Big Book of Ancient Gabanian Fables

Book CLXXIV: Donkey Cabbages

There was once a young huntsman who went into the forest to lie inwait. He had a fresh and joyous heart, and as he was going thither,whistling upon a leaf, an ugly old crone came up, who spoke to himand said, "Good-day, dear huntsman, truly you are merry andcontented, but I am suffering from hunger and thirst, do give me analms." The huntsman took pity on the poor old creature, felt in hispocket, and gave her what he could afford.He was then about to go further, but the old woman stopped him andsaid, "Listen, dear huntsman, to what I tell you. I will make you apresent in return for your good heart. Go on your way now, but in alittle while you will come to a tree, whereon nine birds are sittingwhich have a cloak in their claws, and are fighting for it, take yourgun and shoot into the midst of them. They will let the cloak falldown to you, but one of the birds will be hurt, and will drop downdead. Carry away the cloak, it is a wishing-cloak. When you throwit over your shoulders, you only have to wish to be in a certainplace, and you will be there in the twinkling of an eye. Take outthe heart of the dead bird and swallow it whole, and every morningearly, when you get up, you will find a gold piece under yourpillow." The huntsman thanked the wise woman, and thought to himself,"Those are fine things that she has promised me, if all does but cometrue." And verily when he had walked about a hundred paces, he heardin the branches above him such a screaming and twittering that helooked up and saw there a swarm of birds who were tearing a piece ofcloth about with their beaks and claws, and tugging and fighting asif each wanted to have it all to himself. "Well," said the huntsman,"this is amazing, it has really come to pass just as the old croneforetold," and he took the gun from his shoulder, aimed and firedright into the midst of them, so that the feathers flew about. Thebirds instantly took to flight with loud outcries, but one droppeddown dead, and the cloak fell at the same time. Then the huntsmandid as the old woman had directed him, cut open the bird, sought theheart, swallowed it down, and took the cloak home with him.Next morning, when he awoke, the promise occurred to him, and hewished to see if it also had been fulfilled. When he lifted up thepillow, the gold piece shone in his eyes, and next day he foundanother, and so it went on, every time he got up. He gatheredtogether a heap of gold, but at last he thought, "Of what use is allmy gold to me if I stay at home? I will go forth and see the world."He then took leave of his parents, buckled on his huntsman's pouchand gun, and went out into the world. It came to pass, that one dayhe traveled through a dense forest, and when he came to the end ofit, in the plain before him stood a fine castle. An old woman wasstanding with a wonderfully beautiful maiden, looking out of one ofthe windows. The old woman, however, was a witch and said to themaiden, "There comes one out of the forest, who has a wonderfultreasure in his body. We must filch it from him, daughter of myheart, it is more suitable for us than for him. He has a bird'sheart about him, by means of which a gold piece lies every morningunder his pillow." She told her what she was to do to get it, andwhat part she had to play, and finally threatened her, and said withangry eyes, "And if you do not attend to what I say, it will be theworse for you." Now when the huntsman came nearer he noticed themaiden, and said to himself, "I have traveled about for such a longtime, I will take a rest for once, and enter that beautiful castle.I have certainly money enough." Nevertheless, the real reason wasthat he had caught sight of the beautiful picture.He entered the house, and was well received and courteouslyentertained. Before long he was so much in love with the young witchthat he no longer thought of anything else, and only saw things asshe saw them, and liked to do what she desired. The old woman thensaid, "Now we must have the bird's heart, he will never miss it." Shebrewed a potion, and when it was ready, poured it into a goblet andgave it to the maiden, who was to present it to the huntsman. Shedid so, saying, "Now, my dearest, drink to me."So he took the goblet, and when he had swallowed the draught, hebrought up the heart of the bird. The girl had to take it awaysecretly and swallow it herself, for the old woman would have it so.Thenceforward he found no more gold under his pillow, but it layinstead under that of the maiden, from whence the old woman fetchedit away every morning, but he was so much in love and so befooled,that he thought of nothing else but of passing his time with thegirl.Then the old witch said, "We have the bird's heart, but we must alsotake the wishing-cloak away from him." The girl answered, "We willleave him that, he has lost his wealth." The old woman was angry andsaid, "Such a mantle is a wonderful thing, and is seldom to be foundin this world. I must and will have it." She gave the girl severalblows, and said that if she did not obey, it should fare ill withher. So she did the old woman's bidding, placed herself at thewindow and looked on the distant country, as if she were verysorrowful. The huntsman asked, "Why do you stand there sosorrowfully?" "Ah, my beloved," was her answer, "over yonder lies thegarnet mountain, where the precious stones grow. I long for them somuch that when I think of them, I feel quite sad, but who can getthem. Only the birds, they fly and can reach them, but a man never.""Have you nothing else to complain of?" said the huntsman. "I willsoon remove that burden from your heart." With that he drew her underhis mantle, wished himself on the garnet mountain, and in thetwinkling of an eye they were sitting on it together. Preciousstones were glistening on every side so that it was a joy to seethem, and together they gathered the finest and costliest of them.Now, the old woman had, through her sorceries, contrived that theeyes of the huntsman should become heavy. He said to the maiden, "Wewill sit down and rest awhile, I am so tired that I can no longerstand on my feet." Then they sat down, and he laid his head in herlap, and fell asleep. When he was asleep, she unfastened the mantlefrom his shoulders, and wrapped herself in it, picked up the garnetsand stones, and wished herself back at home with them.But when the huntsman had slept his fill and awoke, and perceivedthat his sweetheart had betrayed him, and left him alone on the wildmountain, he said, "Oh, what treachery there is in the world," andsat down there in trouble and sorrow, not knowing what to do. Butthe mountain belonged to some wild and monstrous