The Blue Fairy Book

by Andrew Lang

  Now it happened one day, while they were sailing on the high seas, that Trusty John, sitting on the fore part of the ship, fiddling away to himself, observed three ravens in the air flying towards him. He ceased playing, and listened to what they were saying, for he understood their language. The one croaked : ‘Ah, ha ! so he’s bringing the Princess of the Golden Roof home.’ ‘Yes,’ answered the second, ‘but he’s not got her yet.’ ‘Yes, he has,’ spake the third, ‘for she’s sitting beside him on the ship.’ Then number one began again and cried : ‘That’ll not help him ! Wen they reach the land a chestnut horse will dash forward to greet them : the King will wish to mount it, and if he does it will gallop away with him, and disappear into the air, and he will never see his bride again.’ ‘Is there no escape for him?’ asked number two. ‘Oh ! yes, if someone else mounts quickly and shoots the horse dead with the pistol that is sticking in the holster, then the young King is saved. But who’s to know that ? and anyone who knows it and tells him will be turned into stone from his feet to his knees.’ Then spake number two : ‘I know more than that: even if the horse is slain, the young King will still not keep his bride: when they enter the palace together they will find a ready-made wedding shirt in a cupboard, which looks as though it were woven of gold and silver, but is really made of nothing but sulphur and tar : when the King puts it on it will burn him to his marrow and bones.’ Number three asked : ‘Is there no way of escape, then?’ ‘Oh ! yes,’ answered number two : ‘if someone seizes the shirt with gloved hands and throws it into the fire, and lets it burn, then the young King is saved. But what’s the good ? anyone knowing this and telling it will have half his body turned into stone, from his knees to his heart.’ Then number three spake : ‘I know yet more : though the bridal shirt too be burnt, the King hasn’t even then secured his bride : when the dance is held after the wedding, and the young Queen is dancing, she will suddenly grow deadly white, and drop down like one dead, and unless some one lifts her up and draws three drops of blood from her right side, and spits them out again, she will die. But if anyone who knows this betrays it, he will be turned into stone from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet.’ When the ravens had thus conversed they fled onwards, but Trusty John had taken it all in, and was sad and depressed from that time forward; for if he were silent to his master concerning what he had heard, he would involve him in misfortune; but if he took him into his confidence, then he himself would forfeit his life. At last he said : ‘I will stand by my master, though it should be my ruin.’

  Now when they drew near the land it came to pass just as the ravens had predicted, and a splendid chestnut horse bounded forward. ‘Capital!’ said the King; ‘this animal shall carry me to my palace,’ and was about to mount, but Trusty John was too sharp for him, and, springing up quickly, seized the pistol out of the holster, and shot the horse dead. Then the other servants of the King, who at no time looked favourably on Trusty John, cried out : ‘What a sin to kill the beautiful beast that was to bear the King to his palace!’ But the King spake : ‘Silence! let him alone ; he is ever my most trusty John. Who knows for what good end he may have done this thing?’ So they went on their way and entered the palace, and there in the hall stood a cupboard in which lay the ready-made bridal shirt, looking for all the world as though it were made of gold and silver. The young King went towards it and was about to take hold of it, but Trusty John, pushing him aside, seized it with his gloved hands, threw it hastily into the fire, and let it burn. The other servants commenced grumbling again, and said : ‘See, he’s actually burning the King’s bridal shirt.’ But the young King spoke : ‘Who knows for what good purpose he does it ? Let him alone, he is my most trusty John.’ Then the wedding was celebrated, the dance began, and the bride joined in, but Trusty John watched her countenance carefully. Of a sudden she grew deadly white, and fell to the ground as if she were dead. He at once sprang hastily towards her, lifted her up, and bore her to a room, where he laid her down, and kneeling beside her he drew three drops of blood from her right side, and spat them out. She soon breathed again and came to herself; but the young King had watched the proceeding, and not knowing why Trusty John had acted as he did, he flew into a passion, and cried : ‘Throw him into prison.’ On the following morning sentence was passed on Trusty John, and he was condemned to be hanged. As he stood on the gallows he said : ‘Every one doomed to death has the right to speak once before he dies; am I to have this privilege?’ ‘Yes,’ said the King, ‘it shall be granted to you.’ So Trusty John spoke : ‘I am unjustly condemned, for I have always been faithful to you;’ and he proceeded to relate how he had heard the ravens’ conversation on the sea, and how he had to do all he did in order to save his master. Then the King cried : ‘Oh! my most trusty John, pardon ! pardon ! Take him down.’ But as he uttered the last word Trusty John had fallen lifeless to the ground, and was a stone.

