CzechFolkTales 10022845

C ZEC H FO L K TA L ES
L C T ED T R A N S LA T ED
‘
SE E AN D BY
DR .
J O S E F B A U D I S,
L EC T URER IN COM P A R A TI VE P H ILOLOG Y

R A E NI ER ITY
‘
A T T H E P G U U V S
WI TH 8 I L LUS T R A TI O N S
LO N D O N : G EO R GE A L LEN U N WI N LTD .
R U S KI N H O U S E 40 M U SE U M S T R EET W C x , . .
PR E FA C E
TH E p re s e n t c ollection h as been s e le c te d from

the foll owing sources
J osef K ub i n , P o v ld k y k l ad s k é , i .
, n .
( i n
N aro d o p is n )? v e stn i k Ee s k os l o v an s k y
V V ondrak
.
, N ék ol i k p oh ad
'
e k z D ubu u
”
V od fi a n (
'
“
S B ohemia
.
) in CI e s lq , L i d xiii r
, .
V T ille P o v id ky s e br an é na Val ass k u

.
,
“
' '
“
( S . M oravia ) N ar o
. d o p i s n
j s b o r n i k cesko r
s l o v a n s k v S v a z e k vii
, Prague 1 9 0 1 .
,
.
E l pl Rada p oh ad e k a p o v és t l n asbl ran i c h

,
v Li su i u B rna ( M oravia ) .
B M K ulda M oravsk e n ar od n i p oh ad ky a
. .
,
p o v és t i i, ( Prague
. F rom
, M oravia .
The first t wo stories ( Twelve M onths

“
.
V lta z k o ) have be e n r e told by the novelist

”
B oz e n a N ém c ov a ( from the Slovak )

‘’
.
M y tra n s lation could not be o f cou rse , .
a lit e ral on e because many phrases in the

,
vi i
P R EFACE
original might seem strange t o the E nglish
’
reader s
F inally .I wish t o express my than ks t o
M iss E l eanor H ull and M r R obin F lower
.
for revising my E nglish.
J O S EF B A UD I S
.
LO N DO N ,
C ON T E NT S
F AG !
I N TR O D UCT I O N
THE T WELV E M O N TH S . F ro m B . N ém c ov a
i
v i AZHO ,
' ‘
F r om B . N ém c ové
B OO TS , C LO A K, !ND R I NG . From B M . . K ul d a
S I LLY J URA . F ro m B . M Kul d a

.
F ro m B M
”
S LEE P Y JO HN . . . K ul d a
TH REE D OVE S . F ro m B M . . Ku l d a
TH E B E AR , TH E E A G LE , AN D TH E FI S H . Fr o m B l pl 98
S H E P H ER D H YN E K . F ro m K ub i n I n s
TH E TH REE RO S E S . Fr om K ub i n
x ii CO NT E NTS
T H E WATE RN I C K F r om Kub I n
'
T H E M A N WH O M ET M I S E RY . From Kub x n
’
157
N I N E AT A B LOW . F r om C e s k y Li d , ”
xiii .
p . 13 0 . 16 1
A C LE VE R LASS . Fr o m Kub i n
T H E SO L D IER A ND TH E D E V IL . From “
Ce sk y Li d ,
xi ii p 16 7. .
O LD N I C K A ND KI TT Y . F r om K u b in
TH E KN I G HT B A M B US Fr o m Kub x n
’
F R ANC I S A ND M A RTI N . Fr om “
C e skjI Lid ,
p . 2 13
WIT C H E S A T TH E C R O SS . Fr om K ub in
TH E WI TC H A ND TH E H O RS E S H O E S Fr o m K ubi n 1 91
TH E HA UNTE D H I LL . Fr om K u b in 19 5
Th e fi r s t tw o il l ustr ati on s are Co p i e s of p i c tur e s by J ose ph

Man e s ; th e oth e r s h ave be e n d r aw n b y Mr . E . S taii e k , w h o fi t
I N T R O D UC T I O N
TH E present c ollection is intended to exemplify

the sp i rit of the C zech ra c e I t may perhaps
.
b e obje c ted that folk tale themes are part of

-
a c ommon stoc k belonging to all E uropea n

races and even t o many primitive p e Op l e s : but
,
though this is perfectly true it is also n o less

,
certain that the spirit of the nat i on manifests

i tself i n the manner of their telling The
:
.
selec tion h a s been made from all sorts o f

folk tales artistic and prim i t i ve alike ; and
,
thi gs common to all of the m

'
y e t s t w o n a e r
i
th e moral tendency an d a se n se of humour
,
.
B y this I d o not m ea n morality in the

v ulgar sense o f retri b ut i o n for evil or of
,
filial devotio n or the sent i mental insiste n ce

,
upo n every o n e living happily ever after

wards and a bove al l upo n J a c k marrying
,
h is M olly I mean that higher sort o f mora lity

.
which was the mai n spring of Pro t estan tism .
I t is often s upposed that P rotestan tism is

xiv I NT RO D UCTI O N
very unfavourable to the development an d
preservation o f fol k tales ; but those o f
B ohemia a r e certainly an exception t o this
rule The C zech nation w as the first t o
.
adopt the Protestant faith and even to day i s,

-
still Protestan t at heart though the H absburgs

,
forced it back into the C atholic fold .
The C zechs then have preserved their love

, ,
for folk tales adapting them to the higher

,
morality and t o the national sentiment and ,
disca r ding many o f their supernatural featu res ,
or whe r e the supernatu ral was allowed to

remai n fo r a moment r everting ve r y soon to
,
the st r ict limits of probability I t is the very .
same meth od which for example M r Wells

, , .
employs i n some of h is novels That the .
Slav nations have a certain tendency to lay

stress upon the ethical side in thei r folk tales
h as already been pointed o ut by the C zech
poet E rben whose tales have bee n translated
,
into E nglish i n Wra t is l a w s C ollection ’

.
A s for thei r humour the C zechs have a

,
natural tendency to satire The best works .
i n O ld C zech literature a r e satires a nd i n ,
modern times one O f the most b r illiant o f

C zech politicians K a r el H avli cek was also
, ,
the g r eatest C zech satirist This spirit may .

INT RO D UCTI O N xv
also be seen in t h e present collection ; but
i n every case the story teller i nstead of
-
,
assuming the attitu d e o f the mo rality preache r

o r o f indulging i n theat rical invective against
the wickedness o f the times rests content

,
'
with a good humou red gib e at the folly of

-
the world at the frailty o f h is fell ow men

,
-
,
and it may be at h is o w n
, ,
.
These t w o traits are inherent i n the natu re _
o f the C zech people ; and those who know
their love o f such tales and o f the literature

which h as grown ou t o f them can realize ,
their search fo r a haven o f refuge from th e

—
cruel present and their fon d dream pictu r es
,
o f a land where all was good where at last

,
everything was bound to end well where ,
truth and j ustice at last had conquered .
A las ! to the victi m s o f H absbu rg rule and

A ustria n bayonets the bare possibility seemed
utterly excluded A nd yet why should they
.
dream o f such a land ? A m o gu za

’
n ot
’
a és u m u m B ut at the very moment their
humorous eg o could not suppress a snee r .
Y e s even i n that wonderland wh ich their

,
fancy painted are foolish kings ever prone ,
to b reak their word : even there people are

bad an d stupid ! B ut o ur tale says that the
I NT RO D UCTI O N
bad were vanquished and the foolish put to
shame : let then the tale be told ! A nd even
, ,
a s he tells it hi s hea r t nurses the i nward

,
hope that the foreign tyrants who oppress

h im may o n e day be vanquished and
a n nih ilated.
Tha t such were the wishe s of the C z ec h

people the Great War has shown
, .They
have proved by their deeds the i r love of
freedom ; and to day C zechs are fighting
-
bravely I n every A ll i ed army and in their

own nati on al un i ts formed i n R ussia M ay .
thei r A ustrian O ppressors be b rought to the

ground and may B ohemia regain the freedom
,
for which sh e has longed for three centuries !

THE TWELVE MO N TH S
O N CE upon a time ther e lived a mother

w h o had two daughters O ne was her own
.
child the other her stepdaughter She was

, .
very fond of her o w n daughter but she ,
would n ot s o much as look at her step

daughter The only rea son w as that Maru sa
. ,
the stepdaughter w a s prettier than her o w n

,
daughter H o l e n a The gentle hearted Maru sa

, .
-
did n o t know how beautiful s h e was and ,
so she could never make o ut why her mother

w a s so cross with her whenever s h e looked
at her She had to do all the housework
.
,
tidy i ng up t h e cottage cooking was hing and

, , ,
sewing and then s h e had to take the bay to

,
the c o w and look after he r She did all

.
this work alone, while H ol e n a spent the

time adorning herself and lazing about B ut .
Ma r u Sa liked work for sh e was a patient

,
girl and when her mother scolded and rated

,
her she b Ore it like a lamb

, I t was no
.
i
2
CZEC H FOLK TALE S
good howe er fo r they grew crueller and

,
v
,
crueller eve ry day only because Maru sa was

,
growing pret tier and H o l e n a Uglier every day .
A t last the mother thought : Why should

“
I k e ep a pretty stepdaughter i n my house ?

When the lads come courting here they will ,
fall i n love with M a r u sa and they won t ’
look at H o le n a .
Fr om that moment the stepmother and her

daughter were constantly scheming how to
get rid of poor Ma r u Sa They starved her .
and they beat her B ut she bore it all and

.
,
in spite o f all she kept on growing prettier

every day They i nvented torm ents that the
.
cruellest of men would never have thought o f .
O ne day—it w a s i n the middle o f J anuary

H ol e n a felt a longing fo r the scent of violet s .
“
Go Ma r uSa and get me some violets
, ,
from the forest ; I want to wear them at my

”
waist and to smell them she said to her ,
sister .
Great heavens ! sister What a strange .
notion ! Who ever heard of violets growing

”
u nder the snow ? said poor Maru sa .
Y ou wretched tatterdemalion ! h o w d are

you argue when I tell you to do something ?
O ff y ou g o at once and if you don t bri ng,
’
TH E TW ELVE M O NTHS 3
”
me violets from the forest I ll kill you ! said ’
H ol e n a threateningly .
The stepmother caught hold o f Ma ru éa ,
turned h e r out o f the door and slam med it ,
to after he r .She went into the forest

weeping bitterly The snow lay deep and
‘
.
,
’
there wasn t a human footprint to be seen .
M aru !a wandered about for a long time ,
tortured by hunger and trembling with cold .
She begged God to take h e r from the wo r ld .
A t last sh e s aw a light in the distance .
She went towards the glow and came at ,
last to the top of a mountain A big fire .
was burning there and round the fire were ,
twelve stones wit h twelve men sitting on

them Three o f them had snow white beards
.
-
,
th ree were not so o l d and three were still ,
younger The thre e youngest were the hand

.
s o m e s t o f them all They were not speaking

.
,
but all sitting s i lent These twel ve men .
were the twelve months Great J anuary sat .
highest o f all ; his hair and beard were as

white as snow a n d in h is hand he held
,
a club .
Maru sa wa s frigh tened S he stood still for .
a time in terror but growing bolder, she

, ,
“
we n t up t o them and said : Please ki nd ,
4 CZEC H FOLK T A LE S
sirs let me warm my hands at your fire I
, .
”
am t r embling with the cold .
G reat J anua r y nodded an d asked her ,

:
Why have y ou come here my dear little ,
girl ? What are y ou looking fo r ?

“
I am looki ng fo r violets answ e r ed ,
M aru sa.
“
This i s no time to be looking fo r violets ,
fo r everything i s covered with snow answe r ed

”
Great J anuary .
“
Yes I know ; bu t my sister H ol e n a and
,
my stepmother said that I must b r ing them

some violets from the forest I f I don t .
’
bring them they ll kill me Tell me fathers

,
’
.
, ,
please tell me where I c an find them .
Great J anuary stood up and went t o one

o f the younge r months —i t w a s M arch —and ,
“
giving h im the club he said : Brother take
, ,
the high seat .
March took the high seat upon the s tone

and waved the club over the fire The fi r e .
blaz ed up the snow began to melt the trees

, ,
began to bud and the ground under the

,
young beech trees was at once covered with

-
grass and the crimson daisy buds began to

peep through the grass I t was springti me
. .
Un der the bushes the violets were bloomi ng

6 CZEC H FOLK T ALE S
strawbe rries ? Who ever heard of strawberries

growing under the snow ? said Ma r uSa ”
.
“
Y o u wretched little ta tterdemalion h o w .
dare y o u argue when I tell you t o do a

thi n g ? G 0 at once and get me the straw
berries o r I l l kill you !
,
’
The stepmothe r caught hold o f Mar uSa

and pushed her o ut of the doo r and shut
i t after her M aru sa went to the forest
.
weeping bitterly The snow was lying deep

.
,
and there was n t a human footprint to be

’
s een anywhere She wandered about for a

.
long time tortured by hunger and trembling

,
with cold A t last she s a w the light she

.
had see n the other day O verj oyed she .

,
went towards it She came to the great fire

.
with the twelve months sitting round it .
Please kind si rs let me warm my h ands

, ,
at the fire I am trembling with cold

. .
G reat J anuary nodded and asked her ,
Why have you come again and what are ,
”
you looking for here ?
“
I am looking for strawberries .
B ut it is winter n o w and strawberries ,
’ ”
don t grow o n the snow said J anuary , .
“
Yes I know said Ma r uSa sadly ; but
, ,
“
my sister H ol e n a and my stepmother bade

TH E TW ELVE M O NTH S 7
m e br i n g them some strawberr i es and if I ,
’
don t bring them they will kill me Tell
, .
me fathers tell me please where I can

, , , ,
find them .
Great J anuary arose H e went over t o .
the month sitting opposite to him —it was

J u n e —and handed the club to him saying ,
B rother take the high seat

, .
J une took the high seat upon the stone

and swung the club over the fire The fire .
shot up and its heat melted the snow i n a

,
moment The grou nd was all green the

.
,
trees were covered with l eaves the birds ,
began to sing and the forest w as filled with

,
all kinds o f flowers I t w as summer The . ,
ground under the bushes was covered with

white sta rlets the starry blossoms were turning
,
into strawberries every minute They ripened .
at once and before Ma ruSa had time to think

, ,
there were so many o f them that it looked

as though blo od had been sprinkled o n the
ground .
“
Pick them at once Mar uSa ! commanded ,
”
J une .
Ma ruSa picked them j oyfully till she had

filled her apron full Then s h e thanked the .
mo n ths with all her heart and scampered

8 CZEC H FOLK TALE S
m errily home . H ol e n a and the stepmother
wondered when they s a w Ma r u Sa bringing
the strawbe rri e s H er ap r on w a s full of the m
. .
They ran to open the door for her and the ,
scent of the strawberri es filled the whole

cottage.
”
Where did you pick them ? asked
H ol e n a sulkily .
“
There are plenty of them growing unde r
the yo ung beech trees i n the forest o h the
-
h igh mountains .
H o l e n a took the strawberries and went o n ,
eating them till s h e could eat no more S o .
did the stepmother t oo but they didn t s ay ,

’
to Ma ru Sa : H ere is one fo r you .
When H o l e n a had enj oyed the strawberries ,
s h e grew greedy for other dainties and so o n ,
the third day s h e longed fo r some red apples .
Ma ruSa go into the forest and get me

,
”
some red apples s h e said to her sister
,
.
“
A las ! sister clear h o w am I to get,
”
apples for y o u i n wi nter ? protested M aru sa .
You wretched little tatterdemalion how ,
dare you argue when I tell you to do a

thing ? Go to the forest at on ce and if y o u ,
don t bri ng me th e apples I will kill you !

' ”
th reatened H ol e n a .
TH E TW ELVE M O NTH S 9
The stepmother caught hold o f Mar uSa

and pushed her out o f the door and shut
it after her Ma ru Sa went to the forest
.
weeping bitterly The snow w a s lying deep ;

.
there wasn t a human footprint to be seen

’
anywhere B ut s h e didn t wander about this

.
’
time . She ran straight to the top of the

mountain where the big fire w as burning .
The twelve months were sitting round t he

fi re ; y e s there they certainly were a n d
, ,
Great J anuary was sitting o n the high

seat .
“
Please kind s i rs let me warm my ha n ds
, ,
at the fire I am trembling with cold

. .
Great J anuary nodded and asked her ,
Why have y o u come here and what are ,
ou looking fo r ?
y
“
I am looking for r e d apples .
’
I t is winter now and red apples don t ,
”
grow in w i nter answered J anuary , .
“
Y e s I know
,
said Ma r u Sa sadly ; but
“
,
” ‘
my sister and my stepmother too bade me , ,
b r ing them some r e d apples from the forest .
I f I don t bring them they will kill me

’
, , .
Tell me father tell me please where I

, , , ,
”
could find them .
Great J anuary rose up H e went over to .

IO CZEC H FOLK T ALE S
on e the older months—i t was Septem ber

of .
H e handed the club to him and said

“
B rother take the high seat
, .
M onth September took the high seat upon

the stone and swung the club over the fire .
The fire began to burn with a red flame ,
the snow be gan to melt B ut th e trees were .
n ot covered with leaves ; the leaves were

wavering down o n e after the other and the ,
cold wi nd was driving them to and fro over

the yel l owing grou n d This time Mar uéa .
did not see s o many flowers O nly red .
pinks were bloomin g o n the hillside and ,
meadow saffrons were flower i n g i n the valley .
H igh fern and thick ivy were growing under

the young beech trees B ut Ma r uSa was only
-
.
looking for red apples and at last s h e saw ,
an apple tree with red apples hangi ng high

-
among its branches .
“
Shake the tree at Once Ma r uSa ! com ,
”
m a n d e d the month .
R igh t gladly Mar uSa shook the tree and ,
o n e apple fell down She shook it a second .
time and another appl e fell down

, .
N ow Ma r uSa run home quickly ! shouted

, ,
”
the month .
Ma ruSa o beyed at on c e She picked up .

TH E TW E LVE M O N THS 11
the apples thanked the months w i th all her

,
hear t and ran merr i ly home

, .
H ol e n a and the stepmother wondered when

they saw Ma r uSa bringing the apples They .
ran to open the doo r fo r her and she ,
gave them two apples .
“ ”
Where did you get them ? asked H ole n a .
There are plenty o f them i n the forest

o n the h i gh mou n tain
”
.
A nd why didn t you bring more ? Or

’
”
did you eat them o n the way home ? said
H ol e n a harshly .
“
A las ! sister dear I didn t eat a single
,
’
on e
. B ut when I had shaken th e tree once ,
o n e apple fell down and when I shook I t a

,
second time another apple fell down a n d they

, ,
’
wouldn t let me shake it again They shouted .
to me t o go straight home protested Ma ru éa

, .
H ol e n a began to Curse her : “

M ay you
be struck to death by l ightning ! and she
was going to beat her .
M aru sa b egan to cry bitterly and s h e ,
prayed to God to take her to H imself o r ,
she would be killed by her wicked sister

and her stepmother She ran away i nto the
.
kitchen .
Greedy H ol e n a stopped c urs i ng and began

12 CZEC H FOLK TA LE S
to eat the apple I t tasted s o del icious that
.
she told he r mother she had never tasted

anything S O nice i n all her life The step
'
.
.
mother liked it too When they had finished .

,
they wanted some more .
“ ’
M other give me my fur coat I ll go to
, .
the forest myself That ragged little wretch .
would eat them all up again o n her way

home .I ll find th e place all right and I ll
’
,
’
shake them all down however they shout ,
at me .
H er mother tried t o dissuade her but i t ,
w as no good S he took her fur coat wrapped

.
,
a cloth round her head and off she went ,
to the forest H er mother stood o n the

.
threshold watching to s e e how H o l e n a would

,
manage t o walk i n the wi ntry weather .
’
T he snow lay deep and there wasn t a ,
human footprint to be seen anywhere H ol e n a .
wander ed about for a long time bu t the ,
desire of the sweet apple kept driving her

on A t last s h e saw a light i n the distance
. .
She went towards it and C limbed to the ,
top o f the mountain where the big fire was

burning and r ound the fire on twelve stones
,
the twelve months were sitting She was .
terrified at first but s h e soon recovered She,

.
14 CZEC H F O LK T ALE S
H er mother was waiti ng for H o l e n a ; sh e
kept o n looking out for her fi rst at th e ,
window then outside the door but all i n

, ,
vain .
“
D oe s s h e like the apples s o mu c h that
’
she can t lea ve them o r what is the ,
matter ? I m ust s e e for myself where s h e

”
is decided the stepmother at last S o she
, .
put o n her fur coat s h e wrapped a shawl ,
round her h ead and went o u t to look fo r

,
H ol e n a The snow w a s lying deep ; there

.
’
wasn t a human footprint to be seen ; the
snow fell fast and the icy wi nd wa s blowing
,
th rough the forest .
M aru sa had cooked the dinner she had ,
seen to the c o w and yet H ol e n a and her

,
“
mother did n o t come back Where are .
they staying so long ? thought Ma ru Sa as ”

,
sh e sa t down to work at the distaff The .
spi ndle was full already and it was quite

dark in the room and yet H ol e n a and the
,
stepm other had n o t come ba c k .
A las L ord ! what has come to them ?

