mud/content/library/grimm/111_the_skilful_huntsman.txt

The Skilful Huntsman

There was once a young fellow who had learnt the trade of locksmith,
and told his father he would now go out into the world and seek his
fortune. “Very well,” said the father, “I am quite content with that,”
and gave him some money for his journey. So he travelled about and
looked for work. After a time he resolved not to follow the trade of
locksmith any more, for he no longer liked it, but he took a fancy for
hunting. Then there met him in his rambles a huntsman dressed in green,
who asked whence he came and whither he was going? The youth said he
was a locksmith’s apprentice, but that the trade no longer pleased him,
and he had a liking for huntsmanship, would he teach it to him? “Oh,
yes,” said the huntsman, “if thou wilt go with me.” Then the young
fellow went with him, bound himself to him for some years, and learnt
the art of hunting. After this he wished to try his luck elsewhere, and
the huntsman gave him nothing in the way of payment but an air-gun,
which had, however, this property, that it hit its mark without fail
whenever he shot with it. Then he set out and found himself in a very
large forest, which he could not get to the end of in one day. When
evening came he seated himself in a high tree in order to escape from
the wild beasts. Towards midnight, it seemed to him as if a tiny little
light glimmered in the distance. Then he looked down through the
branches towards it, and kept well in his mind where it was. But in the
first place he took off his hat and threw it down in the direction of
the light, so that he might go to the hat as a mark when he had
descended. Then he got down and went to his hat, put it on again and
went straight forwards. The farther he went, the larger the light grew,
and when he got close to it he saw that it was an enormous fire, and
that three giants were sitting by it, who had an ox on the spit, and
were roasting it. Presently one of them said, “I must just taste if the
meat will soon be fit to eat,” and pulled a piece off, and was about to
put it in his mouth when the huntsman shot it out of his hand. “Well,
really,” said the giant, “if the wind has not blown the bit out of my
hand!” and helped himself to another. But when he was just about to
bite into it, the huntsman again shot it away from him. On this the
giant gave the one who was sitting next him a box on the ear, and cried
angrily, “Why art thou snatching my piece away from me?” “I have not
snatched it away,” said the other, “a sharpshooter must have shot it
away from thee.” The giant took another piece, but could not, however,
keep it in his hand, for the huntsman shot it out. Then the giant said,
“That must be a good shot to shoot the bit out of one’s very mouth,
such an one would be useful to us.” And he cried aloud, “Come here,
thou sharpshooter, seat thyself at the fire beside us and eat thy fill,
we will not hurt thee; but if thou wilt not come, and we have to bring
thee by force, thou art a lost man!” On this the youth went up to them
and told them he was a skilled huntsman, and that whatever he aimed at
with his gun, he was certain to hit. Then they said if he would go with
them he should be well treated, and they told him that outside the
forest there was a great lake, behind which stood a tower, and in the
tower was imprisoned a lovely princess, whom they wished very much to
carry off. “Yes,” said he, “I will soon get her for you.” Then they
added, “But there is still something else, there is a tiny little dog,
which begins to bark directly any one goes near, and as soon as it
barks every one in the royal palace wakens up, and for this reason we
cannot get there; canst thou undertake to shoot it dead?” “Yes,” said
he, “that will be a little bit of fun for me.” After this he got into a
boat and rowed over the lake, and as soon as he landed, the little dog
came running out, and was about to bark, but the huntsman took his
air-gun and shot it dead. When the giants saw that, they rejoiced, and
thought they already had the King’s daughter safe, but the huntsman
wished first to see how matters stood, and told them that they must
stay outside until he called them. Then he went into the castle, and
all was perfectly quiet within, and every one was asleep. When he
opened the door of the first room, a sword was hanging on the wall
which was made of pure silver, and there was a golden star on it, and
the name of the King, and on a table near it lay a sealed letter which
he broke open, and inside it was written that whosoever had the sword
could kill everything which opposed him. So he took the sword from the
wall, hung it at his side and went onwards: then he entered the room
where the King’s daughter was lying sleeping, and she was so beautiful
that he stood still and, holding his breath, looked at her. He thought
to himself, “How can I give an innocent maiden into the power of the
wild giants, who have evil in their minds?” He looked about further,
and under the bed stood a pair of slippers, on the right one was her
father’s name with a star, and on the left her own name with a star.
She wore also a great neck-kerchief of silk embroidered with gold, and
on the right side was her father’s name, and on the left her own, all
in golden letters. Then the huntsman took a pair of scissors and cut
the right corner off, and put it in his knapsack, and then he also took
the right slipper with the King’s name, and thrust that in. Now the
maiden still lay sleeping, and she was quite sewn into her night-dress,
and he cut a morsel from this also, and thrust it in with the rest, but
he did all without touching her. Then he went forth and left her lying
asleep undisturbed, and when he came to the gate again, the giants were
still standing outside waiting for him, and expecting that he was
bringing the princess. But he cried to them that they were to come in,
for the maiden was already in their power, that he could not open the
gate to them, but there was a hole through which they must creep. Then
the first approached, and the huntsman wound the giant’s hair round his
hand, pulled the head in, and cut it off at one stroke with his sword,
and then drew the rest of him in. He called to the second and cut his
head off likewise, and then he killed the third also, and he was well
pleased that he had freed the beautiful maiden from her enemies, and he
cut out their tongues and put them in his knapsack. Then thought he, “I
will go home to my father and let him see what I have already done, and
afterwards I will travel about the world; the luck which God is pleased
to grant me will easily find me.”

