mud/content/library/grimm/134_the_six_servants.txt

The Six Servants

In former times there lived an aged Queen who was a sorceress, and her
daughter was the most beautiful maiden under the sun. The old woman,
however, had no other thought than how to lure mankind to destruction,
and when a wooer appeared, she said that whosoever wished to have her
daughter, must first perform a task, or die. Many had been dazzled by
the daughter’s beauty, and had actually risked this, but they never
could accomplish what the old woman enjoined them to do, and then no
mercy was shown; they had to kneel down, and their heads were struck
off. A certain King’s son who had also heard of the maiden’s beauty,
said to his father, “Let me go there, I want to demand her in
marriage.” “Never,” answered the King; “if you were to go, it would be
going to your death.” On this the son lay down and was sick unto death,
and for seven years he lay there, and no physician could heal him. When
the father perceived that all hope was over, with a heavy heart he said
to him, “Go thither, and try your luck, for I know no other means of
curing you.” When the son heard that, he rose from his bed and was well
again, and joyfully set out on his way.

And it came to pass that as he was riding across a heath, he saw from
afar something like a great heap of hay lying on the ground, and when
he drew nearer, he could see that it was the stomach of a man, who had
laid himself down there, but the stomach looked like a small mountain.
When the fat man saw the traveller, he stood up and said, “If you are
in need of any one, take me into your service.” The prince answered,
“What can I do with such a great big man?” “Oh,” said the Stout One,
“this is nothing, when I stretch myself out well, I am three thousand
times fatter.” “If that’s the case,” said the prince, “I can make use
of thee, come with me.” So the Stout One followed the prince, and after
a while they found another man who was lying on the ground with his ear
laid to the turf. “What art thou doing there?” asked the King’s son. “I
am listening,” replied the man. “What art thou listening to so
attentively?” “I am listening to what is just going on in the world,
for nothing escapes my ears; I even hear the grass growing.” “Tell me,”
said the prince, “what thou hearest at the court of the old Queen who
has the beautiful daughter.” Then he answered, “I hear the whizzing of
the sword that is striking off a wooer’s head.” The King’s son said, “I
can make use of thee, come with me.” They went onwards, and then saw a
pair of feet lying and part of a pair of legs, but could not see the
rest of the body. When they had walked on for a great distance, they
came to the body, and at last to the head also. “Why,” said the prince,
“what a tall rascal thou art!” “Oh,” replied the Tall One, “that is
nothing at all yet; when I really stretch out my limbs, I am three
thousand times as tall, and taller than the highest mountain on earth.
I will gladly enter your service, if you will take me.” “Come with me,”
said the prince, “I can make use of thee.” They went onwards and found
a man sitting by the road who had bound up his eyes. The prince said to
him, “Hast thou weak eyes, that thou canst not look at the light?”
“No,” replied the man, “but I must not remove the bandage, for
whatsoever I look at with my eyes, splits to pieces, my glance is so
powerful. If you can use that, I shall be glad to serve you.” “Come
with me,” replied the King’s son, “I can make use of thee.” They
journeyed onwards and found a man who was lying in the hot sunshine,
trembling and shivering all over his body, so that not a limb was
still. “How canst thou shiver when the sun is shining so warm?” said
the King’s son. “Alack,” replied the man, “I am of quite a different
nature. The hotter it is, the colder I am, and the frost pierces
through all my bones; and the colder it is, the hotter I am. In the
midst of ice, I cannot endure the heat, nor in the midst of fire, the
cold.” “Thou art a strange fellow,” said the prince, “but if thou wilt
enter my service, follow me.” They travelled onwards, and saw a man
standing who made a long neck and looked about him, and could see over
all the mountains. “What art thou looking at so eagerly?” said the
King’s son. The man replied, “I have such sharp eyes that I can see
into every forest and field, and hill and valley, all over the world.”
The prince said, “Come with me if thou wilt, for I am still in want of
such an one.”