,
cried Maru sa peeri ng anxiously through the

,
window The sky was brigh t and the earth

.
w a s all glittering but there wasn t a human

’
soul to be seen Sadly s he shut the

.
TH E TW E LVE M O NTH S 15
w m d ow ; sh e crossed herself and prayed

,
for her sister and her mother I n the

.
morning she waited with breakfast she waited ,
with dinner ; but however much s h e waited it ,
wa s no good N either her mother n o r her

.
sister ever came ba c k .Both o f them were

frozen to death i n the forest .
So good MaruSa inherited the cottage a ,
pie c e o f ploughland and the c ow She married

.
a kind hus band and they both lived happily

,
ever after .
V I I A ZKO
’ ‘
ON CE there wa s a mother and being a mother , , ,
she had a s o n She suckled him for twice

.
seven years A fter that she took hi m into

.
a forest and told hi m to pull up a fi r tree -

,
roots and all B ut the lad could not pull

.
up the fi r tree -
.
You are not strong enough yet said ,
the mother S o s h e suckled him for another

.
seven years When she had suckled him

.
fo r thrice seven years s h e took him t o the

.
,
forest again and told him to pull up a beech

tree roots and all H e seized hold of the
,
.
beech and pulled it up .
N ow you are strong enough So you are .
V ictor ( Vi taz k o) N ow y o u can provide for me

. .
”
“
Yes I will O nly tell me what I c a n d o
, .
”
fo r you.
I s t get me a good house first and

“
Y o u mT
'
then y ou ca n take me there said the mother , ,
and she went home .

V I TAZKO x 7
V i taz k o took the beech tree which he had -
pulled up and carrying it i n h is hand like

, ,
a C lub he started i n search o f a house for

,
h is mother F ollowing the wind he walked

.
,
by O ld r oads and paths u ntil he came to a

castle This castle was inhabited by g r iffi n s
. .
When V i Ea z k o reached the castle the ,
r i ffi n s would not let him i n B ut he did

g .
not wait long for their permission he smashed

the gate and went i nto the castle and killed
the g r i ffi n s ; their bodies he flung over the
wall and then he went for a walk through
,
the castle H e w as pleased with everything

.
he s a w The rooms were nice nine i n

.
,
number but the tenth w as C losed When he

, .
had gone th r ough the nine he went i nto the

tenth and there he s a w a griffi n C hained to
,
the wall by three iron bands .
“
What are you doi ng here ? asked
V i ta z k o .
I am sitting here as y o u see My

, .
brothers have chained me here Untie my .
bonds and I will give you a splendid rew a rd .
“
You must be a wicked ol d rascal if your
own brothers tied y o u there I won t u n .
’
fasten you r b onds either said Viiaz ko

'
, .
S o he slammed the door an d went off to ,

fetch h is mother t o the castle When he .
had brought her there he showed her every ,
thing but he did not open the tenth room

, ,
and he forbade her t o enter that r oom fo r ,
otherwise there would be trouble A s soon .
as V i i a z k o left the house the mother could ,
not rest and s h e kept on walking near the

,
door of that tenth room til ! at last s h e went ,
in and o f course s h e found the griffi n there

, , , .
What are you doing here and who are ,
”
you ?
I am a griffi n M y own brothers chained .
me here They would have unfastened my

.
bo nds again but you r s o n has killed them

,
all U ntie my bonds and I will r eward you

.
,
”
and if you like I will marry you said the
, , ,
griffi n .
“
A nd what would VI t a k o s a y answered
z ? ”
the mother .
“
What could he s a y ? We will put him
o u t o f the world and you will be your own
,
mistress .
The mother hesitated long enough but at ,
last s h e consented and then s h e asked the ,
r i ffi n h o w s h e could u n tie his bonds

g .
“
Go i nto the cellar and fetch me a cup
”
of w in e fro m the last cask
'
.
V I I AZ KO
’ ‘
19
The mother went i nto the cellar and brought

him a glass of wi ne from the last cask A s .
soon a s he had drained the fi r st cup c r ash ! ,
the first chain fell down The mother brought .
him another cup and —well ! the second chain

snapped So he begged her to bring him
.
a th ird cup and when s h e brough t him the

,
third c up the third chai n broke t o o and the

griffi n w a s free again .
“
B ut what am I to tell my s on when he
”
comes back ? said the mother anxiously .
“
O h ! you must feign illness and when he ,
asks you what will save you sa y that nothing ,
can save you but a suckling of the earth s ow .
When he goes to get it the s ow will tear him ,
i n pieces .
Well ( but not particularly w e ll l) when ,
V i ta z k o returned from th e c hase bringing a ,
buck fo r h i s mother s h e groaned and com

,
plained : A las ! my dear son you r toil has

“
,
been in vain I t i s no us e your bringing me

.
this good food ; I cannot eat it for I am ,
deadly sick .
“
A las ! mother you must not die O nly
,
.
te ll me what would cu r e you a n d I will bring ,
it fo r y o u even though it were from hell cried

, ,
the good V i ta z k o fo r he loved his mother well

, .
I can only be cured i f I get the suckling
”
of the earth sow .
V i iaz k o did not wait ; he took his be ech

tree and set o ff i n quest o f the earth sow .
H e wandered through the country poor ,
soul ! fo r he did n o t know where to go till ,
at last he came to a tower and there he ,
found H oly Sunday .
”
“
Where are y o u going ? asked H oly
Sunday .
“
I am goi ng t o the earth s o w to get o n e
of her suckli ngs M y mother is ill but this
.
,
”
will cure her .
M y dear bo y it w ill be a hard task for

,
you to get that piglet H owever I will help .

,
you . O nly you must follow my advice

exactly .
V i ta z k o promised that he would follow

it exactly S o first she gave him a long
.
,
sharp spit and then she said

,
“
G o to t h e stabl e and ta ke my horse .
H e will bring you to the place where the

earth s o w lies buried i n the earth When you .
have come there you must prick o n e of her

pig s . The pig will squeak a n d the so w , ,
heari ng it will start up and run r ound the

,
’
ea r th in a moment B ut she won t se e y o u
.
Well it went just a s y ou sa id and here

, ,
i s the pig .
“
V e ry well Take it t o your mother
. .
V i ta z k o gave her back the spit ; he led

the magic horse back to its stall thanked ,
H oly Sunday and hanging the pig from the

, ,
beech tree made haste to go home to h is

-
,
mother .
The mother and the g r iffi n were feasting ;

they did n o t expect Vi taz k o and here he ,
was . They r an away and discussed what

they should d o with him .
“
When he has given you the pig you ,
must still p r etend to be ill said the g r i ffin ; ,

”
“
and when he asks yo u what will save y o u ,
tell him that only the Wate r of L ife and

the Water o f D eath can cure y ou I f he .
goes i n quest o f that he is bound to pe r ish ,

.
”
V i ta z k o came r unning to the castle full o f

j oy H e gave the pig to his mother but
.
,
s he still went on groani ng and complaining

that s h e was goi ng to die and that the pig ,
would not cure he r .
“
A las ! mother don t die but tell m e what
,
’
will cu r e y o u s o that I may bring it for

,
you at once said V i ta z k o an x iously

,
”
.
“
A h ! my dear s o n I can only be cured ,
V I TAZKZ
O 23
by the Water o f L i fe and the Water o f

”
Death and where would y o get that u ?
,
sighed the mother .
V i ta z k o did not waste time thi nking about

it H e grasped h is beech and o ff he went
.
,
to H oly S unday .
“
Where are y o u going V ita s ?
, asked ”
H oly S unday .
“
I am comi ng to you to a s k where I
could find the Water o f L ife and the Water
o f Death , for my mother is still ill and only ,
”
those will cure her .
I t will be a hard task for you to get them ,
but I will help you a s well a s I can H ere .
are two j ugs ; m ount my magic horse and ,
he will b r ing y ou to t w o banks B eneath .
those two banks sp r ing forth the Water o f

L ife a n d the Water of Death The right .
bank O pens at noon and from beneath it ,
gushes the Water o f L ife The left bank .
opens at midnight and beneath it is the,
Water of D eath A s soon as the bank opens

.
,
run up to it and fill your j ug with water ,
and s o you m ust do i n the other case t oo .
When y o u have the water come back , .
F ol l ow my inst r uctions ca r efully .

”
Saying this s h e gave him two j ugs H e

,
.
24 CZEC H FO LK TA LE S
took them and mou nted the magic horse and ,
i n a moment they were gone like the wind .
The two banks were in a far distant land ,
and thither the magic horse brought V ita z k o .
A t noon he raised the right bank and the

Water of L ife gushed forth then crash ! the
, ,
bank fell down again and it w as a wonder

,
that it did not take Vi ta z k o s heels o ff ’

.
! uickly V i ta z k o mounted the magic horse

and made haste for the left bank There .
they Waited till midnight When the bank

.
lifted beneath it was th e Water of Death

,
.
H e hurried to it and filled the jug and , ,
crash ! down fell the bank again ; and it w as

a marvel it didn t take Vi i a z k o s hand off
’ ’
.
! uickly he mounted the magic horse the ,
horse flew o ff and soon they we r e home

,
again .
“
W ell V i ta z k o how have you fa r ed ?
, ,
asked H oly S unday .
“
O h ! everything went all right H oly ,
S unday ; and here is the water said Vi ta z k o, ,
giving her the water .
H oly S unday kept the water and gave ,
him two jugs full o f spring water and told

him t o take them to his mother Vi ta z k o .
thanked her and went home .

VI TAZKO 25
The mother and the gri ffi n were carousing

as before for they did n o t expect that he
—
,
would ever return and there he w a s just

outside They were terribly frightened and
.
,
considered h o w they could get rid o f him .
“
You must pretend to be sick still and
‘
tell him you won t recover unless you get ’
the Pelican bird and he will perish o n the,
quest said the g r iffi n

,
”
.
V l ta z k o brought the water j oyfully but the ,
mother w a s still groaning and complaining

even that was no good s h e was sure s h e .
w as going to die .
“
A h ! don t die sweet mother Tell me
’
, .
what will cure y o u and I shall be glad to ,
”
get it all for you said the good lad ,
.
There is no help for me unless I c a n

s e e the Pelic a n bird Where could y ou get .
”
it for me ? groaned the mother .
V i taz k o took h i s beech again and it w a s ,
no trouble t o him t o go to H oly Sun day

once more .
”
“
Where are y ou going ? asked H oly
S unday .
“
Well I am coming to you t o a s k To r
,
adv i ce . M other is still sick ; the water did

not c ure her either and she says she must
'
,
see th e Pelican bird A nd wh ere is the

.
”
Pelican bird ?
M y dear child it would be very hard
,
for you to g e t the Pelican bird B ut I will .
help you all I can The Pelican bird is a

.
gigantic bird H is neck is very long and

.
, ,
whenever he shakes h is win g s he raises such ,
a wind that the trees begin to shake H ere .
is a gun ; mou nt my magic horse and he ,
will bring you to the place where the Pelican

bi rd lives B ut be careful Poin t the gu n
. .
against the wi nd fr om whatever quarter it

blows and when the hammer falls ram the
, ,
gun with the ramrod and come quickly back .
”
You must not look into the gu n .
V i ta z ko took the gun and mounted the

magic horse and the horse spread h is wings
, ,
and they we r e flying through the air a long

way until they came t o a vast dese r t whe r e ,
dwelt the Pelican bird There the magic

.
horse stopped N ow Vi taz k o pe r ceived that

.
the wind w a s blowing strongly o n his left

cheek so he pointed th e gun i n that d ir e c
,
tion and clap ! the hammer fell V l i a z k o

, ,
.
ramm e d the gu n quickly with the ramrod and

flu ng it over h is shoulde r and the horse start e d
,
flying and ve r y soon they were home again

,
.
VI TAZ KO 27
Well how did thi ngs go ?

,
’
I don t kno w whether they went well or
”
ill but I did what you commanded answered
, ,
V i ta z k o handing down the gu n to H oly

,
S unday .
“
A ll right You did quite right H ere
. .
he is ! s h e said A nd then s h e took o u t

”
.
the Pelican bird Then s h e gave V i ta z k o

.
another gun to shoot an eagle with He .
went o ut i nto the forest and r eturned before ,
long with an eagle She gave hi m this .
eagle for h is mother i n place o f the Pelican ,
bird .
The griffin and the mother were making

merry again h Op i n g that Vi ta z k o would never
,
come back but he was already near They

, .
were terrified and began to consider what new

,
task they were to s e t him .
“
Y ou must pretend to be sick s t ill and tell ,
him nothing can d o you any good but the

golden apples fr om the ga rden of the Griffi n .
I f he goes the r e the Griffi n will tear him in

pieces for h e is enraged because V i taz k o h a s
,
killed his brothe r s .

”
J oyfully V i ta z k o gave the bird t o h is

mother but she still kept on groaning ;
,
noth ing was any good only the golden ,

apples from the garden of the G riffi n could

save her .
“
Y o u shall have them said Vi ta z k o and , ,
without resting he started again and came t o ,

‘
H oly S unday .
“
Where are you going V l ta z k o ? ,
“
Well he replied
, n ot even that did ,
‘
her any good M other i s still sick fo r only.

,
the golden apples from the garden o f the

Gri ffi n will cu r e her .
”
“
Well you ll have to fight my b o y said
,
’
, ,
“
H oly Sunday ; but even though you were ,
stronger than yo u a r e it would be a bad ,
look o u t fo r you S till I will help y o u all I

-
.
,
can H ere is a ring for you ; put it o n your

.
finger and when y o u are i n need think of

, , ,
me turn the ring round on your finger and

, ,
you will have the stren g th of a hundred men .
N o w mount the magic ho rse ; he will take
y o u the r e .
”
Vi taz k o thanked her heartily mounted the ,
magic ho r se and w as carried by hi m a far

,
journey till they came to a garden hedged

,
about by a high rampart H ad it not been .
fo r the magic horse V i ta z k o could never have

got into the garden but the h o rs e fl e w like ,
'
a bird over the rampart V i taz k o leapt down .

centre o f the garden I n the middle of the .
garden stood an apple tree full o f golden -
apples and underneath it a horrible Griffi n

,
was lyi ng .
“
What do you want here murderer of m y , _
”
brothers ? shouted the G riffi n .
“
I have come to get some apples from
”
this tree answered Vi ia z k o undauntedly
, .
“
You shall not have any of the apples
”
unless you wrestle with me exclaimed the ,
G r i ffi n angrily .
“ ”
I will if you like C ome o n ! said .
V i ta z k o and he turned the ring o n his right

,
hand and though t O f H oly Sunday H e s e t .
his legs wide apart and they began to wrestle .
I n the first round the Gri ffi n moved V l ta z k o

a little but V ita z k o drove hi m into the g r ound
,
‘
above h is ankles J ust at this moment they .
heard a swirl o f wings above them and a ,
black raven shouted to them !
“
Which am I t o help the Gri ffi n o r ,
V i ta z k o ?
“
H elp me said the Griffin ,
.
A nd what will y ou give me ?
I will give you gold and silver as much

”
as you l ike - .
“
H elp me cried Vl ta z ko “
and I wi ll, ,
VI TAZ KO 3 1
give you all those horses g razing on y onder

!
”
meadow .
“
I will help y ou then said the raven , , .
But how am I to help y ou ?
“
C ool me when I grow hot said Vi ta z k o , .
H e felt h ot indeed for the Griffi n was breath

,
ing ou t fire against him S o they went o n .
wrestling . The G ri ffi n seized V i i a z k o and

drove him into the ground up to h is ankles .
V i ta z k o turned the ring and again he thou g ht

,
of H oly Su nday H e put h is arms round

.
’
the Griffin s waist and drove him down into
the ground above h is knees The black .
raven dipped his wings in a spring and the n ,
he al ighted o n V l i a z k o s head and sprinkled ’
cool drops over V i ta z k o s h ot cheeks and thus

’
he cooled him Then V i i a z k o turned the

.
other ring and thought o f the beautiful maiden ,
and they began wrestling again S o the .
Griffin drove V i i a z ko into the ground up to

his ankles but V l fa z k o took hold o f him and
,
drove him into the ground up to his shoulders ,
and quickly he seized his sword the gift o f ,
H ol y Su nday and cut the G r i ffi n s head o ff

,
’
.
The princess came to him at once and

plucked the golden apples for him She .
thanked him t o o fo r delivering her and said ,

that she liked him well and she would marry

him .
“
I like you well t oo confessed Vita z ko , ,
and if I could I would go with you at once

, , .
But if you really love me and if y o u will ,
consent to wait a year fo r me I will come ,
”
to y ou then .
The princess pledged herself by shaking

hands with him and she said she would wait ,
a year for him A nd so they said good bye .

-
t o each other V ita z k o mounted h is horse

.
,
cleared the ram part at a leap killed the horses ,
on the meadow for the black raven and ,
hastened home .
“ ”
Well how have y ou fared ? asked H oly
,
S unday .
“
V ery well but if it hadn t been fo r a ring
,
’
which was given m e by a pri ncess I should

have fared very badly answe r ed V l ia z k o , ,
and he told her everything She told him to .
g o home with the golden apples and to take

the magic horse with him t oo V i ta z k o .
obeyed .
The griffi n and the mother were carousing

again . They were greatly sta r tled when
V l i a z k o came riding home ; they had neve r
e x pe c ted that he w oul d return alive even from
VI I AZKO
’ ‘
33
the ga r den of the Gri ffi n The mother asked .
what s h e s h ould do ; but the griffi n had no

mo r e shifts ; he made O ff to the tenth room
at once and h id himself there When V i ta z k o .
had given the apples to his mother she ,
p r etended th a t the mere sight o f them had

cu r ed her and rising from the bed s h e put
, , ,
the finest o f food before V l i a z k o and then

began to caress him as s h e used to do some
times when h e w as a ti ny baby V ii az k o was .
delighted to s e e h is mother in good health

again . The mother took a strong cotton
cord and said j estingly : “
L ie down dear ,
son ; I will wind this cord round you as I

used to wind it round your father to see if ,
you are as strong as he was and if you can ,
”
break it .
V l i a z k o smiled a n d laid himself down ,
and allowed h is mother to wind the cord

round him When s h e had finished he
.
,
st r etched h i s limbs and s n a p t the c ord in

pie c es .
“ “
You are strong s h e said , B ut wait ! .
I will w i nd this thin silk cord round y o u to

se e if you can b r eak it also .
”
S o sbe did Vi i a z k o tried t o stretch his

'
limbs but the more he stretched the deeper

, ,
the co r d cut into him So he was helpless

.
,
and had to l ie like a baby i n its swaddling

clothes N ow the gri ffi n hastened t o cut h is
.
head o ff ; he hewed the body i n pieces and

hung the heart from th e ce iling The mother .
packed the bod y i n a cloth and put the bundle ,
o n the back of the magi c horse which was ,
waiting i n the courtyard saying ,
“
Y ou carried h im alive so y o u ca n carry ,
”
h im dead t oo whereve r you like
, .
The horse did not wait but flew o ff and , ,
soon they reached home .
H oly S unday had been expecting him for ,
she knew what wou ld probably happen t o

hi m Without delay she rubbed the body
.
with the Water of D eath then s h e put it ,
together and pou r ed the Water o f L ife over

it Vita z k o yawned and rose to h is feet alive
.
,
“ ”
and well . Well I have had a long sleep
, ,
he said to himsel f .
Y ou would have been sleeping till dooms

’
day i f I hadn t awakened you Well how .
,
”
do y ou feel n ow ?
O h ! I am all right ! O nly I t s fu nny : it s ,
’
”
as though I had n o t g o t any heart .
That is true ; you haven t g o t a heart ’

,
an s wered H oly S unday .