  The King and Queen were in despair, and the King spake : ‘Ah! how ill have I rewarded such great fidelity!’ and made them lift up the stone image and place it in his bedroom near his bed. As often as he looked at it he wept and said : ‘Oh! if I could only restore you to life, my most trusty John!’ After a time the Queen gave birth to twins, two small sons, who throve and grew, and were a constant joy to her. One day when the Queen was at church, and the two children sat and played with their father, he gazed again full of grief on the stone statue, and sighing, wailed : ‘Oh! if I could only restore you to life, my most trusty John!’ Suddenly the stone began to speak, and said : ‘Yes, you can restore me to life again if you are prepared to sacrifice what you hold most dear.’ And the King cried out : ‘All I have in the world will I give up for your sake.’ The stone continued : ‘If you cut off with your own hand the heads of your two children, and smear me with their blood, I shall come back to life.’ The King was aghast when he heard that he had himself to put his children to death; but when he thought of Trusty John’s fidelity, and how he had even died for him, he drew his sword, and with his own hand cut the heads off his children. And when he had smeared the stone with their blood, life came back, and Trusty John stood once more safe and sound before him. He spake to the King : ‘Your loyalty shall be rewarded, and taking up the heads of the children, he placed them on their bodies, smeared the wounds with their blood, and in a minute they were all right again and jumping about as if nothing had happened. Then the King was full of joy, and when he saw the Queen coming, he hid Trusty John and the two children in a big cupboard. As she entered he said to her : ‘Did you pray in church?’ ‘Yes,’ she answered; ‘but my thoughts dwelt constantly on Trusty John, and of what he has suffered for us.’ Then he spake: ‘Dear wife, we can restore him to life, but the price asked is our two little sons; we must sacrifice them.’ The Queen grew white and her heart sank, but she replied: ‘We owe it to him on account of his great fidelity.’ Then he rejoiced that she was of the same mind as he had been, and going forward he opened the cupboard, and fetched the two children and Trusty John out, saying : ‘God be praised ! Trusty John is free once more, and we have our two small sons again.’ Then he related to her all that had passed, and they lived together happily ever afterwards.26

  THE BRAVE LITTLE TAILOR

  ONE summer’s day a little tailor sat on his table by the window in the best of spirits, and sewed for dear life. As he was sitting thus a peasant woman came down the street, calling out : ‘Good jam to sell, good jam to sell.’ This sounded sweetly in the tailor’s ears ; he put his frail little head out of the window, and shouted : ‘Up here, my good woman, and you’ll find a willing customer.’ The woman climbed up the three flights of stairs with her heavy basket to the tailor’s room, and he made her spread out all the pots in a row before him. He examined them all, lifted them up and smelt them, and said at last : ‘This jam seems good, weigh me four ounces of it, my good woman; and even if it’s a quarter of a pound I won’t stick at it.’ The woman, who had hoped to find a good market, gave him what he wanted, but went away gru
mbling wrathfully. ‘Now heaven shall bless this jam for my use,’ cried the little tailor, ‘and it shall sustain and strengthen me.’ He fetched some bread out of a cupboard, cut a round off the loaf, and spread the jam on it. ‘That won’t taste amiss,’ he said ; ‘but I’ll finish that waistcoat first before I take a bite.’ He placed the bread beside him, went on sewing, and out of the lightness of his heart kept on making his stitches bigger and bigger. In the meantime the smell of the sweet jam rose to the ceiling, where heaps of flies were sitting, and attracted them to such an extent that they swarmed on to it in masses. ‘Ha ! who invited you?’ said the tailor, and chased the unwelcome guests away. But the flies, who didn’t understand English, refused to let themselves be warned off, and returned again in even greater numbers. At last the little tailor, losing all patience, reached out of his chimney corner for a duster, and exclaiming : ‘Wait, and I’ll give it to you,’ he beat them mercilessly with it. When he left off he counted the slain, and no fewer than seven lay dead before him with outstretched legs. ’ What a desperate fellow I am!’ said he, and was filled with admiration at his own courage. ‘The whole town must know about this;’ and in great haste the little tailor cut out a girdle, hemmed it, and embroidered on it in big letters, ‘Seven at a blow.’ ‘What did I say, the town ? no, the whole world shall hear of it,’ he said; and his heart beat for joy as a lamb wags his tail.

