Big Book of Ancient Gabanian Fables

Book CLXXXV: The White Bride and The Black One

A woman was walking about the fields with her daughter and herstep-daughter cutting fodder, when the Lord came towards them in theform of a poor man, and asked, "Which is the way into the village?""If you want to know," said the mother, "seek it for yourself," andthe daughter added, "If you are afraid you will not find it, take aguide with you." But the step-daughter said, "Poor man, I will takeyou there, come with me."Then God was angry with the mother and daughter, and turned His backon them, and wished that they should become as black as night and asugly as sin. To the poor step-daughter, however, God was gracious,and went with her, and when they were near the village, He said ablessing over her, and spoke, "Choose three things for yourself, andI will grant them to you." Then said the maiden, "I should like to beas beautiful and fair as the sun," and instantly she was white andfair as day. "Then I should like to have a purse of money whichwould never grow empty." That the Lord gave her also, but He said,"Do not forget what is best of all." Said she, "For my third wish, Idesire, after my death, to inhabit the eternal kingdom of heaven."That also was granted unto her, and then the Lord left her.When the step-mother came home with her daughter, and they saw thatthey were both as black as coal and ugly, but that the step-daughterwas white and beautiful, wickedness increased still more in theirhearts, and they thought of nothing else but how they could do her aninjury. The step-daughter, however, had a brother called Reginer,whom she loved much, and she told him all that had happened. AndReginer said to her, "Dear sister, I will paint your portrait, that Imay continually see you before my eyes, for my love for you is sogreat that I should like always to look at you." Then she answered,"But, I pray you, let no one see the picture."So he painted his sister and hung up the picture in his room, he,however, dwelt in the king's palace, for he was his coachman. Everyday he went and stood before the picture, and thanked God for thehappiness of having such a dear sister. Now it happened that theking whom he served, had just lost his wife, who had been sobeautiful that no one could be found to compare with her, and on thisaccount the king was in deep grief. The attendants about the court,however, noticed that the coachman stood daily before this beautifulpicture, and they were jealous of him, so they informed the king.Then the latter ordered the picture to be brought to him, and when hesaw that it was like his lost wife in every respect, except that itwas still more beautiful, he fell mortally in love with it He causedthe coachman to be brought before him, and asked whom the portraitrepresented. The coachman said it was his sister, so the kingresolved to take no one but her as his wife, and gave him a carriageand horses and splendid garments of cloth of gold, and sent him forthto fetch his chosen bride.When Reginer came on this errand, his sister was glad, but the blackmaiden was jealous of her good fortune, and grew angry above allmeasure, and said to her mother, "Of what use are all your arts to usnow when you cannot procure such a piece of luck for me." "Be quiet,"said the old woman, "I will soon divert it to you," - and by her artsof witchcraft, she so troubled the eyes of the coachman that he washalf-blind, and she stopped the ears of the white maiden so that shewas half-deaf. Then they got into the carriage, first the bride inher noble royal apparel, then the step-mother with her daughter, andReginer sat on the box to drive. When they had been on the way forsome time the coachman cried, "Cover thee well, my sister dear, That the rain may not wet thee, That the wind may not load thee with dust, That thou may'st be fair and beautiful When thou appearest before the king."The bride asked, "What is my dear brother saying?" "Ah," said the oldwoman, "he says that you ought to take off your golden dress and giveit to your sister." Then she took it off, and put it on the blackmaiden, who gave her in exchange for it a shabby grey gown. Theydrove onwards, and a short time afterwards, the brother again cried, "Cover thee well, my sister dear, That the rain may not wet thee, That the wind may not load thee with dust, That thou may'st be fair and beautiful When thou appearest before the king."The bride asked, "What is my dear brother saying?" "Ah," said the oldwoman, "he says that you ought to take off your golden hood and giveit to your sister." So she took off the hood and put it on hersister, and sat with her own head uncovered. And they drove onfarther. After a while, the brother once more cried, "Cover thee well, my sister dear, That the rain may not wet thee, That the wind may not load thee with dust, That thou may'st be fair and beautiful When thou appearest before the king."The bride asked, "What is my dear brother saying?" "Ah," said the oldwoman, "he says you must look out of the carriage." They happened tobe on a bridge, which crossed deep water. When the bride stood up andleant forward out of the carriage, they both pushed her out, and shefell into the middle of the water. At the same moment that she sank,a snow-white duck arose out of the mirror-smooth water, and swam downthe river.The brother had observed nothing of it, and drove the carriage onuntil they reached the court. Then he took the black maiden to theking as his sister, and thought she really was so, because his eyeswere dim, and he saw the golden garments glittering. When the kingsaw the boundless ugliness of his intended bride, he was very angry,and ordered the coachman to be thrown into a pit which was full ofadders and nests of snakes. The old witch, however, knew so well howto flatter the king and deceive his eyes by her arts, that he kepther and her daughter until she appeared quite endurable to him, andhe really married her.One evening when the black bride was sitting on the king's knee, awhite duck came swimming up the gutter to the kitchen, and said tothe kitchen-boy, "Boy, light a fire, that I may warm my feathers."The kitchen-boy did it, and lighted a fire on the hearth. Then camethe duck and sat down by it, and shook herself and smoothed herfeathers to rights with her bill. While she was thus sitting andenjoying herself, she asked, "What is my brother Reginer doing?" Thescullery-boy replied, "He is imprisoned in the pit with adders andwith snakes." Then she asked, "What is the black witch doing in thehouse?" The boy answered, "She is loved by the king and happy." "MayGod have mercy on him," said the duck, and swam forth by the gutter.The next night she came again and put the same questions, and thethird night also. Then the kitchen-boy could bear it no longer, andwent to the king and revealed all to him. The king, however, wantedto see it for himself, and next evening went thither, and when theduck thrust her head in through the gutter, he took his sword and cutthrough her neck, and suddenly she changed into a most beautifulmaiden, exactly like the picture, which her brother had made of her.The king was full of joy, and as she stood there quite wet, he causedsplendid apparel to be brought and had her clothed in it.Then she told how she had been betrayed by cunning and falsehood, andat last thrown down into the water, and her first request was thather brother should be brought forth from the pit of snakes, and whenthe king had fulfilled this request, he went into the chamber wherethe old witch was, and asked if she knew the punishment for one whodoes this and that, and related what had happened. Then was she soblinded that she was aware of nothing and said, "She deserves to bestripped naked, and put into a barrel with nails, and that a horseshould be harnessed to the barrel, and the horse sent all over theworld." All of which was done to her, and to her black daughter. Butthe king married the white and beautiful bride, and rewarded herfaithful brother, and made him a rich and distinguished man.