The Wren sent the Hornet down with orders to seat herself under the tail of the Fox and to sting him with all her might.
When the Fox felt the first sting he quivered, and raised one leg in the air; but he bore it bravely, and kept his tail erect. At the second sting he was forced to let it droop for a moment, but the third time he could bear it no longer; he screamed, and down went his tail between his legs. When the animals saw this they thought ail was lost, and off they ran helter-skelter, as fast as they could go, each to his own den.
So the birds won the battle.
When it was over the King and the Queen flew home to their children, and cried, ‘Children, be happy! Eat and drink to your hearts’ content; we have won the battle.’
But the young Wrens said, ‘We won’t eat till the Bear comes here to make an apology, and says that we are really and truly your lawful children.’
The Wren flew to the Bear’s den, and cried, ‘Old Bruin, you will have to come and apologise to my children for calling them names, or else you will have all your ribs broken.’
So in great terror the Bear crept to the nest and apologised, and at last the young Wrens were satisfied, and they ate and drank and made merry till far into the night.
The Frog Prince
In the olden time, when wishing was some good, there lived a King whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so lovely that even the sun, that looked on many things, could not but marvel when he shone upon her face.
Near the King’s palace there was a large dark forest, and in the forest, under an old lime-tree, was a well. When the day was very hot the Princess used to go into the forest and sit upon the edge of this cool well; and when she was tired of doing nothing she would play with a golden ball, throwing it up in the air and catching it again, and this was her favourite game. Now on one occasion it so happened that the bail did not fall back into her hand stretched up to catch it, but dropped to the ground and rolled straight into the well. The Princess followed it with her eyes, but it disappeared, for the well was so very deep that it was quite impossible to see the bottom. Then she began to cry bitterly, and nothing would comfort her.
As she was lamenting in this manner, some one called out to her, ‘What is the matter, Princess I Your lamentations would move the heart of a stone.’
She looked round towards the spot whence the voice came, and saw a Frog stretching its broad, ugly face out of the water.
‘Oh, it’s you, is it, old splasher? I am crying for my golden ball which has fallen into the water.’
‘Be quiet then, and stop crying,’ answered the Frog. ‘I know what to do; but what will you give me if I get you back your plaything?’
‘Whatever you like, you dear old Frog,’ she said. ‘My clothes, my pearls and diamonds, or even the golden crown upon my head.’
The Frog answered, ‘I care neither for your clothes, your pearls and diamonds, nor even your golden crown; but if you will be fond of me, and let me be your playmate, sit by you at table, eat out of your plate, drink out of your cup, and sleep in your little bed—if you will promise to do all this, I will go down and fetch your ball.’
‘I will promise anything you like to ask, if only you will get me back my ball.’
She thought, ‘What is the silly old Frog chattering about? He lives in the well, croaking with his mates, and he can’t be the companion of a human being.’
As soon as the Frog received her promise, he ducked his head under the water and disappeared. After a little while, back he came with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on to the grass beside her.
The Princess was full of joy when she saw her pretty toy again, picked it up, and ran off with it.
‘Wait, wait,’ cried the Frog. ‘Take me with you; I can’t run as fast as you can.’
But what was the good of his crying ‘Croak, croak,’ as loud as he could I She did not listen to him, but hurried home, and forgot all about the poor Frog; and he had to go back to his well.
The next day, as she was sitting at dinner with the King and all the courtiers, eating out of her golden plate, something came flopping up the stairs, flip, flap, flip, flap. When it reached the top it knocked at the door, and cried: ‘Youngest daughter of the King, you must let me in.’ She ran to see who it was. When she opened the door and saw the Frog she shut it again very quickly, and went back to the table, for she was very much frightened.
The King saw that her heart was beating very fast, and he said: ‘My child, what is the matter? Is there a giant at the door wanting to take you away?’
‘Oh no!’ she said; ‘it’s not a pant, but a hideous Frog.’
‘What does the Frog want with you?’
‘Oh, father dear, last night, when I was playing by the well in the forest, my golden ball fell into the water. And I cried, and the Frog got it out for me; and then, because he insisted on it, I promised that he should be my playmate. But I never thought that he would come out of the water, but there he is, and he wants to come in to me.’
He knocked at the door for the second time, and sang—
‘Youngest daughter of the King,
Take me up, I sing;
Know’st thou not what yesterday
Thou to me didst say
By the well in forest dell.
Youngest daughter of the King,
Take me up, I sing.’
Then said the King, ‘What you have promised you must perform. Go and open the door for him.’
So she opened the door, and the Frog shuffled in, keeping close to her feet, till he reached her chair. Then he cried, ‘Lift me up beside you.’ She hesitated, till the King ordered her to do it. When the Frog was put on the chair, he demanded to be placed upon the table, and then he said, ‘Push your golden plate nearer that we may eat together.’ She did as he asked her, but very unwillingly, as could easily be seen, The Frog made a good dinner, but the Princess could not swallow a morsel. At last he said, ‘I have eaten enough, and I am tired, carry me into your bedroom and arrange your silken bed, that we may go to sleep.’