I AZKO
’ ‘
VI 35
Where can it be then ? ,
Where else should it b e but i n the castle , ,
”
hanging from the crossbeam ? said H oly
S unday and s h e told hi m all that had
,
happened to him .
B ut V l i a z k o could not be angr y neither ,
could he weep for he had no heart S o he

, .
had to g o and get it H oly Su nday gave .
hi m a fiddle and sent hi m to the castl e .
H e was to play o n the fiddle and a s a , ,
reward was to a s k for the heart and when

, , ,
he got it he must return at on c e to H oly

,
—
S unday those were her orders .
V i ta z k o went to the castle and when he ,
saw that h is mother was looking out o f the

window he began playing beautifully
, The .
mother was delighted with the music below ,
SO s h e called the o l d fiddler ( for H oly S unday

had put that shape upon him ) i nto the castle
and asked him t o play H e played and the .
,
mother danced with the griffi n ; they danced

hard and did n ot stop until they were tired
,
.
Then the mother gave the fiddler meat and

drin k and she offered hi m gold but he would
, ,
n o t take it .
What could I d o with all that money ?

”
I am t oo old fo r it he answered , .
Well what am I to give y o u then ? I t
, ,
i s fo r y o u t o a s k said the m o the r , .
What are you t o give me ? said b e ,
looking round the room “

O h ! give me that .
heart hanging there fr om the c r ossbeam !

,
“
I f y ou like that we can gi ve it to you , ,
said the g r i fli n and the mothe r took it down

,
and gave it to V l i a z k o H e thanked them .
for it and hastened from the castle t o H oly

,
S unday .
“
I t is lucky that we have got it again ,
said H oly Sunday ; and she took the heart

in her hands washed it first i n the Water,
o f D eath and afterwards i n the Water o f

L ife and then s h e put it i n the bill o f the
,
Pelican bird The bi r d stretched o u t his

.
long neck and replaced the heart i n V i i az k o s

’
breast A t once V i i a z k o felt it j oyfully leap

.
ing A nd for this se r vice H oly Sunday gave

.
the Pelican bi r d his fr eedom again .
A nd now s he said to V ita z k o : Y o u must

“
go once more t o the castle and deal out

j ustice Take the form o f a pigeon and
.
,
when you thi nk of me y o u will r egain your ,
own shape .
N o sooner had she said this than V i i a z k o

w as changed into a pigeon and away he ,
38 CZEC H FOL K TALE S
in h is handand went to h is beautiful

,
pri ncess .
He ‘
found her with her royal
fath e r w ho had tried t o m a ke her marry
,
various kings and princes but she woul d

,
marry none of them She would wait a year

.
,
s he said The year w as n o t yet over when

.
on e day Vl i a z ko arrived i n the royal palace

’
t o ask for the maiden s hand .
“
This is my betrothed exclaimed the
,
pri ncess j oyfully as soon as she saw him

, ,
and she went straight up to him .
A splendid feast was made ready the ,
father gave his kingdom into their hands ,
and that is the end of this story .

B OOTS , C LO A K , AN D RI N G
O N CE there was a blacksmith and he had only ,
on e s on J ohn by name T hey sent hi m to

,
.
s c hool but fortune changed and h is parents

,
fell i nto poverty so they were forced t o take

,
the i r son home again J oh n had already .
passed through the h i gher standard but he ,
could n ot support h is pa re n t s S o o n e day

'
he sa i d
F ather and mother ! What can I do at
home ? There is no business here s o I can t ,
’
be a clerk and I am too O ld now to learn

,
a trade So I will go out into the world

.
and find myself a j ob and whenever I can , , ,
I will send y o u some money A n d when I .
get a good j ob you must se ll your cottage

,
and come and live with me .
His father a nd mother wept because he ,
wanted to leave them but they knew that he

, ,
was right for there was no cha n c e for h i m if

,
he stayed at home S O they let him g o

. .
39
They gave him their b lessing before he went
o u t into the world .J ohn wept t ill h is heart
nearly broke at parting with h is aged parents .
H e w a l k e d o n till noon A t noon he s a t .
down beneath a lime tree beside a well and

-
,
had h is meal and a drink Then strengthened .

,
and refreshed he walked on till nightfall

, .
The country was quite u nknown to h im so ,
he had to S pend the night i n the forest The .
next day he went o n agai n till h e came into

\
a wild mountain country There h e stopped .
and thought over what he should do next .
H e stood awhile and then he went o n again

,
.
H e reached a pleasant valley and there he ,
found three brothers They were quarrelling

.
and o n the point of coming to blows J ohn .
asked them what the matter w a s The eldest .
answered
‘
O ur father has died and he bequeathed ,
to us these boots this cloak and this hat

, ,
.
A nd each o f us would lik e to own the boots .
“ ”
Why ? asked J ohn .
B e c ause they have the property that

whoever puts them o n can cover ten miles
in the moment he wishes it The cloak h a s .
the property that its owner can fly as far

and as high as he likes A nd the property
.
B OOT S ,
CLOA K, AN D R ING 41
of the hat is that it makes i t s wearer

i nvisible .
“
J ohn said You are brothers and y o u
!
ought not to quarrel Y o u must love one .
’
another S o that y o u won t quarrel any more
.
,
’
I will decide the matter for you Give me .
those things .
They gave hi m the boots the cloak and , ,
the hat H e put the hat o n and they

.
,
’
couldn t s e e him any more he wrapped
himself i n the cloak took the boots and , ,
flew away .
H e flew some distance before he alighted

upon a log and put the boo ts on A s he .
s a t on the log it turned over and he s a w

, ,
a big hole u nder it H e went down the .
hole a n d came t o some stairs and went ,

,
down them to th e bottom witho ut any diffi

culty There he found a big room withou t
.
any human being i n it The table was laid .
fo r o n e person H e thought : I am hungry

. .
Shall I eat this meal ? F i nally he decided ”
to risk it ; he took o ff h is hat and began

~
t o eat .
When he had finished an old crone entered ,
“
the room and asked : ,
Did you Ii ke your ~
”
m eal ?
42 CZEC H FO LK T ALE S
Oh , it w as very nice indeed answered ,
“
J oh n ; a n d by the way could y o u give me
,
_
,
”
l odging for the night ?
I will if you can stand it ; for at mid
,
night twenty four ghosts will come and they

-
,
Wi ll tr y to make you play c ards with them

and dance with them B ut you must sit .
”
still and not so much as look at them .
S o the first night came J oh n was sitting .
eating his meal When he had finished he.

,
r emained at table A fter eleven o clock two .

’
dozen ghosts entered the room and asked hi m

to play cards with them H e refused s o .
,
they began preparations fo r playi ng skittles ,
and again asked him to j oin them but ,
he woul d not Then a delightful music

.
began t o play an d they asked him to dance

,
’
with them N o he wouldn t ; he did not
.
,
so much as look at them They kept o n .
dragging h im about tearing and biting him , ,
till he began to think it was al l over with

him . B ut j ust then it struck twelve and ,
the ghosts van i shed .
I n the morning the O ld crone came back

and waked him for he was still asleep on ,
the ground She asked hi m : H ow did yo u

.
”
sleep ?
B OOTS C LOA K , ,
AN D R ING 43
V ery well said J ohn ,

.
”
D id you now ? answered the old woman .
,
Well next night will be still worse if you

, ,
can stand it Two score o f ghosts will come

.
,
’
and they ll urge you t o play cards and skittles
with them and t o dance with them B ut you .
’
must sit quiet ; don t so much as look at
them .
H e stayed there that day and had a ,
good time Then the second night came

. .
A fter eleven o clock twoscore ghosts rushed

’
in. They urged him to play cards and

skittles with them and to dance with them .
’
B ut J oh n would n t H e sat still without s o .
,
much a s looking at them S o they began .

'
to torture hi m again and dragged him a bout ,
even worse than before B ut when it struck .
twelve they left hi m o n the grou nd and

disappea red .
I n the morni ng the o l d crone came She .
washed hi m with some lotion till h e recovered .
”
She asked him : H ow did you sleep ?
“ ”
Splendidly said he , .
“ ”
D id you n ow ? said s h e
, I t w as a .
bad lodging for y o u but the thi rd night ,
will be even worse if you c a n stand it , .
Th ree s c ore o f ghosts will c ome and will ,

urge you to play cards and sk ittles and to

dance with t hem B ut you must s it still and
.
”
n o t s o m uch as look at them .
A ll that day he had a good time again .
The third night came and after eleven o clock

,
’
th ree score of ghosts rushed i n They gathered .
round him and urged prayed and besought

, , ,
him to play and dance with him When .
he refused they seized him and began knock

,
ing him against the ground tearing and biting ,
him s o that he lost his s enses a n d did not

,
see them g o away .
I n the morning the O ld crone came and

anointed him with a precious salve till he
“
recovered The old woman said :
. You
wouldn t have had su ch a bad time if you
’
had not stolen the boots the cloak and the , ,
hat The ghosts would si mply have pressed

.
y o u ; they would have had no power over

y ou . A s you followed my advice and did
not play with them you have delivered an
,
enchanted town and a beautiful princess She .
will come t o you at once N o w you are .
rich return the stolen goods

, .
Then there came a girl i n a white r obe .
I t was the beautiful pri ncess and she thanked ,
him for deliveri ng her and the whole town .

h e came t o another king who had an only
daughter and she was ve r y vulgar
, The .
king insisted that J oh n should marry her .
“
J oh n thought : What are y o u thinking of ,
my man ? M y bright one is so beautiful

that there is n o t her equal i n the wide world ,
wh ile your daughter is only a vulgar crea

ture . A t the moment he thought o f h is
bride the ring slipped from his finger and
disappea red .
J oh n left them then H e w a s very sad

.
,
“
and considered what he should do My .
“
bride is far away n o w he thought , I .
cannot fi nd my way either t o her or t o my

parents .
A s he w as walking along i n th is sad mood ,
he thought o f h is cloak and it came i nto ,
'
his mind that if he could reach the Sun s

,
abode th e same day he could ask where his

,
bride s castl e was A s soon a s he thought

’
.
’
o f this he was at the Sun s house The .
S un was not in ; only his housekeeper was at

home H e asked her fo r a lodgi ng and said
.
,
that h e would like to ask the S un whe t her

he knew the castl e where his bride dwelt .
She g ave him the lodgi ng When the Su n .
returned home in the even ing J ohn asked ,

B OO TS C LOAK , ,
AN D R I NG 47
him whether he had any knowledge Of the

castle i n which his wife dwelt The Su n .
“ ’
answered : I don t know I never shone .
there B ut go and ask the M oon

. .
The next day a s soon as h e woke he , ,
’
flew O ff on his cloak to the Moon s castle .
When he g o t there the M oon was n o t i n , ,
’
and J ohn asked the housekeeper for a night s
l odgi ng H e said he would like to ask the
.
’
M oon s advice .
“
The housekeeper said : Y ou must wait
till the M oon comes home but y ou will be ,
very cold for my mistress is an extremel y

,
”
cold person .
I will crouch in a corner and wait till

the mistress comes ; in any case my cloak ,
”
is warm enough .
When the morning drew near the M oon ,
return ed home and J oh n asked her whether

,
she knew where h is bride s castle was ’

.
“
The M oo n said : I never shone there .
B ut g o to the W i n d H e is a fellow who .
penetrates everywhere and s o he i s likely ,
”
to know where that castle is
”
S o J oh n went to the W ind s hou s e The ’

.
Wind was not in but M elusine h is wife , , ,
w a s alone at home J oh n asked her t o let

.
4 8 CZEC H FOLK T ALE S
hi m stay there for the night She t r ied to .
dissuade him .
I t is im possible good s i r M y lord i s used

, .
”
t o bl ow terribly I t will be exceedingly cold
. .
“
H e answered : I will cover myself up
and crouch somewhere I can endu re cold .
,
and anyhow my cloak i s wa r m enough

, , .
”
So he s tayed there for the night .
A fte r midnight the Wi nd came home and

“
asked Who is here with you wife ? I
!
smell a man .
“
Who should be here ? s h e said “
You r
”
.
nose is still full of the human smell .
“
B ut the Wind persisted : There is some
body here ! Tell me '
“
So s h e confessed D on t be angry dear
.
’
husband ! There is a man staying here for

the night and he wants to ask y o u whether
,
y o u will be kind enough to take him to h i s

’
bride s castle .
T he Wind answered : I t i s very far fr om

“
here and I must a s k the L ord how st r ongly

,
I am t o blow if we are to get there

, I .
w a s there yesterday ; they are going to cele

brate a wedding there and they have been ,
drying some shirts ready for it and I have ,
been helpi ng them .

B OO T S C L OAK
, ,
AN D R I NG 49
The Wind went to as k the L ord and when

“
he came back he Said to J ohn : I c a n blow
,
strongly enough but I don t know whether

,
’
you will be able to keep step with me .
“
J oh n answered I have got good boots
!
and I am sure I can .
So he wrapped himself i n his cloak cove red ,
h is head with his hat and put h is boots o n

, ,
and he went ahead s o quickly that the

Wind could hardly keep step with him .
A s they drew near to the castle the ,
“ ”
W ind said :
H ere it is and disappeared ,
i n a whirl .
The other bridegroom had already arri ved ,
and w as at the wedding feast J oh n passed .
through the castle and came to the table at

,
which they were dining N obody could see .
him . H e remained standing near the bride ,
and whenever s h e lifted the food to her mouth ,
he ate it before it could reach her mouth so ,
that the spoon reached her mouth empty .
A fter the banquet she said : M y plates

“
were well filled and yet it is as though I

,
had been eating nothing at a l l Who is i t .
that ha s eaten my food ? M y glass was full

too I hav e not drunk and yet it is empty
.
, .
”
Who h a s drunk my wine ?
CZEC H FOLK T A LE S
Then she went to the kitchen and J ohn ,
followed close at her heels When s h e w as .
alone he revealed himself H e took h is hat .
off and s h e knew him

, She w a s greatly .
rej oiced at this and ran t o the room and said

,
“
Gentlemen I would like to a s k y o u a
,
question I had a golden key and I lost it

. .
S o I had a silver key made for me and , ,
now that it is made I have found the ,
golden key Would you be s o kind as to

.
advise me which of them I ought to keep ?

The bridegroom stepped forward and said
K eep the golden key .
O ff she went She d r essed J oh n i n .
beautiful garments and then presented h im ,
“
to the guests saying : This is my golden
,
key H e delivered me from torment and

.
,
I was to ma r ry him H e went to see his .
parents but he could not reach them N o w

,
.
he h a s come back to me j ust as I w as going

to marry another man the silver key o f my ,
story though I had given up all hope o f

,
h is return Yet h e h as come back and I

.
,
s hall keep him the golden key for the

, ,
silve r key has himself decided s o .
The weddi ng w a s celebrated the next day ,
and J oh n took charge of the o l d king s

’
B OO TS C LOAK
, , AN D R I NG 51
kingdom . Then they both went t o visi t

h is o ld parents and brought them back with
,
them t o the palace O n their way back

.
they called o n the three b r others and J ohn ,
gave them back the boots the cloak and, ,
the hat A nd if they haven t died since

.
’
they are still al ive enj oying their kingdom .

S I LLY J UR A
O N CE there were two brothers They were .
lazy fellows and thieves into the bargai n

,
.
They were expected t o give a feast Th ey .
“ ’
said to o n e another We haven t got any
:
thing Wherever shall we fi nd food fo r the

.
feast ?
“ ’
S O the first said I ll g o to ou r neigh
!
’ ’
bour s H e has some fine apples and I ll
.
,
pluck some O f them .
’
The second said I ll go t o the shepherd s ’
.
H e has some fi ne rams I ll steal a ram .

’
fr om him .
”
These two brothers hated the third and ,
’
s o they abused him : S illy J ura ! Y o u won t
get anything yourself b ut you ll be ready ,
’
e n ough to eat what we get .
“ ’
So J ura said : I ll go t o the burgomaster s
’
and get som e nuts

‘
I n the eveni ng they went thei r ways .
When he had finished plucking the nuts ,
55
56 CZEC H FO LK TA LE S
J ura went i nto the cha r nel house at the back

-
o f the church and began to c r ack the nuts

there The watchmen heard the cracking
i n the charnel house and they thought the
-
,
place was haunted A s there w as no pri est

.
i n the village (he l ived in the next village ) ,
they went t o the burgomaster and asked him

to go with them to the charnel house saying -
,
that the place was hau nted .
“
The burgomaster said : I am so ill that
’
I can t stand o n my feet ; no doct or can
help me .
B ut the watchmen insisted and s o the ,
burgomaster told his servant to take h i m o n

his back and ca r ry him to the place The .
se r vant carried hi m along and the watchmen

,
call e d at the churchwarden s to as k for some ’
holy water .
When they came near to the cha r nel house -

,
J u ra thought i t was his brother b r inging the

ram s o he called o u t : A re y o u bringing
,
“
him ?
The se r vant was frightened and let the ,
bu rgomaster fall and ran away The bu rgo .
master was te r rified t o o H e j umped up and

.
ran after the servant H e cleared a wood en

.
fen c e with one leap i n h is flight and it

'
,
SI LL Y J U RA 57
wasn t long till he reached home H is family

’
.
wondered to s e e him cured s o quickly without

the help of a doctor .
N ext day the burgomaster proclaimed tha t

he would give a pound to the man w h o had
stolen his nuts the day befo r e if he would ,
only come to s e e him So J ura went to .
“
him and the burgomaster said
, I ought t o
punish y o u for stealing but since you have ,
cured m y il l n e s s which nobody w as able to

'
cure I ll give y o u the pou nd I promised

,
’
but you mustn t steal any more S o J ura

’
.
promised not to steal any more and went ,
home .
The brothers grew very fond o f him now

that he had money , T hey borrowed the
money from him and bought themselves new
“
clothes and said : We ll go t o s e e the world
,
’
and to get wi ves for ourselves A s for you .

,
’
Silly J ura you must stay at home ; you d never
,
”
get a good wife for yourself .
So off they went B ut J ura went too . .
He went to the forest and he w as utterly

dazzled H e had often heard that there was
.
an e nchanted castle in that forest When he .
came to the place where the ruins o f the

castle were night overtook him and so he
, ,
could s e e nothing except what looked like a

light in a cellar S o he went into the Cella r
.
t o make h i s night s lodging there There

’
.
was nobody i n the cellar but a ca t T he .
“
cat greeted him : Welcome dear J ura ! ,
H ow did you come h e r e ?

J u r a w as frightened when he heard the
c a t speak and was going to r un away B ut
, .
the cat told him not to go ; the r e w as no

need to be frightened H e m ust come back .
,
and no harm would be done t o him I f he .
wanted t o eat he could go into the store

,
r oom and take what he wanted She would .
t ake him for her servant .
S o he stayed there a year and had a good

time . H e never s a w a cook but he always ,
found meals ready prepared i n the storeroom .
H e had nothing to do but get firewood and ,
at the end of the year h e was told to make

“
a great pile o f it Then the ca t said : Y o u
.
must light the pile to day and th row me into

-
,
the fire You m ust not help me o u t howeve r

.
,
I ent r eat you but you must let me be c o n

,
sumed .
“ ’
J ura answered : I can t do that I have .
had a good time with you Why should I .
”
repay y ou i n such an evil way ?
SI LLY J U RA 59
The cat said : I f you don t d o as I have “ ’
said y ou will be very unhappy I f y ou do

,
.
”
it you will be happy
,
.
S O J ura kindled the pile and when it wa s , ,
well alight he picked up the cat and threw

,
her into the fire S he wanted t o escape .
’
from th e fire but he wouldn t let her go
,
.
A t last he w as s o weary that he wa s fo r ced

t o lie down and soon he fell asleep
, When .
he awoke he opened h is eyes and behold !

