Part 2

Away sped the wolf and the bear, and they told their adventure to the other animals of the forest, who took good care to stay far away from the terrible bailiff. Meanwhile the cat and the fox were very happy, and they had plenty to eat for a long time.

BRUIN AND REYNARD PARTNERS

Once upon a time Bruin and Reynard were to plant a field in common and to share the crops in a fair way. “If you’ll have the root, I’ll take the top,” said Reynard. Bruin thought that plan would do very well.

The first year they sowed rye. But when they had thrashed out the crop, Reynard got all the grain and Bruin got nothing but roots and rubbish. He did not like that at all, but Reynard said that was how they had agreed to share the crop, and it was fair and right.

“The tops come to me this year,” said Reynard, “but next year it will be your turn. Then you will have the tops and I shall have to put up with the roots.”

Spring came and it was time to sow again. Sly Reynard asked Bruin what he thought of sowing turnip seed for the second year’s crop.

“Yes, yes,” said Bruin, “we will have turnips. Turnips are better food than rye.”

Reynard agreed with him. Harvest time came. “We will divide the crops as is fair and right,” said Reynard. “I get the roots this time and you get the tops.” So Reynard got all the turnip roots and Bruin the turnip tops. When Bruin saw what Reynard had done, he was very angry, and he put an end to his partnership with him at once.

THE THREE WISHES

Once upon a time in the heart of a forest lived a woodcutter and his wife. They were very poor indeed. Their little cabin, built of rough-hewn logs, had only one room, which was very scantily and poorly furnished. One day the woodcutter said to his wife,

“How miserable we are! We work all day, and we have barely enough food to keep life in our bodies! Surely there are few who work as hard as we do and have so little!”

The housewife replied, “Yes, indeed, we are very miserable.”

“Well, I’m off for another day’s work,” sighed the husband. “My lot is too hard.”

He picked up his ax and made his way to the place in the forest where he was to perform his task. Suddenly, a dear little fairy whose face was wreathed in smiles danced into the path and stood before him.

“I am the wishing fairy,” she began. “I heard what you said about your work and your life, and my heart aches for you. Now, because I am a fairy, it is in my power to grant you three wishes. Ask for any three things you desire and your wishes shall be granted.” The fairy disappeared in the twinkling of an eye, and the woodcutter was left standing alone in the forest. Was he dreaming? He couldn’t believe his own senses! He thought of a thousand wishes all in an instant. He would go home and talk the matter over with his wife. He turned in his path and retraced his steps to the cabin.

“Art thou ill?” demanded his wife, who came to the door.

“Oh, no, indeed, I am not ill; I am very, very happy!” he burst forth. “I met a fairy in the forest. She told me that she was very, very sorry for me, and that she would help me by granting three wishes. Think of it! Any three wishes in the world will be granted by the charming fairy.”

“Wonderful!” responded the housewife.

“Oh, how happy the very thought of it makes me! Come, let us sit down and talk the matter over; for I assure you it is not easy to come to a decision. I am indeed, very, very happy.”

They drew up their chairs to the little table and sat down.

“I am _so_ hungry,” began the woodcutter. “Let us have dinner, and then, while we are eating, we can talk about our wishes and see which three are nearest our hearts’ desires.”

They began their humble meal immediately, and the husband continued: “Of course one of our wishes must be great riches. What do you say?”

“Oh, yes, indeed,” said his wife. “I should love a beautiful house to live in, also carriages and fine clothes, and servants and—”

“Oh, for that matter,” said the husband, “we could wish for an empire.”

“Or rich jewels, such as great numbers of pearls and diamonds! What a wish that would be,” said the wife, whose face was all aglow.

“I have it,” burst forth the woodman, “let us wish for a fine large family, five sons and five daughters, What say you to that?”

“Oh!” returned his wife, “I think I prefer six sons and four daughters.”

