登陆注册
26135500000046

第46章 THE WONDERFUL BIRCH(2)

She kindled the fire, threw a potful of hemp seed among the ashes, and said to the girl:

`If you do not get this sorted, and all the seed back into the pot, I shall kill you!'

The girl wept bitterly; then she went to the birch tree, washed herself on one side of it and dried herself on the other; and this time still finer clothes were given to her, and a very beautiful steed.She broke off a branch of the birch tree, struck the hearth with it, so that the seeds flew into the pot, and then hastened to the castle.

Again the King's son came out to meet her, tied her horse to a pillar, and led her into the banqueting hall.At the feast the girl sat next him in the place of honour, as she had done the day before.

But the witch's daughter gnawed bones under the table, and the Prince gave her a push by mistake, which broke her leg--he had never noticed her crawling about among the people's feet.She was VERY unlucky!

The good man's daughter hastened home again betimes, but the King's son had smeared the door-posts with tar, and the girl's golden circlet stuck to it.She had not time to look for it, but sprang to the saddle and rode like an arrow to the birch tree.

There she left her horse and her fine clothes, and said to her mother:

`I have lost my circlet at the castle; the door-post was tarred, and it stuck fast.'

`And even had you lost two of them,' answered her mother, `Iwould give you finer ones.'

Then the girl hastened home, and when her father came home from the feast with the witch, she was in her usual place behind the stove.Then the witch said to her:

`You poor thing! what is there to see here compared with what WE have seen at the palace? The King's son carried my daughter from one room to another; he let her fall, 'tis true, and my child's foot was broken.'

The man's daughter held her peace all the time, and busied herself about the hearth.

The night passed, and when the day began to dawn, the witch awakened her husband, crying:

`Hi! get up, old man! We are bidden to the royal banquet.'

So the old man got up.Then the witch gave him the child, saying:

`Take you the little one; I will give the other girl work to do, else she will weary at home alone.'

She did as usual.This time it was a dish of milk she poured upon the ashes, saying:

`If you do not get all the milk into the dish again before I come home, you will suffer for it.'

How frightened the girl was this time! She ran to the birch tree, and by its magic power her task was accomplished; and then she rode away to the palace as before.When she got to the courtyard she found the Prince waiting for her.He led her into the hall, where she was highly honoured; but the witch's daughter sucked the bones under the table, and crouching at the people's feet she got an eye knocked out, poor thing! Now no one knew any more than before about the good man's daughter, no one knew whence she came; but the Prince had had the threshold smeared with tar, and as she fled her gold slippers stuck to it.She reached the birch tree, and laying aside her finery, she said:

`Alas I dear little mother, I have lost my gold slippers!'

`Let them be,' was her mother's reply; `if you need them Ishall give you finer ones.'

Scarcely was she in her usual place behind the stove when her father came home with the witch.Immediately the witch began to mock her, saying:

`Ah! you poor thing, there is nothing for you to see here, and WE--ah: what great things we have seen at the palace! My little girl was carried about again, but had the ill-luck to fall and get her eye knocked out.You stupid thing, you, what do you know about anything?'

`Yes, indeed, what can I know?' replied the girl; `I had enough to do to get the hearth clean.'

Now the Prince had kept all the things the girl had lost, and he soon set about finding the owner of them.For this purpose a great banquet was given on the fourth day, and all the people were invited to the palace.The witch got ready to go too.She tied a wooden beetle on where her child's foot should have been, a log of wood instead of an arm, and stuck a bit of dirt in the empty socket for an eye, and took the child with her to the castle.When all the people were gathered together, the King's son stepped in among the crowd and cried:

`The maiden whose finger this ring slips over, whose head this golden hoop encircles, and whose foot this shoe fits, shall be my bride.'

What a great trying on there was now among them all! The things would fit no one, however.

`The cinder wench is not here,' said the Prince at last; `go and fetch her, and let her try on the things.'

So the girl was fetched, and the Prince was just going to hand the ornaments to her, when the witch held him back, saying:

`Don't give them to her; she soils everything with cinders;give them to my daughter rather.'

Well, then the Prince gave the witch's daughter the ring, and the woman filed and pared away at her daughter's finger till the ring fitted.It was the same with the circlet and the shoes of gold.

The witch would not allow them to be handed to the cinder wench;she worked at her own daughter's head and feet till she got the things forced on.What was to be done now? The Prince had to take the witch's daughter for his bride whether he would or no; he sneaked away to her father's house with her, however, for he was ashamed to hold the wedding festivities at the palace with so strange a bride.Some days passed, and at last he had to take his bride home to the palace, and he got ready to do so.Just as they were taking leave, the kitchen wench sprang down from her place by the stove, on the pretext of fetching something from the cowhouse, and in going by she whispered in the Prince's ear as he stood in the yard:

`Alas! dear Prince, do not rob me of my silver and my gold.'

