Big Book of Ancient Gabanian Fables

Book LLXIX: The Juniper Tree

It is now long ago, quite two thousand years, since there wasa rich man who had a beautiful and pious wife, and they lovedeach other dearly. They had, however, no children, though theywished for them very much, and the woman prayed for them dayand night, but still they had none. Now there was a court-yardin front of their house in which was a juniper tree, and one dayin winter the woman was standing beneath it, paring herself anapple, and while she was paring herself the apple she cut herfinger, and the blood fell on the snow. Ah, said the woman,and sighed right heavily, and looked at the blood before her, andwas most unhappy, ah, if I had but a child as red as blood andas white as snow. And while she thus spoke, she became quitehappy in her mind, and felt just as if that were going to happen.Then she went into the house and a month went by and the snowwas gone, and two months, and then everything was green, and threemonths, and then all the flowers came out of the earth, and fourmonths, and then all the trees in the wood grew thicker, and thegreen branches were all closely entwined, and the birds sanguntil the wood resounded and the blossoms fell from the trees,then the fifth month passed away and she stood under the junipertree, which smelt so sweetly that her heart leapt, and she fellon her knees and was beside herself with joy, and when the sixthmonth was over the fruit was large and fine, and then she wasquite still, and the seventh month she snatched at thejuniper-berries and ate them greedily, then she grew sick andsorrowful, then the eighth month passed, and she called herhusband to her, and wept and said, if I die then bury mebeneath the juniper tree. Then she was quite comforted andhappy until the next month was over, and then she had a childas white as snow and as red as blood, and when she beheld itshe was so delighted that she died.Then her husband buried her beneath the juniper tree, and hebegan to weep sore, after some time he was more at ease, andthough he still wept he could bear it, and after some timelonger he took another wife.By the second wife he had a daughter, but the first wife's childwas a little son, and he was as red as blood and as white as snow.When the woman looked at her daughter she loved her very much,but then she looked at the little boy and it seemed to cut herto the heart, for the thought came into her mind that he wouldalways stand in her way, and she was for ever thinking how shecould get all the fortune for her daughter, and the evil one filledher mind with this till she was quite wroth with the little boyand she pushed him from one corner to the other and slapped himhere and cuffed him there, until the poor child was in continualterror, for when he came out of school he had no peace in anyplace.One day the woman had gone upstairs to her room, and her littledaughter went up too, and said, mother, give me an apple. Yes,my child, said the woman, and gave her a fine apple out of thechest, but the chest had a great heavy lid with a great sharpiron lock. Mother, said the little daughter, is brother notto have one too. This made the woman angry, but she said, yes,when he comes out of school. And when she saw from the windowthat he was coming, it was just as if the devil entered into her,and she snatched at the apple and took it away again from herdaughter, and said, you shall not have one before your brother.Then she threw the apple into the chest, and shut it. Then thelittle boy came in at the door, and the devil made her say tohim kindly, my son, will you have an apple. And she looked wickedlyat him. Mother, said the little boy, how dreadful you look.Yes, give me an apple. Then it seemed to her as if she wereforced to say to him, come with me, and she opened the lidof the chest and said, take out an apple for yourself, andwhile the little boy was stooping inside, the devil promptedher, and crash. She shut the lid down, and his head flew off andfell among the red apples. Then she was overwhelmed withterror, and thought, if I could but make them think that itwas not done by me. So she went upstairs to her room to herchest of drawers, and took a white handkerchief out of the topdrawer, and set the head on the neck again, and folded thehandkerchief so that nothing could be seen, and she set himon a chair in front of the door, and put the apple in his hand.After this Marlinchen came into the kitchen to her mother,who was standing by the fire with a pan of hot water before herwhich she was constantly stirring round. "Mother," said Marlinchen,"brother is sitting at the door, and he looks quite white andhas an apple in his hand. I asked him to give me the apple,but he did not answer me, and I was quite frightened." "Go backto him," said her mother, "and if he will not answer you, give hima box on the ear." So Marlinchen went to him and said, "Brother,give me the apple." But he was silent, and she gave him a boxon the ear, whereupon his head fell off. Marlinchen was terrified,and began crying and screaming, and ran to her mother, and said,"Alas, mother, I have knocked my brother's head off," and she weptand wept and could not be comforted. "Marlinchen," said the mother,what have you done, but be quiet and let no one know it, itcannot