Bab Bab 124 · The Six Servants

. The Six Servants

In former times there lived an aged Queen who was a sorceress, and her

daughter was the most beautiful maiden under the sun. The old woman,

however, had no other thought than how to lure mankind to destruction,

and when a wooer appeared, she said that whosoever wished to have her

daughter, must first perform a task, or die. Many had been dazzled by

the daughter’s beauty, and had actually risked this, but they never

could accomplish what the old woman enjoined them to do, and then no

mercy was shown; they had to kneel down, and their heads were struck

off. A certain King’s son who had also heard of the maiden’s beauty,

said to his father, “Let me go there, I want to demand her in

marriage.” “Never,” answered the King; “if you were to go, it would be

going to your death.” On this the son lay down and was sick unto death,

and for seven years he lay there, and no physician could heal him. When

the father perceived that all hope was over, with a heavy heart he said

to him, “Go thither, and try your luck, for I know no other means of

curing you.” When the son heard that, he rose from his bed and was well

again, and joyfully set out on his way.

And it came to pass that as he was riding across a heath, he saw from

afar something like a great heap of hay lying on the ground, and when

he drew nearer, he could see that it was the stomach of a man, who had

laid himself down there, but the stomach looked like a small mountain.

When the fat man saw the traveller, he stood up and said, “If you are

in need of any one, take me into your service.” The prince answered,

“What can I do with such a great big man?” “Oh,” said the Stout One,

“this is nothing, when I stretch myself out well, I am three thousand

times fatter.” “If that’s the case,” said the prince, “I can make use

of thee, come with me.” So the Stout One followed the prince, and after

a while they found another man who was lying on the ground with his ear

laid to the turf. “What art thou doing there?” asked the King’s son. “I

am listening,” replied the man. “What art thou listening to so

attentively?” “I am listening to what is just going on in the world,

for nothing escapes my ears; I even hear the grass growing.” “Tell me,”

said the prince, “what thou hearest at the court of the old Queen who

has the beautiful daughter.” Then he answered, “I hear the whizzing of

the sword that is striking off a wooer’s head.” The King’s son said, “I

can make use of thee, come with me.” They went onwards, and then saw a

pair of feet lying and part of a pair of legs, but could not see the

rest of the body. When they had walked on for a great distance, they

came to the body, and at last to the head also. “Why,” said the prince,

“what a tall rascal thou art!” “Oh,” replied the Tall One, “that is

nothing at all yet; when I really stretch out my limbs, I am three

thousand times as tall, and taller than the highest mountain on earth.

I will gladly enter your service, if you will take me.” “Come with me,”

said the prince, “I can make use of thee.” They went onwards and found

a man sitting by the road who had bound up his eyes. The prince said to

him, “Hast thou weak eyes, that thou canst not look at the light?”

“No,” replied the man, “but I must not remove the bandage, for

whatsoever I look at with my eyes, splits to pieces, my glance is so

powerful. If you can use that, I shall be glad to serve you.” “Come

with me,” replied the King’s son, “I can make use of thee.” They

journeyed onwards and found a man who was lying in the hot sunshine,

trembling and shivering all over his body, so that not a limb was

still. “How canst thou shiver when the sun is shining so warm?” said

the King’s son. “Alack,” replied the man, “I am of quite a different

nature. The hotter it is, the colder I am, and the frost pierces

through all my bones; and the colder it is, the hotter I am. In the

midst of ice, I cannot endure the heat, nor in the midst of fire, the

cold.” “Thou art a strange fellow,” said the prince, “but if thou wilt

enter my service, follow me.” They travelled onwards, and saw a man

standing who made a long neck and looked about him, and could see over

all the mountains. “What art thou looking at so eagerly?” said the

King’s son. The man replied, “I have such sharp eyes that I can see

into every forest and field, and hill and valley, all over the world.”

The prince said, “Come with me if thou wilt, for I am still in want of

such an one.”

