be had in the world, and have it I must and
will.' She beat the maiden, and said that if she did not obey it
would go ill with her.
So she did her mother's bidding, and, standing one day by the
window, she looked away into the far distance as if she were very
sad.
'Why are you standing there looking so sad?' asked the Hunter.
'Alas, my love,' she replied, ' over there lies the granite mountain
where the costly precious stones grow. I have a great longing to go
there, so that when I think of it I am very sad. For who can fetch
them? Only the birds who fly; a man, never.'
'If you have no other trouble,' said the Hunter, 'that one I can
easily remove from your heart.'
So he wrapped her round in his cloak and wished themselves to the
granite mountain, and in an instant there they were, sitting on it!
The precious stones sparkled so brightly on all sides that it was a
pleasure to see them, and they collected the most beautiful and
costly together. But now the old witch had through her caused the
Hunter's eyes to become heavy.
He said to the maiden, 'We will sit down for a little while and
rest; I am so tired that I can hardly stand on my feet.'
So they sat down, and he laid his head on her lap and fell asleep.
As soon as he was sound asleep she unfastened the cloak from his
shoulders, threw it on her own, left the granite and stones, and
wished herself home again.
But when the Hunter had finished his sleep and awoke, he found that
his love had betrayed him and left him alone on the wild mountain.
'Oh,' said he, 'why is faithlessness so great in the world?' and he
sat down in sorrow and trouble, not knowing what to do.
But the mountain belonged to fierce and huge giants, who lived on it
and traded there, and he had not sat long before he saw three of
them striding towards him. So he lay down as if he had fallen into a
deep sleep.
The giants came up, and the first pushed him with his foot, and
said, 'What sort of an earthworm is that?'
The second said, 'Crush him dead.'
But the third said contemptuously, 'It is not worth the trouble! Let
him live; he cannot remain here, and if he goes higher up the
mountain the clouds will take him and carry him off.'
Talking thus they went away. But the Hunter had listened to their
talk, and as soon as they had gone he rose and climbed to the
summit. When he had sat there a little while a cloud swept by, and,
seizing him, carried him away. It travelled for a time in the sky,
and then it sank down and hovered over a large vegetable garden
surrounded by walls, so that he came safely to the ground amidst
cabbages and vegetables. The Hunter then looked about him, saying,
'If only I had something to eat! I am so hungry, and it will go
badly with me in the future, for I see here not an apple or pear or
fruit of any kind--nothing but vegetables everywhere.' At last he
thought, 'At a pinch I can eat a salad; it does not taste
particularly nice, but it will refresh me.' So he looked about for a
good head and ate it, but no sooner had he swallowed a couple of
mouthfuls than he felt very strange, and found himself wonderfully
changed. Four legs began to grow on him, a thick head, and two long
ears, and he saw with horror that he had changed into a donkey. But
as he was still very hungry and this juicy salad tasted very good to
his present nature, he went on eating with a still greater appetite.
At last he got hold of another kind of cabbage, but scarcely had
swallowed it when he felt another change, and he once more regained
his human form.
The Hunter now lay down and slept off his weariness. When he awoke
the next morning he broke off a head of the bad and a head of the
good cabbage, thinking, 'This will help me to regain my own, and to
punish faithlessness.' Then he put the heads in his pockets, climbed
the wall, and started off to seek the castle of his love. When he
had wandered about for a couple of days he found it quite easily. He
then browned his face quickly, so that his own mother would not have
known him, and went into the castle, where he begged for a lodging.
'I am so tired,' he said, 'I can go no farther.'
The witch asked, 'Countryman, who are you, and what is your
business?'
He answered, 'I am a messenger of the King, and have been sent to
seek the finest salad that grows under the sun. I have been so lucky
as to find it, and am bringing it with me; but the heat of the sun
is so great that the tender cabbage threatens to grow soft, and I do
not know if I shall be able to bring it any farther.'
When the old witch heard of the fine salad she wanted to eat it, and
said, 'Dear countryman, just let me taste the wonderful salad.'
'Why not?' he answered; 'I have brought two heads with me, and will
give you one.'
So saying, he opened his sack and gave her the bad one. The witch
suspected no evil, and her mouth watered to taste the new dish, so
that she went into the kitchen to prepare it herself. When it was
ready she could not wait till it was served at the table, but she
immediately took a couple of leaves and put them in her mouth. No
sooner, however, had she swallowed them than she lost human form,
and ran into the courtyard in the shape of a donkey.
Now the servant came into the kitchen, and when she saw the salad
standing there ready cooked she was about to carry it up, but on the
way, according to her old habit, she tasted it and ate a couple of
leaves. Immediately the charm worked, and she became a donkey, and
ran out to join the old witch, and the dish with the salad in it
fell to the ground. In the meantime, the messenger was sitting with
the lovely maiden, and as no one came with the salad, and she wanted
very much to taste it, she said, 'I don't know where the salad is.'
Then thought the Hunter, 'The cabbage must have already begun to
work.' And he said, 'I will go to the kitchen and fetch it myself.'
When he came there he saw the two donkeys running about in the
courtyard, but the salad was lying on the ground.
'That's all right,' said he; 'two have had their share!' And lifting
the remaining leaves up, he laid them on the dish and brought them
to the maiden.
'I am bringing you the delicious food my own self,' he said, 'so
that you need not wait any longer.'
Then she ate, and, as the others had done, she at once lost her
human form, and ran as a donkey into the yard.
When the Hunter had washed his face, so that the changed ones might
know him, he went into the yard, saying, 'Now you shall receive a
reward for your faithlessness.'
He tied them all three with a rope, and drove them away till he came
to a mill. He knocked at the window, and the miller put his head out
and asked what he wanted.
'I have three tiresome animals,' he answered, 'which I don't want to
keep any longer. If you will take them, give them food and stabling,
and do as I tell you with them, I will pay you as much as you want.'
The miller replied, 'Why not? What shall I do with them?'
Then the Hunter said that to the old donkey, which was the witch,
three beatings and one meal; to the younger one, which was the
servant, one beating and three meals; and to the youngest one, which
was the maiden, no beating and three meals; for he could not find it
in his heart to let the maiden be beaten.
Then he went back into the castle, and he found there all that he
wanted. After a couple of days the miller came and said that he must
tell him that the old donkey which was to have three beatings and
only one meal had died. 'The two others,' he added, 'are certainly
not dead, and get their three meals every day, but they are so sad
that they cannot last much longer.'
Then the Hunter took pity on them, laid aside his anger, and told
the miller to drive them back again. And when they came he gave them
some of the good cabbage to eat, so that they became human again.
Then the beautiful maiden fell on her knees before him, saying, 'Oh,
my dearest, forgive me the ill I have done you! My mother compelled
me to do it; it was against my will, for I love you dearly. Your
wishing-cloak is hanging in a cupboard, and as for the bird-heart I
will make a drink and give it back to you.'
But he changed his mind, and said, 'Keep it; it makes no difference,
for I will take you to be my own dear true wife.'
And the wedding was celebrated, and they lived happy together till
death.
The Donkey Cabbage
from the Yellow Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
