The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales (Penguin Classics) (4 page)

A wealthy merchant had a son named Karl, who was the silent type. He decided to send the boy to live with his uncle to learn the ways of the world.

The uncle owned a beautiful garden. The boy loved visiting it, because a slave girl whom the uncle had acquired spent a good deal of time there. She was a woman of exquisite beauty and kept herself busy with all kinds of tasks in the garden.

Karl fell madly in love with her, and when he decided to return home, he was not satisfied with the valuable gifts the uncle had given him. “My dear uncle,” he said, “you have given me many lovely gifts, but I would like to ask for an even more generous gift. Give me your slave girl!”

“You are the son of my brother and very dear to me, but I can’t give her to you. She cost me far too much.” The nephew carried on and said: “I’ll pay for her. I’ll send you the money right away.” The uncle finally agreed, and the slave girl was his. The two made their way to Karl’s home, elated to be leaving together. And Karl was relieved to be returning home. On the way they stopped in a city in a kingdom that seemed familiar to Karl’s beloved.

The slave girl had a secret plan which she did not reveal to Karl right away. “Let’s go to the market together,” she said, “to a place where no one is allowed to transact business. We can sell things that are worth no more than twelve kreuzers or twenty-one at the most. Before long someone will come along and chase us away.”

That’s what the two did. An official appeared, as predicted, and made them leave. For a few coins he let the two off. A
second official came, took his bribe, and left. The next day, the king himself sent a personal official. The slave girl gave him an envelope and put a letter inside it. The official brought the message to the king and he immediately recognized the handwriting of his beloved daughter. He had been searching for her for a long time.

The king raced to the marketplace that his daughter had named in the letter. When he found her, he took her home with Karl and said: “I have no other heirs. As the husband of my only child, you shall become vice chancellor and then, after I’m gone, king.”

The king’s marshal was filled with envy and wanted more than anything else to become the future ruler. He asked Karl: “Would you like to go hunting with me? Do you enjoy the sport?”

“Oh, yes, I am passionate about hunting!”

The two left for the hunt, and the marshal sent Karl ahead of everyone else. Then he shot him from behind, hitting him in the leg. Karl fell down, and he appeared to be dead. The marshal was sure that he was finished, and he threw the body over a cliff into a river. But Karl was able to swim until he reached an island.

Karl lived on the island for nearly half a year and survived by eating roots. He used herbs to heal his wounds. One day he saw a ship in the distance and thought: “If only that ship could see me and take me on board.” He waved a white cloth, which the sailors saw, and they took him on board.

Karl returned home to his parents and became an artist. He was a skillful painter and traveled to his wife and her father, the king. When he arrived, they did not recognize him, since they believed that he had died long ago. He told them he was a painter, and of course that’s what he was. The king gave Karl a room and asked him to decorate the walls with pictures. Karl let no one into the room while he was working, and he painted the little hut in the garden where the princess had once washed clothes as a slave. She was the first one to take a look at how his work was going, and she clapped her hands in delight when she saw the scene and recognized him. She threw
her arms around Karl and brought the news to her father. Karl described all the adventures he had experienced.

The marshal was sentenced to death, and Karl was restored to the position he had once held. The loving couple lived happily together for many years.

Schönwerth’s note:
Wood sprites, or forest sprites, are tiny creatures that make their homes near hearths. Their clothing is made of spun moss that hangs in ropelike strands from trees. We think of them as enchanted beings hounded by phantom hunters. They live together as married couples and bear children. Their enemies are the phantom hunters, who rage through the lands like wild beasts during autumnal storms. The wood sprites’ only protection against them is to take refuge on a tree stump that has three crosses carved into it.

Three huntsmen went in search of their sister, who had been abducted by a witch and hidden away in the woods. They traveled deep into the forest and managed to survive by killing game and sleeping beneath trees.

One day they discovered a cozy little cottage, where they were able to sleep more comfortably. The first night they watched a spark leap up from the hearth, and a tiny little woman began cooking milk in a thimble. The huntsmen forced the wood sprite to leave the hut. Now and then she could be seen perched on the fence post, singing a mourning song and weaving a brushwood crown into her hair.

When the men caught the unhappy woman and put her to
work as a maid, she trembled and wept, repeating the words: “Don’t jail me; don’t slay me. I can bring your little sister back to you.” The huntsmen were overjoyed, and in a few days Katie, white as milk and red as blood, appeared in the hut. She told the brothers that a little gray man had been visiting her. He frightened her with his teasing and forced her to suck on his little finger. The brothers ambushed the little man, murdered him, and buried him in the garden. Before long three flowers with long stalks began growing on his grave. Katie marveled at the splendid colors and the sweet aroma of the bright blossoms. Whenever she bent the stalks down toward her nose, the wood sprite cried out: “Don’t break the stalks!”