And now the King’s son and his six servants came to the town where the

aged Queen dwelt. He did not tell her who he was, but said, “If you

will give me your beautiful daughter, I will perform any task you set

me.” The sorceress was delighted to get such a handsome youth as this

into her net, and said, “I will set thee three tasks, and if thou art

able to perform them all, thou shalt be husband and master of my

daughter.” “What is the first to be?” “Thou shalt fetch me my ring

which I have dropped into the Red Sea.” So the King’s son went home to

his servants and said, “The first task is not easy. A ring is to be got

out of the Red Sea. Come, find some way of doing it.” Then the man with

the sharp sight said, “I will see where it is lying,” and looked down

into the water and said, “It is sticking there, on a pointed stone.”

The Tall One carried them thither, and said, “I would soon get it out,

if I could only see it.” “Oh, is that all!” cried the Stout One, and

lay down and put his mouth to the water, on which all the waves fell

into it just as if it had been a whirlpool, and he drank up the whole

sea till it was as dry as a meadow. The Tall One stooped down a little,

and brought out the ring with his hand. Then the King’s son rejoiced

when he had the ring, and took it to the old Queen. She was astonished,

and said, “Yes, it is the right ring. Thou hast safely performed the

first task, but now comes the second. Dost thou see the meadow in front

of my palace? Three hundred fat oxen are feeding there, and these must

thou eat, skin, hair, bones, horns and all, and down below in my cellar

lie three hundred casks of wine, and these thou must drink up as well,

and if one hair of the oxen, or one little drop of the wine is left,

thy life will be forfeited to me.” “May I invite no guests to this

repast?” inquired the prince, “no dinner is good without some company.”

The old woman laughed maliciously, and replied, “Thou mayst invite one

for the sake of companionship, but no more.”

The King’s son went to his servants and said to the Stout One, “Thou

shalt be my guest to-day, and shalt eat thy fill.” Hereupon the Stout

One stretched himself out and ate the three hundred oxen without

leaving one single hair, and then he asked if he was to have nothing

but his breakfast. He drank the wine straight from the casks without

feeling any need of a glass, and he licked the last drop from his

finger-nails. When the meal was over, the prince went to the old woman,

and told her that the second task also was performed. She wondered at

this and said, “No one has ever done so much before, but one task still

remains,” and she thought to herself, “Thou shalt not escape me, and

wilt not keep thy head on thy shoulders! This night,” said she, “I will

bring my daughter to thee in thy chamber, and thou shalt put thine arms

round her, but when you are sitting there together, beware of falling

asleep. When twelve o’clock is striking, I will come, and if she is

then no longer in thine arms, thou art lost.” The prince thought, “The

task is easy, I will most certainly keep my eyes open.” Nevertheless he

called his servants, told them what the old woman had said, and

remarked, “Who knows what treachery lurks behind this? Foresight is a

good thing keep watch, and take care that the maiden does not go out of

my room again.” When night fell, the old woman came with her daughter,

and gave her into the princes’s arms, and then the Tall One wound

himself round the two in a circle, and the Stout One placed himself by

the door, so that no living creature could enter. There the two sat,

and the maiden spake never a word, but the moon shone through the

window on her face, and the prince could behold her wondrous beauty. He

did nothing but gaze at her, and was filled with love and happiness,

and his eyes never felt weary. This lasted until eleven o’clock, when

the old woman cast such a spell over all of them that they fell asleep,

and at the self-same moment the maiden was carried away.

Then they all slept soundly until a quarter to twelve, when the magic

lost its power, and all awoke again. “Oh, misery and misfortune!” cried

the prince, “now I am lost!” The faithful servants also began to

lament, but the Listener said, “Be quiet, I want to listen.” Then he

listened for an instant and said, “She is on a rock, three hundred

leagues from hence, bewailing her fate. Thou alone, Tall One, canst

help her; if thou wilt stand up, thou wilt be there in a couple of

steps.”

