Part 1
CHRISTMAS TALES OF FLANDERS
KEEP THIS BOOK CLEAN
CHRISTMAS TALES OF FLANDERS
ILLUSTRATED BY JEAN DE BOSSCHERE
NEW YORK: DODD, MEAD & COMPANY MCMXVII
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN AT THE COMPLETE PRESS WEST NORWOOD, LONDON, S.E.
INTRODUCTION
The Christmas Tales of Flanders presented in this volume are popular fables and legends current in Flanders and Brabant, which have for centuries been told to children throughout Belgium. Their origin is doubtful, as all literature handed down by oral tradition must be. A good many of these stories are found in a different guise in the legends of other nations. “Seppy” is closely akin to the rhyme of “The Old Man who lived in the Wood”; and the prototypes of others will be readily recognized; but all of them have peculiar Flemish traits. They have the picturesqueness characteristic of the country which produced such a glorious school of painting, and the freshness of their presentation is a high tribute to the creative imagination of the Flanders folk. Sometimes they are primitive to a degree, and in such tales as “Simple John” and “The Boy who always said the Wrong Thing,” the storyteller attributes the most elementary and artless mentality to his heroes, so as to explain the extravagant adventures he relates. These tales occupy for the Flemish the place nursery rhymes take in England, and as the nursery rhymes have been collected in England at various times and in different forms and guises, so the Flemish folk-tales have also been collected in various ways and in various parts of Flanders. Messrs. Demont and Decock produced a book entitled “Zoo Vertellen de Vlamingen,” from which collection a good many of these stories are taken. Others came from the “Brabantsch Segenboak,” which J. Teiclinck wrote for the Flemish Academy. They were translated by M. C. O. Morris and are here published for the first time in English.
CONTENTS
PAGE
THE RICH WOMAN AND THE POOR WOMAN 1
THE STORY OF SEPPY 8
THE ENCHANTED APPLE-TREE 14
THE CONVENT FREE FROM CARE 18
THE WITCHES’ CELLAR 21
THE BOY WHO ALWAYS SAID THE WRONG THING 25
HOP-O’-MY-THUMB 29
THE EMPEROR’S PARROT 36
THE LITTLE BLACKSMITH VERHOLEN 42
BALTEN AND THE WOLF 61
THE MERMAID 69
THE STORY OF THE LITTLE HALF-COCK 75
THE DWARF AND THE BLACKSMITH 81
PERCY THE WIZARD, NICKNAMED SNAIL 86
SIMPLE JOHN 94
THE TWO CHICKENS OR THE TWO EARS 100
THE WONDERFUL FISH 105
THE FRYING-PAN 115
FARMER BROOM, FARMER LEAVES, AND FARMER IRON 118
LITTLE LODEWYK AND ANNIE THE WITCH 123
THE GIANT OF THE CAUSEWAY 126
THE KEY-FLOWER 134
THE OGRE 136
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR
_Facing page_
THE SEA-MONSTERS AND THE FISHERMAN _Frontispiece_
THE RICH WOMAN AND THE POOR WOMAN: THE TWO FARMS AT CHRISTMAS EVE 2
THE ENCHANTED APPLE-TREE 16
THE WITCHES’ CELLAR 24
HOP-O’-MY-THUMB AND THE ROBBERS 30
THE DEVIL BEATEN THREE TIMES 52
THE PROCESSION 58
THE MERMAID, THE MOTHER, AND HER DAUGHTER 74
THE DWARF’S FEAST 84
SIMPLE JOHN, THE HORSE, THE COW, AND THE PIG 94
THE THREE FARMERS AND THEIR HOUSES 118
THE GIANT, HIS DAUGHTER, AND THE KNIGHT 132
IN BLACK AND WHITE AND IN TWO COLOURS
PAGE
ST. PETER AND THE TWO WOMEN 1
SHE SENT THE BEGGAR AWAY, WISHING HIM GOD-SPEED 2
THE NEIGHBOURS CAME TO SAY GOOD DAY 3
SHE WAS DISGUSTED WITH HERSELF 4
TRY AS SHE WOULD, SHE WAS OBLIGED TO GO ON CUTTING 5
THE RICH WOMAN’S SCISSORS 7
SEPPY WORKING IN THE FIELDS 8
HOWEVER, THE PRIEST HAD A GLASS 9
SEPPY WAS VERY ANGRY WITH THE PIG 10
SHE GRADUALLY SLIPPED TO THE EDGE OF THE SLOPING ROOF 11
SEPPY WAS DRAWN UP THE CHIMNEY 13
THE DEATH, MISERY, THE OLD MAN, AND THE TREE 14
THE VILLAGE URCHINS CAME AND STOLE THEM OFF THE TREE 15
“HERE IS HALF A LOAF, TAKE IT; IT IS ALL I HAVE” 16
THE DEATH HANGING IN THE TREE 17
TWO MONKS OF THE CONVENT 18
