THE RAVEN
There was once a queen who had a little daughter, still too young to runalone. One day the child was very troublesome, and the mother could notquiet it, do what she would. She grew impatient, and seeing the ravensflying round the castle, she opened the window, and said: 'I wish youwere a raven and would fly away, then I should have a little peace.'Scarcely were the words out of her mouth, when the child in her arms wasturned into a raven, and flew away from her through the open window. Thebird took its flight to a dark wood and remained there for a long time,and meanwhile the parents could hear nothing of their child.
Long after this, a man was making his way through the wood when he hearda raven calling, and he followed the sound of the voice. As he drewnear, the raven said, 'I am by birth a king's daughter, but am now underthe spell of some enchantment; you can, however, set me free.' 'Whatam I to do?' he asked. She replied, 'Go farther into the wood until youcome to a house, wherein lives an old woman; she will offer you food anddrink, but you must not take of either; if you do, you will fall intoa deep sleep, and will not be able to help me. In the garden behind thehouse is a large tan-heap, and on that you must stand and watch for me.I shall drive there in my carriage at two o'clock in the afternoon forthree successive days; the first day it will be drawn by four white, thesecond by four chestnut, and the last by four black horses; but if youfail to keep awake and I find you sleeping, I shall not be set free.'
The man promised to do all that she wished, but the raven said, 'Alas! Iknow even now that you will take something from the woman and be unableto save me.' The man assured her again that he would on no account toucha thing to eat or drink.
When he came to the house and went inside, the old woman met him, andsaid, 'Poor man! how tired you are! Come in and rest and let me give yousomething to eat and drink.'
'No,' answered the man, 'I will neither eat not drink.'
But she would not leave him alone, and urged him saying, 'If you willnot eat anything, at least you might take a draught of wine; one drinkcounts for nothing,' and at last he allowed himself to be persuaded, anddrank.
As it drew towards the appointed hour, he went outside into the gardenand mounted the tan-heap to await the raven. Suddenly a feeling offatigue came over him, and unable to resist it, he lay down for a littlewhile, fully determined, however, to keep awake; but in another minutehis eyes closed of their own accord, and he fell into such a deep sleep,that all the noises in the world would not have awakened him. At twoo'clock the raven came driving along, drawn by her four white horses;but even before she reached the spot, she said to herself, sighing, 'Iknow he has fallen asleep.' When she entered the garden, there she foundhim as she had feared, lying on the tan-heap, fast asleep. She got outof her carriage and went to him; she called him and shook him, but itwas all in vain, he still continued sleeping.
The next day at noon, the old woman came to him again with food anddrink which he at first refused. At last, overcome by her persistententreaties that he would take something, he lifted the glass and drankagain.
Towards two o'clock he went into the garden and on to the tan-heap towatch for the raven. He had not been there long before he began to feelso tired that his limbs seemed hardly able to support him, and he couldnot stand upright any longer; so again he lay down and fell fast asleep.As the raven drove along her four chestnut horses, she said sorrowfullyto herself, 'I know he has fallen asleep.' She went as before to lookfor him, but he slept, and it was impossible to awaken him.
The following day the old woman said to him, 'What is this? You are noteating or drinking anything, do you want to kill yourself?'
He answered, 'I may not and will not either eat or drink.'
But she put down the dish of food and the glass of wine in front of him,and when he smelt the wine, he was unable to resist the temptation, andtook a deep draught.
When the hour came round again he went as usual on to the tan-heap inthe garden to await the king's daughter, but he felt even more overcomewith weariness than on the two previous days, and throwing himself down,he slept like a log. At two o'clock the raven could be seen approaching,and this time her coachman and everything about her, as well as herhorses, were black.
She was sadder than ever as she drove along, and said mournfully, 'Iknow he has fallen asleep, and will not be able to set me free.' Shefound him sleeping heavily, and all her efforts to awaken him were of noavail. Then she placed beside him a loaf, and some meat, and a flaskof wine, of such a kind, that however much he took of them, they wouldnever grow less. After that she drew a gold ring, on which her name wasengraved, off her finger, and put it upon one of his. Finally, she laida letter near him, in which, after giving him particulars of the foodand drink she had left for him, she finished with the following words:'I see that as long as you remain here you will never be able to set mefree; if, however, you still wish to do so, come to the golden castleof Stromberg; this is well within your power to accomplish.' She thenreturned to her carriage and drove to the golden castle of Stromberg.
When the man awoke and found that he had been sleeping, he was grievedat heart, and said, 'She has no doubt been here and driven away again,and it is now too late for me to save her.' Then his eyes fell on thethings which were lying beside him; he read the letter, and knew from itall that had happened. He rose up without delay, eager to start on hisway and to reach the castle of Stromberg, but he had no idea in whichdirection he ought to go. He travelled about a long time in search of itand came at last to a dark forest, through which he went on walking forfourteen days and still could not find a way out. Once more the nightcame on, and worn out he lay down under a bush and fell asleep. Againthe next day he pursued his way through the forest, and that evening,thinking to rest again, he lay down as before, but he heard such ahowling and wailing that he found it impossible to sleep. He waited tillit was darker and people had begun to light up their houses, and thenseeing a little glimmer ahead of him, he went towards it.