But when the King in the castle awoke, he saw the three giants lying
there dead. So he went into the sleeping-room of his daughter, awoke
her, and asked who could have killed the giants? Then said she, “Dear
father, I know not, I have been asleep.” But when she arose and would
have put on her slippers, the right one was gone, and when she looked
at her neck-kerchief it was cut, and the right corner was missing, and
when she looked at her night-dress a piece was cut out of it. The King
summoned his whole court together, soldiers and every one else who was
there, and asked who had set his daughter at liberty, and killed the
giants? Now it happened that he had a captain, who was one-eyed and a
hideous man, and he said that he had done it. Then the old King said
that as he had accomplished this, he should marry his daughter. But the
maiden said, “Rather than marry him, dear father, I will go away into
the world as far as my legs can carry me.” But the King said that if
she would not marry him she should take off her royal garments and wear
peasant’s clothing, and go forth, and that she should go to a potter,
and begin a trade in earthen vessels. So she put off her royal apparel,
and went to a potter and borrowed crockery enough for a stall, and she
promised him also that if she had sold it by the evening, she would pay
for it. Then the King said she was to seat herself in a corner with it
and sell it, and he arranged with some peasants to drive over it with
their carts, so that everything should be broken into a thousand
pieces. When therefore the King’s daughter had placed her stall in the
street, by came the carts, and broke all she had into tiny fragments.
She began to weep and said, “Alas, how shall I ever pay for the pots
now?” The King had, however, wished by this to force her to marry the
captain; but instead of that, she again went to the potter, and asked
him if he would lend to her once more. He said, “No,” she must first
pay for the things she had already had. Then she went to her father and
cried and lamented, and said she would go forth into the world. Then
said he, “I will have a little hut built for thee in the forest
outside, and in it thou shalt stay all thy life long and cook for every
one, but thou shalt take no money for it.” When the hut was ready, a
sign was hung on the door whereon was written, “To-day given, to-morrow
sold.” There she remained a long time, and it was rumored about the
world that a maiden was there who cooked without asking for payment,
and that this was set forth on a sign outside her door. The huntsman
heard it likewise, and thought to himself, “That would suit thee. Thou
art poor, and hast no money.” So he took his air-gun and his knapsack,
wherein all the things which he had formerly carried away with him from
the castle as tokens of his truthfulness were still lying, and went
into the forest, and found the hut with the sign, “To-day given,
to-morrow sold.” He had put on the sword with which he had cut off the
heads of the three giants, and thus entered the hut, and ordered
something to eat to be given to him. He was charmed with the beautiful
maiden, who was indeed as lovely as any picture. She asked him whence
he came and whither he was going, and he said, “I am roaming about the
world.” Then she asked him where he had got the sword, for that truly
her father’s name was on it. He asked her if she were the King’s
daughter. “Yes,” answered she. “With this sword,” said he, “did I cut
off the heads of three giants.” And he took their tongues out of his
knapsack in proof. Then he also showed her the slipper, and the corner
of the neck-kerchief, and the bit of the night-dress. Hereupon she was
overjoyed, and said that he was the one who had delivered her. On this
they went together to the old King, and fetched him to the hut, and she
led him into her room, and told him that the huntsman was the man who
had really set her free from the giants. And when the aged King saw all
the proofs of this, he could no longer doubt, and said that he was very
glad he knew how everything had happened, and that the huntsman should
have her to wife, on which the maiden was glad at heart. Then she
dressed the huntsman as if he were a foreign lord, and the King ordered
a feast to be prepared. When they went to table, the captain sat on the
left side of the King’s daughter, but the huntsman was on the right,
and the captain thought he was a foreign lord who had come on a visit.
When they had eaten and drunk, the old King said to the captain that he
would set before him something which he must guess. “Supposing any one
said that he had killed the three giants and he were asked where the
giants’ tongues were, and he were forced to go and look, and there were
none in their heads, how could that happen?” The captain said, “Then
they cannot have had any.” “Not so,” said the King. “Every animal has a
tongue,” and then he likewise asked what any one would deserve who made
such an answer? The captain replied, “He ought to be torn in pieces.”
Then the King said he had pronounced his own sentence, and the captain
was put in prison and then torn in four pieces; but the King’s daughter
was married to the huntsman. After this he brought his father and
mother, and they lived with their son in happiness, and after the death
of the old King he received the kingdom.