But Nix Nought Nothing fled on till where do you think they came to?
Why, to near the castle of Nix Nought Nothing's father and mother. But
the giant's daughter was so weary that she couldn't move a step further.
So Nix Nought Nothing told her to wait there while he went and found
out a lodging for the night. And he went on towards the lights of the
castle, and on the way he came to the cottage of the hen-wife whose
boy had had his brains dashed out by the giant. Now she knew Nix Nought
Nothing in a moment, and hated him because he was the cause of her son's
death. So when he asked his way to the castle she put a spell upon him,
and when he got to the castle, no sooner was he let in than he fell down
dead asleep upon a bench in the hall. The king and queen tried all they
could do to wake him up, but all in vain. So the king promised that if
any lady could wake him up she should marry him. Meanwhile the giant's
daughter was waiting and waiting for him to come back. And she went up
into a tree to watch for him. The gardener's daughter, going to draw
water in the well, saw the shadow of the lady in the water and thought
it was herself, and said; “If I'm so bonny, if I'm so brave, why do you
send me to draw water?” So she threw down her pail and went to see if
she could wed the sleeping stranger. And she went to the hen-wife, who
taught her an unspelling catch which would keep Nix Nought Nothing awake
as long as the gardener's daughter liked. So she went up to the castle
and sang her catch and Nix Nought Nothing was wakened for a bit and they
promised to wed him to the gardener's daughter. Meanwhile the gardener
went down to draw water from the well and saw the shadow of the lady in
the water. So he looks up and finds her, and he brought the lady from
the tree, and led her into his house. And he told her that a stranger
was to marry his daughter, and took her up to the castle and showed her
the man: and it was Nix Nought Nothing asleep in a chair. And she saw
him, and cried to him: “Waken, waken, and speak to me!” But he would not
waken, and soon she cried:
“I cleaned the stable, I laved the lake, and I clomb the tree,
And all for the love of thee,
And thou wilt not waken and speak to me.”
The king and the queen heard this, and came to the bonny young lady, and
she said:
“I cannot get Nix Nought Nothing to speak to me for all that I can do.”
Then were they greatly astonished when she spoke of Nix Nought Nothing,
and asked where he was, and she said: “He that sits there in the chair.”
Then they ran to him and kissed him and called him their own dear son;
so they called for the gardener's daughter and made her sing her charm,
and he wakened, and told them all that the giant's daughter had done
for him, and of all her kindness. Then they took her in their arms and
kissed her, and said she should now be their daughter, for their son
should marry her. But they sent for the hen-wife and put her to death.
And they lived happy all their days.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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