One day an adorable little white dog found its way to Katie and would not leave her side. The dog barked three times and a tall handsome stranger appeared in the woods. “What a beautiful maiden!” he exclaimed, and he walked toward her to take her hand.

“I want you to be my wife,” he said. “My castle is just beyond those mountains in the distance, and I’ll come to fetch you in three days.” The young woman was astonished, but she nodded her agreement. The hunter left.

The brothers warned their sister about the stranger who was courting her, but she threw caution to the winds. Three days later the fair-haired hunter arrived in a splendid carriage, and their marriage was celebrated. The brothers came running up to the carriage, but their sister had already rushed down into the garden and picked the flowers. When the stems snapped, the brothers froze right in place and turned into deer. Katie stood there, as pale as snow and cold as ice. The wood sprite whispered in her ear: “For seven years you must be as still and quiet as the grave!”

The hunter was still in love with Katie, even though she could not speak. He took her with him in the carriage and traveled back to the castle, where the two lived in prosperity and plenty. The hunter’s mother was an evil woman who disliked Katie. She was constantly scolding the young woman and making her life miserable.

When the time came for Katie to deliver a child, she bore a
son, whom the old woman took and choked to death. She took some of the child’s blood and smeared it on the mother’s mouth. Then she rushed to tell her son: “Take a good look at the woman you married. She has devoured her own child!” Frightened and horrified, he entered his wife’s room and found her asleep. The three flowers were still there, untouched. He knew from the wood sprite that the living flowers were proof of her innocence and fidelity.

Katie gave birth to two more sons, each of whom became victims of the bloodthirsty old woman, who had also discovered the truth about the flowers. She tore them to pieces and bewitched her son so that he finally trusted her and agreed to summon the executioner.

Katie went to the place of execution like a walking dead woman. Just a word was all she needed to save her life. Pale as a sheet, she was seated in a chair with her neck exposed. The sword above her head was flashing in the daylight. Suddenly a cloud of dust appeared in the distance, and three riders mounted on three stags shouted as loudly as possible: “Seven years have passed. Now you can finally speak again, dear sister!”

The punishment was visited on the bloodthirsty woman rather than the innocent wife. The castle was bursting with good cheer. Every year the matron of the castle visited the hut of the wood sprite in the woods, and her children decorated the little room inside with flowers. But it was always empty and remained gloomy, with just a cricket chirping beneath the hearthstone.

There once lived a king who loved figs more than any other food. They did not grow in his country, and so he proclaimed: “Whoever brings me some figs will have my daughter as his wife.” A farmer who had a fig tree on his land heard these words. He sent the eldest of his sons to the king with the figs.

On the way to the castle the young man met a dwarf, who asked him what he was carrying. Irritated, the young man replied: “Are you talking to me? I’ve got a bunch of pigs’ snouts.” When he arrived at the castle he had snouts instead of figs, and so he had to turn back home empty-handed. Things went the same way for his brother. He replied to the dwarf by shouting: “I’m carrying a bag of horse dung!” And that’s what ended up in his sack. Everyone made fun of him, and he, too, had to return home.

The third brother told the dwarf the truth, and the figs stayed figs. On the way to the castle there was an anthill in his path. The ants were swarming all over the hill, and the boy imagined that they must be hungry and gave them some breadcrumbs. The king of the ants came forward to express his gratitude and promised to help out if the boy was ever in trouble.

A little later the young man saw the devil in the midst of a squabble with Death. He settled the quarrel, and the two promised him their help if he should ever need it.

The young man went on his way and saw a little white fish thrashing around on the shore of a pond. He picked it up and helped it back into the water. The little fish was very grateful for the help.

The young man brought the figs to the king. The king was
planning to keep his promise, but the farmer’s son was far too humble a fellow for the princess. He would have to pass three tests before he could marry her.

For the first, the princess threw a valuable ring into the sea, and he was supposed to bring it back. He almost gave up and was about to go back home after hearing her demand, for fetching the ring seemed an impossible task. But just then the king of all the fish rose up from the depths of the sea and began to whistle. Every single fish in the sea swam up toward the boy. But not one of them knew where the ring was. The king whistled a second time, and the little white fish swam toward him, ring in its mouth. And that was that.

The second task required him to clean up a huge pile of grain. Once again the young man was daunted by the size of the task, and he turned around and was about to head back home. When he reached the anthill, the ant king said: “Go back. We’re going to help you get the job done.” And all at once the ants, looking like a black army, appeared and they cleaned up the entire mountain of grain.

As a last demand, the princess asked for the most beautiful flower in heaven. For this task, Death was able to help him out. But the young man was told that although he could borrow the flower, he shouldn’t let it leave his hands and would have to return it to Death. The princess was shocked that he had succeeded in acquiring the flower, and she was so infuriated that she made yet another demand, this time asking him to bring her a torch with the tallest flames from hell. The young man took the rose he was carrying down to hell and offered it as a reward to the devil for helping him. The devil hauled a huge glowing beam from hell up to the castle and threatened to burn down the entire place with it. Everyone was terrified, and the princess finally agreed to give her hand to the farmer’s son.

