Children's stories, German -- Translations into English; Fairy tales; Fairy tales -- Germany
And when they got home, Two-Eyes again did not eat, and Three-Eyes said
to the mother, “Now, I know why that proud thing there does not eat.
When she is out, she says to the goat:
“‘_Bleat, bleat, my little Goat, bleat,
Cover the table with something to eat!_’
and then a little table appears before her covered with the best of
food, much better than any we have here. When she has eaten all she
wants, she says:
“‘_Bleat, bleat, my little Goat, I pray,
And take the table quite away!_’
and all disappears. I watched everything closely. She put two of my
eyes to sleep by using a charm, but luckily the one in my forehead kept
awake.”
Then the envious mother cried, “Do you want to fare better than we do?
The desire shall pass away!” and she fetched a butcher’s knife, and
thrust it into the heart of the goat, which fell down dead.
When Two-Eyes saw that, full of sorrow, she went outside, and seated
herself on the ridge of grass at the edge of the field, and wept bitter
tears.
Suddenly the Wise Woman once more stood by her side, and said,
“Two-Eyes, why are you weeping?”
“Have I not reason to weep?” she answered. “The goat, which covered the
table for me every day when I spoke your charm, has been killed by my
mother, and now I shall again have to bear hunger and want.”
The Wise Woman said, “Two-Eyes, I will give you a piece of good advice.
Ask your sisters to give you the entrails of the slaughtered goat, and
bury them in the ground in front of the house, and your fortune will be
made.”
Then she vanished, and Two-Eyes went home and said to her sisters,
“Dear Sisters, do give me some part of my goat. I don’t wish for what
is good, but give me the entrails.”
Then they laughed and said, “If that’s all you want, you may have it.”
So Two-Eyes took the entrails and buried them quietly, at evening, in
front of the house-door, as the Wise Woman had counseled her to do.
Next morning, when they all awoke, and went to the house-door, there
stood a wonderful, magnificent tree with leaves of silver, and fruit
of gold hanging among them, so that in all the wide world there was
nothing more beautiful or precious. They did not know how the tree
could have come there during the night, but Two-Eyes saw that it had
grown up out of the entrails of the goat, for it was standing on the
exact spot where she had buried them.
Then the mother said to One-Eye, “Climb up, my Child, and gather some
of the fruit of the tree for us.”
One-Eye climbed up, but when she was about to lay hold of one of the
golden apples, the branch escaped from her hands. And that happened
each time, so that she could not pluck a single apple, let her do what
she might.
Then said the mother, “Three-Eyes, do you climb up. You with your three
eyes can look about you better than One-Eye.”
One-Eye slipped down, and Three-Eyes climbed up. Three-Eyes was not
more skillful, and might search as she liked, but the golden apples
always escaped her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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