Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks

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Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks

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Title: Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks
Author: William Elliot Griffis
Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7871] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on May 28, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DUTCH FAIRY TALES FOR YOUNG FOLKS ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Tonya Allen and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

[Illustration: Flying out of the sky they came bringing cheeses]

DUTCH FAIRY TALES FOR
YOUNG FOLKS
By
WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS
_Author of "The Firefly's Lovers," "The Unmannerly Tiger," "Brave Little Holland," "Bonnie Scotland," etc._

CONTENTS
THE ENTANGLED MERMAID
THE BOY WHO WANTED MORE CHEESE
THE PRINCESS WITH TWENTY PETTICOATS
THE CAT AND THE CRADLE
PRINCE SPIN HEAD AND MISS SNOW WHITE
THE BOAR WITH THE GOLDEN BRISTLES
THE ICE KING AND HIS WONDERFUL GRANDCHILD
THE ELVES AND THEIR ANTICS
THE KABOUTERS AND THE BELLS
THE WOMAN WITH THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX CHILDREN
THE ONI ON HIS TRAVELS
THE LEGEND OF THE WOODEN SHOE
THE CURLY-TAILED LION
BRABO AND THE GIANT
THE FARM THAT RAN AWAY AND CAME BACK
SANTA KLAAS AND BLACK PETE
THE GOBLINS TURNED TO STONE
THE MOULDY PENNY
THE GOLDEN HELMET
WHEN WHEAT WORKED WOE
WHY THE STORK LOVES HOLLAND

THE ENTANGLED MERMAID
Long ago, in Dutch Fairy Land, there lived a young mermaid who was very proud of her good looks. She was one of a family of mere or lake folks dwelling not far from the sea. Her home was a great pool of water that was half salt and half fresh, for it lay around an island near the mouth of a river. Part of the day, when the sea tides were out, she splashed and played, dived and swam in the soft water of the inland current. When the ocean heaved and the salt water rushed in, the mermaid floated and frolicked and paddled to her heart's content. Her father was a gray-bearded merryman and very proud of his handsome daughter. He owned an island near the river mouth, where the young mermaids held their picnics and parties and received the visits of young merrymen.
Her mother and two aunts were merwomen. All of these were sober folks and attended to the business which occupies all well brought up mermaids and merrymen. This was to keep their pool clean and nice. No frogs, toads or eels were allowed near, but in the work of daily housecleaning, the storks and the mermaids were great friends.
All water-creatures that were not thought to be polite and well behaved were expected to keep away. Even some silly birds, such as loons and plovers and all screaming and fighting creatures with wings, were warned off the premises, because they were not wanted. This family of merry folks liked to have a nice, quiet time by themselves, without any rude folks on legs, or with wings or fins from the outside. Indeed they wished to make their pool a model, for all respectable mermaids and merrymen, for ten leagues around. It was very funny to see the old daddy merman, with a switch made of reeds, shooing off the saucy birds, such as the sandpipers and screeching gulls. For the bullfrogs, too big for the storks to swallow, and for impudent fishes, he had a whip made of seaweed.
Of course, all the mermaids in good society were welcome, but young mermen were allowed to call only once a month, during the week when the moon was full. Then the evenings were usually clear, so that when the party broke up, the mermen could see their way in the moonlight to swim home safely with their mermaid friends. For, there were sea monsters that loved to plague the merefolk, and even threatened to eat them up! The mermaids, dear creatures, had to be escorted home, but they felt safe, for their mermen brothers and daddies were so fierce that, except sharks, even the larger fish, such as porpoises and dolphins were afraid to come near them.
One day daddy and the mother left