So they continued weighing one wish with another until they seemed almost in despair about coming to a decision regarding which three wishes would be the wisest and best. They finally stopped talking and ate their simple food in silence. The woodcutter did not seem to relish his soup and dry bread.

“Oh,” he cried out suddenly, “how I wish I had some nice savory sausage for dinner!” No sooner had the words fallen from his lips than a large dish of fine sausages appeared on the table. What a surprise! The two were so astonished that for a few moments they could not speak. Then the wife said impatiently:

“What do you mean by making such a foolish wish? Do you not see that this dish of sausage means that one wish has been granted and that there are but two left? How could you make such a stupid, stupid wish?”

“Well,” replied the husband, “to be sure I have been foolish. I really did not think what I was saying. However, we may still wish for great riches and an empire.”

“Humph!” grumbled the wife, “we may wish for riches and an empire, but what about a fine large family? You have certainly been foolish in wishing for that horrid sausage. I suppose, however, you prefer sausage to a fine family;” and she burst out into tears of lamentation, crying: “How could you? How could you be so foolish? Oh, dear! Oh, dear! How very foolish and stupid you have been.”

Finally her husband lost all patience and cried out: “I’m tired of your grumbling! I wish the sausage were on the end of your nose!”

In an instant the sausage was fastened to the end of the poor woman’s nose. How comical she did look! The husband and wife were so astonished that they could not speak. The poor woman again burst into tears.

“Oh!” she cried. “How could you? How could you? First, you wished for sausage, and second, you wished that the sausage were fastened to my poor nose. It is terrible. It is cruel. Two wishes have been granted. There remains but one! Oh, dear, dear!”

The husband, who now saw what a dreadful mistake he had made, said meekly,

“We may still wish for great riches.”

“Riches indeed!” snapped his wife. “Here I am with this great sausage fastened to the end of my nose. What good would riches do me? How ridiculous I am. It is all your fault. I was so happy at the thought of great riches, beautiful jewels, and a fine family, and now I am sad and miserable.” She continued to weep so pitifully that her husband’s heart was touched.

“I wish with all my heart that the sausage were not on your nose,” he said. In an instant the sausage disappeared. There the two sat lamenting; but as the three wishes had been granted there is nothing further to be said.

THE PIGTAIL

There lived a sage in days of yore, And he a handsome pigtail wore; But wondered much and sorrowed more Because it hung behind him.

He mused upon the curious case, And vowed he’d change the pigtail’s place, And have it hanging at his face, Not dangling there behind him.

Says he, “The mystery I’ve found. I’ll turn me round,”—He turned him round,— But still it hung behind him.

Then round and round and out and in, All day the puzzled sage did spin In vain; it mattered not a pin, The pigtail hung behind him.

And up and down and in and out He turned, but still the pigtail stout Hung dangling there behind him; And though his efforts never slack, And though he twist and twirl and tack, Alas! still faithful to his back The pigtail hangs behind him.

THE STONE LION

Once there were two brothers who lived with their mother in a large house on a farm. Their father was dead. The older brother was clever and selfish, but the younger was kind and gentle. The older brother did not like the younger because he was so honest that he never could get the best of a bargain. One day he said to him: “You must go away. I cannot afford to support you any longer.”

So the younger brother packed all his belongings, and went to bid his mother good-by. When she heard what the older brother had done, she said, “I will go with you, my son. I will not live here any longer with so hard-hearted a man as your brother.”

The next morning the mother and the younger brother started out together. Toward night when they reached the foot of the hill, they came to a hut with nothing in it except an ax which stood behind the door. But they managed to get their supper and stayed in the hut all night.

In the morning they saw that on the side of the hill near the hut was a great forest. The son took the ax, went up on the hillside and chopped enough wood for a load to carry to the town on the other side of the hill. He easily sold it, and with a happy heart brought back food and some clothing to make his mother and himself comfortable.

“Now, mother,” he said, “I can earn enough to keep us both, and we shall be happy here together.”