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 时光荏苒:我等你

    时光荏苒:我等你

    六年前我欠你的,六年后我用一生来偿还,爱你直到地老天荒。
  • 腹黑神医很倾城

    腹黑神医很倾城

    一次追杀,墨千寻(女主大大)重生在一个不知名世界,成了护国将军的小女儿.作为21世纪的墨家的少主,是一位不可多得的天才.在古代自然是绝世天才。但是身后的一群烂桃花是怎么回事,霸气太子冷岳岩,温柔王爷冷岳睿,花心少主凌宇浩(==!其实在爱上女主之前是很风流的,但是爱上女主之后特别专情,实际是只专情货啦)邪魅美男夜允洛,冰山阁主。某女汗,这是开后宫的节奏咩?什么,这些都不是真身份,那我的身份是什么?本文揭晓.【作者:本宫保证,是宠文,究竟花落谁家?各个男主出场率也要亲爱的小读者发表意见.么么】
  • 千金龙女套龙心

    千金龙女套龙心

    他们一个是神秘龙族后裔,龙门的千金小姐,一个是被神指派维护三界和平的神能战士,她为了一睹他的春光,不惜半夜爬窗潜入他的房间偷偷摸摸的掀他被子,却被他当成小偷打了一顿,好吧,为了得到他的“龙心”她死缠到底,为爱不惜一切!
  • 狐色倾城

    狐色倾城

    她是美冠六界的千年雪狐,为了避八月十五月圆之夜的妖劫,附身在悬梁自尽的苏府小姐苏烟身上。从此展开了与千年狼王漠安附身的陌如玉,冷清王爷华寅宸,仙根道骨的茅山道士柳倾城之间的爱恨纠缠。
  • 烤烟房

    烤烟房

    一户烟农盖一座烤烟房相当于秦始皇修万里长城,所以大家互相帮忙。但有这么一位怪人,偏偏不用别人帮忙,老两口独自盖烤烟房,原来老人背后有一段说不出的隐痛。
  • 菊香

    菊香

    本书以联合国公布的“世界上唯一最不具备人类生存基本条件”闻名于世的甘肃定西黄土丘陵沟壑地域为背景,围绕着洋芋牡丹的曲折人生和情感经历,透过罗正林、郑稀生、段长升等几个家庭错综复杂的矛盾纠葛,塑造了一群典型的人物形象,揭示了西部农民在生存、人格、情感、观念、命运等方面的根本变化,以洋芋牡丹和其妹妹洋洋撼人心扉的一番苦难挣扎,最终实现了守旧的男权和封闭的地域陋俗对女性基本尊严与权力挤压和剥夺的宿命超越,她们的自信与智慧,人格与人性光辉的重现过程,也正是她们赖以生存的十年九旱的土地发生奇迹的过程,她们和她们的土地均超脱了历史宿命的桎梏,实现了自我超越的价值
  • 魔女契约者

    魔女契约者

    大魔女拉克丝卿指着拉赛尔的鼻子,大声的说:“签了老娘这契约,你这辈子下辈子下下无数下辈子都是老娘的人了!”拉赛尔一把抱住了拉克丝卿美丽的大腿“女神,给次机会吧!”“行——你去把世界给我毁灭了去吧!”于是,拉赛尔一路扛着‘毁灭世界’大旗在大拉克丝卿的庇护之下踏上了他顺风顺水的旅程。“老天呐!哦,不!女神呐,再给次机会吧!!!”
  • 医相神武

    医相神武

    一代兵王加豪门,叶乾,过着被欺负的生活,某一天,他失踪了,改变了他的人生!
  • 腹黑竹马的天真小青梅

    腹黑竹马的天真小青梅

    那年他3岁,目睹了自己的小青梅出生,对她爱理不理,长大后,他为了她上刀山下火海,她却爱理不理,“小兮,你咋不理我!”小兮照着小时候对他说了一句“稀罕理你吗?”
  • 超级恶搞系统

    超级恶搞系统

    他拜遍名师,资质不行,但医术了得,偶然之下他与一个不知名的“腰带”融合了,在融合的过程中他的肉身飞灰烟灭,只剩下魂魄温养在腰带里,几千年后他重生在“云海市”一个弃少“秦悦”身上,得到了吊炸天的系统“超级恶搞系统”你要的东西都在这“降龙十八掌、九阳神功、葵花宝典、独孤九剑……”毁岛国、坑米国、踩屎遍天下