be helped now, we will make him into black-puddings."Then the mother took the little boy and chopped him in pieces,put him into the pan and made him into black puddings, butMarlinchen stood by weeping and weeping, and all her tears fellinto the pan and there was no need of any salt.Then the father came home, and sat down to dinner and said,"But where is my son?" And the mother served up a great dish ofblack-puddings, and Marlinchen wept and could not leave off.Then the father again said, "But where is my son?" "Ah," said themother, "he has gone across the coutry to his mother's greatuncle, he will stay there awhile." "And what is he going to dothere? He did not even say good-bye to me.""Oh, he wanted to go, and asked me if he might stay six weeks,he is well taken care of there." "Ah," said the man, "I feel sounhappy lest all should not be right. He ought to have saidgood-bye to me." With that he began to eat and said, "Marlinchen,why are you crying? Your brother will certainly come back."Then he said, "Ah, wife, how delicious this food is, give mesome more." And the more he ate the more he wanted to have,and he said, "Give me some more, you shall have none of it.It seems to me as if it were all mine." And he ate and ate andthrew all the bones under the table, until he had finishedthe whole. But Marlinchen went away to her chest of drawers,and took her best silk handkerchief out of the bottom draw,and got all the bones from beneath the table, and tied them up inher silk handkerchief, and carried them outside the door,weeping tears of blood. Then she lay down under the junipertree on the green grass, and after she had lain down there, shesuddenly felt light-hearted and did not cry any more. Thenthe juniper tree began to stir itself, and the branches partedasunder, and moved together again, just as if someone wererejoicing and clapping his hands. At the same time a mist seemedto arise from the tree, and in the center of this mist it burnedlike a fire, and a beautiful bird flew out of the fire singingmagnificently, and he flew high up in the air, and when he was gone,the juniper tree was just as it had been before, and thehandkerchief with the bones was no longer there. Marlinchen,however, was as gay and happy as if her brother were still alive.And she went merrily into the house, and sat down to dinner andate.But the bird flew away and lighted on a goldsmith's house, andbegan to sing - my mother she killed me, my father he ate me, my sister, little marlinchen, gathered together all my bones, tied them in a silken handkerchief, laid them beneath the juniper tree, kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I.The goldsmith was sitting in his workshop making a golden chain,when he heard the bird which was sitting singing on his roof,and very beautiful the song seemed to him. He stood up, butas he crossed the threshold he lost one of his slippers.But he went away right up the middle of the street with oneshoe on and one sock, he had his apron on, and in one hand hehad the golden chain and in the other the pincers, and the sun wasshining brightly on the street. Then he went right on and stoodstill, and said to the bird, "Bird," said he then, "how beautifullyyou can sing. Sing me that piece again." "No," said the bird,"I'll not sing it twice for nothing. Give me the golden chain,and then I will sing it again for you." "There," said the goldsmith,"there is the golden chain for you, now sing me that song again."Then the bird came and took the golden chain in his right claw,and went and sat in front of the goldsmith, and sang - my mother she killed me, my father he ate me, my sister, little marlinchen, gathered together all my bones, tied them in a silken handkerchief, laid them beneath the juniper tree, kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I.Then the bird flew away to a shoemaker, and lighted on hisroof and sang - my mother she killed me, my father he ate me, my sister, little marlinchen, gathered together all my bones, tied them in a silken handkerchief, laid them beneath the juniper tree, kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I.The shoemaker heard that and ran out of doors in his shirt sleeves,and looked up at his roof, and was forced to hold his hand beforehis eyes lest the sun should blind him. "Bird," said he, "howbeautifully you can sing." Then he called in at his door,"Wife, just come outside, there is a bird, look at that bird, hecertainly can sing." Then he called his daughter and children,and apprentices, boys and girls, and they all came up thestreet and looked at the bird and saw how beautiful he was, andwhat fine red and green feathers he had, and how like real goldhis neck was, and how the eyes in his head shone like stars. "Bird,"said the shoemaker, "now sing me that song again." "Nay," said thebird, "I do not sing twice for nothing, you must give me something.""Wife," said the man, "go to the garret, upon the top shelf therestands a pair of red shoes, bring them down." Then the wifewent and brought the shoes. "There, bird," said the man, "nowsing me that piece again." Then the bird came and took the shoesin his left claw, and flew back on the roof, and sang - my mother she killed me, my father he ate me, my sister, little Marlinchen, gathered together all my bones, tied them in a