  The tailor strapped the girdle round his waist and set out into the wide world, for he considered his workroom too small a field for his prowess. Before he set forth he looked round about him, to see if there was anything in the house he could take with him on his journey ; but he found nothing except an old cheese, which he took possession of. In front of the house he observed a bird that had been caught in some bushes, and this he put into his wallet beside the cheese. Then he went on his way merrily, and being light and agile he never felt tired. His way led up a hill, on the top of which sat a powerful giant, who was calmly surveying the landscape. The little tailor went up to him, and greeting him cheerfully said : ‘Good-day, friend ; there you sit at your ease viewing the whole wide world. I’m just on my way there. What do you say to accompanying me?’ The giant looked contemptuously at the tailor, and said : ‘What a poor wretched little creature you are!’ ‘That’s a good joke,’ answered the little tailor, and unbuttoning his coat he showed the giant the girdle. ‘There now, you can read what sort of a fellow I am.’ The giant read : ‘Seven at a blow;’ and thinking they were human beings the tailor had slain, he conceived a certain respect for the little man. But first he thought he’d test him, so taking up a stone in his hand, he squeezed it till some drops of water ran out. ‘New you do the same,’ said the giant, ‘if you really wish to be thought strong.’ ‘Is that all?’ said the little tailor; ‘that’s child’s play to me,’ so he dived into his wallet, brought out the cheese, and pressed it till the whey ran out. ‘My squeeze was in sooth better than yours,’ said he. The giant didn’t know what to say, for he couldn’t have believed it of the little fellow. To prove him again, the giant lifted a stone and threw it so high that the eye could hardly follow it. ‘Now, my little pigmy, let me see you do that.’ ‘ Well thrown,’ said the tailor; ‘but, after all, your stone fell to the ground ; I’ll throw one that won’t come down at all.’ He dived into his wallet again, and grasping the bird in his hand, he threw it up into the air. The bird, enchanted to be free, soared up into the sky, and flew away never to return. ‘Well, what do you think of that little piece of business, friend?’ asked the tailor. ‘You can certainly throw,’ said the giant; ‘but now let’s see if you can carry a proper weight.’ With these words he led the tailor to a huge oak tree which had been felled to the ground, and said : ‘If you are strong enough, help me to carry the tree out of the wood.’ ‘Most certainly,’ said the little tailor: ’ just you take the trunk on your shoulder; I’ll bear the top and branches, which is certainly the heaviest part.’ The giant laid the trunk on his shoulder, but the tailor sat t his ease among the branches; and the giant, who couldn’t see what was going on behind him, had to carry the whole tree, and the little tailor into the bargain. There he sat behind in the best of spirits, lustily whistling a tune, as if carrying the tree were mere sport. The giant, after dragging the heavy weight for some time, could get on no further, and shouted out : ‘Hi! I must let the tree fall.’ The tailor sprang nimbly down, seized the tree with both hands as if he had carried it the whole way, and said to the giant : ‘Fancy a big lout like you not being able to carry a tree!’