, ,
there w a s no ruin ; he heard delightful music

and s a w a beautiful palace with crowds o f
servants H e w a s wonde r ing at all this when
.
,
a splendidly dressed lady came up to h im and

asked h im if he did n o t know her .
J u r a said : H O W should I know you r

ladyship ? I never s a w y o u befo r e in my
life .
“
The lady said : I am that cat Witches .
had put me u nde r enchantment in the shape

o f a cat .N ow we will go after you r brothers
who hated yo u so much and s e e h o w they
are getting on .
She orde r ed her people to dress h im i n

fine clothes a fi ne car r iage w a s p r epared and
, ,
they drove O ff A s they we r e approaching .
the village the lady said to her bridegroom

,
60 CZEC H FOL K T ALE S
Put your old clothes on Then s h e called

.
an ol d ragged beggarwoman and sent h im

,
with her . She herself rema i ned outside of

the village .
When the brothers saw J u ra coming with

the ragged beggarwoman they shouted , He
is bringing home an old ragged bride and ,
’
h e s i n rags too The other brothers were
.
married too and they were pretty badly off

, ,
so they turned him out and wouldn t have ’
him at home .
S O J ura went out of the village he changed

h is clothes and drove ba c k with the lady t o
h is brothers cottage
’
Wh en the carriage
.
stopped before th e cottage the brothers said ,
“
What a fi ne carriage ! Who is that noble
lord and the beautiful lady who have come
!
to o ur cottage ? Th ey did not recognize
their b r other .
So she said : “
L ook here Y o u were .
always hard on your brother always snee r i ng ,
at him and now you are badly off enough

, ,
while he is getting on splendidly I f you .
mend your ways y o u will get o n too

,
.
A fterwards she gave them some money

and went away with J ura .
flocked round attracted by the human smell

, .
O ne of the wolves pushed his tail th rough

the hole and Sleepy J oh n began to think
,
that the hour of h is dea th was approaching .
B ut he wound the wolf s tail round h is hand ’

.
The wolf w a s terrified and dragging the , ,
cask after him he ran after the rest o f the

,
wolves who set off i n a ll directions Thei r

,
. .
te r ror grew greater and greater as the cask

bumped after them A t last the cask struck .
against a rock and was smashed J oh n let .
go the wolf who took himself O ff as fast as

,
he could .
N ow J oh n found himself i n a wild mounta i n

region H e began walking about among the
.
mountains and h e met a hermit The hermit .
“
said to him Y ou may stay here with me
!
I s h al l die in three days B u ry me then .

,
”
and I will pay you w e ll for it , .
So J oh n stayed with him and when the , ,
third day came the hermit who w a s abou t

, ,
“
to die gave him a stick saying : I n what
, ,
ever direction you poi nt this stick you will ,
fi nd you r self there Then he gave him .
a knapsack saying :,
“
A nything you want
you will find in this knapsack Then he .
“
gave hi m a ca p saying : A s soon a s you
,
S LEE PY J O H N 63
put this cap on nobody will be able to ,
”
s e e you .
Then the hermit died and J ohn buried him , .
J ohn gathered his things tog ether pointed ,
the stick and said :

,
“
L et me be instantly
i n the town where the king lives H e found .
himself there o n the instant and he w as told ,
that the queen would every night wear o u t a

dozen pairs o f shoes yet nobody w a s a b le to ,
follow her track The lords were all flocking

.
’
to O ffer to follow the queen s traces and J ohn ,
we n t too H e went into the palace and had

.
himself announced to the king When he .
came before the king he said that he would ,
l ike to trace the queen The king asked .
hi m : Who are y ou ?
“
H e answered Sleepy J ohn .
The king said : A nd h o w are you going

“
to trace her when y o u are sleeping all the

,
time ? I f you fail to trace her y o u will lose

your head .
J oh n answered that he would try to trace

her all t he same
, .
When the even ing was come the queen

w e n t t o bed in o n e r oom and J oh n went to
‘
bed i n the next r oom th r ough which the ,
queen had to pass H e did n o t g o to sleep

'
.
,
but when the queen was going by be pre

tended t o be i n a deep slumber S O the .
queen lit a candle and scorched the soles o f

his feet to make sure that he was asleep .
’
B ut J ohn didn t stir and so she was certain
,
that he was asleep Then s h e took her

.
twelve pairs of new shoes and o ff she went .
J ohn got up put his ca p o n and pointed

, ,
with his stick and said : L et me be where

“
,
the queen is .
N ow when the queen came to a certain

,
rock the earth O p ened be fore her and two

,
dragons came t o meet her They took her .
on their backs and carried her as far as

the le ad forest Then J oh n said : L et me
.
“
”
be where the queen is and instantly he
, ,
w a s i n the lead forest So he broke o ff a .
twig for a proof and put it in h is knapsack

:
.
B ut when he broke o ff th e twig it gave out

a shrill sound as if a bell were ri nging The .
queen was frightened but s h e rode on again , .
J ohn pointed with his stick and said : “

L et
”
me be where the queen is and instantly he ,
was i n the tin forest H e broke off a twig .
again and put it in his knapsack and it ,
rang again The queen turned pale but she

.
,
rode on again J ohn pointed with his stick

.
S LE E PY J O H N 65
again and said L et me be where the queen

”
is
, and instantly he was i n the silver forest .
H e broke off a twig again and put it into h is

kn apsack A s he broke it it gave out a ring
.
,
in g sound and the queen fainted The .
dragons hastened on again till they came

to a green meadow .
A crowd of devils came to meet them here ,
and they revived the queen Then they had .
a feast S leepy J oh n w as there too The

. .
cook w a s n o t at ho me that day s o J ohn s a t ,
do wn in his place and as he had h is cap o n

, , ,
nobody could s e e him They put aside a part .
O f the food fo r the cook but J ohn ate it all , .
They were all surprised to s e e all the food

’
they put aside disappeari ng They couldn t .
.
make out what w as happening but they didn t ,

’
care very much A nd when the banquet was

.
at an end the devils began to dance with the

queen a n d they kept on dancing until the
,
queen had wo rn o u t all her shoes When her .
shoes were worn ou t those two dragons took,
her on t heir backs agai n and brought her t o

,
the place where the earth had O pened before

her J ohn said
.
'
L et me be where the queen

is
. B y this time sh e was walking on the
earth again and he follow e d her When the y
,
.
6
came near the palace he went ahead o f the

queen and went to bed ; and as the queen w as ,
going in she saw h im sleeping and s o she

, ,
went to her o w n room a n d lay down and slept .
I n the morning the lords gathered toge ther

and the king asked whether any of them had
tracked the queen B ut none o f them could
.
“
say Yes .
S o he su mmoned Sleepy J oh n before him .
J oh n said :
Gracious L ord K ing I did indeed track ,
her and I know that s h e used up those t w elve

,
pairs of shoes upo n the green meadows i n

H ell .
The queen stood fo r th at once and J ohn ,
took from his knapsack the leaden twig and

“
said : The queen was carried by two dragons
towards H ell and she came to the leaden
,
forest ; there I broke o ff this twig and the

queen was fr ightened .
”
“ ’
The king said : That s no good Y ou .
”
might have made the twig yourself .
S O J oh n produced the tin twig from h is

knapsack and s a id “
A fter that the queen
:
drove th rough the ti n forest and there I ,
broke off this twi g That time the queen

.
g rew pale .
S LE E PY J O H N 67
“
The king said : You might have made
”
even this twig .
So J oh n produced the sil ve r twig and said

A fterwa r ds the queen d r ove through the
silver forest and wh en I broke off this twig
,
she fai nted and s o s h e w a s until the devils

,
brought her to life again .
The queen seeing that all was known cried

, ,
out :
L et the ea r th swallow me ! and she”
was swallowed by the earth .
Sleepy J oh n got the half of the kingdom ,
and when the king d ied th e othe r hal f too

, ,
.
T H R EE D O VE S
A CE R TA I N merchant died was . H is son
nineteen years old at the time H e said to .
“
h is mother : M other dear I m going to try '
my l uck i n the world .
“
H is mother answered : Go dear s o n but , ,
don t stay long there for I am O ld and

’
:
, ,
should like some help i n my old age She .
fitted him out fo r the journey and said good ,
bye to him ;
O ut into the world went the s o n and he ,
travelled on till he came into a forest H e .
had been going through it for three days and ,
no end appeared O n the third day he kept

.
o n and came at last to a cottage H e went .
into the cottage and he sa w a horrible bei ng

seated o n a stool The fellow asked h im
.
whe r e he was going .
“ ’
I don t know where I am going Im .
’
seeking my fortune i n some service .
Well if y ou like you can enter my service

, , .
72 CZEC H F OLK T ALE S
The l a d was very hung r y so he took servi ce ,
with the other .
“
H is master said to him You must serve !
me for a year at least .
S o he served him for a yea r H e w as .
treated very well and he was a faithful s e r

,
vant to his maste r The master w as a sorcerer

.
,
but he didn t do any ha r m to the lad

’
He .
had a big pond and three doves used to come

,
th ere to bathe E ach o f them had three

.
golden feathe r s These three doves we r e

.
th ree enchanted p r incesses .
When the yea r s service was e nded the

’
so r ce r er said : What wages shall I give

“
you
The lad said he left it to him .
You r e a good lad

’
said the sorcerer ,
.
C ome with m e to my cellar and take a s

much money a s you l ike gold o r silver j ust , ,
”
a s you wish .
So the lad took a s much a s he could car ry ,
and the sorcerer gave h im o n e o f th e three

doves too saying
,
’
“
When y o u get home i f y o u haven t got a ,
house O f you r o w n have o n e built a n d then

, ,
pluck those th ree feathers out o f the dove and ,
h ide them awa y s o ca r e fu lly that no human

T H R EE D OVE S 73
eye can s e e them The dove will turn into

.
”
a love l y princess and you may marry he r .
S o h e took the dove and returned home .
H e had a house built and made a secret place

i n o n e o f the walls fo r t h e three feathers .
When he plucked out th e feathers the dove

became a beautiful p r incess but s h e did not ,
kno w where the feathers were B ut h is mother .
knew quite well for he had told her all and

,
showed her where the feathers were hidde n .
When they had been l iving togeth er for

three years he went a hunting o n e day with
-
another lord and his mother stayed at home

,
Wl t h her daughter i n l aw The mother said

- -
.
to her : Dear daughter i n law I can t tell - -

,
’
y o u how beautiful I think you I f o n e were .
to search the whole wo rld through o n e couldn t ,

’
find so be autiful a woman .
The daughter i n law answered

- -
D ear lady ,
the beauty I have now is nothing t o what I

should have had I b ut one o f my g olden
feathers .
The mother went st r aight O ff fetched one ,
o f the feathers ,and g ave i t to he r .
She th rust i t into her ski n and s h e was ,
immediately far more beautiful than before .
Th e mother kept looking at her and said ,

74 C ZEC H FOL K T ALE S
I f you had the others a s well y ou would be ,
”
even more be autiful Then s h e fe t ched the
.
other t wo feathe r s and gave them t o he r .
She thrust them into he r skin and behold ! ,
sh e w as a clove again She flew off through

.
the window , thanking her mother i n law : - -
Thank y o u dearest mother for giving me

, ,
these th r ee feathers I will wait a little fo r

.
my husband to s a y good bye to him

,
-
.
So s h e perched on the r oof t o wait till her

husband should r eturn fr om the forest .
’
N ow the husband s nose fell to bleeding
,
violently H e grew fr ightened and began t o

.
,
wonder what great misfo r tune had befallen

him at home .H e mounted his hors e and
hastened home A s he w a s app r oachi ng the
.
door the dove called out : “

Good bye dear -
,
husband I thank you fo r your t r ue love but

.
,
you will never s e e me mo r e .
Then the dove flew away and the husband ,
began to weep and to wail O f cou r se he was .

,
very ang r y with h is mother and he decided ,
t o g o away again and follow wherever his eyes
might lead him S O he started off and he

.
,
went back to the sorce r er i n whose se r vice

he had been befo r e A s soon a s he ente r ed
.
the sorce r er said

T H R E E D OVE S 75
A ha !y ou have not followed my advice .
I won t help y o u this time ; the three doves

’
a r e gone from he r e B ut go to my brother

.
,
fo r all the birds and animals are under his

p ower ,and pe r haps some of them might know
where the doves are I will give you a ball
.
,
and when you roll it th r ee ti mes y ou will ,
get there this evening Y o u must ask him .
whe t her he knows anything about the doves ,
a n d y o u must tell him too that I sent you , ,
”
to h im .
The lad thanked him heartily and went o n

his way H e rolled the ball th rice a n d reached
.
’
the other brother s by evening H e told him .
that his brother had asked t o be remem

be r ed kindly to h i m and then he asked ,
whether he knew where the doves that used

to bath e i n his brother s pond were ’
.
“
The brother answered : M y good lad I ,
know nothing at all about them Y o u must .
wait till morning A ll the birds and

.
animals are under my power and if they ,
k n ow anything about it it will be all right , .
I n th e morning they went to the forest

.
.
The brother blew a whistle and instantly ,
swarms o f birds gathered r ound asking what ,
w a s their master s will

’
.
76 CZEC H FOL K TA LE S
H e said : Tell me does any on e of you ,
know a bou t those three golden doves which

used to bathe in my brother s pond ? '
N one of them knew s o he blew his whistle ,
again and all manner o f animals gathe r ed

round h im : bears l ions squir r els wolves , , , ,
eve r y kind of wild animal and they asked ,
’
what w a s their master s will .
“
H e sa i d : I would kno w whether any
one of y o u knows anything about th ree golden
doves which used to bathe i n my b r othe r s
’
”
pond .
N one o f them kn e w So he said .
M y dea r lad I cannot help you any mo r e

,
i n this matte r but I have another brother

, ,
and if he cannot tell yo u anything about

,
them then you will never hear o f them any

,
mo r e H e dwells twice s e v e n t v miles from

.
here and all the devils of H ell are subj ected

,
to him I will give y o u another ball like th e

.
one you had yeste r day and when y o u have , ,
rolled it th r ice you will get there before

,
evening .
H e rolled the ball th r ice and g o t there

the same evening The so r cerer w as sitting
.
i n his garden o n the grass H is hair was all .
dishevelled l ike a mop his paunch w a s ba r e ,

N one o f them knew anything The sorcere r .
looked abo ut him and asked : Where is the

“
lame one ?
The lame one had been left behind but ,
he w as hurrying up fo r fear he should be

too late H e cam e and asked what was h is
.
’
“
master s will The sorcerer answered :
. I
want to find out wheth er y o u know anything
about those three doves that used to bathe
’ ”
i n my brother s pond .
“
O f course I know about them for I have ,
been driving them before me They are .
bathing in the R ed Sea now .

”
The sorce r er said : “

You m u s t take u p
this man and carry him as far as thei r gold
”
roofed palace and he took th e lad aside
,
and whispered i n h is ear

When the devil asks you how quick he
is to take y o u if h e says : A s quickly as the
,
‘
’ '
wi nd blows ? s ay N o ; and if he says A s
l
‘
,
‘
?
’ ’
quickly as the step goes N o again ‘
‘
say .
B ut if he says A s quickly s the air goes

a,
? ’
’
say
‘
E ven s o I f your cap falls do not
. ,
’
look after it and don t tell the devil about
,
’
it or he will let you fall and won t carry y o u
,
to the palace When you are seven miles

.
from the palace y o u will see it and the devil ,

TH REE D OVE S 79
will a s k y o u if y o u s e e it ; but shut you r eyes

'
tight and s a y that you can t s e e it When .
you are three miles from it y o u will s e e it ,
quite plainly and he will a s k you again

'
whether you s e e it B ut y o u must sh ut your

.
'
eyes tight and say that you can t s e e it Then .
you will be above the palace roof and he ,
will ask you agai n whether you s e e it You .
’
must sa y again that you can t s e e it o r he ,
’
will let you drop on the roof and you won t
be able to get down .
The devil took t he man and flew with him

as the a i r goes When they were seven miles
.
from the palace the devil asked :

, D o you
se e th e palace n o w ? I t is quite plain to
se e now.
The lad shut h is eyes tight and said that

’
he couldn t s e e it S O they flew o n and when
.
,
they were three miles from the castle the devil

asked him did he s e e it now H e shut h is .
’
eyes tight and said that he couldn t see it .
When they were right over the roof the devil ,
“
asked : Surely you must s e e it now ; we are
”
j ust over the roof .
B u t he shut his eyes tight a n d said : “

I
don t s e e it
’
.
The dev il said angrily : Y o u must b e

“
blind if yo u can t s e e it ; we are j ust a bove

‘
the roof A nd he seized h i m I n anger and

.
,
s e t him on the golden table i n that royal

castle .
The th r ee p ri ncesses were sitting at the

table knitting with golden thread H is own
, .
wife w a s the middle o n e and s h e knew hi m ,
at once She sprang up r ight gladly and

.
welcomed him with j oy S he nearly fainted .

,
she w as s o pleased that he had been able

to come so many miles in such a short time .
“
We l come dear husband welcome ! Wel
, ,
come o u r deliverer ! Y o u will save us from

,
the enchantment under wh ich we are i n this

”
castle .
The time passed very slowly there So .
on e day h is wife brough t hi m the keys and

showed him through all the rooms and
closets letting him see eve r ything except
,
o n e room which s h e would not open for him

, .
T he three pri ncesses had to take the shape

o f doves for two hours in the morning and
three hours before the evening and they had ,
to go to the R ed Sea to bathe there O ne .
day when they had gone o u t t o bathe he

“ ’
thought : Why don t y ou want to open that
”
room for me ? So he wen t a n d s earc he d
T H REE D OVE S 81
among the other keys for the key and opened ,
the room fo r himself .
I n the room he saw a three headed dragon -

,
and each o f it s heads was stuck upon a h ook

so that i t hung down fr om it Under th e .
dragon were placed three glasses o f water .
The lad was terrified and started to run away .
“ '
B ut the dragon kept o n calling o u t : Don t
’
be frightened don t ru n away but come back
, ,
agai n and give me that glass o f water You r .
”
life shall be S pared this once .
S o he gave him the gl ass o f water ; the

dragon drai ned it up and i nstantly o n e of the
,
heads fell fr om the hook H e begged again

.
N ow give me that other glass o f water ,
and you r life shall be spared a second

time .
H e gave it him ; the drago n drank it up ,
a nd i mme diately the second head fell from

the hook Then th e dragon said :
. N ow
d o a s y ou like .B ut you must give m e the
third glass o f water whether y ou like it or
,
n ot !
I n terror he gave hi m the third glass ; the
third head drank it up and fell from its hook .
N ow the dragon was quite free and instantly ,
he made for the R ed S ea and began to chase

,
7
after the three doves u ntil h e caught o n e of

’
them I t was the lad s wife

. .
The other t w o princesses came back again

and began to weep and to wail .
Thou luckless fellow ! w e we r e happy i n

th e hope that thou wouldst deliver us and ,
now we are worse o ff than ever —now o u r

”
torments will last till d oo m s d a y l
H e too burst into tears fo r he was sad a t
, , ,
“
heart that the dragon had carried o ff his wife ,
whom h e had won at the r isk of h is life .
The p r i ncesses th r ee brothe r s were u nde r

’
enchantment too O ne of them was i n the

.
castle changed into the shape o f a ho r se

, .
O ne day the horse said to the sorrowing

“
husband The dragon i s away from home
n ow . L et us g o and steal the princess .
’
So they went to the dragon s castle carried ,
ofl the pri ncess and ran for home The

, .
other brother of the three princesses was i n

the dragon s castle under enchantment in the
’
shape of a horse .
When the dragon came home h e said to ,
the ho m e “
Whe r e is my princess ?
‘ “
The horse answered : They came and
”
carried her away .
The dragon mounted the horse at once

TH REE D OVE S 83
N o w we ll r i de a s fast as we
“ ’
and said :
”
can We must overtake them
. .
The horse answered : “

We c anno t pos
s i bl
”
y overtake them .
B ut the dragon said : “

O nly l e t us start ;
we shall overtake them .
They started and they overtook them near

,
the castle The dragon snapped the princess

.
away at once saying to the lad : I promised

,
t o spare your life i n return for that glass o f

’
water ; n ow I have spared it but don t dare ,
”
to come to my castle ever again .
A nd with that the dragon rode home ,
carrying the princess with him .
Some time after that the horse said to the

“
sorrowing h usband : The dragon i s away
from home again L et us g o and steal the .
”
pri ncess .
S o they went and stole her again .
The dragon came home and asked the

horse “:
Where is my princess ?
The horse answered H iba d ! They have
stolen her again but we cannot overtake ,
”
them this time .
The dragon said : “

We must overtake
them .
H e mou nted the horse and they went ,

flying after them till at last they overtook

them The dragon snapped away the prin
.
“ ’
cess saying to the lad :
, There s your life
spa r ed fo r the second glass B ut if you come .
again I ll tear you to pieces

