Читать книгу Folk-Tales from Many Lands - Rose Amy Fyleman - Страница 5
ОглавлениеA MAGYAR FOLK-TALE
There once lived a peasant farmer who had three sons. The two older ones were sturdy young men who made themselves useful about the place. But the youngest one never did much work. A good-natured lad, quiet and dreamy, he spent a great many hours sitting by the hearth among the cinders gazing into the fire. His brothers despised him, and his father, too, thought very little of his capabilities.
"Cinder Jack will never do me any credit," he said—for that was the name by which the boy was always known.
The farmer had a fine vineyard, and one morning, when the grapes were ripening, he sent his eldest son to guard it. The mother had baked the son a fine cake with raisins in it for his lunch, and at noon he sat down beside a spring of water in the midst of the vineyard and started cheerfully to eat the good cake. And as he sat there enjoying it, he heard a rustling sound in the grass, and presently a large frog appeared on the ground in front of him.
"Will you give me a share of your cake?" said the frog, looking up at him with its goggle eyes.
"What impudence," said the young man. "Be off, or I may do you some harm," and he picked up a stone.
The frog said no more, but went hop, hop, hopping away through the grass and disappeared.
Very soon the young lad fell fast asleep. When he woke up he found that a portion of the vineyard had been laid waste. The vines had been torn down, and many of the bunches of grapes lay strewn about. It was just as though some wild creatures had got into the place and trampled everything down, but though he looked to north, south, east, and west, no such creatures were within sight.
When he arrived home and told his story, his father was very angry.
"It is a sad thing if I cannot trust you to perform so simple a task as that of guarding my vineyard," he said.
So next day he sent his second son.
The second son also took with him one of his mother's good cakes, and, like his brother, sat down in the heat of midday beside the spring and began to eat. And everything happened exactly as it had done to his brother on the previous day. He heard a sound of rustling in the grass, and a frog appeared on the ground before him.
"Will you give me a share of your cake?" said the frog.
"Indeed, I will do no such thing," said the second son. "What next, I wonder? Be off at once, or it will be the worse for you."
The frog said no more, but went hop, hop, hopping away through the grass.
And presently the second son fell fast asleep. When he woke up he found that another and larger portion of the vineyard had been laid waste. Again, it was as though wild creatures had come in and trampled the vines underfoot. But nothing of them was to be seen far or near, neither to north, south, east, or west. Again the father was very angry when he heard what had happened.
"It seems my second son is as great a simpleton as my first," he said. "It is indeed a sad thing to think that neither of them is capable of guarding my vineyard."
Then Cinder Jack, who had heard all this, rose from his place by the hearth.
"Let me go to-morrow, Father," he said. "I will take care of your vineyard."
His father and his brothers laughed aloud at the idea that Jack might succeed where the two others had failed. But Jack begged to be allowed to go, and at last his father consented to let him try.
He had a cake, too, but not such a big one as those which had been given to his brothers. He always came off the worst when there were good things going.
Once again the frog appeared by the spring and asked for some cake, but this time it did not meet with a refusal. Jack willingly gave it a generous share, in spite of the fact that the cake was scarcely large enough to satisfy his own hunger.
When they had both finished eating, the frog gave the lad three rods. One was of copper, one of silver, and one of gold. He told him that if he waited for a short time three horses would appear, one of copper, one of silver, and one of gold, and that the three horses would rage round the vineyard and try to trample down the vines and lay waste the whole place. Nevertheless he was not to be frightened, but to beat the horses with the rods. They would then become quite tame and gentle and willing to serve him, and would appear, ready to do whatever service he required of them, should he summon them at any time.
All this happened just as the frog had said. The horses appeared and were subdued by means of the three rods, so that no further harm came to the vineyard, which from that day onward flourished amazingly and produced a fine harvest of grapes.
Cinder Jack spoke no word to anyone of all this that had happened, but took up his old place at the corner of the hearth.
A little later on the king of that country had a pole made of a tall fir tree erected in the market-square in front of the church. And at the very top of the pole there was fastened a bough of copper-coloured rosemary; and the king caused it to be known by proclamation that if any man could take so high a jump on his horse as to be able to pluck down the rosemary bough, that man should have the princess, his daughter, to wife.
From all parts of the kingdom came gallant knights to try their fortune, but there was not one among them all who could take so high a jump as to be able to reach the top of the pole. But, late in the day, when all the rest had tried and failed, there appeared a knight, all clad in mail of copper, riding upon a fine copper horse, and with his visor down so that his face could not be seen.