One day, in search of timber, the boy went farther up the hill than he had ever gone before. As he climbed up the steep hillside, he suddenly came upon a lion carved from stone.

“Oh,” thought the boy, “this must be the guardian spirit of the mountain. I will make him some offering to-morrow morning without fail.”

That night he bought two candles and carried them to the lion. He lighted them, put one on each side of the lion, and asked that his own good fortune might continue.

As he stood there, suddenly, the lion opened his great stone mouth and said:

“What are you doing here?”

The boy told him how cruel the elder brother had been; how the mother and himself had been obliged to leave home and live in a hut at the foot of the hill. When he had heard all of the story, the lion said:

“If you will bring a bucket here to-morrow and put it under my mouth, I will fill it with gold for you.”

The next day the boy brought the bucket.

“You must be very careful to tell me when it is nearly full,” said the lion, “for if even one piece of gold should fall to the ground, great trouble would be in store for you.”

The boy was very careful to do exactly as the lion told him, and soon he was on his way home to his mother with a bucketful of gold. They were so rich now that they bought a beautiful farm and went there to live.

At last the hard-hearted brother heard of their good fortune. He had married since his mother and brother had gone away, so he took his wife and went to pay a visit to his younger brother. It was not long before he had heard the whole story of their good fortune, and how the lion had given them all the gold.

“I will try that, too,” he said.

He and his wife went to the same hut his brother had lived in, and there they passed the night.

The next morning he started out with a bucket to visit the stone lion. When he had told the lion his errand, the lion said:

“I will grant your wish, but you must be very careful to tell me when the bucket is nearly full; for if even one little piece of gold touches the ground, great misery will surely fall upon you.”

Now the elder brother was so greedy that he kept shaking the bucket to get the gold pieces closer together. And when the bucket was full he did not tell the lion, as the younger brother had done, for he wanted all he could possibly get.

Suddenly one of the gold pieces fell upon the ground.

“Oh,” cried the lion, “a big piece of gold is stuck in my throat. Put your hand in and get it out. It is the largest piece of all.”

The greedy man thrust his hand at once into the lion’s mouth and the lion snapped his jaws together! And there the man stayed, for the lion would not let him go. And the gold in the bucket turned into earth and stones.

When night came and the husband did not return, the wife became anxious and went out to search for him. At last she found him with his arm held fast in the lion’s mouth. He was tired and cold and hungry.

“Alas!” she said, “I wish we had not tried to get the gold. There is no food in the hut for us and we shall have to die.”

The lion was listening to all that was said, and he was so pleased at their misfortune that he began to laugh at them, “Ha, ha, ha!” As he laughed, _he opened his mouth_ and the greedy man _quickly_ drew out his hand, before the lion had a chance to close his jaws again. They were glad enough to get away, and they went to their brother’s house once more. The brother was sorry for them and gave them enough money to buy a home.

The younger brother and his mother lived very happily in their beautiful home, but they always remembered the Stone Lion on the hillside, who gave them their good fortune.

THE STORY THAT HAD NO END

Once upon a time there was a king who was so fond of hearing stories told that he would listen to them all day long. He cared for no other kind of amusement and he was always angry when the story came to an end. “Your stories are too short,” he said to the many story-tellers who tried to amuse him. Indeed no one had ever been found who was able to tell him a story that lasted long enough.

All the people of his court had tried again and again to please him. Some had told stories that lasted three months, some had told stories that lasted six months, and a few courtiers had been able to carry on their stories for one whole year. Still the king complained, for sooner or later the story was sure to come to an end.

At last he sent out the following proclamation to all the people of his kingdom:

PROCLAMATION

TO THE MAN WHO WILL TELL ME A STORY WHICH SHALL LAST FOREVER, I WILL GIVE THE PRINCESS, MY DAUGHTER, IN MARRIAGE; ALSO, I WILL MAKE THE SUCCESSFUL ONE MY HEIR AND HE SHALL BE KING AFTER ME. BUT MARK, LET NO MAN PRETEND THAT HE CAN DO SO, AND FAIL; FOR, IF THE STORY COMES TO AN END, THE STORY-TELLER SHALL BE THROWN INTO PRISON. THE KING.