And now the King’s son and his six servants came to the town where the
aged Queen dwelt. He did not tell her who he was, but said, “If you
will give me your beautiful daughter, I will perform any task you set
me.” The sorceress was delighted to get such a handsome youth as this
into her net, and said, “I will set thee three tasks, and if thou art
able to perform them all, thou shalt be husband and master of my
daughter.” “What is the first to be?” “Thou shalt fetch me my ring
which I have dropped into the Red Sea.” So the King’s son went home to
his servants and said, “The first task is not easy. A ring is to be got
out of the Red Sea. Come, find some way of doing it.” Then the man with
the sharp sight said, “I will see where it is lying,” and looked down
into the water and said, “It is sticking there, on a pointed stone.”
The Tall One carried them thither, and said, “I would soon get it out,
if I could only see it.” “Oh, is that all!” cried the Stout One, and
lay down and put his mouth to the water, on which all the waves fell
into it just as if it had been a whirlpool, and he drank up the whole
sea till it was as dry as a meadow. The Tall One stooped down a little,
and brought out the ring with his hand. Then the King’s son rejoiced
when he had the ring, and took it to the old Queen. She was astonished,
and said, “Yes, it is the right ring. Thou hast safely performed the
first task, but now comes the second. Dost thou see the meadow in front
of my palace? Three hundred fat oxen are feeding there, and these must
thou eat, skin, hair, bones, horns and all, and down below in my cellar
lie three hundred casks of wine, and these thou must drink up as well,
and if one hair of the oxen, or one little drop of the wine is left,
thy life will be forfeited to me.” “May I invite no guests to this
repast?” inquired the prince, “no dinner is good without some company.”
The old woman laughed maliciously, and replied, “Thou mayst invite one
for the sake of companionship, but no more.”

The King’s son went to his servants and said to the Stout One, “Thou
shalt be my guest to-day, and shalt eat thy fill.” Hereupon the Stout
One stretched himself out and ate the three hundred oxen without
leaving one single hair, and then he asked if he was to have nothing
but his breakfast. He drank the wine straight from the casks without
feeling any need of a glass, and he licked the last drop from his
finger-nails. When the meal was over, the prince went to the old woman,
and told her that the second task also was performed. She wondered at
this and said, “No one has ever done so much before, but one task still
remains,” and she thought to herself, “Thou shalt not escape me, and
wilt not keep thy head on thy shoulders! This night,” said she, “I will
bring my daughter to thee in thy chamber, and thou shalt put thine arms
round her, but when you are sitting there together, beware of falling
asleep. When twelve o’clock is striking, I will come, and if she is
then no longer in thine arms, thou art lost.” The prince thought, “The
task is easy, I will most certainly keep my eyes open.” Nevertheless he
called his servants, told them what the old woman had said, and
remarked, “Who knows what treachery lurks behind this? Foresight is a
good thing keep watch, and take care that the maiden does not go out of
my room again.” When night fell, the old woman came with her daughter,
and gave her into the princes’s arms, and then the Tall One wound
himself round the two in a circle, and the Stout One placed himself by
the door, so that no living creature could enter. There the two sat,
and the maiden spake never a word, but the moon shone through the
window on her face, and the prince could behold her wondrous beauty. He
did nothing but gaze at her, and was filled with love and happiness,
and his eyes never felt weary. This lasted until eleven o’clock, when
the old woman cast such a spell over all of them that they fell asleep,
and at the self-same moment the maiden was carried away.

Then they all slept soundly until a quarter to twelve, when the magic
lost its power, and all awoke again. “Oh, misery and misfortune!” cried
the prince, “now I am lost!” The faithful servants also began to
lament, but the Listener said, “Be quiet, I want to listen.” Then he
listened for an instant and said, “She is on a rock, three hundred
leagues from hence, bewailing her fate. Thou alone, Tall One, canst
help her; if thou wilt stand up, thou wilt be there in a couple of
steps.”

