Then she went away, and told the old King that the thing inside the
iron stove would not have her, but wanted the Princess. The old King was
frightened, and his daughter wept. But they had a swineherd’s daughter
who was even more beautiful than the miller’s daughter, and they gave
her a piece of gold to go to the iron stove instead of the Princess.
Then she was taken out, and had to scrape for four-and-twenty hours, but
she could make no impression. As soon as the day broke the voice from
the stove called out, ‘It seems to be daylight outside.’ Then she
answered, ‘It seems so to me too; I think I hear my father blowing his
horn.’ ‘So you are a swineherd’s daughter! Go away at once, and let the
King’s daughter come. And say to her that what I foretell shall come to
pass, and if she does not come everything in the kingdom shall fall into
ruin, and not one stone shall be left upon another.’ When the Princess
heard this she began to cry, but it was no good; she had to keep her
word. She took leave of her father, put a knife in her belt, and went
to the iron stove in the wood. As soon as she reached it she began to
scrape, and the iron gave way and before two hours had passed she had
made a little hole. Then she peeped in and saw such a beautiful youth
all shining with gold and precious stones that she fell in love with him
on the spot. So she scraped away harder than ever, and made the hole
so large that he could get out. Then he said, ‘You are mine, and I am
thine; you are my bride and have set me free!’ He wanted to take her
with him to his kingdom, but she begged him just to let her go once more
to her father; and the Prince let her go, but told her not to say more
than three words to her father, then to come back again. So she went
home, but alas! she said MORE THAN THREE WORDS; and immediately the iron
stove vanished and went away over a mountain of glass and sharp swords.
But the Prince was free, and was no longer shut up in it. Then she said
good-bye to her father, and took a little money with her, and went again
into the great wood to look for the iron stove; but she could not find
it. She sought it for nine days, and then her hunger became so great
that she did not know how she could live any longer. And when it was
evening she climbed a little tree and wished that the night would not
come, because she was afraid of the wild beasts. When midnight came she
saw afar off a little light, and thought, ‘Ah! if only I could reach
that!’ Then she got down from the tree and went towards the light. She
came to a little old house with a great deal of grass growing round, and
stood in front of a little heap of wood. She thought, ‘Alas! what am I
coming to?’ and peeped through the window; but she saw nothing inside
except big and little toads, and a table beautifully spread with roast
meats and wine, and all the dishes and drinking-cups were of silver.
Then she took heart and knocked. Then a fat toad called out:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account