silken handkerchief, laid them beneath the juniper tree, kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I.and when he had finished his song he flew away. In his rightclaw he had the chain and in his left the shoes, and he flew faraway to a mill, and the mill went, klipp klapp, klipp klapp,klipp klapp, and in the mill sat twenty miller's men hewing astone, and cutting, hick hack, hick hack, hick hack, and the millwent klipp klapp, klipp klapp'klipp klapp. Then the bird wentand sat on a lime-tree which stood in front of the mill, andsang - my mother she killed me,then one of them stopped working, my father he ate me,then two more stopped working and listened to that, my sister, little Marlinchen,then four more stopped, gathered together all my bones, tied them in a silken handkerchief,now eight only were hewing, laid them beneath,now only five, the juniper tree,and now only one, kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I.Then the last stopped also, and heard the last words. "Bird,"said he, "how beautifully you sing. Let me, too, hear that.Sing that once more for me.""Nay," said the bird, "I will not sing twice for nothing. Give methe millstone, and then I will sing it again.""Yes," said he, "if it belonged to me only, you should have it.""Yes," said the others, "if he sings again he shall have it." Thenthe bird came down, and the twenty millers all set to work with abeam and raised the stone up. And the bird stuck his neckthrough the hole, and put the stone on as if it were a collar,and flew on to the tree again, and sang - my mother she killed me, my father he ate me, my sister, little Marlinchen, gathered together all my bones, tied them in a silken handkerchief, laid them beneath the juniper tree, kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I.And when he had done singing, he spread his wings, and in hisright claw he had the chain, and in his left the shoes, andround his neck the millstone, and he flew far away to his father'shouse.In the room sat the father, the mother, and Marlinchen at dinner,and the father said, "How light-hearted I feel, how happy I am.""Nay," said the mother, "I feel so uneasy, just as if a heavystorm were coming." Marlinchen, however, sat weeping and weeping,and then came the bird flying, and as it seated itself on theroof the father said, "Ah, I feel so truly happy, and the sun isshining so beautifully outside, I feel just as if I were aboutto see some old friend again." "Nay," said the woman, "I feel soanxious, my teeth chatter, and I seem to have fire in my veins."And she tore her stays open, but Marlinchen sat in a corner crying,and held her plate before her eyes and cried till it was quitewet. Then the bird sat on the juniper tree, and sang - my mother she killed me,then the mother stopped her ears, and shut her eyes, and wouldnot see or hear, but there was a roaring in her ears like themost violent storm, and her eyes burnt and flashed likelightning - my father he ate me,"Ah, mother," says the man, "that is a beautiful bird. He sings sosplendidly, and the sun shines so warm, and there is a smell justlike cinnamon." My sister, little Marlinchen,then Marlinchen laid her head on her knees and wept withoutceasing, but the man said, "I am going out, I must see the birdquite close." "Oh, don't go," said the woman, "I feel as if thewhole house were shaking and on fire." But the man went out andlooked at the bird. gathered together all my bones, tied them in a silken handkerchief, laid them beneath the juniper tree, kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am Ion this the bird let the golden chain fall, and it fell exactlyround the man's neck, and so exactly round it that it fittedbeautifully. Then he went in and said, "just look what a fine birdthat is, and what a handsome golden chain he has given me, and howpretty he is." But the woman was terrified, and fell down onthe floor in the room, and her cap fell off her head. Then sangthe bird once more - my mother she killed me."Would that I were a thousand feet beneath the earth so as notto hear that." My father he ate me,then the woman fell down again as if dead. My sister, little marlinchen,"Ah," said Marlinchen, "I too will go out and see if the bird willgive me anything," and she went out. Gathered together all my bones, tied them in a silken handkerchief,then he threw down the shoes to her. Laid them beneath the juniper tree, kywitt, kywitt, what a beautiful bird am I.Then she was light-hearted and joyous, and she put on the new redshoes, and danced and leaped into the house. "Ah," said she, "Iwas so sad when I went out and now I am so light-hearted, thatis a splendid bird, he has given me a pair of red shoes." "Well,"said the woman, and sprang to her feet and her hair stood uplike flames of fire, "I feel as if the world were coming to an end.I too, will go out and see if my heart feels lighter." And asshe went out at the door, crash. The bird threw down the millstoneon her head, and she was entirely crushed by it.The father and Marlinchen heard what had happened and went out, and smoke,flames, and fire were rising from the place, and when that wasover, there stood the little brother, and he took his father andMarlinchen by the hand, and all three were right glad, and theywent into the house to dinner, and ate.