HOW MANY COWS’ TAILS WOULD IT TAKE...? 19
WHAT IS THE DEPTH OF THE SEA 20
JOHN TWIST AND THE WITCHES 21
RUBBING IT ON HIS FACE AND HANDS 22
DREW THE PEAK OF HIS CAP OVER HIS EYES 23
THE PIG TRAVELLED VERY QUICKLY 24
THE MILL, TONY, AND HIS MOTHER’S HOUSE 25
“I SHALL BE IN A BAD WAY” 25
HE THEN CAME TO THE CHURCH 26
THE STORY OF THE BOY WHO ALWAYS SAID THE WRONG THING 27
THE BOY RUNNING AWAY 28
HOP-O’-MY-THUMB AND A DUCK 29
LOOKING UP HE ESPIED A LITTLE LADY 29
HOP-O’-MY-THUMB THREW THEM SOME CRUMBS 31
POOR LITTLE ANT 32
THE STORY OF HOP-O’-MY-THUMB 33
THE CAPTAIN, THE PEASANT, THE PARROT, AND THE EMPEROR 36
HE GAVE HIM BACK THE PARROT AS GALLANTLY AS HE COULD 37
HE KICKED AND STRUGGLED VIOLENTLY 38
A PEASANT WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO CATCH IT 39
THE PARROT 41
THE BLACKSMITH VERHOLEN AND A DEVIL 42
A GENTLE KNOCKING AT THE DOOR 43
THE SHOE WAS TRIED ON 44
HE WISHED 45
OPEN THE DOOR, SMITH 46
THE LITTLE BLACKSMITH WAS SEATED ON A LOW STOOL 47
REST A WHILE IN THIS CHAIR 48
CLIMBED UP THE TREE LIKE A CAT 49
AS MUCH COAL AS HE COULD WISH 51
ORDERED THEM TO BURN THE DEVIL’S FEET 52
“I WILL MAKE MYSELF AS TALL AS THE TOWER” 53
IT WAS NOT A MESSENGER FROM HELL 54
HE WAS DRESSED IN DEEP BLACK 55
“LET THAT GOOD FELLOW HAVE A GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN” 57
“OOH! BOO! MY POOR HEAD!” 58
MILK-AND-HONEY AVENUE 60
BALTEN, THE BARREL, AND THE WOLF 61
THE WOLF STARED AT JACK 62
“BALTEN, POUR! BALTEN, POUR!” 63
THE LADDER BECAME YET HIGHER 65
ONE HAS A PAW BROKEN 66
THEY PUT HIM INTO AN EMPTY BARREL 67
BALTEN AND THE WOLF 68
THE MERMAID AND THE CHILD 69
SHE FELL ON HER KNEES 70
EVERY MORNING THE MERMAID LOOKED IN AT THE WINDOW 71
A NUMBER OF LITTLE GIRLS AND BOYS 73
THE MERMAID, THE MOTHER, AND HER DAUGHTER 74
THE HALF-COCK, THE TWO FOXES, AND THE TWO ROBBERS 75
“I WILL ENCHANT HIM” 76
THEY IMMEDIATELY MOUNTED TWO HORSES 77
THE HALF-COCK 78
THE WATER JOINED THE OTHER LODGERS 79
THE BLACKSMITH, THE DWARF, AND HIS HAT 81
“THIS LITTLE FELLOW CANNOT HARM ME” 82
THEY WANTED TO FIND OUT HOW IT WAS DONE 83
ANOTHER SET OF VERY FINE MATERIAL 84
THE DWARF DISAPPEARED 85
THE WIZARD, THE TURKEY, AND THE COUNTESS 86
THE NECESSARY INGREDIENTS FOR A NICE HOTCHPOTCH 87
“IF I COULD DISCOVER THE THIEF” 88
ONE OF THEM WHISPERED TO THE OTHERS 89
TO OFFER HIM PART OF THEIR SAVINGS 90
THREW IT TO SOME GEESE AND TURKEYS 91
THE COUNTESS HAD TWO DISHES PLACED BEFORE HIM 92
THE SNAIL 93
SIMPLE JOHN 94
THE BRUSSELS MARKET 95
“LIVER, KIDNEYS, SAUSAGES” 96
THE EXCHANGES OF SIMPLE JOHN 97
THE TWO CHICKENS 100
THE FIRST THING HE DID WAS TO TAKE UP HIS KNIFE 101
THE COUSIN AND THE KNIFE 102
BEMOANING HER FATE AND REPROACHING THE ALMIGHTY 104
THE FISHERMAN, THE FISH, THE SEA-KING, AND SUSIE GRILL 105
STOOD UP ON ITS TAIL 106
A LOVELY HOUSE WITH LOFTY TOWERS 107
SHE COUNTED IT WITHOUT CEASING 109
“I AM NOT DISSATISFIED WITH WHAT YOU HAVE DONE” 110
HE SOON CAUGHT THE FISH 111
A MIGHTY SEA-KING 113
IN FRONT OF THE BATHING-MACHINE 114
THE COBBLER AND HIS WIFE 115
THE FRYING-PAN 116
NEITHER OF THEM WANTED TO RETURN THE FRYING-PAN 117
THE THREE FARMERS 118
HE BURST IT OPEN 119
THE WOLF WENT IN AND SAT DOWN 120
FARMER BROOM AND FARMER LEAVES CAME OUT ALIVE 121
DANCING FARMERS 122
LODEWYK AND HIS CARDS 123
LODEWYK 124
ANNIE THE WITCH ALWAYS CAME TO BLOW THEM DOWN 125
THE GIANT AND FIVE HIGHWAYMEN 126
HE NEVER LEFT HIS CASTLE EXCEPT TO INFLICT PUNISHMENT 127
SHE VENTURED TO TAKE A LITTLE WALK 128
TOOK HER FATHER’S HAND 129
HE WAS NO MORE THAN THREE FEET HIGH 130
LED BY TWO PAGES 131
ABOUT MIDNIGHT A TERRIBLE STORM AROSE 132
SHE RAN UP TO THE TOWER 133
HE LET FALL THE BUNCH OF KEYS 135
RIPE NUTS IN THEIR CUPS 136
I FILLED MY POCKETS 137
I SAW SOMETHING WHITE 138
COULD I DARE TO KNOCK? 139
BEHIND THOSE TWO LARGE TUBS 141
