The Iron Stove
In the days when wishing was still of some use, a king's son was
bewitched by an old witch, and shut up in an iron stove in a forest. There he passed many
years, and no one could rescue him. Then a king's daughter came into the forest, who had
lost herself, and could not find her father's kingdom again. After she had wandered about
for nine days, she at length came to the iron stove.
Then a voice came forth from it, and asked her, "Whence do you
come, and whither are you going?" She answered, "I have lost my father's
kingdom, and cannot get home again." Then a voice inside the iron stove said, "I
will help you to get home again, and that indeed most swiftly, if you will promise to do
what I desire of you. I am the son of a far greater king than your father, and I will
marry you."
Then was she afraid, and thought, "Good heavens. What can I do
with an iron stove?" But as she much wished to get home to her father, she promised
to do as he desired. But he said, "You shall return here, and bring a knife with you,
and scrape a hole in the iron." Then he gave her a companion who walked near her, but
did not speak, and in two hours he took her home. There was great joy in the castle when
the king's daughter came home, and the old king fell on her neck and kissed her. She,
however, was sorely troubled, and said, "Dear father, what I have suffered. I should
never have got home again from the great wild forest, if I had not come to an iron stove,
but I have been forced to give my word that I will go back to it, set it free, and marry
it."
Then the old king was so terrified that he all but fainted, for he
had but this one daughter. They therefore resolved they would send, in her place, the
miller's daughter, who was very beautiful. They took her there, gave her a knife, and said
she was to scrape at the iron stove. So she scraped at it for four-and-twenty hours, but
could not bring off the least morsel of it. When the day dawned, a voice in the stove
said, "It seems to me it is day outside." Then she answered, "It seems so
to me too, I fancy I hear the noise of my father's mill." "So you are a miller's
daughter. Then go your way at once, and let the king's daughter come here."
Then she went away at once, and told the old king that the man
outside there would have none of her - he wanted the king's daughter. Then the old king
grew frightened, and the daughter wept. But there was a swine-herd's daughter, who was
even prettier than the miller's daughter, and they determined to give her a piece of gold
to go to the iron stove instead of the king's daughter. So she was taken thither and she
also had to scrape for four-and-twenty hours. She, however, was no better at it. When the
day broke, a voice inside the stove cried, "It seems to me it is day outside."
Then answered she, "So it seems to me also, I fancy I hear my father's horn
blowing." "Then you are a swineherd's daughter. Go away at once, and tell the
king's daughter to come, and tell her all must be done as promised, and if she does not
come, everything in the kingdom shall be ruined and destroyed, and not one stone be left
standing on another."
When the king's daughter heard that she began to weep, but now there
was nothing for it but to keep her promise. So she took leave of her father, put a knife
in her pocket, and went forth to the iron stove in the forest. When she got there, she
began to scrape, and the iron gave way, and when two hours were over, she had already
scraped a small hole. Then she peeped in, and saw a youth so handsome, and so brilliant
with gold and with precious jewels, that her very soul was delighted. So she went on
scraping, and made the hole so large that he was able to get out.
Then said he, "You are mine, and I am yours, you are my bride,
and have released me." He wanted to take her away with him to his kingdom, but she
entreated him to let her go once again to her father, and the king's son allowed her to do
so, but she was not to say more to her father than three words, and then she was to come
back again. So she went home, but she spoke more than three words, and instantly the iron
stove disappeared, and was taken far away over glass mountains and piercing swords, but
the king's son was set free, and no longer shut up in it. After this she bade good-bye to
her father, took some money with her, but not much, and went back to the great forest, and
looked for the iron stove, but it was nowhere to be found.
For nine days she sought it, and then her hunger grew so great that
she did not know what to do, for she had nothing to live on. When it was evening, she
seated herself in a small tree, and made up her mind to spend the night there, as she was
afraid of wild beasts. When midnight drew near she saw in the distance a small light, and
thought, ah, there I should be saved. She got down from the tree, and went towards the
light, but on the way she prayed. Then she came to a little old house, and much grass had
grown all about it, and a small heap of wood lay in front of it. She thought, "Ah,
whither have I come?" and peeped in through the window, but she saw nothing inside
but toads, big and little, except a table covered with wine and roast meat, and the plates
and glasses were of silver. Then she took courage, and knocked at the door, and
immediately the fat toad cried, "Little green waiting-maid, Waiting-maid with the
limping leg, Little dog of the limping leg, Hop hither and thither, And quickly see who is
without."