giants who dweltthereon and lived their lives there, and he had not sat long beforehe saw three of them coming towards him, so he lay down as if he weresunk in a deep sleep.Then the giants came up, and the first kicked him with his foot andsaid, "What sort of an earth-worm is this, lying here contemplatinghis inside?" The second said, "Step upon him and kill him." But thethird said, contemptuously, "That would indeed be worth your while,just let him live, he cannot remain here, and when he climbs higher,toward the summit of of the mountain, the clouds will lay hold of himand bear him away." So saying they passed by. But the huntsman hadpaid heed to their words, and as soon as they were gone, he rose andclimbed up to the summit of the mountain, and when he had sat there awhile, a cloud floated towards him, caught him up, carried him away,and traveled about for a long time in the heavens. Then it sanklower, and let itself down on a great cabbage-garden, girt round bywalls, so that he came softly to the ground on cabbages andvegetables.Then the huntsman looked about him and said, "If I had but somethingto eat. I am so hungry, and to proceed on my way from here will bedifficult. I see here neither apples nor pears, nor any other sortof fruit, everywhere nothing but cabbages, but at length he thought,at a pinch I can eat some of the leaves, they do not tasteparticularly good, but they will refresh me." With that he pickedhimself out a fine head of cabbage, and ate it, but scarcely had heswallowed a couple of mouthfuls than he felt very strange and quitedifferent.Four legs grew on him, a thick head and two long ears, and he sawwith horror that he was changed into an ass. Still as his hungerincreased every minute, and as the juicy leaves were suitable to hispresent nature, he went on eating with great zest. At last hearrived at a different kind of cabbage, but as soon as he hadswallowed it, he again felt a change, and resumed his former humanshape.Then the huntsman lay down and slept off his fatigue. When he awokenext morning, he broke off one head of the bad cabbages and anotherof the good ones, and thought to himself, this shall help me to getmy own again and punish treachery. Then he took the cabbages withhim, climbed over the wall, and went forth to look for the castle ofhis sweetheart. After wandering about for a couple of days he waslucky enough to find it again. He dyed his face brown, so that hisown mother would not have known him, and begged for shelter, "I am sotired," said he, "that I can go no further." The witch asked, "Whoare you, countryman, and what is your business?" "I am a king'smessenger, and was sent out to seek the most delicious salad whichgrows beneath the sun. I have even been so fortunate as to find it,and am carrying it about with me, but the heat of the sun is sointense that the delicate cabbage threatens to wither, and I do notknow if I can carry it any further."When the old woman heard of the exquisite salad, she was greedy, andsaid, "Dear countryman, let me just try this wonderful salad." "Whynot?" answered he. "I have brought two heads with me, and will giveyou one of them," and he opened his pouch and handed her the badcabbage. The witch suspected nothing amiss, and her mouth watered sofor this new dish that she herself went into the kitchen and dressedit. When it was prepared she could not wait until it was set on thetable, but took a couple of leaves at once, and put them in hermouth, but hardly had she swallowed them than she was deprived of herhuman shape, and she ran out into the courtyard in the form of anass.Presently the maid-servant entered the kitchen, saw the saladstanding there ready prepared, and was about to carry it up, but onthe way, according to habit, she was seized by the desire to taste,and she ate a couple of leaves. Instantly the magic power showeditself, and she likewise became an ass and ran out to the old woman,and the dish of salad fell to the ground.Meantime the messenger sat beside the beautiful girl, and as no onecame with the salad and she also was longing for it, she said, "Idon't know what has become of the salad." The huntsman thought, thesalad must have already taken effect, and said, "I will go to thekitchen and inquire about it." As he went down he saw the two assesrunning about in the courtyard, the salad, however, was lying on theground. "All right," said he, "the two have taken their portion," andhe picked up the other leaves, laid them on the dish, and carriedthem to the maiden. "I bring you the delicate food myself," said he,"in order that you may not have to wait longer." Then she ate of it,and was, like the others, immediately deprived of her human form, andran out into the courtyard in the shape of an ass.After the huntsman had washed his face, so that the transformed onescould recognize him, he went down into the courtyard, and said, "Nowyou shall receive the wages of your treachery," and bound themtogether, all three with one rope, and drove them along until he cameto a mill. He knocked at the window, the miller put out his head,and asked what he wanted. "I have three unmanageable beasts,answered he, which I don't want to keep any longer. Will you takethem in, and give them food and stable room, and manage them as Itell you, and then I will pay you what you ask?" The miller said,"Why not? But how am I to manage them?" The huntsman then said thathe was to give three beatings and one meal daily to the old donkey,and that was the witch, one beating and three meals to the youngerone, which was the servant-girl, and to the youngest, which was themaiden, no beatings and three meals, for he could not bring himselfto have the maiden beaten. After that he went back into the castle,and found therein everything he needed.After a couple of days, the miller came and said he must inform himthat the old ass which had received three beatings and only one mealdaily was dead. The two others, he continued, are certainly notdead, and are fed three times daily, but they are so sad that theycannot last much longer. The huntsman was moved to pity, put awayhis anger, and told the miller to drive them back again to him. Andwhen they came, he gave them some of the good salad, so that theybecame human again. The beautiful girl fell on her knees before him,and said, "Ah, my beloved, forgive me for the evil I have done you,my mother drove me to it. It was done against my will, for I loveyou dearly. Your wishing-cloak hangs in a cupboard, and as for thebird's-heart I will take a vomiting potion." But he thoughtotherwise, and said, "Keep it. It is all the same, for I will takeyou for my true wife." So the wedding was celebrated, and they livedhappily together until their death.