“I SMELL HUMAN FLESH” 141
I SAW HIS BODY 142
I WAS PERCHED THERE ON THE TOP OF THE TREE 144
“I HAVE JUST FALLEN DOWN THE CHIMNEY” 145
THE RICH WOMAN AND THE POOR WOMAN
On a cold winter night, thousands of years ago, St. Peter took one of his occasional walks on earth. Towards nightfall he knocked at a rich peasant’s door. The farmer’s wife was busy making pancakes in her cosy kitchen. Her little chubby baby was watching her as she poured the batter into the frying-pan. She spied the stranger through the window, and said to herself, “This fellow is attracted by the good smell, but I do not waste my pancakes on strangers.” She sent the beggar away, wishing him God-speed.
He went on his way, and presently arrived at a mud cabin, where a poor widow lived with her six children. On hearing the old man begging her to have pity on him for God’s sake, she opened the door and bade him stay the night in her little hut. “Night is falling,” she said; “it is bitterly cold, stay with us, and you shall have my bedroom. I will doze in a chair near the fire.” The stranger gratefully accepted her offer, and after having supped, retired to bed.
Before leaving the next day, he thanked the good woman, and said to her, “Listen, little mother: as you welcomed me in your house, I give you a wish; ask anything you like and you shall have it.” The good woman thought at once of an unfinished roll of cloth which her dead husband was weaving a little before his death. Without further hesitation, she answered, “My good man, as you are so kind and so powerful, grant that the work which I begin the first thing in the morning may continue all day.” “It shall be as you wish,” said the stranger, as he bade her good-bye. Her six children accompanied him to the outskirts of the village, where they bade him God-speed.
Very early the next day the busy little woman began to measure the piece of cloth, which was about twelve yards long. Marvellous to relate, she measured and measured, and she found that when she had measured a certain length of cloth the pattern, texture, and designs changed. She then cut it off carefully and rolled it up, and thus as the day advanced she had rolls of cloth of every imaginable shade, design, and material. They filled the whole cabin to the rafters; there was scarcely room to
when he said, “Woman, I can give you nothing in return for your kind hospitality, but I grant that the first work you undertake to-morrow will last all day.” Then he went on his way.
The woman was overwhelmed with joy. “To-morrow we shall be very rich,” she said to her husband. “I shall be more cunning than my neighbour; I shall count money all day. I shall not waste a minute; I shall get up at midnight, for before daybreak I must make some bags to pour our fortune into.”
All that night she never closed her eyes; on the stroke of midnight she sprang from her bed, and seizing the scissors she began to cut out the bags. But strange to say, she cut and cut until all the stuff was in fragments. Try as she would, she was obliged to go on cutting; she seized linen, shirts, sheets, tablecloths, napkins, handkerchiefs; even the window curtains did not escape. Then it was the turn of the wardrobe. Throwing it open, she took out her husband’s wedding suit. “Look!” she said, as she cut off his coat-tails, “these will make two more bags. Here are strings for the bags,” she added, snipping off her best bonnet-strings. She went on cutting without a pause. By night she had cut up everything except the clothes she was wearing. Her husband looked on at this terrible scene, howling with rage, while his wife sighed and cried with vexation. There was nothing left; her husband only managed to save the shirt he was wearing by running up the stairs as midnight struck.
