• The Spell-Bound Giant
• The Cabbage Stalk

The Spell-Bound Giant

There was a widow who had three sons. They lived in great poverty; and the eldest son said one day:

"Oh! mother, things cannot go on any longer like this; I am old enough now to do something; so I shall go through different countries to seek a livelihood."

The mother did not wish him to go, and began crying. But the son stuck to his resolve and at last she let him go. She prepared his outfit too.

One day at dawn he left. He travelled on for a long time. When he came to a certain country and asked as he used to, if anyone there wanted a servant, he was told that a magician, who lived nearby, always was in want of servants, so he could apply at the house.

The young man went to the house and asked if the household needed a servant to wait on them.

"You have come at a fit time," answered the magician. "You may enter my service today. Your wages will be one coin a day, but you will have to follow me wherever I go."

The young man was delighted to earn so much, and said:

"I am as ready as I can be."

"Very well," answered the magician, "let us go now and get our horses ready to leave this place."

They filled several bags with things and food they could need on the journey. Afterwards they prepared and harnessed two good horses with wallets, and whatever else they might want for the journey. At midnight the master and his servant left the house and began to travel through dismal places and dark roads. The young man, who was unaccustomed to long journeys, began to get very tired, and did nothing else but ask:

"Have we not yet arrived?"

But the magician always answered:

"Don't worry. We are sure to get there some time or another."

Thus they journeyed on all the night. At dawn they saw a very high mountain. The magician said:

"Do you see that mountain? Let us get there.."

They came to the foot of the mountain before long. The magician told the young man to get down from his horse and said to him:

"Now fire a shot at the belly of your horse."

The lad was frightened, and answered:

"Oh no!"

"Well," rejoined the magician, "in that case I must fire the shot at you instead."

Full of fear and terror, the lad fired at the horse. The magician took out its entrails, filled a bag with them, and then told the lad to get inside the empty belly of the horse, and put in several bags as well. He then took out a book and started to read, and the horse began to climb the mount until the lad reached the top. The lad came out of the horse while the magician at the foot of the mount cried out to him:

"What do you see?"

"I see much gold, much silver, many brilliants, many precious stones, and many bones," the lad answered.

"Fill all the bags with those riches," said the magician, "and send the horse down here with them."

The lad did as he was told, took out the bags from the horse's belly, filled them with all the richest things that were strewed there, and sent the horse laden with the bags down the hill to his master. But when the magician had got the horse safe at the bottom of the hill, he started off with it. The lad on the top of the mountain was left behind.

The moment the boy found himself forsaken started to think that the many bones there could well be what was left of other servants of the magician. He began to cry, but soon started to seek for some herbs to eat, for he felt very hungry. When he had rambled about for some time, he found a place with many little herbs with very large roots.

"Good! I may try to eat such roots," he thought. They proved to be difficult to root up. Then, when he had rooted up some, he found a large and thick iron ring in the hole. Curious as the lad was, he began to pull it out. When the ring was pulled out he saw some steps. They were strewed with gold coins and many rich things. The astonish lad went down the stairs, and at the bottom of the stairs found himself in a great palace. There was a table loaded with the most delicious delicacies. Feeling awfully hungry, he sat down to eat. He then left the dinner table and then went to another apartment. As he was about to enter the chamber, he saw a giant lying there. The moment he drew near to him, the giant cried out:

"Who has allowed you to enter here?"

The terrified lad fell told what had happened to him.

"Well, then," said the giant, when the boy had stopped speaking, "it was the magician who spell-bound me. You did not have the good fortune to kill him, and so long as he lives I shall not get out. But you have still one way of saving me: tomorrow before sunrise you must hide behind that tank; after that, three doves will come - a white one, a grey one, and a cinnamon-coloured one. If you succeed in catching the white one, you will make us very happy."

The lad was so excited that he did not lie down to sleep, but spent the night hidden behind the tank. At early dawn the doves came and bathed in the tank. When the lad tried to catch them, he got hold of two of their feathers, but the birds flew away.

The lad, feeling very sad, went to the giant, and said to him:

"Oh! Here are two feathers in my hand, but the doves may not escape me tomorrow."

He made a snare from some ribbon. Before the next morning hid himself and waited for the doves to return. At dawn they came and bathed. When the white dove was about to fly away she fell into the snare. The lad was very pleased at this and went up to her to get hold of her with his hands. At that moment the dove became a lovely girl, and she felt much ashamed of having the young man's hands around her. He took her to the giant. He was very pleased to see her, and said:

"Now, if the magician should die, my enchantment would cease!"

As soon as the girl got near the giant, many servants and maids appeared to wait on her. They brought lovely robes for her to wear. Yet the palace remained enchanted.

Since the young man did not return after a long time, his younger brothers one say said to their mother:

"Dear mother, let one of us to go and search for our eldest brother."

The mother answered:

"Very well, let one of you go."

The youngest son went out to search for his brother, and also came to the country where the magician lived. People there told him that such a lad had gone to a magician's house to apply for work as a servant there. The youngest brother therefore went up to the house, knocked at the door, and the magician put to him the same questions that he had done to his brother, and took him into his service.

At midnight, after having prepared everything, they started off. Arriving at the mountain he ordered the boy to shoot at the horse's belly. The boy suspected that there was some mystification in all this, but shot at the horse. The master placed the entrails of the horse into a bag and then ordered the boy to get into the horse's belly, and he began to read from the book. The horse began to climb the mount until it reached the top. Once they had reached the mountain top, the magician called out from below:

"What do you see?"

"I see much wealth," answered the lad.

