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Once upon
a time...
There was once upon a time a couple who had no children, and
they prayed Heaven every day to send them a child, though it were no
bigger than a hazel-nut. At last Heaven heard their prayer and sent
them a child exactly the size of a hazel-nut, and it never grew an
inch. The parents were very devoted to the little creature, and
nursed and tended it carefully. Their tiny son too was as clever as
he could be, and so sharp and sensible that all the neighbours
marvelled over the wise things he said and did.
When the Hazel-nut child was fifteen years old, and was sitting one
day in an egg-shell on the table beside his mother, she turned to
him and said, 'You are now fifteen years old, and nothing can be
done with you. What do you intend to be?'
'A messenger,' answered the Hazel-nut child.
Then his mother burst out laughing and said, 'What an idea! You a
messenger! Why, your little feet would take an hour to go the
distance an ordinary person could do in a minute!'
But the Hazel-nut child replied, 'Nevertheless I mean to be a
messenger! Just send me a message and you'll see that I shall be
back in next to no time.'
So his mother said, 'Very well, go to your aunt in the neighbouring
village, and fetch me a comb.' The Hazel-nut child jumped quickly
out of the egg-shell and ran out into the street. Here he found a
man on horseback who was just setting out for the neighbouring
village. He crept up the horse's leg, sat down under the saddle, and
then began to pinch the horse and to prick it with a pin. The horse
plunged and reared and then set off at a hard gallop, which it
continued in spite of its rider's efforts to stop it. When they
reached the village, the Hazel-nut child left off pricking the
horse, and the poor tired creature pursued its way at a snail's
pace. The Hazel-nut child took advantage of this, and crept down the
horse's leg; then he ran to his aunt and asked her for a comb. On
the way home he met another rider, and did the return journey in
exactly the same way. When he handed his mother the comb that his
aunt had given him, she was much amazed and asked him, 'But how did
you manage to get back so quickly?'
'Ah! mother,' he replied, 'you see I was quite right when I said I
knew a messenger was the profession for me.'
His father too possessed a horse which he often used to take out
into the fields to graze. One day he took the Hazel-nut child with
him. At midday the father turned to his small son and said, 'Stay
here and look after the horse. I must go home and give your mother a
message, but I shall be back soon.'
When his father had gone, a robber passed by and saw the horse
grazing without any one watching it, for of course he could not see
the Hazel-nut child hidden in the grass. So he mounted the horse and
rode away. But the Hazel-nut child, who was the most active little
creature, climbed up the horse's tail and began to bite it on the
back, enraging the creature to such an extent that it paid no
attention to the direction the robber tried to make it go in, but
galloped straight home. The father was much astonished when he saw a
stranger riding his horse, but the Hazel-nut child climbed down
quickly and told him all that had happened, and his father had the
robber arrested at once and put into prison.
One autumn when the Hazel-nut child was twenty years old he said to
his parents: 'Farewell, my dear father and mother. I am going to set
out into the world, and as soon as I have become rich I will return
home to you.'
The parents laughed at the little man's words, but did not believe
him for a moment. In the evening the Hazel-nut child crept on to the
roof, where some storks had built their nest. The storks were fast
asleep, and he climbed on to the back of the father-stork and bound
a silk cord round the joint of one of its wings, then he crept among
its soft downy feathers and fell asleep.
The next morning the storks flew towards the south, for winter was
approaching. The Hazel-nut child flew through the air on the stork's
back, and when he wanted to rest he bound his silk cord on to the
joint of the bird's other wing, so that it could not fly any
farther. In this way he reached the country of the black people,
where the storks took up their abode close to the capital. When the
people saw the Hazel-nut child they were much astonished, and took
him with the stork to the King of the country. The King was
delighted with the little creature and kept him always beside him,
and he soon grew so fond of the little man that he gave him a
diamond four times as big as himself. The Hazel-nut child fastened
the diamond firmly under the stork's neck with a ribbon, and when he
saw that the other storks were getting ready for their northern
flight, he untied the silk cord from his stork's wings, and away
they went, getting nearer home every minute. At length the Hazel-nut
child came to his native village; then he undid the ribbon from the
stork's neck and the diamond fell to the ground; he covered it first
with sand and stones, and then ran to get his parents, so that they
might carry the treasure home, for he himself was not able to lift
the great diamond.
So the Hazel-nut child and his parents lived in happiness and
prosperity after this till they died.
The Hazel-Nut Child
from the Yellow Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