“Yes,” answered the Tall One, “but the one with the sharp eyes must go

with me, that we may destroy the rock.” Then the Tall One took the one

with bandaged eyes on his back, and in the twinkling of an eye they

were on the enchanted rock. The Tall One immediately took the bandage

from the other’s eyes, and he did but look round, and the rock shivered

into a thousand pieces. Then the Tall One took the maiden in his arms,

carried her back in a second, then fetched his companion with the same

rapidity, and before it struck twelve they were all sitting as they had

sat before, quite merrily and happily. When twelve struck, the aged

sorceress came stealing in with a malicious face, which seemed to say,

“Now he is mine!” for she believed that her daughter was on the rock

three hundred leagues off. But when she saw her in the prince’s arms,

she was alarmed, and said, “Here is one who knows more than I do!” She

dared not make any opposition, and was forced to give him her daughter.

But she whispered in her ear, “It is a disgrace to thee to have to obey

common people, and that thou art not allowed to choose a husband to

thine own liking.”

On this the proud heart of the maiden was filled with anger, and she

meditated revenge. Next morning she caused three hundred great bundles

of wood to be got together, and said to the prince that though the

three tasks were performed, she would still not be his wife until some

one was ready to seat himself in the midst of the wood, and bear the

fire. She thought that none of his servants would let themselves be

burnt for him, and that out of love for her, he himself would place

himself upon it, and then she would be free. But the servants said,

“Every one of us has done something except the Frosty One, he must set

to work,” and they put him in the middle of the pile, and set fire to

it. Then the fire began to burn, and burnt for three days until all the

wood was consumed, and when the flames had burnt out, the Frosty One

was standing amid the ashes, trembling like an aspen leaf, and saying,

“I never felt such a frost during the whole course of my life; if it

had lasted much longer, I should have been benumbed!”

As no other pretext was to be found, the beautiful maiden was now

forced to take the unknown youth as a husband. But when they drove away

to church, the old woman said, “I cannot endure the disgrace,” and sent

her warriors after them with orders to cut down all who opposed them,

and bring back her daughter. But the Listener had sharpened his ears,

and heard the secret discourse of the old woman. “What shall we do?”

said he to the Stout One. But he knew what to do, and spat out once or

twice behind the carriage some of the sea-water which he had drunk, and

a great sea arose in which the warriors were caught and drowned. When

the sorceress perceived that, she sent her mailed knights; but the

Listener heard the rattling of their armour, and undid the bandage from

one eye of Sharp-eyes, who looked for a while rather fixedly at the

enemy’s troops, on which they all sprang to pieces like glass. Then the

youth and the maiden went on their way undisturbed, and when the two

had been blessed in church, the six servants took leave, and said to

their master, “Your wishes are now satisfied, you need us no longer, we

will go our way and seek our fortunes.”

Half a league from the palace of the prince’s father was a village near

which a swineherd tended his herd, and when they came thither the

prince said to his wife, “Do you know who I really am? I am no prince,

but a herder of swine, and the man who is there with that herd, is my

father. We two shall have to set to work also, and help him.” Then he

alighted with her at the inn, and secretly told the innkeepers to take

away her royal apparel during the night. So when she awoke in the

morning, she had nothing to put on, and the innkeeper’s wife gave her

an old gown and a pair of worsted stockings, and at the same time

seemed to consider it a great present, and said, “If it were not for

the sake of your husband I should have given you nothing at all!” Then

the princess believed that he really was a swineherd, and tended the

herd with him, and thought to herself, “I have deserved this for my

haughtiness and pride.” This lasted for a week, and then she could

endure it no longer, for she had sores on her feet. And now came a

couple of people who asked if she knew who her husband was. “Yes,” she

answered, “he is a swineherd, and has just gone out with cords and

ropes to try to drive a little bargain.” But they said, “Just come with

us, and we will take you to him,” and they took her up to the palace,

and when she entered the hall, there stood her husband in kingly

raiment. But she did not recognize him until he took her in his arms,

kissed her, and said, “I suffered much for thee and now thou, too, hast

had to suffer for me.” And then the wedding was celebrated, and he who

has told you all this, wishes that he, too, had been present at it.