The king’s daughter was a very beautiful princess, and there were many suitors in the kingdom who came to the court in hope of winning such a prize. But it was all of no use. Each tried as hard as he could to spin the story out, but sooner or later it came to an end and the unfortunate one met the fate the king had threatened.

This grieved the princess very much, and each time she begged the king to lighten the punishment of the poor story-teller who had risked so much for her sake.

At last one man sent word to the king that he had a story which would last forever and ever, and that he was ready to come to the court at once. On hearing this the princess sent for the man and warned him of his danger. She begged him not to be so rash as to try the king’s patience, for no one had ever pleased his majesty, and she feared he would meet the fate of all those who had tried and failed. But he said he was not afraid, and he asked to be taken at once before the king.

“So you are the man who is to tell me a story that will have no end?” said the king.

“If it please your majesty,” answered the man.

“If you can do this, you shall be king after me, and you shall marry the princess, my daughter. But if you fail, you shall be cast into prison.”

“I understand, O king. I have a story about locusts which I shall be pleased to tell you.”

“Very well. Begin the story.”

The story-teller began his tale.

“O king, there was once a ruler who was a great tyrant. He wished to be the richest in the land, so he seized all the corn and grain in his kingdom and had it stored away. Year after year he did this until all his granaries were filled full. But one year there came a swarm of locusts and they discovered where all the grain had been stored. After a long search, they found near the top of the granary a very small hole that was just large enough for one locust at a time to pass through. So one locust went in and carried off one grain of corn; then another locust went in and carried off one grain of corn; then another locust went in and carried off one grain of corn; then another locust went in and carried off one grain of corn—”

Thus the story-teller went on day after day, week after week, from morning till night. After hearing about the locusts for nearly a year the king became rather tired of them, patient though he was, and one day he interrupted the story-teller with:

“Yes, yes, we’ve had enough of those locusts. Let us take for granted that they got all the grain they wanted. Now go on with the story. What happened afterwards?”

“If it please your majesty, I cannot tell you what happened afterwards until I have told you all that took place in the beginning. I go on with the story. Then another locust went in and carried off one grain of corn; then another locust went in and carried off one grain of corn.”

Another month passed by. At the end of this time the king asked impatiently, “Come, sir, how long will it take those locusts to carry away all the corn?”

“O king, I cannot tell. They have cleared away but a small space round the inside of the hole, and there are still thousands and thousands of locusts on the outside. Have patience, O king, there are enough grains for each locust to have one, and in time they, no doubt, will all pass in and each in turn carry away one grain of corn. Permit me, O king, to go on with my story. Then another locust went in and carried off one grain of corn; then another locust went in and carried off one grain of corn—”

“Stop, stop,” called out the king at last. “I cannot stand those locusts any longer. Take my kingdom, be king after me, marry my daughter, take everything, only never let me hear about those ridiculous locusts again.”

So the story-teller married the princess and succeeded to the throne upon the death of the king.

THE KING’S RABBIT KEEPER

Once upon a time a king wanted a good rabbit keeper. He made it known throughout the country that he would give not only good pay, but also the hand of the princess, to any youth who could take good care of his wonderful rabbits.

Now it happened that an old farmer had three very lazy sons, Jan, Hans, and Olaf. They disliked the work on the farm and spent most of their time amusing themselves, or doing as they pleased. When Jan heard that the king wanted a rabbit keeper, he told his father he would go to the palace and try to get the place.

“What!” cried the old man. “The king does not want an idler. The rabbits are brisk and lively and need care every moment. A lazybones like you could never be His Majesty’s rabbit keeper.”

