There was once an old castle, that stood in the middle of a deep gloomywood, and in the castle lived an old fairy. Now this fairy could takeany shape she pleased. All the day long she flew about in the form ofan owl, or crept about the country like a cat; but at night she alwaysbecame an old woman again. When any young man came within a hundredpaces of her castle, he became quite fixed, and could not move a steptill she came and set him free; which she would not do till he had givenher his word never to come there again: but when any pretty maiden camewithin that space she was changed into a bird, and the fairy put herinto a cage, and hung her up in a chamber in the castle. There wereseven hundred of these cages hanging in the castle, and all withbeautiful birds in them.

Now there was once a maiden whose name was Jorinda. She was prettierthan all the pretty girls that ever were seen before, and a shepherdlad, whose name was Jorindel, was very fond of her, and they were soonto be married. One day they went to walk in the wood, that they might bealone; and Jorindel said, 'We must take care that we don't go too nearto the fairy's castle.' It was a beautiful evening; the last rays of thesetting sun shone bright through the long stems of the trees uponthe green underwood beneath, and the turtle-doves sang from the tallbirches.

Jorinda sat down to gaze upon the sun; Jorindel sat by her side; andboth felt sad, they knew not why; but it seemed as if they were to beparted from one another for ever. They had wandered a long way; and whenthey looked to see which way they should go home, they found themselvesat a loss to know what path to take.

The sun was setting fast, and already half of its circle had sunk behindthe hill: Jorindel on a sudden looked behind him, and saw through thebushes that they had, without knowing it, sat down close under the oldwalls of the castle. Then he shrank for fear, turned pale, and trembled.Jorinda was just singing,

'The ring-dove sang from the willow spray, Well-a-day! Well-a-day! He mourn'd for the fate of his darling mate, Well-a-day!'

when her song stopped suddenly. Jorindel turned to see the reason, andbeheld his Jorinda changed into a nightingale, so that her song endedwith a mournful _jug, jug_. An owl with fiery eyes flew three timesround them, and three times screamed:

'Tu whu! Tu whu! Tu whu!'

Jorindel could not move; he stood fixed as a stone, and could neitherweep, nor speak, nor stir hand or foot. And now the sun went quite down;the gloomy night came; the owl flew into a bush; and a moment after theold fairy came forth pale and meagre, with staring eyes, and a nose andchin that almost met one another.

She mumbled something to herself, seized the nightingale, and went awaywith it in her hand. Poor Jorindel saw the nightingale was gone--butwhat could he do? He could not speak, he could not move from the spotwhere he stood. At last the fairy came back and sang with a hoarsevoice:

'Till the prisoner is fast, And her doom is cast, There stay! Oh, stay! When the charm is around her, And the spell has bound her, Hie away! away!'

On a sudden Jorindel found himself free. Then he fell on his kneesbefore the fairy, and prayed her to give him back his dear Jorinda: butshe laughed at him, and said he should never see her again; then shewent her way.

He prayed, he wept, he sorrowed, but all in vain. 'Alas!' he said, 'whatwill become of me?' He could not go back to his own home, so he went toa strange village, and employed himself in keeping sheep. Many a timedid he walk round and round as near to the hated castle as he dared go,but all in vain; he heard or saw nothing of Jorinda.

At last he dreamt one night that he found a beautiful purple flower,and that in the middle of it lay a costly pearl; and he dreamt that heplucked the flower, and went with it in his hand into the castle, andthat everything he touched with it was disenchanted, and that there hefound his Jorinda again.

In the morning when he awoke, he began to search over hill and dale forthis pretty flower; and eight long days he sought for it in vain: buton the ninth day, early in the morning, he found the beautiful purpleflower; and in the middle of it was a large dewdrop, as big as a costlypearl. Then he plucked the flower, and set out and travelled day andnight, till he came again to the castle.

He walked nearer than a hundred paces to it, and yet he did not becomefixed as before, but found that he could go quite close up to the door.Jorindel was very glad indeed to see this. Then he touched the door withthe flower, and it sprang open; so that he went in through the court,and listened when he heard so many birds singing. At last he came to thechamber where the fairy sat, with the seven hundred birds singing inthe seven hundred cages. When she saw Jorindel she was very angry, andscreamed with rage; but she could not come within two yards of him, forthe flower he held in his hand was his safeguard. He looked around atthe birds, but alas! there were many, many nightingales, and how thenshould he find out which was his Jorinda? While he was thinking what todo, he saw the fairy had taken down one of the cages, and was making thebest of her way off through the door. He ran or flew after her, touchedthe cage with the flower, and Jorinda stood before him, and threw herarms round his neck looking as beautiful as ever, as beautiful as whenthey walked together in the wood.

Then he touched all the other birds with the flower, so that they alltook their old forms again; and he took Jorinda home, where they weremarried, and lived happily together many years: and so did a good manyother lads, whose maidens had been forced to sing in the old fairy'scages by themselves, much longer than they liked.