He found that the light came from a house which looked smaller thanit really was, from the contrast of its height with that of an immensegiant who stood in front of it. He thought to himself, 'If the giantsees me going in, my life will not be worth much.' However, after awhile he summoned up courage and went forward. When the giant saw him,he called out, 'It is lucky for that you have come, for I have not hadanything to eat for a long time. I can have you now for my supper.' 'Iwould rather you let that alone,' said the man, 'for I do not willinglygive myself up to be eaten; if you are wanting food I have enough tosatisfy your hunger.' 'If that is so,' replied the giant, 'I will leaveyou in peace; I only thought of eating you because I had nothing else.'
So they went indoors together and sat down, and the man brought out thebread, meat, and wine, which although he had eaten and drunk of them,were still unconsumed. The giant was pleased with the good cheer, andate and drank to his heart's content. When he had finished his supperthe man asked him if he could direct him to the castle of Stromberg.The giant said, 'I will look on my map; on it are marked all the towns,villages, and houses.' So he fetched his map, and looked for the castle,but could not find it. 'Never mind,' he said, 'I have larger mapsupstairs in the cupboard, we will look on those,' but they searched invain, for the castle was not marked even on these. The man now thoughthe should like to continue his journey, but the giant begged him toremain for a day or two longer until the return of his brother, who wasaway in search of provisions. When the brother came home, they asked himabout the castle of Stromberg, and he told them he would look on his ownmaps as soon as he had eaten and appeased his hunger. Accordingly, whenhe had finished his supper, they all went up together to his room andlooked through his maps, but the castle was not to be found. Then hefetched other older maps, and they went on looking for the castle untilat last they found it, but it was many thousand miles away. 'How shall Ibe able to get there?' asked the man. 'I have two hours to spare,' saidthe giant, 'and I will carry you into the neighbourhood of the castle; Imust then return to look after the child who is in our care.'
The giant, thereupon, carried the man to within about a hundred leaguesof the castle, where he left him, saying, 'You will be able to walk theremainder of the way yourself.' The man journeyed on day and nighttill he reached the golden castle of Stromberg. He found it situated,however, on a glass mountain, and looking up from the foot he saw theenchanted maiden drive round her castle and then go inside. He wasoverjoyed to see her, and longed to get to the top of the mountain, butthe sides were so slippery that every time he attempted to climb hefell back again. When he saw that it was impossible to reach her, he wasgreatly grieved, and said to himself, 'I will remain here and wait forher,' so he built himself a little hut, and there he sat and watched fora whole year, and every day he saw the king's daughter driving round hercastle, but still was unable to get nearer to her.
Looking out from his hut one day he saw three robbers fighting and hecalled out to them, 'God be with you.' They stopped when they heard thecall, but looking round and seeing nobody, they went on again with theirfighting, which now became more furious. 'God be with you,' he criedagain, and again they paused and looked about, but seeing no one wentback to their fighting. A third time he called out, 'God be with you,'and then thinking he should like to know the cause of dispute betweenthe three men, he went out and asked them why they were fighting soangrily with one another. One of them said that he had found a stick,and that he had but to strike it against any door through which hewished to pass, and it immediately flew open. Another told him that hehad found a cloak which rendered its wearer invisible; and the third hadcaught a horse which would carry its rider over any obstacle, and evenup the glass mountain. They had been unable to decide whether theywould keep together and have the things in common, or whether they wouldseparate. On hearing this, the man said, 'I will give you something inexchange for those three things; not money, for that I have not got,but something that is of far more value. I must first, however, provewhether all you have told me about your three things is true.' Therobbers, therefore, made him get on the horse, and handed him the stickand the cloak, and when he had put this round him he was no longervisible. Then he fell upon them with the stick and beat them one afteranother, crying, 'There, you idle vagabonds, you have got what youdeserve; are you satisfied now!'
After this he rode up the glass mountain. When he reached the gate ofthe castle, he found it closed, but he gave it a blow with his stick,and it flew wide open at once and he passed through. He mounted thesteps and entered the room where the maiden was sitting, with a goldengoblet full of wine in front of her. She could not see him for he stillwore his cloak. He took the ring which she had given him off his finger,and threw it into the goblet, so that it rang as it touched the bottom.'That is my own ring,' she exclaimed, 'and if that is so the man mustalso be here who is coming to set me free.'
She sought for him about the castle, but could find him nowhere.Meanwhile he had gone outside again and mounted his horse and thrown offthe cloak. When therefore she came to the castle gate she saw him, andcried aloud for joy. Then he dismounted and took her in his arms; andshe kissed him, and said, 'Now you have indeed set me free, and tomorrowwe will celebrate our marriage.'