,
’
.
The lad w a s sorrowful and wept and be ,
wailed his fate because he had lost his wife

for eve r B ut the horse said
.
“
I will g i v e y ou o n e more counsel 1
'
know a place where th ere are some young

ravens W e will go there and you must take
.
,
the young ravens from thei r nest on the tree .
The o ld ones will fly at y o u and peck you

they won t want to let you have their you ng
’
chicks ; bu t tell them that you won t give ’
them back their C hicks unless they bring you

the healing water and the water of life .
“
When they bring the water take o n e ,
o f the young ravens and pull its head o ff ;
then dip it in the healing water and put the

head t o the body again That s how you
.
’
will be certai n that they have brought y o u

the real water o f life I f the wound grows.
together again you may be sure it is the

,
r eal water of life A s soon as the wound

.
has grown together take the water o f life

,
and pour some of it i nto the raven s b il l a n d ’
, \
86 CZEC H F O LK TALE S
The dragon snapped the princess away ,
“
saying to the lad You rascal ! I told y o u
!
I would tear y o u to pieces if you came a third

time for her .
S O he caugh t hold o f him and took a ,
foot i n each claw and tore him i n two

,
.
Then he went off with the pr i ncess and the

horse .
’
The lad s horse took th e heali ng water ,
dipped the two hal ves into it put th e one ,
against the othe r and they gre w together

, .
Then he took the water o f life and pou red

’
it into the lad s mouth and he w a s alive again
, .
T hen they went into the ca stle .
The lad was weeping bitterly and c rying

o u t that all w a s over that now he would be
,
separ ated from h is wife for ever B ut the

horse gave him comfort saying ,
“
Well I really don t know what advice I
,
’
ought t o give y ou n o w We have been th r ee

.
times and he caught up with u s eve r y time

,
.
A nd the last time y ou were torn i n pieces .
I don t know how things will turn o u t B ut

’
.
I have another brother across the R ed S e a ,
and h e is stronger than I o r the dragon .
I f we could only get him we should be ,
sur e t o kill the drag on

’
B ut it s a h ard
.
TH R EE D OVE S 87
thing to do fo r he i s i n service with the

,
D evil s grandmother We will try it together

’
.
,
if only we can manage t o cross the R ed S ea .
A nd if you follow the advice I give y ou

, ,
you will get the ho r se .
“ ’
Y o u must serve the D evil s grandm other
fo r three days and when you have served
, ,
the three days y o u must a s k for that lean

,
horse as wages Y o u will have to he r d twelve

.
horses for three days N obody has ever .
’
managed to d o it yet When the first day s.
service is done o n the ne x t day the D evil s

,
’
’
grandmother always cuts o ff the servant s head
and hangs it o n a hook N o w l is te n c a r e .
, ,
fully While you are herding the horses

.
,
anything the hag gives you to eat at home ,
eat your fill of it B ut if s he gives y o u any

.
,
thing t o eat in the field do not eat it but , ,
throw it away I f y o u were t o eat it sleep

.
,
would come down o n you your horses would ,
stray and the Devil s grandmother would cut

,
’
o ff your head and hang it upon a hook .
S O off they went together till they cam e

to the R ed S ea A S they were drawing near
.
to th e s e a they s a w a huge fly entangled i n

,
a cobweb and struggling to fr ee itself S O .
“
the lad went up t o it and said : Poor fl y !
88 CZE C H FO LK T ALE S
Y ou
’
can t get out of that cobweb ; wait a

bi t and I will help you
, .
The cobweb was as big as a sheet but he ,
tore it in two and the fly crept o u t .
The fly said : Thank you fo r h elping me

“
o ut of the cobweb T ear o n e of my feet

.
'
from under my belly and whenever y ou are , ,
”
i n need think of me and I will help y o u
, , .
“
The lad thought : Poor fly ! how could
you help me N evertheless he tore o ff ,
o n e o f her feet and kept it .
Then he went o n his way and he saw a ,
wolf with h is tail trapped unde r a heavy l og ,
and he w as unable to help himself fo r wolves ,
'
have s t ifl backs and no wolf has ever been

,
able to turn The lad rolled the log away

.
and released the wolf .
“
Th e wolf said : Thank y o u for helping
me Take o n e o f my claws and whenever
.
, ,
ou are i n sore need thin k o f me and I

y , ,
”
will help you S o the lad took o n e o f his
.
claws and kept it .
When he got quite close to the s e a he ,
saw a crab as big as a bar r el The crab .
was lying o n the sand with his be lly upwards ,
and he couldn t manage to tu r n himself

’
over again S o the lad went and turned

.
po sts with a hook o n each one of them

, .
There are heads o n twenty three o f them -

.
The last hook i s waiting for your head I f .
you herd my horses badly that hook is ,
waiting for your head .
Then she fitted hi m out for herding the

ho r ses She gave hi m a piece o f bread so
.
,
th at he might have enough to eat and not

’
'
starve H e meant to follow the horse s

.
advice and threw the bread away B ut a

, .
fierce hunger came upon h im and he had to ,
go an d look for the bread and eat it up .
The moment he had eaten it he fell asleep

and all the horses were lost Whe n he .
awoke there wasn t a single horse there

’
.
Sorrowful ly he s aid : The D evil s grand

“ ’
mother was right ; my head will hang from

that hook I n his grief he thought o f the fly
.
,
“
and it came flying up and c alled ou t : Why
”
are you weeping and wailing ?
H e said that he had been h ungry and ,
had been forced t o eat the bread s o that ,
he fell asleep and all the horses were lost .

.
The fly tried to c o m r t him saying ,
Don t be troubled dear lad ; I will help

’
you .
S o s h e called tog ether all the fl ies and ,

TH R E E D OVE S 91
they flew everywhere looking for the hors e s ,
and when they fou nd them they buzzed ,
round th em and plagued them till they

drove them up to the herdsman H e drove .
them j oyfully home .
’
The D e vil s grandmother welcomed them ,
and when s h e s a w that all the horses were

there s h e said
,
“
You ve herded them well
!
’
enough for you have brought them all

,
back . Then s h e seized a hatchet and

began to beat the horses with it and most ,
of all the lean o n e till the flesh hung i n ,
st r ips from its body T he lad was sor r y .
fo r the horse for the hag was beating it

,
hardest and it w a s the leanest of them all .
’
B ut the D evil s grandmother took a sal ve
and anointed the horses wounds and they ’
,
were healed by morning .
The next day s h e fitte d hi m out again fo r

herding the horses and gave him some more,
o f the bread telling hi m to eat it all B ut

, .
when he came to the pastu r e he c rum b led ,
the bread and trampled the cr umbs into the

ground So that it should be u neatable B ut
, .
it w as n o good H e was forced t o dig it up

.
and eat it ea r th and all s o g r eat was the

, ,
hu n g er th at th e D e vil s g randmother h ad
’
sent against him I n a moment he fell

.
asleep and all the horses were lost .
When he woke h e s a w that there were no

horses there H e wept and waile d B ut he
. .
thought of the wolf and the wolf came ru n ,
ning up and asked h im : “

Why are y o u
weeping and wailing ? Don t be t r oubled ; I ’
”
will help you .
H e went and summoned all the wolves .
A great flock of wolves ran up and they ,
scattered eve r ywh ere looki ng fo r the horses ,

.
When they found them they drove them ,
to the herdsman each horse with a wolf at

,
i ts side leading i t by the ear The herds .
man was overj oyed and took the horses and ,
drove them home .
The D evil s g r andmother was waiting for

’
him in front of the house She said .
I ndeed you have he r ded them well ; this

i s the second day that you have brought
them all home B ut s h e beat the horses
.
with the hatchet fa r wo r se than the day

b efore ; then s h e anointed their “afi n d s with
the sal ve s o that they should be healed by
,
morni ng .
O n the thi r d day s h e sent him o u t agai n

to herd the horses and gave him som e mor e
,
to work to look for him and at last they ,
found him The big c rab had to turn over

”
.
,
and then they drove the lean horse o u t .
The herdsman took the horses and drove

‘
them home j oyfully because his three days

,
o f service were now over .
The D evil s g r andmother was waiting for

’
him and s h e beat the horses with the

,
hatchet so fiercely that their flesh hung in

strips from t heir bodies Then s h e anointed
.
them with the salve and the wou nds healed

,
by morning I n the morning she asked the

.
herdsman what wages he wanted He

“
answered : I want n othing but that lean
O l d horse .
She said : I t would be a sorry thing t o

give you such a wretched horse i n return for
su ch good service ; I will gi ve you the best
horse .
“ ’
H e answered : I won t take any horse
but the lean one .
S he asked him why he wanted the leanest

“
on e . H e replied : B ecause I am sorry for
him for he always gets the worst beating
, .
I will have that one and no other , .
S o sh e said : “
Well I will give him to
,
you i f yo u must have him but I will give

, ,
TH REE D OVE S 95
you this fat one too Y o u can ride on his

.
”
back home and lead the lean o n e with you .
H e mounted the fat horse and rode o ff .
B ut when they were draw ing near to the

“
gate the lean horse said :
, Get down from
t h a t h o rs e and mou nt me
‘
or y ou will
, be
”
the worse for it .
S O he j umped down from the fat horse and

mou nted the lean o n e .
“
The fat horse growled : I t s the D e v i l ’
”
gave you that advice .
A nd the lean horse sa i d : I f you had

“
’
gone u nder the gate o n that horse s back ,
he would have dashed you against the vault

o f the gate so that your head would have
,
been knocked o ff and y ou would have b een

,
killed .
S o they came safely home When the .
princesses saw him come back they were

delighted .
“
T he other horse said : N o w brother let , ,
u s go . The dragon is away from home and ,
”
the princess will be ours
, S o they went
.
a n d carried o ff the princess .
When the dragon ca me home he asked ,
h is horse Where is my pri ncess ?

:
“
The horse replied : She has go n e and ,
96 CZ EC H FOLK T ALE S
’
this ti me we shan t get her back T he horse .
from th e R ed S ea h a s come and he will ,
get the better of us all .
The dragon took no heed of that but flew ,
after th em and caught them up just by the

gate H e was going to snap the pri n cess
.
away but this time he could not do it F or

,
.
the horse fr om over the R ed Sea kicked h is

nose with his hoof so that the dragon fell
,
down from h is horse and the other two ,
horses fell upon h im and between them they

,
killed the dragon .
They ca me to the castle with the p r incess -

,
and they were congratulati ng one another o n

thei r victory over thei r enemy Then th e .
horse which had been giving good advice

“
to h is rider all the time said N o w dear :
brother i n law take my sword there hanging

- -
,
”
from the ceiling and cut my head o ff .
H e was sad and said : H ow could I do

that after all the acts o f kindness you have
,
done fo r me ?
The horse said M y good friend I cannot ,
tell you why y o u must behead me but you ,
would d o me a great wrong if you did not

”
do it .
S o he hesitated no longe r but ou t h is head ,

TH E B EA R . T HE EA G LE , AN D
TH E FI S H
ONCE there w a s a count and h e had three

daughters A ll of them we r e young and as
.
pretty a s peacocks but the youngest was the

,
lovel iest O f them all The count had little

.
money to spend fo r he had lost it all by

,
gambling . s —
A nd o si nce he had to spend
the time in some way or O ther—h e used t o go
hu nting O ne day W
. hen he was out hunting
he lost h is way i n a fo r est and h e could not,
find h is way out of it S uddenly a big bear .
r ushed o ut at h i m shouting at the t op o f his

,
voice H e said he would show him the way

out of th e forest and besides he would give
, ,
hi m as much gold and silver as he wanted

o n o n e condition and that condition w as that
,
the count should give him one of his daughte r s

i n ma r riage The count w as terrified B ut
. .
after thinking it ove r fo r a time he consented ,
at last Th e bea r showed him t h e way o u t

.
98
TH E B EAR TH E EAG LE , ,
AN D TH E F ISH 99
of th e forest and gave him everyth ing he had

promised and s o the count was pleased
,
.
H e spent his time eating and drinking and

gambling till all the money melted away
,
.
H e never so much a s gave a thought to t h e

bear u ntil o n e day when the eldest daughter
, ,
w a s ma r riageable a carriage came rolling up

, .
The ca rr iage was drawn by a pair of raven

black ho r ses and i n it s at a pri nce w i th c h e c k s
,
of white and red whose robes blazed with ,
gold H e came and took the eldest daughter

.
and drove o ff The cou ntess wept but the

.
,
count did n o t mind a bit but bein g short of ,
money he began hunting again

, .
O ne day he lost h is way again and th i s ,
time an eagle flew down to him and promised

t o S how him the way ou t o f the forest and ,
to give h m heaps o f mo n ey into the bargain

i
,
if he would only give him his se c ond daughter

in return The bargai n was made and the
.
eagle fetched away the second daughter and ,
only the younges t was left at home Y e t even .
her the count sold and it was a fish that ,
got he r .
So the count and the countess were left

alone They were very sad but after a time
.
,
a boy wa s bo r n to them and they watched ,

over h i m l ike the apple of their eye When .
the bo y was grown up he saw that the ,
c ountess looked sa d sometimes and he gave ,
her no rest till s h e had told him everything .
When he had heard the story he put h is ,
best clothes o n took his sword mounted his, ,
horse and said good bye t o his parents telling

,
-
,
them that he was going t o search for h is lost

sisters .
S o he rode o n till he came to the eldest

‘
sister H er he found playing with three little

.
bear cubs for these were her babies H e met

, .
h is brother i n law w h o gave hi m three hai rs

- -
,
and told him to rub those hairs with his

fi nge r s if he found himsel f in any difficulty .
T hen h e went to the second sister and fou nd ,
h er with two eaglets and the O l d eagle his ,
brother i n law as well The ea gle gave him

- -
,
.
three feathers saying they would be o f help

,
to him in time o f need H e thanked the eagle .
for that and went on h is way and at last h e ,
came t o h is youngest sister I t was n o t s o .
easy to get to her for sh e dwelt u nder the ,
water and he had to d r op i nto her house

,
through the chim ney H e would have missed .
the chimney if it hadn t been for the smoke

from it : i t was bluish smoke hardly visi b le , .
t o o w as o f no avail fo r the cou nt rubbe d the
,
fi s h scales and after a while the fish threw the

,
egg upon the bank The coun t caught it and

.
fl ung it to the grou nd s o that it was smashed

i nto many pieces .
A t once all a r ound w as changed The pond .
turned into a meadow upon w h ic h a beautiful

castle w as shining The castle was full of .
servants and the three p r inces with their wives ,
and children were j ust walki n g out of it A ll

, .
were overj oyed to be so happily delivered ,
and when they had enough of rejoicing they

, ,
started O ff to find their pa r ents .
Their first j ourney was to the old count and

countess s o that they might enj oy the sight of
,
their children and g r andchild r en A fterwa r ds .
they hastened to the old king H e orde r ed .
many cannon to be fi r ed and prepared a ,
splendid banquet A nd he gave the kingdom

.
to his eldest s o n The second s o n went to the

.
land o f the count and it w as divided between

,
him and h is brother in law A nd the you ngest- -

.
went to the disenchanted castle A ll o f them .
reigned prosperously and wisely i n their

’
several realms and if they haven t died since

, ,
they are reigni n g still .

KOJ A T A
O N CE there was a king who had an only s o n .
O ne day the king went to i nspect h is estates .
H e came to the first farm and found it all

right . B efore he had finished goi n g the
ro und o f his estates thirteen big farms i n
,
all he forgot that h is wife w a s about to

,
have a child O n his way home he came

.
to a forest and such a thirst came upon h im

,
that he bade h is driver stop and look fo r

some water The driver look e d everywhere
.
for water b ut he couldn t fi nd any S o t h e

,
’
.
king himself went to look for it and he ,
fou n d a well .
N o w j ust as he was going to drink he

, ,
kneeled down and he saw something i n the

Well which had claws like a crab a n d red
ey e s I t s e ized him by the beard with o n e
.
of i t s claws —h e had a p r etty l ong bea r d

and it refused t o let h im go unless he p r o
m is e d to g i ve it t h e thing that he had at
10
3
104 CZ EC H FO LK T A LE S
home u nknown to himself S o he said to .
“ ”
himsel f : I know everything at home .
B ut he forgot about his wife s condition ’

.
By this time his wife had been delivered of

a prince and s o the king without knowing
, ,
it had promised his s o n to the thing i n the

,
well A nd on that it let him go

. .
When he g o t home he saw the new born -
prince and of course he was very s a d H e

, .
remained s o for twelve years The pri nce .
asked him why he was s o sad A nd the .
“
ki ng answered B ecause you are sold
!
The prince told him not to worry about it ;

he would be able to help himself .
The p ri nce called for h is horse and started

’
o ut . H e had been riding five days journey
fr om his home when he came to a lake
,
.
There he tethered h is ho r se H e saw .

.
thirteen ducks swimming o n the lake and ,
there were thi r tee n shifts lying o n the ba nk .
S O he carried O ff o n e of the shifts and hid

himsel f Wh e n they saw this twelve of the
.
,
ducks flew away but the thirteenth w as ,
running hither and thither lookin g fo r her ,
shift 5 0 when he saw her running hither

.
and th ither looking for her sh i ft he came

’
,
o ut o f his hidin g pla c e N o w the father of

- .
106 CZ EC H FOLK T A LE S
i n a r o w The sorcerer asked him wh e ther

.
he could make o u t which w a s the youngest ;

if he could do s o his life would be spa red
, .
So he went the round of them three times ,
but it was as much as he could do t o re

cognize her B ut he po inted her out She
. .
was the th ird from the end S o the sorcerer .
asked h i m w h o had been giving him advice .
B ut the pr i nce answered that it was none

o f his b usiness .
The next day the sorcerer gave him

another task : to build a palace o f pure gold
and silver without using hammer o r trowel .
The prince was very worried about it B ut .
i n the evening the youngest daughter came

flyi ng to him again and she gave him a
,
wand A t a single stroke o f the wand th e

.
palace rose up ready built and i t was more

-
,
pe rfect than the O ld one I n the morn ing

.
he was strolling about the palace looking

round him When K ing Koja ta saw h im
.
,
“
he came up to him and stopped : Who
”
has given you this counsel ? he asked .
The prince answered that i t was the person

who had gi ven him advice the time before .
S o the sorcerer set hi m the third task ,
an d th i s t i me the daughter was n o t able to

'
KO J ATA 16 7
advise him She came to hi m in the even

.
“
i ng and said I have no other advice than
:
for both of us to flee at once otherwise ,
you will be lost and I too .
N ow i n the evening she tu rned hersel f

,
into a horse and he mounted her and rode

,
a s far as the lake There he fou nd his o w n

.
horse and they both mou nted i t a n d rod e

,
off at full speed S oon she heard a great .
noise behind her s o s h e turned herself into

,
a church and the prince became a monk .
’
The sorcerer s apprentices were riding in
pursuit o f them When they g o t as far as
.
the church they turned and went back to

Koja t a .When they came to hi m they said
that they had n o t overtaken any b ody ; they
had only seen a c hurch and a monk i n it .
A nd he said “
Those were they !
'
”
N ext day he sent them agai n to pu rsue

the ru naways T hough they were riding
.
faster than the day before again they heard ,
a trampl ing beh i nd them So sh e turned her .
sel f into a g r eat river and hi m into an old

broken bridge Their pursuers cam e as far
.
as the rive r and the b r i d ge and t h e n t h e y , _
turned b ack and reported to their king ,
Koja t a that they had seen nothing but a

,
10 8 CZEC H FOL K T A LE S
\
river and a bridge H e said at once

.
“ ”
Well those were they !
,
O n the third day the r unaways sta r ted

again and made for the border as fast as
they could and soon they were i n their own
,
land When they reached the third ch urch

.
,
the sorcerer had no more power over them .
H e began to tear his hai r and knock his

head against th e ground and to curse his
daughter for t r icking him .
S O the you ng king came home bringi ng ,
a lovely young princess with him H is .
father was very pleased at that !

S H EP H ER D H Y N EK
To cut a long story short there wa s a prince ,
and he had three sons The first t wo followed .
’
in their father s footsteps but the third did ,
not H e said he would l ike to be a forester

. .
The father was ang r y and turned h im out of

the house What w a s h e t o do with the
.
fellow when he was so obstinate and would

,
be a forester ?
“
Well be whatever y ou like
, said the ,
'
prince and he gave him a shepherd s dress
,
and H ynek went out i nto the world .
H e had been walking through a forest for

th ree days H e was hungry and c ol d and
.
,
eve r ything seemed to be against him H e .
was tired too and at last he fell asleep u nder

,
a tree A s he was sleeping a black man

.
,
ca me to him H e would n o t leave h im to

.
sleep but waked h im up

, H ynek was .
frightened B ut he told him there w as n o

.
need t o be afraid H e was a good man.