The Princess began to cry, for she was afraid of the clammy Frog, which she did not dare to touch, and which was now to sleep in her pretty little silken bed. But the King grew very angry, and said, ‘You must not despise any one who has helped you in your need.’
So she seized him with two fingers, and carried him upstairs, where she put him in a corner of her room. When she got’ into bed, he crept up to her, and said, ‘I am tired, and I want to go to sleep as well as you. Lift me up, or I will tell your father.’
She was very angry, picked him up, and threw him with all her might against the wall, saying, ‘You may rest there as well as you can, you hideous Frog.’ But when he fell to the ground, he was no longer a hideous Frog, but a handsome Prince with beautiful friendly eyes.
And at her father’s wish he became her beloved companion and husband. He told her that he had been bewitched by a wicked fairy, and nobody could have released him from the spells but she herself.
Next morning, when the sun rose, a coach drove up drawn by eight milk-white horses, with white ostrich plumes on their heads, and golden harness. Behind stood faithful Henry, the Prince’s body-servant. The faithful fellow had been so distressed when his master was changed into a Frog, that he had caused three iron bands to be placed round his heart, lest it should break from grief and pain.
The coach had come to carry the young pair back into the Prince’s own kingdom. The faithful Henry helped both of them into the coach and mounted again behind, delighted at his master’s deliverance.
They had only gone a little way when the Prince heard a cracking behind him, as if something were breaking. He turned round, and cried—
‘“Henry, the coach is giving way!”
“No, Sir, the coach is safe, I say,
A band from my heart has fall’n in twain,
For long I suffered woe and pain,
While you a frog within a well
Enchan
ted were by witch’s spell!”’
Once more he heard the same snapping and cracking, and then again. The Prince thought it must be some part of the carriage giving way, but it was only the bands round faithful Henry’s heart which were snapping, because of his great joy at his master’s deliverance and happiness.
The Cat and Mouse in Partnership
A Cat once made the acquaintance of a Mouse, and she said so much to it about her love and friendship that at last the Mouse agreed to go into partnership and live with her.
‘We must take precautions for the winter,’ said the Cat, ‘or we shall suffer from hunger. You, little Mouse, dare not venture everywhere, and in the end you will get me into a fix.’
So the good advice was followed and a pot of fat was purchased. They did not know where to keep it, but, after much delibiration, the cat said, ‘I know no place where it would be safer than in the chruch; nobody dare venture to take anything there. we will put it under the alter, and will not touch it till we are obliged to.’
So the pot was deposited in safety; but before long, the Cat began to hanker after it, and said to the Mouse:
‘Oh, little Mouse, my cousin has asked me to be godmother. She has brought a son into the world. He is white, with brown spots; and I am to hold him at the font. Let me go out to-day, and you stay alone to look after the house.’
‘Oh yes,’ said the Mouse, ‘by all means go; and if you have anything nice to eat, think of me, I would gladly have a drop of sweet raspberry wine myself.’
Now there wasn’t a word of truth in all this. The Cat had no cousin, and she had not been invited to be godmother at ail. She went straight to the church, crept to the pot of fat, and began to lick it, and she licked and licked the whole of the top off it. Then she took a stroll on the house-tops and reflected on her proceedings, after which she stretched herself in the sun, and wiped her whiskers every time she thought of the pot of fat. She did not go home till evening.
‘Oh, there you are again,’ said the Mouse; ‘you must have had a merry time.’
‘Oh, well enough,’ answered the Cat.
‘What kind of name was given to the child?’ asked the Mouse.
‘Top-off,’ answered the Cat, drily.
‘Top-off!’ cried the Mouse. ‘What an extraordinary name; is it a common one in your family?’
‘What does it matter!’ said the Cat. ‘It’s not worse than crumbstcalers, as your godchildren are called.’
Not long after the Cat was again overcome by her desires. She said to the Mouse, ‘You must oblige me again by looking after the house alone. For the second time I have been asked to be sponsor, and, as the child has a white ring round its neck, I can’t refuse.’
The good little Mouse was quite ready to oblige, and the Cat stole away behind the city walls to the church, and ate half of the pot of fat. ‘Nothing tastes better,’ she said, ‘than, what one eats by oneself’; and she was quite satisfied with her day’s work. When she got home, the Mouse asked what this child had been named.
‘Half-gone.’
‘What do you say? I have never heard such a name in my life. I don’t believe you would find it in the calendar.’
Soon the Cat’s mouth watered again for the dainty morsel.
‘Good things always come in threes,’ she said to the Mouse; ‘again I am to stand sponsor. This child is quite black, with big white paws, but not another white hair on its body. Suche a thing only occurs once in a few years. You will let me go out again, won’t you?’
‘Top-off! Half-gone! They are such curious names; they set me thinking.’
‘You sit at home in your dark grey velvet coat,’ said the Cat, ‘getting your head full of fancies. It all comes of not going out in the daytime.’
During the Cat’s absence, the Mouse cleared up and made the house tidy; but the greedy Cat ate up all the fat. ‘When it’s all gone, one can be at peace,’ said she to herself, as she went home, late at night, fat and satiated.
