Children's stories, German -- Translations into English; Fairy tales; Fairy tales -- Germany
One day, he came and said, “To-morrow there is a feast in your father’s
house, because your eldest sister is to be married, and if you are
inclined to go there, my Lions shall conduct you.”
She said, “Yes, I should very much like to see my father again,” and
went thither, accompanied by the Lions.
There was great joy when she arrived, for they had all believed that
she had been torn in pieces by the Lion, and had long ceased to live.
But she told them what a handsome husband she had, and how well off she
was. She remained with them while the wedding-feast lasted, and then
went back again to the forest.
When the second daughter was about to be married, and she was again
invited to the wedding, she said to the Lion, “This time, I will not go
alone. You must come with me.”
The Lion, however, said that it was too dangerous for him, for if a ray
from a burning candle should fall on him, he would be changed into a
Dove, and for seven years long would have to fly about with the Doves.
She said, “Ah, but do come with me, I will take great care of you and
guard you from all light.”
So they went away together, and took with them their little child as
well. She had a chamber built, so strong and thick that no ray could
pierce through it. In this he was to shut himself up when the candles
were lit for the wedding-feast. But the door was made of green wood
which warped and left a little crack which no one noticed.
The wedding was celebrated with magnificence; but when the procession
with all its candles and torches came back from church and passed by
this apartment, a ray about the breadth of a hair fell on the King’s
Son. When this ray touched him, he was transformed in an instant. And
when she came in, and looked for him, she did not see him, but a white
Dove was sitting there.
The Dove said to her, “For seven years must I fly about the world, but
at every seventh step that you take I will let fall a drop of red blood
and a white feather. These will show you the way. If you follow the
trace you can release me.”
Thereupon the Dove flew out at the door, and she followed him. At every
seventh step a red drop of blood and a little white feather fell down,
and showed her the way.
So she went continually farther and farther, in the wide world, never
looking about her nor resting, and the seven years were almost past.
Then she rejoiced and thought that they would soon be delivered, and
yet they were so far from it!
Once when they were thus moving onwards, no little feather and no
drop of red blood fell, and when she raised her eyes the Dove had
disappeared. And as she thought to herself, “In this no man can help
me,” she climbed up to the Sun, and said to him, “You shine into every
crevice, and over every peak, have you not seen a white Dove flying?”
“No,” said the Sun, “I have seen none, but I present you with a casket.
Open it when you are in sorest need.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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