,
though h is skin w a s black S o H ynek stayed .
with him for seven years and learnt the seven

languages Zi ther play i ng and all that sort
, ,
o f thing .
N ow the seven years were over I n that .
land there w as a king who had an only

.
daughter A nd there was a fierce dragon

.
~
which was ravaging the whole o f that king

dom and everybody w as forced t o give him
,
o n e sheep and one human being t o appease

'
him S O the lot fell upo n the princess t oo

. .
The black man told H ynek that something

ought to be done to deliver the people and
to save the pri n c ess from being devoured by
that dragon .
“
Go to the next homestead he said and , ,
ask to be taken on as a shepherd and in the ,
morning yo u will have t o dri ve the sh eep i nto

”
this forest .
S O they took leave of o n e another H ynek .
w as engaged a s shepherd and i n the morning ,
he drove the sheep into the forest wh ere th e ,
b l ack man wa s wa i ting for him When he .
came with the sheep the black man gave him ,
a wand and a ring and said ,
“
When you tu rn this ri ng y o u will be ,
brought to a c astle where a gi ant dwells ,

wh ich they were b r i nging the princess to be

devoured by the dragon When he sa w the .
proc ession he asked

,
What s going o n here and why are the ,
people i n such g r ief ?
B ecause the princess is t o be devoured

by a dragon to
H ynek said “
F or the sake O f her beauty
'
”
show me his den where he dwells .
S o he rode up to the rock and called out

“
loudly : N ow dragon come o n ; your meal
, ,
is ready here waiting fo r y o u

,
.
“
But the dragon answe red : I don t want ’
it t o day ; come t o morrow at eleven , .
S o H ynek returned H e rode towards

.
them and said that the dragon would n o t

leave his den to day S o they all went
-
.
ba ck t o the town with th e knight and the ,
king would not let him go a way on any

account B ut H ynek began to make excuses
. .
H e had to deliver a letter for the field mar ‘
shal and he could not remai n there T hen he .
turned the ring o n h is finger and ins t antly ,
he w a s i n the castle again H e left the .
clothes a n d the horse there putting the clothes ,
tidily toget he r Th e n he put on h is shepherd s

’
.
dress turn e d the r ing and at once he was

, ,
SH E P HE R D H VN E K u s
near the forest where the black m a n had been

,
tending his sheep meanwhile H e greeted .
hi m kindly
’
Y o u have done every thing wel l A lways .
a c t l i k e that .
S o he drove the sh eep home and played

the zither again E verybody ran up t o the
.
door to listen to the magic playing Of the

shepherd B ut he said nothing to any body
. .
The next day h e drove th e sh e ep to the

forest still earlier T he black man w as there
.
waiting fo r him and said , F ollow m y advice

and y o u wil l be happy .
H e said that he would do s o The b lack .
man wa s to m ind th e sheep again H e gave .
H ynek th e wand and the r ing a n d H ynek ,
c a me t o another castle .
The giant w as looking o u t a s h e came up

h e was standing i n the doorway H e asked .
the lad grimly what he w a s looking fo r .
O h !i t s nothing I only want to try fo r

’
.
that big head of y ours .
The giant was holding a hammer and h e

hurled it at h im N o eye could s e e where
.
it fell H ynek leapt towards him and crack !

.
, ,
he struck him with the wand and the giant fell ,
over and H ynek cu t h is h e ad O ff too He .

’
took a silver key o u t o f the giant s pocket

and went straight to the castle There he .
chose a robe girded on a sword took a horse

, , ,
and turned the ring again O nce more he .
was on the road where the princess was being

brought to be devoured H e asked them in .
a different language why they were waili ng so .
“
Well o u r princess is to be devou r ed by
,
the dragon t o day H e would not leave h is.
den yesterday .
S how me h is den : I will sacrifice myself

”
for the s ake of her beauty .
They showed him the rock and he rode ,
straight up to it and called o ut : N ow dragon , ,
”
come o n ; your meal is ready here .
“ ’
I don t want it t o day wait till eleven ,
t o morrow .
The king was still less willing to let him

go th is time but he found some e x cuse tu rned
, ,
h is horse and went back with everyth ing to

,
the castle .
Then he returned to th e forest and the

“
black man
,
The black man said :
. D rive
your sheep home now but come earlier to ,
”
morrow fo r a heavy task awaits you
, .
H ynek could not rest that night : he was

so afraid that he would be too late A s soon .
S O they sho wed him the den i n which th e
.
dragon dwel t and he cal l ed o u t : Well come

,
“
,
on dragon ; your meal is ready an d waiting

,
fo r you here .
N ow the rock began t o shake all the ston es -
came rolling down and the dragon flew o ut

,
O f the rock his seven heads burning with

,
flame and he made straight for H y n ek

, .
H ynek bega n cutting at the seven heads unt i l

he was weary that he c o uld n o t d o any more .
Then the horse began t o crush the dragon ,
until after a while H ynek being rested took , ,
his sword and at once he cut al l the seven

,
heads O ff .
H e wa s so scorched b y the fi re that he

could n ot ru n away and he fainted o n the spot
, .
The people had seen what wa s happening so ,
th ey r od e up and car r ied hi m away lest he ,
should pe r ish o f the dragon s poison They ’

.
brought him and laid h im i n the princess s

lap S h e gave him her ring and a golden
.
n e c k cha in and so he recovered h is senses

,
’
and found himself lying in the princess s lap .
H e was afraid that he had stayed t oo long ,

’
for he w as supposed to be with the marshal

by this time Th e y were all try ing to hold
.
hi m back from going but h e fo un d an excuse

,
SH E PH E R D HYN EK H 9
and p r omised he would come back withi n .
three days So at last they j ust had to let

.
him go .
H e returned to the castle where he put ,
everything back i n i t s place agai n except th e ,
sword which he took with h im and gave to

,
the black m a n T he black man said to h im

.
You have succeeded now and i t will be well

,
”
with both o f us .
So H ynek drove his sheep h ome rejoicing .
H e w a s playing the zither and all the people

,
gathered outside to listen to h is ra r e and sweet

music H e asked what had happened to the
.
p r incess had the drago n devoured her ?

“
O h no ! A knight delivered her and the ,
king is going to give her i n mar r iage to

him .
“
A las ! silly shepherd that I am wh y did ,
’
I n o t tackle him mysel f with my shepherd s
staff !
B ut they all la ughed at him :
“
Y o u mind
you r sheep that s what befits y o u
,
’
.
I n the royal castle the wedding feast was -
ready . The sixth day had come and they

B ut the b r ide
'
were still waiting for him .
groom d id not come a n d the princess wa s sad .
O n the S i xt h day he asked the marshal if h e

could g o to the castle to play his zither t o the

princess ; he would like to cheer her since she ,
w as s o sad .
“
You may go and if you succeed you
, , ,
shall make some ext ra money .
So H ynek went and played and the music ,
w as so sweet that the lords could listen to
nothing but his beautiful playi ng H e played .
fo r three hours and then he must go home

, .
They asked him what reward he would like .
“
N othing but to drink a cup of wi ne with
the p r incess .
H e had ready the ring which the p r incess

had given him when he w as in her lap H is .
request was granted and the rest of the

,
musicians who were there were angry with him

fo r claiming so i nsignificant a reward When .
they had filled the cup for him he drank the ,
wine and dropped the ri ng into the cup .
N ow the cupbearer who was filling the cup

,
looked into it and s a w the glitte r ing ring S O .
he hastened to the princess with it S h e .
recognized it as her o w n s o she ordered t hem

,
t o bring that shepherd before her .
“ “ ’
Well he said
,
su rely they won t beat
,
me !
They brought him before the p r incess and ,
12 2 CZEC H FOLK TALE S
fully B ut the p r incess reass u red him I t was

. .
all right s h e said She did not mind at all ;

, .
he m ight sit where he pleased .
A fter dinner s h e called for a bath They ,

.
prepare d it for he r B ut H ynek w a s quic ker

.
,
and slipped i nto the bathroom before he r .
She S hut t h e door and he put o n h is r oyal

robes and then they went be fore his father
, .
The P rince was frightened si nce he had ,
though t s o ill o f his s o n and he fell on h is ,
kn e es B ut H ynek lifted him up and himself

.
kneeled befo r e hi m and asked his forgiveness .
Then came i n the black man H e gave .
H ynek the sword and bade him ou t his head

O ff
. H ynek would not repay his kindness in
this way .
Then we shall both be unhappy .
S o whe n he saw what he was to do he cut ,
the head off and when h e had done that an

.
, ,
E nglish prince appeared i n his stead H e was .
only eighteen years o l d A ll h is followe r s

.
woke up too H ynek accompanied hi m to

.
E ngland and then took leave of him

, .
H ow a r e they all now ?

I don t know '
.
T H E T H R E E RO S E S
O N CE upo n a time there w as a mother wh o

had thre e daughters
, There was to be a
.
ma r ket i n the next town and s h e said s h e ,
would go to it . She asked th e daughters

what she should bring t hem back Two o f .
them named a g r eat number o f things ; s h e

must buy all o f them they said Y ou kno w
, .
the sort of women and the sort o f things they

,
would want Well when they had asked fo r

.
,
more than enough the mother asked the th ird

,
daughter
A nd yo u don t y o u want anything ?
,
’
“
N o I don t want anything ; but if y o u li ke
, , ,
you c a n brin g m e three rose s please ,

.
I f she wanted n omo r e than that h e r mother .
was r eady to bri ng them .
When the mother knew all she wanted she ,
wen t o ff to market She bought all she cou ld

.
,
piled it all o n he r back and started for home

, .
B ut S he was overtaken by nightfall and the ,
123
124 CZEC H F OLK T ALE S
poor mother completely lost her way and could
go no farther She wande r ed th rough the
.
forest till s h e was quite worn out and at last ,
she came to a palace though s h e had never ,
before heard o f any palace there There Was .
a la rge garden full of roses so beautiful that ,
n o painter alive could aint them and all the

p ,
roses were smili ng at he r S o she remem .
be r ed her youngest daughter who had wished ,
fo r j ust such roses S he had fo rgotten it

.
entirely till then Surely that was because s h e

.
was so o l d ! N ow s h e thought : There a r e

“
plenty o f roses here so I will take these three

,
.
So s h e went into the garden and took the

roses A t once a basilisk came and demanded
.
her daughter i n exchange for the roses The .
mother was terrified and wanted to throw the

flowers away B ut the basilisk said that
.
wouldn t be any use and he th reatened to tea r

’
her to pieces S o she had t o promise him he r

.
daughter There was no help for it and s o

.
,
she went home .
She took the three roses to her daughter

and said H ere are the r oses but I had t o ,
pay dearl y fo r them Y o u must go to yonder

.
castle in payment fo r them and I don t even ,
kno w whether you will ever come ba ck .

12 6 CZEC H F OL K TA LE S
castle belongs to me and as you have , ,
delivered me there is no help fo r it : I must

,
”
marry you .
S o there was a gre at wedding the castle ,
w as full of their attendants and they all had

,
to play and dance B ut the floor was o f

.
paper s o I fell through i t and h e re I am

, ,
now .
The l ieutenan t and the captain had plenty

o f money now so they went to an inn and
,
passed the time drinking O n the third day

.
the captain said : TO day I will go to the

“ -
king I f he gave you twenty pou nds he i s

.
,
ce r tain to give m e more .

”
“
S o he went to the king and said : I se e
that your maj esty is i n trouble I should l ike
to go and look for the p r incesses .
“ ?
H ow much do you want for it said
the king .
“
T hirty pou nds .
Well the king gave him the money with

,
o u t any more ado adding that if he found

, ,
the princesses he would get half o f his

,
kingdom .
They fell to drink i ng agai n and had a

splendid tim e .
There was a drummer near them and he ,
heard them saying that they were to look

fo r the pri ncesses S o he went to the king
.
and sa i d : “
I hear that you r majesty is
prostrated by sore trouble I too would .
, ,
like to look for the princesses .
H o w much do you want for it ?

F orty pounds at least
,
.
”
Th e kin g gave him th e mo n ey w i thout

THE E N C H A NT E D P R IN C E SS E S 13 1
more ado The t w o officers and the dr ummer

.
left that i nn for another and s o they went ,
on spending thei r money recklessl y i n one

drinking house after another The drummer
-
.
went with the other two but he w as more ,
careful than they were H e was not such .
a spendthrift as the two offi ce r s .
They ask e d him where h e meant to g o .
”
Wherever you go I will go too he , ,
replied .
’
Then why don t you j oin us and lead a
gay life ?
’
That I can t do u ntil I know where to
”
fi nd the princesses .
They i nvited him to j oin them but he ,
refused to do it .
A t last they bought some bread and other

food and they all s e t o u t together on thei r
,
journey They came to a dark forest and

. .
,
for a fortnight they searched it th rough and

through but they could find nothing They
,
.
couldn t find their way o u t of the forest either

’
so th ey agre ed that one o f them should climb

to the top of the highest tree to s e e which
way they ought to go The drummer being .
,
th e youngest climbed up a pi ne tree

, He -
.
called out
13 2 CZEC H FOLK T ALE S .
I can s e e a cottage L ook I will throw .

,
'
my hat towards it and do y o u fo llow the ,
hat .
Well they went o n until they reached the

,
cottage .
“
Go into th e room says the drummer , .
A fter you said both the officers at once

,
”
.
S o the drummer stepped inside and an ,
o l d crone welcomed hi m .
Welcome D rummer A nthony said s h e

, ,
.
”
H ow did y o u get here ?
I have com e to del iver the princesses ,
and only for that .
Well you will fi nd them but those othe r

, ,
two fellows will get them from you by a

t r ick .
S he gave him a rope three hundred

fathoms long and told him to bind it round
his body She also gave him some wine and
.
“
a sponge Then s h e said : . N ot far from
here there is a well When you come to it .
,
o u must s a y that you will let yourself down

y
i nto the well i f the other fellows will drink
,
the fountain dry .
When they got to the well the captain and ,
the lieutenant began to drink the fountain ,
b ut it was j ust as full as before .

succeed in that H ere i s a sword ; s e e i f y ou

.
can b rand ish it .

”
The dru mmer took hold o f th e sword but ,
he could not even lift i t it was s o heavy , .
Then the p r incess gave hi m a ring “

Take .
“
th is s h e said and whenever you think o f
, ,
me you will become st r ong I have t o hold

,
.
the d r agon i n my lap fo r a whole hour A s .
soon as he co mes he will smell a man , .
B ut you must cut him in two for then I ,
shall be delive r ed J ust at nine o clock he

’
.
comes .
’
J ust at nine o clock the palace began to
tremble and the dragon came i n B u t the .
d rummer encou ntered hi m and st r uck him

i n two with the sword .
A fter that the princess took hi m into another

”
room N ow y o u have delivered me s h e
.
,
“
said .B ut my sister is i n worse trouble
still She has to hold a dragon i n her lap for
.
two hours and that d ragon is even stronger

,
”
than this o n e .
Then they went into the fourth room ,
where w a s the P r incess A ntonia She too .

, ,
greeted him and told him that h e would be

,
able to deliver he r if he could brandish the

sword beside her H e tried but he could .
,
THE E N C H A NT E D P R I N CE SS E S 13 5
not even move it Then s h e gave h im a

.
ring and told him that whenever he thought ,
of her he would have the strength o f t w o

,
hundred men S he said too that if he

.
, ,
succeeded i n sett i ng her free she would marry

him.
Soon eleven o clock came The hall b egan

’
.
to tremble and the dragon appeared B ut as .

,
he w a s coming i n A nthony was ready for him

,
near the door and he managed to cut the

,
dragon i n two .
N ow when the two pri ncesses had b een s e t

,
free they gathered all the preci ous stones they

,
could to take with them and went to t h e ,
opening that led i nto the world B ut the .
drummer had qui t e forgotten the ol d crone s ’
warning about the other t w o fellows and he ,
sent the princesses up before h im E ach o f .
the officers took a princess for h imself and ,
the drummer was left behind at the b ottom

of the well Wh en his turn came he w a s
.
,
careful eno ugh to tie a stone to the rope .
H is companions o n the t op pulled it up a

little way and then suddenly let it drop throw ,
ing d own other stones into the well to kill

th e drummer B ut he had remembered the
.
crone s warning that h is friends would try t o

’
13 6 CZEC H FOL K T ALE S
t r ick him So he j umped aside and remained

.
there i n the other wo r ld .
H e went back to the p a lace and entered

the seventh room O n the table were three .
boxes H e O pened the fi r st and fou nd a

.
whistl e i nside it H e blew the whistle and in.

,
came some generals and asked what was h is

‘
’
maj esty s will H e s aid he had only whistled
.
to fi nd out if they we r e attending to their

duty Then he looked into the second box
.
,
and the r e he s a w a bugle H e blew the .
bugle and in came some officers who said j ust

, ,
what th e generals had said I n the third bo x .
he found a drum H e beat the d r um and .

,
i mmediately b e w as surrounded by infantry

and caval r y a great multitude o f soldiers H e
,
.
asked whether a n y o f them had ever been i n

E urope Two men were found among them
.
who had been shipwrecked .
“
Whe r e is the ship sa id the drummer .
H e r e o n the seacoast they r eplied ,

.
A t that A nthony decked himself out i n a

,
royal r obe and S tarted on his travels fo r

E u r ope .
M eanwh ile the two princesses had reached

home O ne w as engaged to be married
.
to the lieutenan t the other to the captain , .

1 38 CZEC H FOL K TA LE S
“
Youmust take this ring to the Princess
A n ne maste r said he
, , .
“ ”
S O I will said the goldsmith ; but what
,
is you r p r ice for it ?

