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Once upon
a time...
There was once upon a time a witch, who in the shape of a
hawk used every night to break the windows of a certain village
church. In the same village there lived three brothers, who were all
determined to kill the mischievous hawk. But in vain did the two
eldest mount guard in the church with their guns; as soon as the
bird appeared high above their heads, sleep overpowered them, and
they only awoke to hear the windows crashing in.
Then the youngest brother took his turn of guarding the windows, and
to prevent his being overcome by sleep he placed a lot of thorns
under his chin, so that if he felt drowsy and nodded his head, they
would prick him and keep him awake.
The moon was already risen, and it was as light as day, when
suddenly he heard a fearful noise, and at the same time a terrible
desire to sleep overpowered him.
His eyelids closed, and his head sank on his shoulders, but the
thorns ran into him and were so painful that he awoke at once. He
saw the hawk swooping down upon the church, and in a moment he had
seized his gun and shot at the bird. The hawk fell heavily under a
big stone, severely wounded in its right wing. The youth ran to look
at it, and saw that a huge abyss had opened below the stone. He went
at once to fetch his brothers, and with their help dragged a lot of
pine-wood and ropes to the spot. They fastened some of the burning
pine-wood to the end of the rope, and let it slowly down to the
bottom of the abyss. At first it was quite dark, and the flaming
torch only lit up dirty grey stone walls. But the youngest brother
determined to explore the abyss, and letting himself down by the
rope he soon reached the bottom. Here he found a lovely meadow full
of green trees and exquisite flowers.
In the middle of the meadow stood a huge stone castle, with an iron
gate leading to it, which was wide open. Everything in the castle
seemed to be made of copper, and the only inhabitant he could
discover was a lovely girl, who was combing her golden hair; and he
noticed that whenever one of her hairs fell on the ground it rang
out like pure metal. The youth looked at her more closely, and saw
that her skin was smooth and fair, her blue eyes bright and
sparkling, and her hair as golden as the sun. He fell in love with
her on the spot, and kneeling at her feet, he implored her to become
his wife.
The lovely girl accepted his proposal gladly; but at the same time
she warned him that she could never come up to the world above till
her mother, the old witch, was dead. And she went on to tell him
that the only way in which the old creature could be killed was with
the sword that hung up in the castle; but the sword was so heavy
that no one could lift it.
Then the youth went into a room in the castle where everything was
made of silver, and here he found another beautiful girl, the sister
of his bride. She was combing her silver hair, and every hair that
fell on the ground rang out like pure metal. The second girl handed
him the sword, but though he tried with all his strength he could
not lift it. At last a third sister came to him and gave him a drop
of something to drink, which she said would give him the needful
strength. He drank one drop, but still he could not lift the sword;
then he drank a second, and the sword began to move; but only after
he had drunk a third drop was he able to swing the sword over his
head.
Then he hid himself in the castle and awaited the old witch's
arrival. At last as it was beginning to grow dark she appeared. She
swooped down upon a big apple-tree, and after shaking some golden
apples from it, she pounced down upon the earth. As soon as her feet
touched the ground she became transformed from a hawk into a woman.
This was the moment the youth was waiting for, and he swung his
mighty sword in the air with all his strength and the witch's head
fell off, and her blood spurted up on the walls.
Without fear of any further danger, he packed up all the treasures
of the castle into great chests, and gave his brothers a signal to
pull them up out of the abyss. First the treasures were attached to
the rope and then the three lovely girls. And now everything was up
above and only he himself remained below. But as he was a little
suspicious of his brothers, he fastened a heavy stone on to the rope
and let them pull it up. At first they heaved with a will, but when
the stone was half way up they let it drop suddenly, and it fell to
the bottom broken into a hundred pieces.
'So that's what would have happened to my bones had I trusted myself
to them,' said the youth sadly; and he began to cry bitterly, not
because of the treasures, but because of the lovely girl with her
swanlike neck and golden hair.
For a long time he wandered sadly all through the beautiful
underworld, and one day he met a magician who asked him the cause of
his tears. The youth told him all that had befallen him, and the
magician said:
'Do not grieve, young man! If you will guard the children who are
hidden in the golden apple-tree, I will bring you at once up to the
earth. Another magician who lives in this land always eats my
children up. It is in vain that I have hidden them under the earth
and locked them into the castle. Now I have hidden them in the
apple-tree; hide yourself there too, and at midnight you will see my
enemy.'
The youth climbed up the tree, and picked some of the beautiful
golden apples, which he ate for his supper.
At midnight the wind began to rise, and a rustling sound was heard
at the foot of the tree. The youth looked down and beheld a long
thick serpent beginning to crawl up the tree. It wound itself round
the stem and gradually got higher and higher. It stretched its huge
head, in which the eyes glittered fiercely, among the branches,
searching for the nest in which the little children lay. They
trembled with terror when they saw the hideous creature, and hid
themselves beneath the leaves.
Then the youth swung his mighty sword in the air, and with one blow
cut off the serpent's head. He cut up the rest of the body into
little bits and strewed them to the four winds.
The father of the rescued children was so delighted over the death
of his enemy that he told the youth to get on his back, and in this
way he carried him up to the world above.
With what joy did he hurry now to his brothers' house! He burst into
a room where they were all assembled, but no one knew who he was.
Only his bride, who was serving as cook to her sisters, recognised
her lover at once.
His brothers, who had quite believed he was dead, yielded him up his
treasures at once, and flew into the woods in terror. But the good
youth forgave them all they had done, and divided his treasures with
them. Then he built himself a big castle with golden windows, and
there he lived happily with his golden-haired wife till the end of
their lives.
The Three Brothers
from the Yellow Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