“Yes,” answered the Tall One, “but the one with the sharp eyes must go
with me, that we may destroy the rock.” Then the Tall One took the one
with bandaged eyes on his back, and in the twinkling of an eye they
were on the enchanted rock. The Tall One immediately took the bandage
from the other’s eyes, and he did but look round, and the rock shivered
into a thousand pieces. Then the Tall One took the maiden in his arms,
carried her back in a second, then fetched his companion with the same
rapidity, and before it struck twelve they were all sitting as they had
sat before, quite merrily and happily. When twelve struck, the aged
sorceress came stealing in with a malicious face, which seemed to say,
“Now he is mine!” for she believed that her daughter was on the rock
three hundred leagues off. But when she saw her in the prince’s arms,
she was alarmed, and said, “Here is one who knows more than I do!” She
dared not make any opposition, and was forced to give him her daughter.
But she whispered in her ear, “It is a disgrace to thee to have to obey
common people, and that thou art not allowed to choose a husband to
thine own liking.”

On this the proud heart of the maiden was filled with anger, and she
meditated revenge. Next morning she caused three hundred great bundles
of wood to be got together, and said to the prince that though the
three tasks were performed, she would still not be his wife until some
one was ready to seat himself in the midst of the wood, and bear the
fire. She thought that none of his servants would let themselves be
burnt for him, and that out of love for her, he himself would place
himself upon it, and then she would be free. But the servants said,
“Every one of us has done something except the Frosty One, he must set
to work,” and they put him in the middle of the pile, and set fire to
it. Then the fire began to burn, and burnt for three days until all the
wood was consumed, and when the flames had burnt out, the Frosty One
was standing amid the ashes, trembling like an aspen leaf, and saying,
“I never felt such a frost during the whole course of my life; if it
had lasted much longer, I should have been benumbed!”

As no other pretext was to be found, the beautiful maiden was now
forced to take the unknown youth as a husband. But when they drove away
to church, the old woman said, “I cannot endure the disgrace,” and sent
her warriors after them with orders to cut down all who opposed them,
and bring back her daughter. But the Listener had sharpened his ears,
and heard the secret discourse of the old woman. “What shall we do?”
said he to the Stout One. But he knew what to do, and spat out once or
twice behind the carriage some of the sea-water which he had drunk, and
a great sea arose in which the warriors were caught and drowned. When
the sorceress perceived that, she sent her mailed knights; but the
Listener heard the rattling of their armour, and undid the bandage from
one eye of Sharp-eyes, who looked for a while rather fixedly at the
enemy’s troops, on which they all sprang to pieces like glass. Then the
youth and the maiden went on their way undisturbed, and when the two
had been blessed in church, the six servants took leave, and said to
their master, “Your wishes are now satisfied, you need us no longer, we
will go our way and seek our fortunes.”

Half a league from the palace of the prince’s father was a village near
which a swineherd tended his herd, and when they came thither the
prince said to his wife, “Do you know who I really am? I am no prince,
but a herder of swine, and the man who is there with that herd, is my
father. We two shall have to set to work also, and help him.” Then he
alighted with her at the inn, and secretly told the innkeepers to take
away her royal apparel during the night. So when she awoke in the
morning, she had nothing to put on, and the innkeeper’s wife gave her
an old gown and a pair of worsted stockings, and at the same time
seemed to consider it a great present, and said, “If it were not for
the sake of your husband I should have given you nothing at all!” Then
the princess believed that he really was a swineherd, and tended the
herd with him, and thought to herself, “I have deserved this for my
haughtiness and pride.” This lasted for a week, and then she could
endure it no longer, for she had sores on her feet. And now came a
couple of people who asked if she knew who her husband was. “Yes,” she
answered, “he is a swineherd, and has just gone out with cords and
ropes to try to drive a little bargain.” But they said, “Just come with
us, and we will take you to him,” and they took her up to the palace,
and when she entered the hall, there stood her husband in kingly
raiment. But she did not recognize him until he took her in his arms,
kissed her, and said, “I suffered much for thee and now thou, too, hast
had to suffer for me.” And then the wedding was celebrated, and he who
has told you all this, wishes that he, too, had been present at it.