The news of this disaster spread like wild-fire far and wide, but no one pitied the woman.
THE STORY OF SEPPY WHO WISHED TO MANAGE HIS OWN HOUSE
Seppy and Bella lived together in a very small house. There was only one room, which served as kitchen, bedroom, and stable for the animals.
All they possessed was a pig, a cow, and some hens. The pig lay on some straw between two stakes in one corner of the room, the cow was tied up to a wooden trough in another corner, the hens roosted on the rafters.
It was not a happy household; quarrels were frequent, and Seppy was always finding fault with Bella. When he came in from his work at midday the potatoes were either too hot or too cold, the soup too thick or too thin, and he reproached Bella bitterly, declaring that she lived a life of idleness, while he worked like a slave in the fields.
These scenes became so frequent that Bella grew tired of this cat-and-dog life.
One day, when he began to grumble as usual, she defied him, insisting that the next morning they should change places: she would go to work like a slave in the fields, while he should stay at home to do the cooking. “He will soon see,” she said, “that when all the work has been done properly, there is no time for twiddling one’s thumbs.”
Very early next morning Bella started off with a sack and a scythe to cut grass for the animals.
Seppy remained at home and took off his coat, saying to himself, “I will show her how clever I am.”
It was a Wednesday, the day for butter-making. Seppy put the churn on the three-legged stool in the middle of the room, poured in the milk, and began to churn gaily. He heard the milk beating against the sides of the churn, and whistled happily as he worked.
Presently he heard the stout village priest tramping up the road. He stopped at Seppy’s cottage, put his head in at the door and asked for a glass of water, being very hot and red in the face from having walked so far.
“Water is very dangerous; wouldn’t you rather have a small jug of beer?” said Seppy. He left the churn and went to the beer-barrel which stood on three bricks in a corner of the room, as far as possible from the fire. The barrel had not been tapped. Seppy found the key and set about piercing the bung, using his shoe instead of a hammer. He gave such a heavy blow that he pierced right through the barrel. The beer ran all over the floor. However, the priest had a glass, and, much refreshed, he wished Seppy good day and went on his way.
“It is too bad to lose all this beer,” said Seppy. He turned the empty barrel on end, mopped up the beer with a cloth and squeezed it into the barrel, and so succeeded in saving a little.
Meanwhile the pig, attracted by the smell of the beer, set to work to lap it up greedily until he could not swallow another drop.
Seppy was very angry with the pig and gave him a blow, but as it showed no inclination to lie down, he hit it so hard that it rushed out of the door and fell into the well. Now the well was very deep, and Seppy tried to drag the pig out, but in vain, and it was drowned.
“The beer is spilt and the pig is drowned,” thought Seppy; “if any misfortune overtakes the cow, or I fail to churn the milk into butter, I shall be for ever disgraced in Bella’s eyes.”
He then remembered that the cow had had nothing to eat, and that he had to prepare the soup before Bella came back. “Now I’m going to work methodically,” he said; “I will hang the stock-pot over the fire, then take Molly to graze in the field, and then finish making the butter.”
The fire soon burnt up. When he led the cow outside he couldn’t find any grass near the house, but he saw some growing on the roof! Choosing the spot where the roof sloped very low, he succeeded after frantic efforts in hoisting Molly on to the roof. He was re-entering the house when it occurred to him that Molly might slip off the roof into the well and be drowned. He went to the well, cut the rope off the bucket and tied it round the cow’s horns, throwing the other end down the chimney. He then ran into the house, caught the end of the rope and tied it round his leg.
“Now,” he said, “the cow cannot escape however much she may want to, and Seppy will have made the butter and soup before midday.”
The cream again lashed the sides of the churn, but Seppy had no longer the heart to sing; he was thinking about the spilt beer and the poor drowned pig.
Meanwhile the cow grazed on the roof. The earth not
being very firm, she gradually slipped to the edge of the sloping roof. Suddenly, alackaday! she rolled off. As the result of her fall, Seppy was drawn up the chimney, where the soup was boiling over the fire.
Poor Seppy hung head downwards as far up the chimney as Molly was off the roof. To add to his misfortunes he had overturned the stool on which stood the churn, and so upset all the cream over the floor.
When Bella came home at midday, the first thing that met her eye was the cow, which being half strangled was dying outside the door. She quickly cut the rope with her scythe. Imagine her horror when on entering the cottage she found her husband hanging head downwards, dipping into the stock-pot.
Seppy never grumbled again. From henceforth Bella busied herself with her household duties. Seppy worked in the fields as before.