Читать книгу Страшные сказки / Scary stories - Братья Гримм, Оскар Уайльд - Страница 3

A certain miller was very poor, and had nothing but his mill and a large apple-tree behind it. Once when he went into the forest to fetch wood, an old man stepped up to him, and said,

“Why do you plague yourself with this wood? I will make you rich, if you promise me what is behind your mill”.

“What can that be? It’s my apple-tree”, thought the miller, and said, “Yes”.

So he gave a promise to the stranger. The old man, however, laughed mockingly and said,

“When three years pass, I will come and carry away what belongs to me”, and then he went.

When the miller got home, his wife came to meet him and said,

“Tell me, miller, from whence comes this sudden wealth into our house? All at once every box and chest was filled! No one brought it in, and I don’t know how it happened”.

He answered,

“It comes from a stranger who met me in the forest, and promised me great treasure. I, in return, promised him what stands behind the mill. We can very well give him the big apple-tree for it”.

“Ah, husband,” said the terrified wife, “that was the devil! He did not mean the apple-tree, but our daughter, who is behind the mill!”

The miller’s daughter was a beautiful, pious girl, and lived through the three years in the fear of God and without sin. When therefore the time was over, and the day came, she washed herself clean, and made a circle round herself with chalk. The devil appeared quite early, but he could not come near to her. Angrily, he said to the miller,

“Take all water away from her, that she may no longer be able to wash herself. Otherwise I have no power over her”.

The miller was afraid, and did so. The next morning the devil came again, but the girl wept on her hands, and they were quite clean. Again he could not get near her, and furiously said to the miller,

“Cut her hands off, or else I cannot get her!”

The miller was shocked and answered,

“How can I cut off my own child’s hands?”

Then the devil threatened him and said,

“If you do not do it, you are mine, and I will take you instead!”

The father became alarmed, and promised to obey him. So he went to the girl and said,

“My child, if I do not cut off both your hands, the devil will carry me away. In my terror I promised to do it. Help me in my need, and forgive me the harm”.

She replied,

“Dear father, do with me what you will, I am your child”.

Thereupon she laid down both her hands, and her father cut them off. The devil came for the third time, but she wept so long and so much on the stumps, that after all they were quite clean.

Then the devil gave in[10], and lost all power over her.

The miller said to the girl,

“Thanks to you, I received such great wealth. I will keep you most delicately as long as you live”.

But she replied,

“Here I cannot stay, I will go forth, compassionate people will give me as much as I require”.

Thereupon she asked to tie her arms to her back, and by sunrise she set out on her way. She walked the whole day until night fell. Then she came to a royal garden. She saw that trees are covered with beautiful fruits, but she could not enter, for there was much water round about it. And as she was very tired, and hunger tormented her, she thought,

“Ah, I want to find myself[11] inside and eat the fruit! Or I’ll die of hunger!”

Then she knelt down, called on the Lord, and prayed. And suddenly an angel came towards her, who made a dam in the water. The moat became dry and she could walk through it.

She went into the garden and the angel went with her. She saw a tree with beautiful pears. Then she went to them, and ate one with her mouth from the tree. The gardener watched it; but as the angel was nearby, he was afraid and thought the maiden was a spirit, and was silent. He dare not to cry out, or to speak to the spirit.

When the girl ate the pear, she was satisfied. She went and concealed herself among the bushes. The King to whom the garden belonged, came down to it next morning, and counted. He saw that one of the pears was missing[12]. The King asked the gardener about the pear. The gardener answered,

“Last night, a spirit came in, who had no hands, and ate off one of the pears with its mouth”.

The King said,

“How did the spirit get over the water? Where did it go after that?”

The gardener answered,

“Someone came in a snow-white garment from heaven who made a dam, and kept back the water. So the spirit walked through the moat. And as it was an angel, I was afraid, and asked no questions, and did not cry out. When the spirit ate the pear, it went back again”.

The King said,

“If it is so as you say, I will watch with you tonight”.

When it grew dark the King came into the garden and brought a priest with him. All three seated themselves beneath the tree and watched. At midnight the maiden came out of the thicket, went to the tree, and again ate one pear off it with her mouth. Beside her stood the angel in white garments. Then the priest went out to them and said,

“Do you come from heaven or from earth? Are you a spirit, or a human being?”

She replied,

“I am no spirit, but an unhappy girl. Everybody left me”.

The King said,

“I won’t forsake you!”