And a small toad came walking by and opened the door to her. When
she entered, they all bade her welcome, and she was forced to sit down. They asked,
"Where have you come from, and whither are you going?" Then she related all that
had befallen her, and how because she had transgressed the order which had been given her
not to say more than three words, the stove, and the king's son also, had disappeared, and
now she was about to seek him over the hill and dale until she found him. Then the old fat
one said, "Little green waiting-maid, Waiting-maid with the limping leg, Little dog
of the limping leg, Hop hither and thither, And bring me the great box."
Then the little one went and brought the box. After this they gave
her meat and drink, and took her to a well-made bed, which felt like silk and velvet, and
she laid herself therein, in God's name, and slept. When morning came she arose, and the
old toad gave her three needles out of the great box which she was to take with her, they
would be needed by her, for she had to cross a high glass mountain, and go over three
piercing swords and a great lake. If she did all this she would get her lover back again.
Then she gave her three things, which she was to take the greatest
care of, namely, three large needles, a plough-wheel, and three nuts. With these she
traveled onwards, and when she came to the glass mountain which was so slippery, she stuck
the three needles first behind her feet and then before them, and so got over it, and when
she was over it, she hid them in a place which she marked carefully. After this she came
to the three piercing swords, and then she seated herslef on her plough-wheel, and rolled
over them. At last she arrived in front of a great lake, and when she had crossed it, she
came to a large and beautiful castle. She went and asked for a place, she was a poor girl,
she said, and would like to be hired. She knew, however, that the king's son whom she had
released from the iron stove in the great forest was in the castle. Then she was taken as
a scullery-maid at low wages. But already the king's son had another maiden by his side
whom he wanted to marry, for he thought that she had long been dead.
In the evening, when she had washed up and was done, she felt in her
pocket and found the three nuts which the old toad had given her. She cracked one with her
teeth, and was going to eat the kernel when lo and behold there was a stately royal
garment in it. But when the bride heard of this she came and asked for the dress, and
wanted to buy it, and said, "It is not a dress for a servant-girl."
"No," she said, she would not sell it, but if the bride would grant her one
thing she should have it, and that was permission to sleep one night in her bridegroom's
chamber. The bride gave her permission because the dress was so pretty, and she had never
had one like it.
When it was evening she said to her bridegroom, "That silly
girl will sleep in your room." "If you are willing, so am I," said he. She,
however, gave him a glass of wine in which she had poured a sleeping-draught. So the
bridegroom and the scullery-maid went to sleep in the room, and he slept so soundly that
she could not waken him. She wept the whole night and cried, "I set you free when you
were in an iron stove in the wild forest, I sought you, and walked over a glass mountain,
and three sharp swords, and a great lake before I found you, and yet you will not hear
me." The servants sat by the chamber-door, and heard how she thus wept the whole
night through, and in the morning they told it to their lord.
And the next evening when she had washed up, she opened the second
nut, and a far more beautiful dress was within it, and when the bride beheld it, she
wished to buy that also. But the girl would not take money, and begged that she might once
again sleep in the bridegroom's chamber. The bride, however, gave him a sleeping-draught,
and he slept so soundly that he could hear nothing. But the scullery-maid wept the whole
night long, and cried, "I set you free when you were in an iron stove in the wild
forest, I sought you, and walked over a glass mountain, and over three sharp swords and a
great lake before I found you, and yet you will not hear me." The servants sat by the
chamber-door and heard her weeping the whole night through, and in the morning informed
their lord of it.
And on the third evening, when she had washed up, she opened the
third nut, and within it was a still more beautiful dress which was stiff with pure gold.
When the bride saw that she wanted to have it, but the maiden only gave it up on condition
that she might for the third time sleep in the bridegroom's apartment. The king's son,
however, was on his guard, and threw the sleeping-draught away. Now when she began to weep
and to cry, "Dearest love, I set you free when you were in the iron stove in the
terrible wild forest" - the king's son leapt up and said, "You are the true one,
you are mine, and I am yours."
Thereupon, while it was still night, he got into a carriage with
her, and they took away the false bride's clothes so that she could not get up. When they
came to the great lake, they sailed across it, and when they reached the three
sharp-cutting swords they seated themselves on the plough-wheel, and when they got to the
glass mountain they thrust the three needles in it, and so at length they got to the
little old house, but when they went inside, it was a great castle, and the toads were all
disenchanted, and were king's children, and full of happiness. Then the wedding was
celebrated, and the king's son and the princess remained in the castle, which was much
larger than the castle of their fathers. But as the old king grieved at being left alone,
they fetched him away, and brought him to live with them, and they had two kingdoms, and
lived in happy wedlock. A mouse did run, This story is done.
--The End-- |