  They continued to go on their way together, and as they passed by a cherry tree the giant grasped the top of it, where the ripest fruit hung, gave the branches into the tailor’s hand, and bade him eat. But the little tailor was far too weak to hold the tree down, and when the giant let go the tree swung back into the air, bearing the little tailor with it. When he had fallen to the ground again without hurting himself, the giant said : ‘What! do you mean to tell me you haven’t the strength to hold down a feeble twig?’ ‘It wasn’t strength that was wanting,’ replied the tailor; ‘do you think that would have been anything for a man who has killed seven at a blow ? I jumped over the tree because the hunstmen are shooting among the branches near us. Do you do the like if you dare.’ The giant made an attempt, but couldn’t get over the tree, and stuck fast in the branches, so that here too the little tailor had the better of him.

  ‘Well, you’re a fine fellow, after all,’ said the giant; ‘come and spend the night with us in our cave.’ The little tailor willingly consented to do this, and following his friend they went on till they reached a cave where several other giants were sitting round a fire, each holding a roast sheep in his hand, of which he was eating. The little tailor looked about him, and thought : ‘Yes, there’s certainly more room to turn round in here than in my workshop.’ The giant showed him a bed, and bade him lie down and have a good sleep. But the bed was too big for the little tailor, so he didn’t get into it, but crept away into the corner. At midnight, when the giant” thought the little tailor was fast asleep, he rose up, and taking his big iron walking-stick, he broke the bed in two with a blow, and thought he had made an end of the little grasshopper. At early dawn the giants went off to the wood, and quite forgot about the little tailor, till all of a sudden they met him trudging along in the most cheerful manner. The giants were terrified at the apparition, and, fearful lest he should slay them, they all took to their heels as fast as they could.

  The little tailor continued to follow his nose, and after he had wandered about for a long time he came to the courtyard of a royal palace, and feeling tired he lay down on the grass and fell asleep. While he lay there the people came, and looking him all over read on his girdle : ‘Seven at a blow.’ ‘Oh!’ they said, ‘what can this great hero of a hundred fights want in our peaceful land ? He must indeed be a mighty man of valour.’ They went and told the King about him, and said what a weighty and useful man he’d be in time of war, and that it would be well to secure him at any price. This counsel pleased the King, and he sent one of his courtiers down to the little tailor, to offer him, when he awoke, a commission in their army. The messenger remained standing by the sleeper, and waited till he stretched his limbs and opened his eyes, when he tendered his proposal. ‘That’s the very thing I came here for,’ he answered ; ‘I am quite ready to enter the King’s service.’ So he was received with all honour, and given a special house of his own to live in.

  But the other officers resented the success of the little tailor, and wished him a thousand miles away. ‘What’s to come of it all?’ they asked each other; ‘if we quarrel with him, he’ll let out at us, and at every blow seven will fall. There’ll soon be an end of us.’ So they resolved to go in a body to the King, and all to send in their papers. ‘We are not made,’ they said, ‘to hold out against a man who kills seven at a blow.’ The King was grieved at the thought of losing all his faithful servants for the sake of one man, and he wished heartily that he had never set
eyes on him, or that he could get rid of him. But he didn’t dare to send him away, for he feared he might kill him along with his people, and place himself on the throne. He pondered long and deeply over the matter, and finally came to a conclusion. He sent to the tailor and told him that, seeing what a great and warlike hero he was, he was about to make him an offer. In a certain wood of his kingdom there dwelt two giants who did much harm; by the way they robbed, murdered, burnt, and plundered everything about them ; ‘no one could approach them without endangering his life. But if he could overcome and kill these two giants he should have his only daughter for a wife, and half his kingdom into the bargain ; he might have a hundred horsemen, too, to back him up.’ ‘ That’s the very thing for a man like me,’ thought the little tailor; ‘one doesn’t get the offer of a beautiful princess and half a kingdom every day.’ ‘Done with you,’ he answered; ‘I’ll soon put an end to the giants. But I haven’t the smallest need of your hundred horsemen ; a fellow who can slay seven men at a blow need not be afraid of two.’