"Very well, then," said the magician, "fill all the bags with them and send them with the horse to me, and the horse shall return for you."

What did the boy do? He filled the bags with bones, and when the horse was descending he threw a large stone at the master and hit so well that it broke his legs and much more.

At this moment the giant suddenly gladdened and called for the boy who was still in his palace and said to him:

"Do you know that my spell is broken? Someone has killed the magician."

As the magician's life was ebbing away, the giant's palace kept rising and rising.

When the lad woke up in the morning and looked out of his chamber window, he saw his mother's house standing near. The mother had got up from her couch at the same time. When she opened her front door, she was astonished to see a splendid palace opposite her house. Her to two wayfaring sons came out of it and stood before her.

The other two doves had also broken their spell and had become beautiful girls. They married the two brothers. The spell-bound giant was in reality a prince - and married the beautiful girl who had had been flying round about his palace as a white dove.

[Reworked]

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The Cabbage Stalk

Once there was a little girl, and she was the daughter of poor people. In her kitchen garden she had a cabbage that she used to water. The little girl kept watching the cabbage sprout to see when it would come to seed. One day she noticed that there was formed a ladder on the cabbage stalk, and that one could climb down into the ground by it.

She went down these steps and quickly found herself in a splendid palace. There was a table very well laid out there, and a beautiful bed. The girl sat down at the table and partook of the good things laid on it, and then went up again along the cabbage stalk and returned home. Whenever she felt hungry she would secretly go down the steps on the cabbage stalk and feast on the delicacies she found in the palace. The little girl was growing fat, much to the surprise of her father and mother, who never saw her eat anything.

At night when her parents were gone to sleep she would very quietly descend the cabbage stalk and lie down to sleep on a beautiful couch that she found prepared in the palace.

The mother, who began to suspect her daughter, one night arose from her bed to follow her down the ladder. She watched and saw her daughter get upon her couch. The mother could glimpse there was a beast on the couch too. She then lit a candle, went to the couch, and uncovered the bed-clothes. Three drops of candle-grease fell upon the sleeping beast. At once it changed into a prince.

The prince then said to the mother: "You little know the harm you have done me! You have broken my spell, and now I cannot marry your daughter!"

He then told the little girl to leave the palace, and gave her a rock of gold, a pair of iron shoes, and a staff, and said:

"When the shoes are worn out, come to see me in the palace again."

The little girl left, and walked and walked on until at last the shoes began to wear out as she went about begging for alms.

One day she met an old woman and asked her to give her something to eat while she told her history to her. After the old woman heard the story, she told the girl that she might have come too late to marry the prince, for,

"Now there is a princess in the palace, and she is the one chosen for him by the parents. But still you should go there and see what you can do about it."

The old woman then gave her a rock of gold, a spinning-wheel, and a reel. Then she took leave of the girl, wishing her good luck.

The girl came to the palace gate with her shoes and garments all torn and begged for alms. The princess saw her standing on a rock of gold, she sent servants to ask her for it. The girl answered that for the rock of gold she wanted to be allowed into the prince's chamber and sleep there one night.

The princess would not agree on these terms, but the prince's mother told her to let the girl sleep at the prince's feet anyway, for she would give him a sleeping-draught before the girl came.

And so it happened . The girl went into the chamber to sleep, and the prince did not know it.

During the night as she awoke she said:

"Dearest one,
I have come a long, long way to see you!
My shoes are torn, my staff is travel-worn,
Yet I have come back to you!"

But the prince could not hear or say anything.

As soon as the day dawned they sent her away. The prince did not know she had stayed there, but as he breathed in the fresh air of a new day, he sensed a quite familiar smell, but did not know what to make out of it.

The girl sat down in front of the palace gate at her spinning-wheel of gold and started spinning. The princess saw her sitting there, and sent servants to ask for her spinning-wheel of gold. The girl answered that she should have it if she was allowed to stay and sleep in the prince's apartment another night.

The princess agreed, but made the girl promise to leave the chamber early in the morning.

The girl entered and again settled herself to sleep at the prince's feet. When she woke up in the night, she said again:

"Dearest one,
I have come a long, long way to see you!
My shoes are torn, my staff is travel-worn,
Yet I have come back to you!"

The prince did not answer, for he was sleeping heavily.

The girl left the chamber very early; but a valet who slept in the apartment next to the prince told him what he had heard during the night.

The prince was much astonished to hear it, and decided not to take any draught next evening when he went to rest.

Next day the princess saw the girl again in front of the palace and noticed she had a golden reel. She went to ask her for it. The girl answered that she would give it to her if she was allowed to sleep in the prince's chamber once again.

The princess agreed, and sent the prince the usual draught to take that night. But the prince only pretended to drink it, and threw it away. Then ordered his valet to leave his chamber.

During the night the visiting little girl repeated:

"Dearest one,
I have come a long, long way to see you!
My shoes are torn, my staff is travel-worn,
Yet I have come back to you!"

The moment the prince heard her he felt very pleased, but the next moment he was much distressed because he remembered that by now he was to be married to the princess. He told the little girl to stay and not to leave his chamber.

When the marriage day came he asked the princess's father to settle a question for him:

"My apartment has two keys; the first had been mislaid and lost, but I ever hoped to find it again. And now that I had a new key made for me, the old one appeared. Which key should I then stick to, if not both keys?"

The king answered:

"Better stick to one key. The old one should suit the lock best, so stick to that one as long as a spare key is not needed."

The prince then told the whole story about the little girl and reminded the king that the king himself had given the verdict. The prince then married the little girl, and the princess went to another kingdom.

[Reworked]