There once lived a charcoal burner who had three sons, each of whom had to help him at the kiln. One evening it was the turn of the youngest to keep watch, but he fell asleep, and the kiln burned down. The father was now dirt poor, and he told the boys that they were better off without him and that they should seek their fortunes in the world. He gave the eldest some coins, the middle son a hunk of ham, and Hans, the youngest, was given nothing at all, although his mother gave him some bread and a few pennies for the road.

The three boys found themselves in the woods and reached a crossroads. One took a left turn; the other a right turn. Hans, the youngest, marched straight ahead. He met a dwarf, who asked him for alms, and Hans gave him a penny. In exchange he received a musket that never missed its mark. He tried it out and aimed at some birds perched on the branches of a tree. One shot, and they all fell over dead.

Not much later Hans ran into a second dwarf, and he too asked for alms. In exchange for a second penny, Hans was given a flute that played melodies to which you had to dance. He was invited into a castle, played the flute there for everyone, and the king and queen as well as their daughter danced for so long that they finally pleaded with him to stop playing. The king offered the young man work as a shepherd. When Hans took the sheep out to the meadow, he would play the flute, and all the sheep and lambs would bleat and frolic around him.

Not far from the castle was a meadow with beautiful green grass. No one dared go there, for it belonged to a giant, and he
was prepared to kill anyone who crossed his path. Hans decided to confront the giant, and he shot him dead just as the big fellow was about to attack. The sharpshooter took a golden key from around the dead giant’s neck and drove his frisky sheep back home.

Everyone was eager to know: “Where were you?”

“I was in the place where green grass grows.”

“What did you see?”

“Nothing.”

Hans was given plenty to eat and drink, and the next day he went back to the meadow and made himself comfortable. Another giant appeared and came hurtling toward him, shouting: “Why did you murder my brother?” The shepherd reached for his musket and shot this giant dead too. He removed the silver key from around his neck and pocketed it. On the third day he went again to the place that was off-limits. A giant shouted down to him from the mountains: “Why did you kill my two brothers?” The shepherd shot him, too, and pocketed his brass key.

The next day a magnificent castle appeared out of thin air on the meadow. Hans opened the first gate with the key made of brass; the second, with the key made of silver. There were animals everywhere in the gardens, but they all looked as if they had been frozen. The golden key opened the door to the many different rooms in the castle, all filled with gold and silver. A little golden wreath was on a table. Hans took it and put it on his hat, as a decoration. When he returned home, everyone asked: “Where were you?”

“At the village green.”

The princess saw the golden wreath on his hat. She asked for it, and he gave it to her.

Hans went to the castle a second time. A woman in white approached him and thanked him for liberating her. In the grand hall there were three enchanted women, all in white. If he freed them as well, the castle would belong to him. “But you have to spend three nights here and stay no matter what happens. You won’t be hurt,” or so they said.

Terrifying ghosts appeared on the first night. They stretched
Hans out on a cutting board, chopped him into pieces, and left him for dead. But he survived and woke up the next morning as if nothing had happened. On the second night the ghosts put him into a cradle filled with thorns and thistles. He didn’t feel a thing. On the third night twelve men came and tortured him, but he got up again and no one had done him any harm. When the twelve men vanished, cheers and songs broke out everywhere in the castle. The women had been freed, and Hans received his reward. He invited the king and the princess to join him on the slope of the meadow. When the king discovered just how wealthy Hans was, he gave him his daughter’s hand in marriage.

After a while, the king’s new son-in-law decided to visit his parents. He took leave of the princess and said: “In three nights I will send you a message.” Traveling through the woods, he discovered a cave where some robbers had been hiding out. Only a parrot was left inside, and it called out: “Be sure you don’t go out the way that you came in, or you’re a dead man!” Hans forced his way through a crevice, one so narrow that his clothes and some of his skin were left on the stones.

In the course of his travels he stayed at an inn where princes, knights, and monks were all carousing together. He borrowed some clothes from the innkeeper and went to his father’s house. But his father and his brothers thought he was the innkeeper, and they welcomed him with curses and blows.

The princess had failed to receive any news at all from her husband. She decided to go and look for him. In the robbers’ cave, she found his clothes, and the parrot screeched at her: “Take those with you and then go on to the inn.” There she put on a monk’s habit and asked someone to guide her to the home of her husband’s parents.

“Where is your youngest son?” she asked.

“The moron is sitting over there in a corner of the kitchen.”

She recognized him right away as her husband, but she did not say a word. Instead she had him taken to the inn. There the princess revealed that she was his wife. Everyone was elated, and the two celebrated their reunion. They were showered with gifts and the two returned home in high spirits.