He seemed to have no difficulty in making his horse take the necessary jump, and, having snatched down the rosemary branch, he rode swiftly away without taking heed of any one present.
The two brothers had been in the great crowd assembled in the marketplace, and when they got home they told Cinder Jack all that they had seen and heard.
"I saw it all much better than you did," replied their brother.
"But how could that be?" said the brothers.
"I climbed to the top of the high fence," said Cinder Jack, "and from there I saw everything."
Then the two brothers had the high fence pulled down, so that Cinder Jack should not be able to climb up it again.
A week later the king had a still higher pole set up in the market-square, and right at the top was placed a silver apple. And the king made it known far and wide that he who took so high a leap on his horse as to be able to fetch down the apple, should have his daughter to wife and a chest full of money to her dowry.
Once again many knights came riding on their fine horses in the hope of winning the hand of the princess, for she was famed throughout the land for her beauty and her amiability. But there was no knight among them all whose horse could jump so high. Only at the very end there came a knight in silver armour riding upon a splendid silver horse.
And the horse made a great leap up into the air, so that the knight was able to snatch the silver apple from the top of the pole and bear it away with him. He rode off with it without exchanging so much as a greeting with anyone present, and his visor was let down so that none could see his face.
When the two brothers came home they had much to say about the mysterious knight, and about all that they had seen.
"I saw it all much better than you," said Cinder Jack.
"How could that be?" said his brothers.
"I climbed up onto the top of the pigsty," said Jack. "From there I had a fine view."
So then the two brothers pulled down the pigsty.
Very soon after this the king had a third pole erected in the market-square. And this pole was even higher than the other two. And at the very top of the pole there was fastened a silken scarf all embroidered with gold, so that it shone and glittered in the sun.
And the king caused it to be proclaimed far and wide throughout his kingdom that he who could take so high a jump upon his horse as to be able to snatch down the scarf should have not only the hand of the princess, his daughter, but also a chest full of money and a great castle to her dowry.
Over a hundred knights came, a fine and gallant company, but not one was able to reach the scarf. But when all had tried and failed, a knight in golden armour and mounted upon a magnificent golden horse came riding into the market-square, and with a great bound his horse carried him right up to the top of the pole and he bore off the silken scarf and rode away with it. But no one knew who he was, for his visor was down.
The two brothers were filled with excitement. Like everyone else, they were sure that the copper knight, the silver knight, and the knight of gold were one and the same person. But when they started telling Cinder Jack all that they had seen and heard he interrupted them.
"I saw everything far better then you," he said.
"But how could that be?" said the brothers. "We pulled down the fence and the pigsty. There was nothing left for you to climb upon."
"Indeed there was," said Cinder Jack, "I climbed up on to the top of the house."
So then the two brothers pulled down the roof of the house, and if it had been rainy weather I know not what they would have done, for a house without a roof is but a poor shelter.
But a few days later the king sent out a proclamation to say that if the knight who had borne off the copper rosemary bough, the silver apple, and the gold-embroidered scarf would make himself known within three days he should have the hand of the princess, his daughter, and half the kingdom to her dowry.
And each day a great crowd assembled in the market-square and waited for the knight to appear.
On the first day and on the second day they waited in vain. But on the third day at the hour of noon there was heard a sound of hoofs coming up the street that led into the market-square. And all the people made way as the golden knight came riding along on his great golden horse.
And everyone shouted and waved, and the great bell in the church tower began ringing all by itself, for there was no one to pull the rope.
And the knight rode three times around the square, and it was seen that he carried before him on his saddle the bough of rosemary, and in his hand the silver apple, and that the gold-embroidered scarf was floating from his golden helmet.
And when he had ridden round the square for the third time he pulled up his horse before the dais on which sat the king and his daughter, and there he at last lifted his visor so that everyone could see his face. And who should it be but Cinder Jack!
You can imagine how astonished everyone was, especially Jack's two brothers, who could hardly believe their own eyes.
But he bore them no grudge and even promised them to build up the fence, the pigsty and the roof of the house; which promise he later on faithfully carried out.
And he married the princess, and proved so wise and good that upon the king's death he was chosen by all the people to rule over the whole kingdom, and for aught I know to the contrary he is ruling there at this very day.