“Well, I am determined to go. I should like the work better than the farm drudgery,” replied Jan. He filled a bag with things to eat, and a few clothes, and started to the palace of the king. After he had traveled a few miles he heard a voice calling him: “Help! Help!” Jan hurried toward the sound and came to a deep pit. He looked down into it, and there was a shriveled old woman. She spoke very sharply to him. “Pull me up! Pull me up!” she cried. “I have been here for one year, and have had no food in all that time. Pull me up!”

“Not I,” replied Jan. “Only a witch could live a year in such a place without food. I’ll have nothing to do with you,” and on he went.

At length he came to the palace of the king and asked to serve as rabbit keeper. The delighted king said, “He who guards the rabbits well and lets none escape shall have fine food, good pay, and perhaps the hand of a beautiful princess.”

The next day Jan took the rabbits into a large field to browse. During the daytime they nibbled the tender grass and stayed together, but when the sun began to set, they darted toward a wood which bordered a meadow and they soon became lost in the shadows of the trees. Jan called to them and ran after them until he was out of breath, but he could not bring them together. He rested awhile and tried again. It was of no use; they had scattered in every direction. Surely they were playing hide and seek, and Jan was not in the game. When he reached the palace, he told his story to the king, who burst into a rage and banished Jan from the country.

In a short time the king got another warren of rabbits and again made it known that he wanted a keeper. Jan’s brother, Hans, now determined that he would try to serve the king and perhaps gain the rich reward. Off he walked. He passed the pit and heard the old woman calling for help, but he hurried on without even stopping to see what was the matter with her.

The king made him keeper of the rabbits, but the first time he took them out to browse he failed in his work. All was well during the day, but when the sun sank, the rabbits scurried away to the woods, and no matter what he did, Hans could not gather them together again. When he returned to the palace without a single rabbit, the furious king banished him, too, from the country.

A third time the king got beautiful rabbits and made it known that he wanted a keeper. “Father,” said Olaf, the youngest of the three brothers, “it is my turn to try. I am sure I could guard the king’s rabbits.”

“It will be the same old story,” said the farmer. “If you take no better care of the rabbits than you do of the calves, you will share your brothers’ fate.”

“At any rate I mean to try,” replied Olaf. Throwing his bag over his shoulder, he set out for the palace of the king.

“Help! Help!” called a voice from the field near the road. Olaf ran in the direction of the sound and saw the old woman in the pit.

“What can I do for you, my good woman?” he asked.

“Please reach me your hand and help me out. I’ve had nothing to eat for a year and I can’t get out without help.”

Olaf willingly reached down and pulled the old woman up. Then he gave her food from his bag and brought her water from a spring. She ate a large share of Olaf’s store while he good-naturedly looked on. When she had finished, she drew from her pocket a magic horn.

“Take this for your pains,” said she. “It is a wonderful horn and will help you in many ways. If you blow into the small end of it, you will scatter to the four winds whatever you wish away from you. If you blow into the large end of it, you will bring near you whatever you wish. If you should lose it, or if by chance it should be stolen from you, a wish will bring it back again.”

“A wonderful help it will be to me,” said Olaf, as he took it eagerly from the old woman’s hand.

He sauntered on again, and after some time he came to the palace of the king. The rabbits were put into his charge, and Olaf’s heart beat high when he thought of the princess he might win.

The next morning he took the rabbits out into the meadow. They danced about in high glee for several hours. But about noon, Olaf noticed two of them scamper away to the woods. These two were soon followed by others. “Very well,” said Olaf, “go away from me if you like.” He blew into the small end of the magic horn, and then cried out, “Be off, every one of you!” and away they scattered in every direction.

Olaf then ate his noonday lunch and stretched himself out for a nap on the soft green bank. When he awoke, the sun was low in the west. He took up the magic horn and blew into the large end of it. From every direction came the frisky rabbits dancing and hopping about him. Olaf counted them and was well pleased to find exactly the right number. When he reached the palace with the rabbits, he saw that the king, the queen, and the princess were on the lookout for him. Also he noticed that each one counted the rabbits and then glanced at the others in wonder.