A thousand pou nds said he ,
.
’
I f that s s o I won t g o They would put
,
'
”
me i n jail .
“
B e easy said A nthony , nothing will ,
happe n to you .
S o the goldsmith went to the pal a ce and ,
sent in a message that h is assistant had made

a ring fo r the P r incess A n ne Sh e sent a
message that s h e had not ordered a r i ng but ,
she would look at it A s soon as s h e s a w .
it she asked :
,
“
Ho w much do you want
”
for this ? H e replied that he w a s almost
afraid to s ay that it w as worth a thousa nd
pou nd s
“
O h ! it is worth much more than that ,
S he said and s h e paid the s u m at once

,
.
The goldsmith returned home and told h is

wife what he had got fo r the ring She .
wondered what sort o f person their new

assistant was Th e mas ter br ought the money
.
to him but the as sistant would n o t accept it

,
.
”
Y o u ca n keep the money for yoursel f he ,
“
said ,and I have j ust finished the ring fo r
“
TH E E N C HANTE D P R I N C ES S E S 1 39
th e Princess A ntonia Y o u will have to go .
”
t o the palace agai n with this .
This time the master goldsmith was ready -
enough to go H ow m uch am I t o ask for

.
”
this ring ? he said .
“
A sk two thousand pounds .
S o he was brought to the princess and h e ,
told her that his apprentice had made a ring

for her . She answered that s h e had not
orde r ed a ring “
H owever S ho w it to me
.
, .
”
A S soon a s S he glanced at it s h e said ,
H ow much do y o u want fo r th is ?
T wo thousand pounds .
O h ! i t s worth much mo r e than that

’
s h e said .
S o she paid down the money and told the

master goldsmith to fetch his assistant to her
-
.
A S soon as the master came home he told ,
h is wife e verything She was still more

.
astonished .
O L ord ! S he said I c annot understand

”
,
”
it at all .
f
Th e master told A nthony that the pri ncess
bade him come and s e e her
S h e can come to me was his reply ,
”
.
When the princess heard that she lost n o ,
time but t ook some royal garments for him

, ,
and d r ove t o A nthony s house i n the royal

’
coach She went straigh t to him and said

.
,
“
I am come t o bring y ou home with me ,
A nthony .
”
She bade h im put on the royal robe sh e ha d

brought with her fo r him and they d r ove ,
together to the palace and their marriage was

'
celebrated n o t long after .
The t w o o ffi c e r s thought the king would

banish them o r i nflict some punishment upon
.
them but he pardoned them and gave them

,
sufficient money to live at the court A nthony .
himself did n o t care for royalty H e and his .
wife arranged that they would re turn to the

place where he had first found th e princ e sses .
S o they departed fo r that land but a sto r m ,
drove them o n shore near t o the place where

he had met th e o l d crone She gave him .
welcom e .
S o you are back again s h e said , .
They e x plained to her that what they

wished w as to go back to that palace beneath
the fou ntain .
“ ” “
Well s h e said
,
I will show you the
,
way to t h e other world and I will let you ,
down the well .
They came to the O pening a n d A n t h o n y ,

'
T H E T WI N B RO T H E R S
O N CE there w as a p r incess and S he was under ,
a curse and enchantment s o that s h e had to ,
s pend her l ife in the shape o f a fi s h O ne .
day a woman happened to be working i n the

meadow by the river and s h e saw a flock of
,
birds flying above the ri ver and talking to the

fi sh
. The woman wondered what it w as t hat
w as there s o s h e went to the waterside and
,
looked i n A ll she saw was a fi s h swimming

.
“
about S o s h e said :
. I should like t o eat
ou fi sh I feel sure y o u would do me
y , .
good .
N ow when s h e said that the fish answered

, ,
Y ou coul d save me You will have twin

.
sons although y ou have never had any chil

,
dren before .
The woman said that if S he could help her

,
i n that th ere w as noth ing the fish could ask

,
that she would not do to deliver her .
The fish answered : C atch me a n d take me

TH E TWIN B RO TH ER S 143
to you r field There you must bury me and

.
plant a rose tree over me When th e roses

-
.
first come i nto bloom y o u w i ll bear twin sons .
A fter th ree years dig in the place where you

,
buried me and you will fi nd two swords and ,
these you must keep You r mare will have

.
two foals and your bitch will have two pups ,
and each o f you r twi ns will have a sword a ,
ho r se and a dog
, Those s words will have
.
the virtue that they will help your so ns to

victory over everybody I shall be del i vered
.
as soon as my body has rotted .
When the twin sons grew up they were

very clever and s o they said : We must try
,
“
o u r luck i n the world We are bold enough

. .
O ne of us will go to the E ast and one to the

West E ach of us must look at his sword
.
every morning to see if the other needs his

help. F or the sword will begi n to rust as
”
soon as o n e of us is i n peril .
So they cast lots wh ich way they shoul d g o ,
and each of them took h is sword his horse , ,
and h is dog and away they went

, .
The first rode through deep forests and he ,
met a fierce dragon and alion s o he atta c ked

the d r agon wh ich had nine heads The lion
, .
staye d qu i e t while the knigh t atta c ked t he

,
1 44 CZEC H FOLK TALE S
dragon and at last he succeeded i n cutt i ng

,
one of the dragon s heads o ff H e felt tired

’
.
then and the lion took h is place ; then th e

,
knight c u t two more heads off the dragon .
A nd s o it went o n till he had all the heads

cut o ff Then he cut o u t the tongues from
.
all the ni ne h eads and kept them and so went ,
forward on his adventu rous j ourney .
N ow it chanced that there were some wood

,
cutters i n these forests and o n e o f them ,
collected all th e dragon s heads having come ’
across them by chance That dragon used to .
come to the town and devour o n e person

eve r y visit This time the lot had fallen upo n
.
the princess and so s h e w a s t o be devoured

,
by the dragon S o the town was all hung

.
with black cloth The woodcutter knew all

.
about this s o he went with the heads to the

,
town to sue for the princess for it had been ,
proclaimed that whoever killed the dragon

should be her husband When the princess .
sa w that such a low born man was to be her -
husband s h e w as taken aback and tried by ,
all the means i n her power to delay the

wedding .
The knight happened to come t o the town

j ust then an d he saw a good i nn so he fode
, ,
1 46 CZEC H FOL K !TALE S
H e is such a l o w born man said S he that

-
, ,
“
it is n o t likely that h e kill e d the dragon .
”
I should like t o see him said he , .
S O they brought the woodcutter before h i m ,
and the knight asked to s e e the heads S o .
they brought the heads H e looked at the .
heads and said

“
There are no tongues i n these h eads .
”
Where are the tongues ?
“
Then he turned to the woodcutter : D id
”
you really kill the cruel dragon ? he said .
The woodcutter persisted i n h is story .
“
A nd how did y o u cut the heads o ff
With m y hatchet .
’
Why y o u couldn t do it with your hatchet
,
.
”
Y o u are a liar .
The woodcutter w a s taken aback and did

not know what to s ay H e w a s frighten e d.
“
already but he said
, I t happened that the
'
!
dragon didn t have any tongues
’
.
The knight produced the tongues and said

H ere are the tongues and it was I who ,
”
killed the cruel dragon .
T he princess took hold o f h im and embraced

and kissed him and she was ready to marry
,
h im on the spot A s for the woodcutter b e

.
,
was k i cked out i n disgrace and they put him ,

TH E TWI N B RO TH ER S 147
into jail for some time too S o the princess .
married the knight and they l ived happily

together .
O ne day looking out o f the w i ndow he saw

, ,
in the distance among the mou ntains a black

, ,
castle H e asked his wife what castle it wa s

.
and t o whom i t belonged .
That is an enchanted castle and no b ody ,
who goes i nto it ever returns .
B ut he could not rest and he w as eager ,
to explore the castle S o o n e morning he .
ordered his horse to be saddled and ac c om , ,
a n ie d by his dog h e rode to the castle

p ,
.
When they reached it they found the gate

open A s he went i n he s a w men and animals
.
all turned to sto n e I n the hall an old hag .
was sitt i ng by the fire W hen s he saw him .
s h e pretended to tremble .
“
Dear lord sa i d s h e ,
“
bind your dog H e ,
.
might bite me .
“
H e said : D o n ot be afraid H e will do .
y ou no harm .
4
H e bent down to pat the dog and at that ,
moment the hag took her wand and struck

'
h i m w it h it H e was turned t o stone and h is

.
,
ho r se and dog t o o .
The p r i n c ess waited fo r her lord but he did not ,

return S he mourned for him and the citizens

.
, ,
who loved their lord were grieved at h is loss

, .
N ow the other brother looked at h is sword

, ,
and the sword began to rust ; so he was sure

that his brother w a s i n trouble H e felt that .
he must help him s o he rode o ff i n that dirc e

,
tion and came to the town The town w as .
hung with black flags A s h e rode through .
the streets the citizens saw him and they ,
tho u ght he was their lord fo r he ha d a horse ,
and a dog j ust like their lord s horse and dog ’

.
When the princess sa w him s h e embraced him ,
“
and said Where have you been s o long my ,
dear husband ?
H e said that he had lost h is way i n the
forest and that he had fallen among robbers ,
and si nce h e had no choice he had to pretend

, ,
to be a robber too and to promise to stay with

,
them and to S how them good h iding places -

.
T he robbers so he said admitted h im to be

, ,
o f their company and he had n ot been able to

,
escape before this .
’
E verybody w a s delighted a n d the lord s ,
brother was carefu l enough n o t to sa y that

he w as only the brother B ut whenever they .
,
went t o bed he put his sword between himself

,
and th e lady The princess was troubled at

.
A nd he went and caught hold of her wand

and struc k her with it and at once s h e was ,
turned i nto stone H e had not meant to do

.
that fo r he did not know that the wand had

,
such power H e took the bo x and rubbed

.
the ointment beneath h is brother s nose and ’
the brother came t o life again Then he .
anointed all the others w h o had been turned

to stone and they all came to life again A s
, .
fo r the hag he left her there j ust as s h e w as

, .
Then the brothers rode o ff to th e princess .
W hen s h e s a w them s h e did not know which

,
o f them was her husband they were so like ,
o n e another .
“
So s h e said : What am I to d o now ?
”
f
Which o you is my lord ?
They came before her and bade her choose

the right o n e B ut still s h e hesitated S o
. .
her husband went up t o her and took her by

“
the hand and said : I am the righ t o n e and
that is my brother .
H e told her everything and she w a s glad ,
that her real husband had come again So .
they l ived happily together and a s fo r the , ,
other brother he went t o seek his fortune

,
e ls e w her e .
THE WA T ER N I C K
O N CE upon a time there we r e two children ,
a boy and a girl They only had a mother

.
,
who was a widow O ne day thei r mother sent

.
them to get some wood for th e fire O ff they .
went The g i r l w as j ust learning to knit s o

.
,
s h e pu t a ball o f wool i n her pocket They .
went on a s far as they knew the way The n .
suddenly they began to wonder whether they

could fi nd thei r w a y home .
“
The girl said : I will bind the end o f t he
thread to a tree and s o we shall be able to fi nd
,
”
o u r way back.
S o they went on till the thread had all run

o ut
. Then they tu r ned back but they fou nd
,
that wild creatures had broken the thread .
What were they to do ? They wandered o n

till night fell and then they sa w that they
,
would h a Ve to spend the night i n the forest .
They came to a pond and they found that

,
they could not g o any farther S o they

.
15 1
wal ked round the pond till the Wa t e r n ic k got

hold o f them H e took them with him and
.
,
there they were .
W hen he got home with them his wife was ,
waiting for hi m R ou nd the stove there were

.
some shelves for vessels that they used for

catching poor souls i n The Wa t e r n ic k and.
his wife were delighted with t he children ; they

decided that they would employ them as s e r
vants so M rs Wa t e r n ic k took charge o f them
, . .
The children spent some years i n this way and

learned about everything u nder the water .
O ne day the Wa t e r n ick went away to catch

some human souls and he gave orders to M rs
, .
Wa t e rn ic k not to leave the children alone .
B ut the old hag fell asleep and the children ,
wal ked some distance from the hut till they ,
thought she would scold them and so they ,
returned home B ut they meant to go farther

.
the next day if only the old hag went to sleep

,
agai n A s soon a s they were sure that s h e

.
was asleep they ran ou t of the hut and went

as far as they could .
“
The old hag woke up and cried out : Where
are you children ?
,
She j umped to her feet and ran after them .
They were within a few steps o f getti ng safe

They said that th e hatchet and s a w were

only made o f wood and that both were ,
broken H e took them honi e

. .
N ext day the Wa t e r n ic k went a bo u t his

work while M rs Wa t e r n ic k w as busy outside
, .
the hut T he children looked at the cups

.
on the shelves The cups were tilted up

. .
S o the girl l ifted o n e o f them A nd s h e .
“ ”
heard the words : G od speed you ! She
lifted another and the same greeting came
,
again S o s h e kept o n lifting the cups till

.
she had lifted all of them H uma n souls had .
been imprisoned under those cups N o w the .
hag came into the room and s h e saw th at all

the cups had been lifted She began to cu rse
. .
and she said that the children would cer tainly

get a good thrash i ng when the ol d man came
home .
The chil d re n often felt lonely ; they thought

of their mother and wonde r ed if s h e we r e still
alive and what they could do t o g e t away
, ,
.
S o they decided that th e next day when the ,
bag w as sleeping they would try how far they

,
could get .
“
I f only we coul d get as far as home it ,
would be all r i ght then .
I n the mornin g the g irl had to c omb M rs .

TH E WATE R N I C K 15 5
W a te r n c hair and dres s her i n her smart

i ks
’
dress When s h e had fi nished Mr s Water

. .
nick had a sleep N ow the ch i ldren took t o

.
their heels ; they were a s quick a s ravens trying ,
to get away before Mrs Wa te r n ic k should .
wake B eing swift o f foot they reached the

.
,
shore They leapt o ut and ran straight on

.
again O f course they heard the hag screech

.
ing behind them but they were on dry land

, ,
“ ’
s o they thou ht : We need n t care for any
g
thing now .
The hag soon stopped her pursuit The .
children were tired s o they lay down under a ,
tree i n th e forest and fell asleep A s they .
were sleeping somebody woke them up I t

, .
w a s the forester They told hi m that they

.
were afraid o f falling i nto t h e Wa t e r n ic k s ’
hands again B ut the forester told them not

.
to be afraid and asked how they came there

, .
The children told him everything j ust as it

had happened .
N ow the forester remembered that he had

,
heard of a widow w h o had lost her children .
So he thought that these must be the C hildren .
H e said nothing but he told his wife to get

,
them some food and asked the children to S it

,
dow n and e at Th e childr e n thou g ht the foo d

.
15 6 CZEC H FOLK T A LE S
w as very nice s o he asked the m what they
,
were accustomed to eat They said they were

.
accustomed to eat flowers S o they ate plenty

. .
The forester decided to do all he could to

get the children home A t last it was d is
.
covered where their mother lived and so the

,
children came back to her and they lived wi th

,
her u ntil they died

.
15 8 CZEC H FOLK TA LE S
all spent —that s wh en every body feels the

’
pinch —h e began to hang h is head and his

travels lost a g ood deal o f their charm B ut .
’
h e told people his name and his father s name ,
and for a time they helped him B ut at last .
he came into a country that was quite strange

to him There was a vast desert through
.
,
which he walked for a lo n g time and he began ,
to feel hungry and thirsty but there was no ,
water—no not so much as would moisten h is

,
tongue .
N ow a s he went o n his way h e saw a flight

, ,
o f stairs going down into a hole and without , ,
hesitating down he went , .
H e cam e i nto a cellar and there he s a w a ,
man lying on a tabl e I t was an awfully big .
man o f the kind that used to be called ogres

, ,
and he was sn oring l ike a circular s aw .
F rancis looked about him and he saw all ,
sorts o f human bones lying about He .
“ ’
thought : That s a nice mess I expect th e .
’
fellow s a man eater and he ll swallow me
’
-
,
,
’
down like a currant I m done for n ow . .
H e would have liked t o g o away but he ,
was afraid t o move B ut he had a dagger .

,
so he drew it from its sh eath without making

any noise and t r ied to S teal up t o the ogre
,
TH E MAN WH O ME T M I S E RY 15 9
’
quietly The ogre s head was lying o n the
.
ta ble s o he pierced both h is eyes with the

,
dagger The ogre sprang up cursing horribly

.
, .
H e groped about hi m and found that he was

totally blind .
F rancis cleared the stairs i n two j umps and

o ff he ran tryi ng t o get as far from the ogre
,
as he could B ut the ogre knew th e place

.
well and kept close o n his heels .
“
To think that a shrim p like that could
”
make me suffer so ! he though t ; and yet h e
found that run as he would he couldn t
, ,
’
“
catch the lad So he cried o ut :. Wait a
bit you worm ! S ince you re such a champion
,
’
’
and have managed to tackle me I ll give y ou ,
”
something to remember me by .
A s he said this he flung a ring at the lad

, ,
and the j ewel i n it shone like flame The .
l ad heard the ring tinkle as he ran by so ,
he picked it up and put it on h is fi nger .
B ut as soon as the ring was on h is finger the ,
giant called o ut : Where are you ring ? ,
”
A n d the ring answered : H ere I am and ,
the ogre ran after the sound F rancis j umped .
o n one side but the og r e called o u t again

, ,
“ ”
Where are y ou ? and the ring answered
Pi ere !
S o it went on fo r s ome time un til F rancis,
was so tired that his only thought w a s

“
Well i f he kills me he kills me
, , He .
tried to pull the ri ng off but i t clung tigh t

, ,
really cutting into the flesh and the ogre ,
was still following close o n h i s heels A t .
—
last there was no other choice for t h e ring ,
kept o calling o u t H ere I am

n —F rancis
stretched o ut that fi nger and the ogre broke
,
it o ff with o n e grip O ff ran F rancis glad

.
,
enough to get off with his life .
When he reached home they asked h im ,
”
D id y o u meet M isery ?
“
I ndeed I did I know what it is n o w
. .
’
I t gave me a nice ru n for it I t s an awfu .
thing a n d there s no j ok i ng with i t

,
’
.
”
pass that way and he saw w ritten i n golden
,
”
letters : N ine at a blow
So he waked the tailor and asked him ‘
H ave y o u really killed nine at a blow ?

The tailo r answered that he had and the ,
g iant said : L e t s have a t r ial which

’
o f us
i s the stronger I ll cast a stone and it will’

.
,
be an hour before it comes down .
“ ’
The tailor said : I ll cast a stone that
'
won t come down at all .
So th e giant cast a stone and it was a full ,
hour before it came dow n again I nstead of .
casting a stone the tailor let the fi nch go , ,
and of course it didn t come back again

, ,
’
So the giant said : “

L et s have another ’
’ ”
try I ll crush a stone t o powder
. .
“ ’
The tailor sa id : I ll squeeze water from a
stone .
So the giant took a pebble and crushed it

to powder The tailor took the cheese and
.
squeezed it till the water ooz e d out o f it .
The giant gave in and acknowledged that ,
the tailor was the stronger o f the two So .
they went on together till they c ame to a

cherry tree growing near a meadow and the
-
,
cherries were ripe They wanted to pick .
s ome o f the cherri es for themselves S o the .

NIN E AT A B LO W 16 3
tailor climbed the tree but the giant simply ,
bent down the top o f the tree and began to

pluck the cherries When he had finished he .
let go and the tailor was flung onto a heap

,
o f dry g r ass piled up i n the meadow So .
the tailor said : I f it hadn t been for my ’
skill i n flying I should have broken my

,
neck and he p r omised to teach the giant

,
how t o fly .
So they went on their way again and they ,
came t o a town The town w a s all i n .
mourning They asked the reason and they

.
,
were told that a dragon had taken up his

headquarters in t h e church and was killing
the people The king would give a thousand
.
pou nds to w h o e v e I could kill the dragon .
S O they told the king that they would kill

the dragon .
They ordered a big hammer and a b ig

pair o f tongs to be made for them When .
they were made the giant took the to n gs ,
and he gave the hammer to the tailor to

“
carry .B ut the tailor said Wouldn t it !
’
shame you if people should see us each ,
carrying such a trifle ? Take both the things

yourself .
When they came near the church door ,

the giant gave the hamme r to the tailo r who ,
'
stuck fast to it Then the dragon came

.
dashing o u t and flung the tailor behind him

, ,
but the giant split him in twain B ut the .
tailor protested
A nice mess you ve made of it I meant
’
.
to take the dragon alive W e should have .
got more money fo r h im so Then he .
said : N ow I will teach you how to fly .
S o they cl imbed up the church steeple ,
and the tailor said : “

When I s ay O ne ‘
,
t wo three
, ,
’
you must j ump A nd the giant .
j umped and b r oke his neck .
The tailor told the king that the d r agon

had killed the giant s o he pocketed the
,
thousand pou nds fo r himself .

“
The shepherd began to lament : My
daughter was right when s h e said that when
y o u had got the mo r ta r you would want the
’
pestle t oo I wouldn t listen to her so it
.
,
”
serves me right .
“
H ave you such a cle ver daughter a s
that ? asked th e king
”
.
“ ”
I ndeed I have said the shepherd ,
.
Then tell your daughter that I will marry

her if s h e comes neither walking nor riding
, ,
clothed nor unclothed neither by day nor ,
by night neither at noon nor in the morning

,
.
A nd I won t as k for the pestle either

’
.
“
The shepherd went home and said : Y o u
can get me o ut o f this if you go to ,
M r K ing neither clothed nor unclothed

.
,
and the rest of it .
B ut the daughte r wasn t a bit fr ightened ’

.
Sh e came with the fall o f dusk ( and that

wa s neithe r at noon n or i n the mo r ning ) ;
she dre s sed herself in fi s h i n g nets ; s h e took -
a goat and s h e partly rode o n the goat and

,
partly she walked .
A nd when the king saw that S he had only

a fi sh i n g net o n that s h e came with the
-
,
approach o f dusk and that s h e was pa r tly ,
walking partly riding on the goat h e was

, ,
A CLEVER LA SS 16 7
bou nd to marry her B ut he said to he r .
Y o u will be my wife so long as y o u don t

’
give advice to anybody ; but if you do you ,
must part with me .
Well s h e didn t give advice to anybody

,
’
u ntil o n e day there w a s a market in the town ,
and a farmer s ma r e had a foal at the market

’
.
The foal ran away to another farmer who ,
was there with a gelding and the farmer said ,
“
This foal belongs to me .
They went to law about it and at last the ,
matter came before the king A nd the king .

,
considering that every animal ought to run

to i t s mother decided that a gelding had
,
had a foal .
The fa r mer w h o owned the mare went down

“
the stairs sa ying over and over agai n : The
,
gelding has foaled !the gelding has foaled !