He took her with him into his royal palace, and as she was so beautiful and good, he loved her with all his heart. He made for her silver hands, and took her to wife[13].

After a year the King went to fight, so he commended his young Queen to the care of his mother and said,

“If she has a baby, nurse her well, and tell me of it at once in a letter”.

Then she gave birth to a fine boy. So the old mother wrote and announced the joyful news to the King. But the messenger rested by a brook on the way, and as he was fatigued by the great distance, he fell asleep. Then came the Devil, who wanted to injure the good Queen, and exchanged the letter for another. That new letter says that the Queen gave birth to a monster. When the King read the letter he was shocked and much troubled. But he ordered to take great care of the Queen and nurse her well until his arrival. The messenger went back with the letter, but rested at the same place and again fell asleep. Then came the Devil once more, and put a different letter in his pocket. That new letter says that they must kill the Queen and her child.

The old mother was terribly shocked when she received the letter, and could not believe it. She wrote back again to the King. But received no other answer, because each time the Devil substituted a false letter. And in every letter there was an order: to kill the Queen. Furthermore: to sent to the King the Queen’s tongue and eyes as a token.

But the old mother brought a hind by night and cut out its tongue and eyes, and kept them. Then she said to the Queen,

“I cannot kill you as the King commands, but here you may stay no longer. Go forth into the wide world with your child, and never come here again”.

The poor woman tied her child on her back, and went away with eyes full of tears. She came into a great wild forest, and then she fell on her knees and prayed to God. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and led her to a little house on which was a sign with the words,

“Here all dwell free”.

A snow-white maiden came out of the little house and said,

“Welcome, Lady Queen,” and conducted her inside.

Then they unbound the little boy from her back, and feed him and laid him in a beautiful little bed. Then the poor girl said,

“From whence do you know that I was a queen?”

The white maiden answered,

“I am a God’s angel. I’ll watch over you and your child”.

The Queen stayed seven years in the little house. By God’s grace, because of her piety, her hands grew once more.

At last the King came home again from the war, and his first wish was to see his wife and the child. Then his old mother began to weep and said,

“You wicked man, why did you write to me to kill those two innocent lives?”

She showed him the letters from the Devil, and then continued,

“I did as you ordered,” and she showed the tokens, the tongue and eyes.

Then the King began to weep for his poor wife and his little son bitterly. His aged mother said,

“Be at peace, she still lives. I secretly killed a hind, and took these tokens from it. Then I bound the child to your wife’s back and sent her away into the wide world. She will never come back here again, because you were so angry with her”.

Then the King spoke,

“I will neither eat nor drink until I find again my dear wife and my child, if they are alive!”

Thereupon the King travelled about for seven long years, and sought her in every cleft of the rocks and in every cave. But he did not find her, and thought she was dead. During the whole of this time he neither ate nor drank, but God supported him.

At length he came into a great forest, and found therein the little house whose sign was,

“Here all dwell free”.

Then forth came the white maiden, took him by the hand, led him in, and said,

“Welcome, King,” and asked him from whence he came.

He answered, “I seek my wife and her child, but cannot find them”.

The angel offered him meat and drink, but he did not take anything, and only wished to rest a little. Then he lay down to sleep, and put a handkerchief over his face.

Thereupon the angel went into the chamber where the Queen sat with her son, whom she usually called “Sorrowful,” and said to her,

“Go out with your child, your husband is here”.

So the Queen went to the place where he lay, and the handkerchief fell from his face. Then she said,

“Sorrowful, pick up your father’s handkerchief, and cover his face again”.

The child picked it up, and put it over his face again. The King in his sleep heard what passed, and threw the handkerchief away once more. But the child grew impatient, and said,

“Dear mother, how can I cover my father’s face when I have no father in this world? I only know the prayer, ‘Our Father, which is in Heaven’. My father is in Heaven, and is the good God. How can I know a wild man like this? He is not my father!”

When the King heard that, he got up, and asked who they were.

Then said she, “I am your wife, and that is thy son, Sorrowful”.

And he saw her hands, and said,

“My wife had silver hands”.

She answered,

“The good God gave me new hands”.

The angel went into the room, and brought the silver hands, and showed them to him. Hereupon he knew for a certainty that it was his dear wife and his dear child, and he kissed them.

Then the angel of God gave them one meal with her, and after that they went home to the

King’s old mother. The King and Queen were married again, and lived contentedly to their happy end.