The Pink Fairy Book | Page 8

Andrew Lang
along; they are
even larger than lentils, and will show her the way.'
But when the maiden started off with the basket on her arm, the wood
pigeons had eaten up the peas, and she did not know which way to go.
She was much distressed, and thought constantly of her poor hungry
father and her anxious mother. At last, when it grew dark, she saw the
little light, and came to the house in the wood. She asked prettily if she
might stay there for the night, and the man with the white beard asked

his beasts again:
Pretty cock, Pretty hen, And you, pretty brindled cow, What do you say
now?
'Duks,' they said. Then the maiden stepped up to the stove where the
animals were lying, and stroked the cock and the hen, and scratched the
brindled cow between its horns.
And when at the bidding of the old man she had prepared a good
supper, and the dishes were standing on the table, she said, 'Shall I have
plenty while the good beasts have nothing? There is food to spare
outside; I will attend to them first.'
Then she went out and fetched barley and strewed it before the cock
and hen, and brought the cow an armful of sweet-smelling hay.
'Eat that, dear beasts,' she said,' and when you are thirsty you shall have
a good drink.'
Then she fetched a bowl of water, and the cock and hen flew on to the
edge, put their beaks in, and then held up their heads as birds do when
they drink, and the brindled cow also drank her fill. When the beasts
were satisfied, the maiden sat down beside the old man at the table and
ate what was left for her. Soon the cock and hen began to tuck their
heads under their wings, and the brindled cow blinked its eyes, so the
maiden said, 'Shall we not go to rest now?'
Pretty cock, Pretty hen, And you, pretty brindled cow, What do you say
now?
The animals said, 'Duks:
You have eaten with us, You have drunk with us, You have tended us
right, So we wish you good night.'
The maiden therefore went upstairs, made the bed and put on clean
sheets and fell asleep. She slept peacefully till midnight, when there
was such a noise in the house that she awoke. Everything trembled and
shook; the animals sprang up and dashed themselves in terror against
the wall; the beams swayed as if they would be torn from their
foundations, it seemed as if the stairs were tumbling down, and then the
roof fell in with a crash. Then all became still, and as no harm came to
the maiden she lay down again and fell asleep. But when she awoke
again in broad daylight, what a sight met her eyes! She was lying in a
splendid room furnished with royal splendour; the walls were covered
with golden flowers on a green ground; the bed was of ivory and the

counterpane of velvet, and on a stool near by lay a pair of slippers
studded with pearls. The maiden thought she must be dreaming, but in
came three servants richly dressed, who asked what were her
commands. 'Go,' said the maiden, 'I will get up at once and cook the old
man's supper for him, and then I will feed the pretty cock and hen and
the brindled cow.'
But the door opened and in came a handsome young man, who said, 'I
am a king's son, and was condemned by a wicked witch to live as an
old man in this wood with no company but that of my three servants,
who were transformed into a cock, a hen, and a brindled cow. The spell
could only be broken by the arrival of a maiden who should show
herself kind not only to men but to beasts. You are that maiden, and last
night at midnight we were freed, and this poor house was again
transformed into my royal palace.
As they stood there the king's son told his three servants to go and fetch
the maiden's parents to be present at the wedding feast.
'But where are my two sisters?' asked the maid.
'I shut them up in the cellar, but in the morning they shall be led forth
into the forest and shall serve a charcoal burner until they have
improved, and will never again suffer poor animals to go hungry.'

Uraschimataro and the Turtle From the Japanische Marchen und Sagen,
von David Brauns (Leipzig: Wilhelm Friedrich).

There was once a worthy old couple who lived on the coast, and
supported themselves by fishing. They had only one child, a son, who
was their pride and joy, and for his
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