Chapter Chapter 125 · The White Bride and the Black One

. The White Bride and the Black One

A woman was going about the unenclosed land with her daughter and her

step-daughter cutting fodder, when the Lord came walking towards them

in the form of a poor man, and asked, “Which is the way into the

village?” “If you want to know,” said the mother, “seek it for

yourself,” and the daughter added, “If you are afraid you will not find

it, take a guide with you.” But the step-daughter said, “Poor man, I

will take you there, come with me.” Then God was angry with the mother

and daughter, and turned his back on them, and wished that they should

become as black as night and as ugly as sin. To the poor step-daughter,

however, God was gracious, and went with her, and when they were near

the village, he said a blessing over her, and spake, “Choose three

things for thyself, and I will grant them to thee.” Then said the

maiden, “I should like to be as beautiful and fair as the sun,” and

instantly she was white and fair as day. “Then I should like to have a

purse of money which would never grow empty.” That the Lord gave her

also, but he said, “Do not forget what is best of all.” Said she, “For

my third wish, I desire, after my death, to inhabit the eternal kingdom

of Heaven.” That also was granted unto her, and then the Lord left her.

When the step-mother came home with her daughter, and they saw that

they were both as black as coal and ugly, but that the step-daughter

was white and beautiful, wickedness increased still more in their

hearts, and they thought of nothing else but how they could do her an

injury. The step-daughter, however, had a brother called Reginer, whom

she loved much, and she told him all that had happened. Once on a time

Reginer said to her, “Dear sister, I will take thy likeness, that I may

continually see thee before mine eyes, for my love for thee is so great

that I should like always to look at thee.” Then she answered, “But, I

pray thee, let no one see the picture.” So he painted his sister and

hung up the picture in his room; he, however, dwelt in the King’s

palace, for he was his coachman. Every day he went and stood before the

picture, and thanked God for the happiness of having such a dear

sister. Now it happened that the King whom he served, had just lost his

wife, who had been so beautiful that no one could be found to compare

with her, and on this account the King was in deep grief. The

attendants about the court, however, remarked that the coachman stood

daily before this beautiful picture, and they were jealous of him, so

they informed the King. Then the latter ordered the picture to be

brought to him, and when he saw that it was like his lost wife in every

respect, except that it was still more beautiful, he fell mortally in

love with it. He caused the coachman to be brought before him, and

asked whom the portrait represented? The coachman said it was his

sister, so the King resolved to take no one but her as his wife, and

gave him a carriage and horses and splendid garments of cloth of gold,

and sent him forth to fetch his chosen bride. When Reginer came on this

errand, his sister was glad, but the black maiden was jealous of her

good fortune, and grew angry above all measure, and said to her mother,

“Of what use are all your arts to us now when you cannot procure such a

piece of luck for me?” “Be quiet,” said the old woman, “I will soon

divert it to you,” and by her arts of witchcraft, she so troubled the

eyes of the coachman that he was half-blind, and she stopped the ears

of the white maiden so that she was half-deaf. Then they got into the

carriage, first the bride in her noble royal apparel, then the

step-mother with her daughter, and Reginer sat on the box to drive.

When they had been on the way for some time the coachman cried,

“Cover thee well, my sister dear,

That the rain may not wet thee,

That the wind may not load thee with dust,

That thou may’st be fair and beautiful

When thou appearest before the King.”

The bride asked, “What is my dear brother saying?” “Ah,” said the old

woman, “he says that you ought to take off your golden dress and give

it to your sister.” Then she took it off, and put it on the black

maiden, who gave her in exchange for it a shabby grey gown. They drove

onwards, and a short time afterwards, the brother again cried,

“Cover thee well, my sister dear,

That the rain may not wet thee,

That the wind may not load thee with dust,

That thou may’st be fair and beautiful

When thou appearest before the King.”

The bride asked, “What is my dear brother saying?” “Ah,” said the old

woman, “he says that you ought to take off your golden hood and give it

to your sister.” So she took off the hood and put it on her sister, and

sat with her own head uncovered. And they drove on farther. After a

while, the brother once more cried,

“Cover thee well, my sister dear,

That the rain may not wet thee,

That the wind may not load thee with dust,

That thou may’st be fair and beautiful

When thou appearest before the King.”

The bride asked, “What is my dear brother saying?” “Ah,” said the old

woman, “he says you must look out of the carriage.” They were, however,

just on a bridge, which crossed deep water. When the bride stood up and

leant forward out of the carriage, they both pushed her out, and she

fell into the middle of the water. At the same moment that she sank, a

snow-white duck arose out of the mirror-smooth water, and swam down the

river. The brother had observed nothing of it, and drove the carriage

on until they reached the court. Then he took the black maiden to the

King as his sister, and thought she really was so, because his eyes

were dim, and he saw the golden garments glittering. When the King saw

the boundless ugliness of his intended bride, he was very angry, and

ordered the coachman to be thrown into a pit which was full of adders

and nests of snakes. The old witch, however, knew so well how to

flatter the King and deceive his eyes by her arts, that he kept her and

her daughter until she appeared quite endurable to him, and he really

married her.

One evening when the black bride was sitting on the King’s knee, a

white duck came swimming up the gutter to the kitchen, and said to the

kitchen-boy, “Boy, light a fire, that I may warm my feathers.” The

kitchen-boy did it, and lighted a fire on the hearth. Then came the

duck and sat down by it, and shook herself and smoothed her feathers to

rights with her bill. While she was thus sitting and enjoying herself,

she asked, “What is my brother Reginer doing?” The scullery-boy

replied, “He is imprisoned in the pit with adders and with snakes.”

Then she asked, “What is the black witch doing in the house?” The boy

answered, “She is loved by the King and happy.”

“May God have mercy on him,” said the duck, and swam forth by the sink.

The next night she came again and put the same questions, and the third

night also. Then the kitchen-boy could bear it no longer, and went to

the King and discovered all to him. The King, however, wanted to see it

for himself, and next evening went thither, and when the duck thrust

her head in through the sink, he took his sword and cut through her

neck, and suddenly she changed into a most beautiful maiden, exactly

like the picture, which her brother had made of her. The King was full

of joy, and as she stood there quite wet, he caused splendid apparel to

be brought and had her clothed in it. Then she told how she had been

betrayed by cunning and falsehood, and at last thrown down into the

water, and her first request was that her brother should be brought

forth from the pit of snakes, and when the King had fulfilled this

request, he went into the chamber where the old witch was, and asked,

What does she deserve who does this and that? and related what had

happened. Then was she so blinded that she was aware of nothing and

said, “She deserves to be stripped naked, and put into a barrel with

nails, and that a horse should be harnessed to the barrel, and the

horse sent all over the world.” All of which was done to her, and to

her black daughter. But the King married the white and beautiful bride,

and rewarded her faithful brother, and made him a rich and

distinguished man.