|
Grimms' Fairy Tales
The
Pink
There was once on a time a Queen to whom God
had given no children. Every morning she went into the garden
and prayed to God in heaven to bestow on her a son or a
daughter. Then an angel from heaven came to her and said,
"Be at rest, thou shalt have a son with the power of
wishing, so that whatsoever in the world he wishes for,
that shall he have." Then she went to the King, and
told him the joyful tidings, and when the time was come
she gave birth to a son, and the King was filled with gladness.
Every morning she went with the child to the garden where
the wild beasts were kept, and washed herself there in a
clear stream. It happened once when the child was a little
older, that it was lying in her arms and she fell asleep.
Then came the old cook, who knew that the child had the
power of wishing, and stole it away, and he took a hen,
and cut it in pieces, and dropped some of its blood on the
Queen's apron and on her dress. Then he carried the child
away to a secret place, where a nurse was obliged to suckle
it, and he ran to the King and accused the Queen of having
allowed her child to be taken from her by the wild beasts.
When the King saw the blood on her apron, he believed this,
fell into such a passion that he ordered a high tower to
be built, in which neither sun nor moon could be seen, and
had his wife put into it, and walled up. Here she was to
stay for seven years without meat or drink, and die of hunger.
But God sent two angels from heaven in the shape of white
doves, which flew to her twice a day, and carried her food
until the seven years were over.
The cook, however, thought to himself, "If the child
has the power of wishing, and I am here, he might very easily
get me into trouble." So he left the palace and went
to the boy, who was already big enough to speak, and said
to him, "Wish for a beautiful palace for thyself with
a garden, and all else that pertains to it." Scarcely
were the words out of the boy's mouth, when everything was
there that he had wished for. After a while the cook said
to him, "It is not well for thee to be so alone, wish
for a pretty girl as a companion." Then the King's
son wished for one, and she immediately stood before him,
and was more beautiful than any painter could have painted
her. The two played together, and loved each other with
all their hearts, and the old cook went out hunting like
a nobleman. The thought, however, occurred to him that the
King's son might some day wish to be with his father, and
thus bring him into great peril. So he went out and took
the maiden aside, and said, "To-night when the boy
is asleep, go to his bed and plunge this knife into his
heart, and bring me his heart and tongue, and if thou dost
not do it, thou shalt lose thy life." Thereupon he
went away, and when he returned next day she had not done
it, and said, "Why should I shed the blood of an innocent
boy who has never harmed any one?" The cook once more
said, "If thou dost not do it, it shall cost thee thy
own life." When he had gone away, she had a little
hind brought to her, and ordered her to be killed, and took
her heart and tongue, and laid them on a plate, and when
she saw the old man coming, she said to the boy, "Lie
down in thy bed, and draw the clothes over thee." Then
the wicked wretch came in and said, "Where are the
boy's heart and tongue?" The girl reached the plate
to him, but the King's son threw off the quilt, and said,
"Thou old sinner, why didst thou want to kill me? Now
will I pronounce thy sentence. Thou shalt become a black
poodle and have a gold collar round thy neck, and shalt
eat burning coals, till the flames burst forth from thy
throat." And when he had spoken these words, the old
man was changed into a poodle dog, and had a gold collar
round his neck, and the cooks were ordered to bring up some
live coals, and these he ate, until the flames broke forth
from his throat. The King's son remained there a short while
longer, and he thought of his mother, and wondered if she
were still alive. At length he said to the maiden, "I
will go home to my own country; if thou wilt go with me,
I will provide for thee." "Ah," she replied,
"the way is so long, and what shall I do in a strange
land where I am unknown?" As she did not seem quite
willing, and as they could not be parted from each other,
he wished that she might be changed into a beautiful pink,
and took her with him. Then he went away to his own country,
and the poodle had to run after him. He went to the tower
in which his mother was confined, and as it was so high,
he wished for a ladder which would reach up to the very
top. Then he mounted up and looked inside, and cried, "Beloved
mother, Lady Queen, are you still alive, or are you dead?"
She answered, "I have just eaten, and am still satisfied,"
for she thought the angels were there. Said he, "I
am your dear son, whom the wild beasts were said to have
torn from your arms; but I am alive still, and will speedily
deliver you." Then he descended again, and went to
his father, and caused himself to be announced as a strange
huntsman, and asked if he could give him a place. The King
said yes, if he was skilful and could get game for him,
he should come to him, but that deer had never taken up
their quarters in any part of the district or country. Then
the huntsman promised to procure as much game for him as
he could possibly use at the royal table. So he summoned
all the huntsmen together, and bade them go out into the
forest with him. And he went with them and made them form
a great circle, open at one end where he stationed himself,
and began to wish. Two hundred deer and more came running
inside the circle at once, and the huntsmen shot them. Then
they were all placed on sixty country carts, and driven
home to the King, and for once he was able to deck his table
with game, after having had none at all for years.
Now the King felt great joy at this, and commanded that
his entire household should eat with him next day, and made
a great feast. When they were all assembled together, he
said to the huntsmen, "As thou art so clever, thou
shalt sit by me." He replied, "Lord King, your
majesty must excuse me, I am a poor huntsman." But
the King insisted on it, and said, "Thou shalt sit
by me," until he did it. Whilst he was sitting there,
he thought of his dearest mother, and wished that one of
the King's principal servants would begin to speak of her,
and would ask how it was faring with the Queen in the tower,
and if she were alive still, or had perished. Hardly had
he formed the wish than the marshal began, and said, "Your
majesty, we live joyously here, but how is the Queen living
in the tower? Is she still alive, or has she died?"
But the King replied, "She let my dear son be torn
to pieces by wild beasts; I will not have her named."
Then the huntsman arose and said, "Gracious lord father,
she is alive still, and I am her son, and I was not carried
away by wild beasts, but by that wretch the old cook, who
tore me from her arms when she was asleep, and sprinkled
her apron with the blood of a chicken." Thereupon he
took the dog with the golden collar, and said, "That
is the wretch!" and caused live coals to be brought,
and these the dog was compelled to devour before the sight
of all, until flames burst forth from its throat. On this
the huntsman asked the King if he would like to see the
dog in his true shape, and wished him back into the form
of the cook, in the which he stood immediately, with his
white apron, and his knife by his side. When the King saw
him he fell into a passion, and ordered him to be cast into
the deepest dungeon. Then the huntsman spoke further and
said, "Father, will you see the maiden who brought
me up so tenderly and who was afterwards to murder me, but
did not do it, though her own life depended on it?"
The King replied, "Yes, I would like to see her."
The son said, "Most gracious father, I will show her
to you in the form of a beautiful flower," and he thrust
his hand into his pocket and brought forth the pink, and
placed it on the royal table, and it was so beautiful that
the King had never seen one to equal it. Then the son said,
"Now will I show her to you in her own form,"
and wished that she might become a maiden, and she stood
there looking so beautiful that no painter could have made
her look more so.
And the King sent two waiting-maids and two attendants
into the tower, to fetch the Queen and bring her to the
royal table. But when she was led in she ate nothing, and
said, "The gracious and merciful God who has supported
me in the tower, will speedily deliver me." She lived
three days more, and then died happily, and when she was
buried, the two white doves which had brought her food to
the tower, and were angels of heaven, followed her body
and seated themselves on her grave. The aged King ordered
the cook to be torn in four pieces, but grief consumed the
King's own heart, and he soon died. His son married the
beautiful maiden whom he had brought with him as a flower
in his pocket, and whether they are still alive or not,
is known to God.
From Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, trans. Margaret
Hunt (London: George Bell, 1884), 1:303-307. |