The queen heard h im and s h e said “
Man , ,
”
u are talking nonsense
y o .
S o he told her that he had been at the

market that his mare had foaled b ut the
, ,
a I ran to another farmer who w as there

with a gelding “
A nd now he said
.
“
it , ,
has been decided that the gelding h a s foaled .
So he thought there could be no mistake ; at

’
a n y rate , he couldn t help it .
16 8 CZEC H FO LK T A LE S
When the queen hea r d this story she said

To morrow my lord the king will go out
-
,
for a stroll Take a fi s h i n g net and begin

.
-
,
fishing o n the road i n fr ont of him The .
king will a s k y o u : Why a r e you fishing o n

a dry road ? A nd you must answer : Why
’ ‘
n o t ? i t s a s hopeful as e x pecting a gelding to

’
’
foal . B ut y o u must not s a y wh o gave you
this advice .
S o it w a s A s the king w a s walking along

.
he saw the fa r me r fi shi ng on the d r y road .
H e asked h im why he was fishing there .
“ “ ”
Why not ? said he i t s a s hopeful a s
’
”
expecting a gelding to foal .
The k i ng at once began to r ate the farme r .
That s not out o f you r o w n head he said

’
, ,
and he kept at the farme r until he let the

secret o u t .
S o the king came home summoned the ,
queen and said to her

,
Y o u have been “
with me fo r a long ti me and y o u have given ,
advice i n spite of all s o you m ust go to ,
mor r ow B ut I will allow you to take with

.
”
o u the thing o u l ike best
y y .
I t w as no good a rguing S o the ki ng invited .
all h is cou r tiers and p r epa r ed a splendid ba n

quet .When the banquet w a s finished the ,
T HE S O LD I ER AN D THE D EV I L
A C H A R G E D soldier was going home H e

DIS .
had only threepence i n his p ocket A s he .
w as going th rough a forest he met a beggar .
The beggar asked him for a penny The .
soldier gave him o n e and went o n his way

,
.
Then h e met another beggar This beggar was

.
very ill and h e asked the soldier fo r a penny

,
.
So the soldier gave him the other penny .
Then he met a third beggar This begga r .
w as half dead -
The soldier took pity on him
.
and gave him the third penny Soon afte r .
he had left the fo r est o u r L ord appeared t o

him and in retu r n for those three pe nnies
,
H e granted him three boons F or the first .
boon the soldier chose a pipe that should be

full o f tobacco whenever h e wished so that ,
he m ight always have a smoke handy The .
second boon he asked w a s that if h e wante d ,
to put any one i n his knapsack they should ,
be in it as soo n as he said : L eap into that

“
TH E S OL DI ER AN D TH E D EV I L 17 1
knapsack .The thi r d boon was that h is purse

should be full o f gold coi ns whenever he
knocked o n it .
O ur L ord said : S o be i t !
“
Soon afterwards he came to a mill and

’
asked for a night s lodging They said that .
they onl y had one room for themsel ves ; the

other o n e was hau nted by a devil every
midnight B ut the soldier wasn t afraid H e
.
’
.
said that they could leave him there alone ;

’
he didn t mind a bit .
H e sat down at the table and played cards .
When midnight came there was a terrible

noise and th e devil appeared sure enough
, ,
.
When he s a w the soldier playing cards he

grinned ; he w a s sure he had h im So he .
sat down opposite him and began t o play

too . I t w a s nearly o n e o clock at last time’
for him t o go s o he caught hold o f the soldier

,
and tried to tear h im in pieces B ut he ,

.
had no success F o r the soldier said

. L eap
i nto my knapsack and the devil w as in it
,
.
Th en the soldie r threw the sack with the devil

In It under the b e d and went t o sleep i n
,
the bed .
I n the morning a s soon as he had g o t up

, ,
the millers W ent to s e e if the soldier wa s still

alive They we r e greatly surprised to fi n d

.
him all right They said they would give

.
him anything he wanted but he wouldn t ,

'
take anything O ff he went and called at a

.
,
’
blacksmith s H e told the blacksmith t o give
.
the devil in the sack a good ham mering and ,
then he let the devil go .
A fter that he came into a town H e hea r d .
that the r e w as a count s daughte r there w h o ’
w a s an accomplished ca r dplayer She won .
eve r ybody s money fr om them H e went t o

’
he r palace and asked he r if S he would play

with him Sh e w a s r eady S o they played
. .
and played but s h e couldn t win all h i s

,
’
money fr om him fo r h is pu r se w a s al ways

,
fulle r than befo r e I t w as late by now and .
the lady w a s sick of the game s o h e went ,
to bed H e put the three p r ecious gifts on

.
th e table but when he got up i n the mo r n

,
i ng they we r e gone ; the lady had stolen

them fr om him H e g r ieved over hi s bad
.
luck but it w a s no u s e and he had to leave

, ,
the palace .
A s he went on his way he s a w a fi ne ,
apple t r ee by the side o f the road with

-
delicious apples o n it S O he took an apple .
and ate half o f it Then he went o n his .

D e a th was im mediately imprisoned i n the
knapsack .
The soldier w as carryi ng D eath about fo r

some time until at last the L ord appeared
,
to him and told him he must n ot do that :

he must let Death g o fo r people could not ,
die and there would soon be too many of

,
them i n t h e world S o h e let Death go H e

. .
wanted t o go to H eaven himself B ut he .
went to H ell and as he drew near H ell the

,
devils closed the gate they were so fr ightened ,
o f him When he reached the gate o f

.
H eaven he knocked S t Peter opened the

,
. .
’
gate but he wouldn t let him in The soldier
, .
asked h i m to let h im have j ust on e peep so ,
that at l east he might know what H eaven

looked hke .
N ow he remember e d that he still had

,
h is soldier s cloak i n his knapsack so he

’
took it o u t o f the knapsack and threw it into

H eaven Then he j umped after it and s a t
.
down on it and then he said he w a s sitting

,
o n his own property H e s at there for a .
full hundred years though it only seemed a ,
short time to him But he couldn t come to

.
’
an agreement with St Peter on the case .

,
s o o ur L ord told him that he mu s t first die ,

TH E S OL DI ER A N D TH E D EV I L 1 75
fo r nol iving people were admitted

H eaven .So the soldier had to leave
premises H e returned t o this world
.
,
afterwards he went to H eaven agai n ,
there he is still as right as rain

, .
O LD N I CK AN D KI T TY
O N CE upon a ti me there was an O ld maid

se r vant o n a farm She was a score o r
.
t w o years o l d but s h e wanted to get married

, ,
though nobody would eve n touch her S he .
never missed a dance : s h e was sure t o turn

up at every o n e o f them though nobody ever ,
ask e d her to dance So at last she said

.
I d dance with O ld N ick if only he d come

’ ’
The clock struck eleven and a youth clothed

in green entered the room H e went straight .
up to ou r K itty and be gan t o dance with her .
A ll the girls couldn t keep from laughing

’
’
but they daren t laugh openly S o they .
held their aprons ove r their faces K itty wa s .
very ang r y but she kept on dancing like the

,
wind . She thought : L et the fools laugh ;

“
they d be glad enough to dance with the

’
”
lad themselves .
I t was hard upon twelve now and O ld

N ick —fo r O ld N i c k it was —had to start
,
179
fo r home B ut K itty would n t let him go

.
’
.
What was he to do with her ? H e was

absolutely at a loss what to do fo r s h e w a s ,
clinging o n to h im behind .
H e went to the po nd thinki ng he d be

~
,
’
able t o throw her i n H e t r ie d to d o i t but .

‘
she clasped him round the neck and he

’
couldn t ma n age it S o off h e went t o H ell .
with her B ut the people o f H ell made

.
’
an outcry against her and wouldn t let her
stay at any price .
“
H ang it all ! says O ld N ick “
I can t ,
’
go all round the world with he r .
A t last he met a s h e p h e r d : I say she p

“
'
“
herd says he
,
would you like this maiden
,
here ?
“
A nice maiden that is the ugly old ,
spinster ! K eep her for yourself You can .
pickle her .
N ow when the devil saw that he was going

,
to fail again he promised the shepherd a

,
heap o f money only to rid hi mself of the ,
hideous old crone B ut the shepherd refused . .
I ll mak e it s o much says O ld N ick

’
,
.
”
Well if you will I agree
, ,
.
N ow the shepherd was a good looking

,
-
fellow and K itty was easily persuaded to stay

,
T H E KN I G H T B AMB US
TH E R E was a poo r gamekeeper once who had ,
su ffered from hard times all h i s life s o a s ,
he grew older he wanted to g e t rich H e

, .
w as only an u nder forester -

O ne day the .
“
forester said : N ear those o l d ruins you ,
know the ones I mean a fo x o r a roe o r some

, ,
creature o f that so r t often crosses my path

, ,
and I can neve r m anage to hit it though I have ,
S hot at it a hundred ti mes I f you happen to .
”
be going in that direction look out for it
When the gamekeeper heard this the first
.
,
thing he did w a s to go to the r uins J ust a s .
he got the r e a huge fox appeared with a

,
rustling noise The gam ekeeper felt uneasy

.
,
but th e fox disappeared at once s o he s a t ,
down put five big cha rges in h is g u n and

, ,
waited . I t wasn t long till the fox appeared

’
again and this time he was ca r rying a young

,
fawn in h is mouth The gamekeeper shot

.
at him —boom ! The fo x c r ied o u t and ran ,
183
TH E K NIGHT B A M B US 183
off into the bushes B ut the gamekeeper saw .
that the fawn had run away and hidden itself

“
i n a cave H e thought
. The fox cried out ,
s o he h a s some O f my shots i n his fur coat .
’ ”
I ll get him some other time .
So he went into the ruins through the gate .
Within there was a courtyard all deserted

, ,
and with i t s wall fallen down S o the game .
keeper passed through the courtyard and came

i nto a spacious cellar There he sa w three .
lamps burning and looking round he was ,
filled with amazement B ut all th i s w a s as .
nothing for i n the corner were three glittering

,
heaps o f golden coins and one heap of big

“
gold pieces The gamekeeper reflected :
. If
I had all that I should give up gamekeeping
,
”
and have a splendid time .
N o sooner had he said this than a grey

old man appeared and asked What are you
looking for gamekeeper ?
,
“
Well I S hot at a fox and he ran in some
,
wh ere here and s o I m wandering about

,
’
looking for h i m .
“ ’
You won t get the fox yo u re looking for
’
fo r I am he .
“
A nd why are you here i n a fox s shape ? ‘ ’
”
What s the reaso n o f that ?
’
1 84 C ZEC H FOLK T ALE S
I am the K night Bambus and all these ,
forests belong to this castle I was a robber .
knight and s o as a punishment I have to

,
keep watch here now .
A nd how long is it to last ?

When three poor peop l e come here and ,
each of them takes away two sackfuls of gold ,
I shall be delivered I am bou nd to give all

.
this gold away for nothing A l r eady I have .
outlived three generations o f my kinsmen

”
here .
Then he bade him fetch t w o leath er sacks

from the other room and collect the gold into
them filling them up to the brim H e must
,
.
keep it all for himself and must not tell any

one what he had seen The gamekeeper .
promised that he wouldn t even tell h is Wife ’
H at iCk a how he had g o t the money

,
S o be .
filled the two sacks up t o the brim and the ,
ol d man helped him to hoist them o n to h is
shoulders and saw him ou t o f the doo r A ll the .
time he kept wa r ning him to keep h is mouth

“
shut F or what a woman knows all the world

knows that s gospel truth sure enough
’
,
.
S o the gamekeeper left the castle carrying ,
those two sacks and the man shook hands

,
with him b e fore he left A t the border of the

.
FR A N C I S AN D MA R T I N
O N CE there was a father who had only one

s on ,
F rancis by name They had a farmhand .
called M artin O ne day Martin and F rancis

.
were ploughing behind the barn F rancis s .

’
mother brought their meal for them and ,
F rancis said : Well mother the ol d man

“
, ,
must have a lot more money than he lets

on to have We are not i n debt and yet
.
,
h e s al ways complaining that he hasn t any

’ ’
”
money .
“ ’
Well my son you s e e he s built that large
, , ,
”
building .
N ext day F rancis and Martin were ploughing

together agai n They decided that they must
.
get o n the o l d man s track to s e e whether he’
h ad any money and where he hid it ,F rancis .
promised M artin that i f he could fi nd it out , ,
he would build a cottage fo r him at the back of

the barn So they agreed that Marti n should
.
stay away from church to try to find out if

186
FRA N C IS AN D M AR TI N 18 7
the farmer had any money hidden aw ay at

home .
When Sunday came F rancis went to church , ,
’
but Martin kept o n saying he wouldn t go ,
u ntil the farmer forced him to g o So he .
dressed fo r church and went ou t thr ough the

farm gate B ut h e came back o n the other
.
side climbed over the fence and hid himself

, .
i n the barn Soon after this the farmer came

.
i nto the barn carrying a basket full o f coins

, .
H e dug a hole i n the thres hi ng fl o o r put the -

,
money in it and said : “

B l ack B arabbas !
,
preserve this money o r me f ! Thou black

”
bird I put it i n thy power ! Then he went
and fetched a second basket and put it in the
hole B ut while he was gone to fetch the
.
money Martin slipped out of his hiding place

,
-
,
took some of the money and put i t i n his ,
boots N ow the farmer came back again with a

.
,
“
third basket and said Once more , Thou black
bi r d !ke e p th is money for me and let nobody ,
else have it unless he gets it by plough ing this

,
th reshing fl o o r with three black goats !

-
A s he was saying these words a blackbird ,
was soa r i ng above h is h ead and crying ou t :

Master what about the money in the boots ?
,
B ut the farmer did n o t understand what it

meant and so he went to look at his own
'
boots which were in the room B ut he found

, .
no money there s o he w as angry and said :

,
’
What you devil !it s rubbish you are talking
, .
I ve looked i n my boots and there s nothi ng

’ ’
”
there . Then he buried the money stamped ,
down the threshing fl oo r h a d again and -

,
went ou t .
Martin went to the stable and there he ,
found F rancis waiting for h im to tell him what

’
the parson s sermon had been about that day ,
so that he would know what to say if the

farmer asked him about it .
S oon afterwards the ol d man was taken ill

and died The two lads were pleased at this
.
,
fo r they hoped that they wouldn t be long

’
about getting the money Martin got three .
black goats he put them i n the plough and

, ,
sent Fr ancis to plough there The wi nd began .
t o blow violently and th e whole barn looked

,
a s though it were o n fire H e was frightened .
and stopped ploughing and immediately th e ,
whole barn w a s j ust as i t had be en before S o .
he went out of the barn and asked Marti n to

plough fo r him M artin started and although
.
, ,
the wind blew viole n tly enough he kept on ,
ploughing until he got the money .

WI T C H E S A T T HE C RO SS
TH OUGH the witches used to be pretty lively

in other places they were fond of climbing up
,
and down the cross that S tands by the road to

Mal a Cerm a ( near Slan y) J o e H ilma heard .
tell o f this s o he took his horse and O ff he

,
rode to s e e .H e took with him a piece of

chalk whi c h had been blessed and made a ,
circle with it Then he went into the circle

.
and wa ited till midnight Then sure enough .

, ,
he saw the witches a great swarm of them

, ,
climbing up and down the cross T hey didn t .

’
s e e h i m while this w a s going o n but when he ,
rode o ut of the circle o ff went the witches

,
after him H e galloped home at full speed

. .
When he rode i nto the yard they were close

’
o n his heels .They couldn t g o any farther ,
’
for they had n o power to d o it I don t know .
h o w it happened but one o f them flung a

,
burning broom after him The broom hit the .
door and the door w as burned J oe had quite

, .
enough o f seei ng the wit c hes .

T HE WI TC H A N D T H E H OR S E S H O E S
O N CE there w a s a farme r s wife — I can t t e ll ’ ’
you which o n e —who w a s a witch N ow these .
folks used to have a feast every E ve of St .
Philip and S t J ames A S soon as they began

. .
to burn the broom s s h e couldn t rest : go she ’
must S o s he stripped her clothes ofl and

‘
.
, ,
standing u nder the chimney s h e anointed ,
herself with some ointment When she had .
finished s h e said : F ly but don t touch any

,
“
,
’
thing A nd away s he flew i n the twinkling

.
”
o f an eye Y e s that was j ust how it w as

.
,
.
B ut the farmhand w as watching all this from

the stables and he watched carefully where
,
sh e put the ointment S O he went in too .

,
stripped his clothes o ff and anointed h imself , .
He said : “
F ly but don t touch anything
,
’
.
A nd off he flew till he came t o the place where

the witches were having their feast N o w .
,
’
when he came there the farmer s wife knew ,
him and to hide herse l f from him sh e turned

‘
, , ,
19 1
herself into a white h orse B ut he did not

.
lose S ight of the horse H e mou nted it and

.
went to the smith with it and told him to S hoe

,
it N ext day the woman had fou r horseshoes

.
on t w o on her hands and t w o on he r feet

,
.
A nd she had to stay like that always !

T H E HA UN TED MI LL
TH E R E was a haunted mill and dear m e w hat , , ,
was it like ! A rope dancer came there with

-
some monkeys I n the evening the Water

.
nick came with a basketful o f fishe s He .
made a fire and fried th e fishes M eanwhile .
the monkeys had been S itting b ehind the stove ,
but when the N ick put the fishes in th e pan

and w as tasting whether they were done the ,
monkeys came from beh ind the stove and on e ,
of them pu t its paw i nto the pan Th e man .
“
smacked him over the paw and said : Get
away pussy ! You didn t catch them so don t
,
’
,
’
eat them . A nd th e monkey ran away

”
.
A fter awhile comes another monkey and

puts h is paw i n th e pan H e smacked hi m .
t ri o and said the same B ut the rope dancer

.
-
had a bear too w hich was lying u nder th e

, ,
table all the time ; and when he heard ,
the Wa t e r n ic k speak he came from under

,
the table ran st r aight to the pan and put h is

, ,
19 5

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C ZEC H FO L K TA L ES

L EC T URER IN COM P A R A TI VE P H ILOLOG Y

TH E p re s e n t c ollection h as been s e le c te d from

V T ille P o v id ky s e br an é na Val ass k u

E l pl Rada p oh ad e k a p o v és t l n asbl ran i c h

The ﬁrst t wo stories ( Twelve M onths

V lta z k o ) have be e n r e told by the novelist

B oz e n a N ém c ov a ( from the Slovak )

M y tra n s lation could not be o f cou rse , .

a lit e ral on e because many phrases in the

for revising my E nglish.

S I LLY J URA . F ro m B . M Kul d a

Th e ﬁ r s t tw o il l ustr ati on s are Co p i e s of p i c tur e s by J ose ph

TH E present c ollection is intended to exemplify

b e obje c ted that folk tale themes are part of

a c ommon stoc k belonging to all E uropea n

though this is perfectly true it is also n o less

certain that the spirit of the nat i on manifests

selec tion h a s been made from all sorts o f

thi gs common to all of the m

B y this I d o not m ea n morality in the

ﬁlial devotio n or the sent i mental insiste n ce

upo n every o n e living happily ever after

h is M olly I mean that higher sort o f mora lity

which was the mai n spring of Pro t estan tism .

I t is often s upposed that P rotestan tism is

adopt the Protestant faith and even to day i s,

still Protestan t at heart though the H absburgs

forced it back into the C atholic fold .

The C zechs then have preserved their love

for folk tales adapting them to the higher

morality and t o the national sentiment and ,

disca r ding many o f their supernatural featu res ,

or whe r e the supernatu ral was allowed to

the st r ict limits of probability I t is the very .

same meth od which for example M r Wells

employs i n some of h is novels That the .

Slav nations have a certain tendency to lay

into E nglish i n Wra t is l a w s C ollection ’

A s for thei r humour the C zechs have a

natural tendency to satire The best works .

i n O ld C zech literature a r e satires a nd i n ,

modern times one O f the most b r illiant o f

the g r eatest C zech satirist This spirit may .

assuming the attitu d e o f the mo rality preache r

the wickedness o f the times rests content

with a good humou red gib e at the folly of

the world at the frailty o f h is fell ow men

These t w o traits are inherent i n the natu re _

o f the C zech people ; and those who know

their love o f such tales and o f the literature

their search fo r a haven o f refuge from th e

o f a land where all was good where at last

everything was bound to end well where ,

truth and j ustice at last had conquered .

A las ! to the victi m s o f H absbu rg rule and

dream o f such a land ? A m o gu za

Y e s even i n that wonderland wh ich their

fancy painted are foolish kings ever prone ,

to b reak their word : even there people are

a s he tells it hi s hea r t nurses the i nward

hope that the foreign tyrants who oppress