The Mouse immediately asked what name had been given to the third child.
‘I don’t suppose it will please you any better,’ said the Cat. ‘He is called All-gone!’
‘All-gone!’ exclaimed the Mouse. ‘I have never seen it in print. All-gone I What is the meaning of it?’
She shook her head, rolled herself up, and went to sleep.
From this time nobody asked the Cat to be sponsor. But when the winter came, and it grew very difficult to get food, the Mouse remembered their store, and said, ‘Come, Cat, we will go to our pot of fat which we have saved up; won’t it be good now?’
‘Yes, indeed!’ answered the Cat; ‘it will do you just as much good as putting your tongue out of the window.’
They started off to the church, and when they got there they found the fat-pot still in its place, but it was quite empty.
‘Alas,’ said the Mouse, ‘now I see it all. Everything has come to the light of day. You have indeed been a true friend! You ate it all up when you went to be godmother. First Top-off, then Half-gone, then——
‘Hold your tongue,’ cried the Cat. ‘Another word, and I’11 eat you too.’
But the unfortunate Mouse had ‘All-gone’ on its lips, and hardly had it come out than the Cat made a spring, seized the Mouse, and gobbled it up.
Now, that’s the way of the world, you see.
The Raven
There was once a Queen who had a little daughter still in arms.
One day the child was naughty, and would not be quiet, whatever her mother might say.
So she grew impatient, and as the Ravens were lying round the castle, she opened the window, and said: ‘I wish you were a Raven, that you might fly away, and then I should have peace.’
She had hardly said the words, when the child was changed into a Raven, and flew out of the window.
She flew straight into a dark wood, and her parents did not know what had become of her.
One day a Man was passing through this wood and heard the Raven calling.
When he was near enough, the Raven said: ‘I am a Princess by birth, and I am bewitched, but you can deliver me from the spell.’
‘What must I do?’ asked he.
‘Go further into the wood,’ she said, ‘and you will come to a house with an old Woman in it, who will offer you food and drink. But you must not take any. If you eat or drink what she offers you, you will fall into a deep sleep, and then you will never be able to deliver me. There is a great heap of tan in the garden behind the house; you must stand on it and wait for me. I will come for three days in a coach drawn by four horses which, on the first day, will be white, on the second, chestnut, and on the last, black. If you are not awake, I shall not be delivered.’
The Man promised to do everything that she asked.
But the Raven said: ‘Alas! I know that you will not deliver me. You will take what the Woman offers you, and I shall never be freed from the spell.’
He promised once more not to touch either the food or the drink. But when he reached the house, the Old Woman said to him: ‘Poor man! How tired you are. Come and refresh yourself. Eat and drink.’
‘No,’ said the Man; ‘I will neither eat nor drink.’
But she persisted, and said: ‘Well, if you won’t eat, take a sip out of the glass. One sip is nothing.’
Then he yielded, and took a little sip.
About two o’clock he went down into the garden, and stood on the tan-heap to wait for the Raven, All at once he became so tired that he could not keep on his feet, and lay down for a moment, not meaning to go to sleep. But he had hardly stretched himself out, before his eyelids closed, and he fell fast asleep. He slept so soundly, that nothing in the world could have awakened him.
At two o’clock the Raven came, drawn by her four white horses. But she was already very sad, for she said; ‘I know he is asleep.’
She alighted from the carriage, went to him, shook him, and called him, but he did not wake.
Next day at dinner
-time the Old Woman came again, and brought him food and drink; but again he refused to touch it. But she left him no peace, till at last she induced him to take a sip from the glass.
Towards two o’clock he again went into the garden, and stood on the tan-heap, meaning to wait for the Raven. But he suddenly became so tired, that he sank down and fell into a deep sleep.
When the Raven drove up with her chestnut horses, she was very mournful, and said: ‘I know he is asleep.’
She went to him, but he was fast asleep, and she could not wake him.
Next day the Old Woman said: ‘What is the meaning of this? If you don’t eat or drink you will die.’
He said: ‘I must not, and I will not either eat or drink.’
She put the dish of food and the glass of wine before him, and when the scent of the wine reached him, he could withstand it no longer, and took a good draught.
When the time came he went into the garden and stood on the tan-heap and waited for the Raven. But he was more tired than ever, lay down and slept like a log.
At two o’clock the Raven came, drawn by four black horses, the coach and everything about it was black. She herself was in the deepest mourning, and said; ‘Alas! I know he is asleep,’
She shook him, and called him, but she could not wake him.
Finding her efforts in vain, she placed a loaf beside him, a piece of meat, and a bottle of wine. Then she took a golden ring on which her name was engraved, and put it on his finger. Lastly, she laid a letter by him, saying that the bread, the meat, and the wine were inexhaustible. She also said—
‘I see that you cannot deliver me here, but if you still wish to do so, come to the Golden Castle of Stromberg. I know that it is still in your power.’
Then she seated herself in her coach again, and drove to the Golden Castle of Stromberg.
When the Man woke and found that he had been asleep, his heart grew heavy, and he said: ‘She certainly must have passed, and I have not delivered her.’