97 lines
4.8 KiB
Text
97 lines
4.8 KiB
Text
Jorinda and Joringel
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There was once an old castle in the midst of a large and thick forest,
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and in it an old woman who was a witch dwelt all alone. In the day-time
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she changed herself into a cat or a screech-owl, but in the evening she
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took her proper shape again as a human being. She could lure wild
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beasts and birds to her, and then she killed and boiled and roasted
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them. If any one came within one hundred paces of the castle he was
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obliged to stand still, and could not stir from the place until she
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bade him be free. But whenever an innocent maiden came within this
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circle, she changed her into a bird, and shut her up in a wicker-work
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cage, and carried the cage into a room in the castle. She had about
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seven thousand cages of rare birds in the castle.
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Now, there was once a maiden who was called Jorinda, who was fairer
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than all other girls. She and a handsome youth named Joringel had
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promised to marry each other. They were still in the days of betrothal,
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and their greatest happiness was being together. One day in order that
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they might be able to talk together in quiet they went for a walk in
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the forest. "Take care," said Joringel, "that you do not go too near
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the castle."
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It was a beautiful evening; the sun shone brightly between the trunks
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of the trees into the dark green of the forest, and the turtle-doves
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sang mournfully upon the young boughs of the birch-trees.
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Jorinda wept now and then: she sat down in the sunshine and was
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sorrowful. Joringel was sorrowful too; they were as sad as if they were
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about to die. Then they looked around them, and were quite at a loss,
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for they did not know by which way they should go home. The sun was
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still half above the mountain and half set.
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Joringel looked through the bushes, and saw the old walls of the castle
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close at hand. He was horror-stricken and filled with deadly fear.
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Jorinda was singing--
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"My little bird, with the necklace red,
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Sings sorrow, sorrow, sorrow,
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He sings that the dove must soon be dead,
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Sings sorrow, sor--jug, jug, jug."
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Joringel looked for Jorinda. She was changed into a nightingale, and
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sang, "jug, jug, jug." A screech-owl with glowing eyes flew three times
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round about her, and three times cried, "to-whoo, to-whoo, to-whoo!"
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Joringel could not move: he stood there like a stone, and could neither
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weep nor speak, nor move hand or foot.
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The sun had now set. The owl flew into the thicket, and directly
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afterwards there came out of it a crooked old woman, yellow and lean,
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with large red eyes and a hooked nose, the point of which reached to
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her chin. She muttered to herself, caught the nightingale, and took it
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away in her hand.
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Joringel could neither speak nor move from the spot; the nightingale
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was gone. At last the woman came back, and said in a hollow voice,
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"Greet thee, Zachiel. If the moon shines on the cage, Zachiel, let him
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loose at once." Then Joringel was freed. He fell on his knees before
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the woman and begged that she would give him back his Jorinda, but she
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said that he should never have her again, and went away. He called, he
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wept, he lamented, but all in vain, "Ah, what is to become of me?"
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Joringel went away, and at last came to a strange village; there he
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kept sheep for a long time. He often walked round and round the castle,
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but not too near to it. At last he dreamt one night that he found a
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blood-red flower, in the middle of which was a beautiful large pearl;
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that he picked the flower and went with it to the castle, and that
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everything he touched with the flower was freed from enchantment; he
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also dreamt that by means of it he recovered his Jorinda.
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In the morning, when he awoke, he began to seek over hill and dale if
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he could find such a flower. He sought until the ninth day, and then,
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early in the morning, he found the blood-red flower. In the middle of
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it there was a large dew-drop, as big as the finest pearl.
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Day and night he journeyed with this flower to the castle. When he was
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within a hundred paces of it he was not held fast, but walked on to the
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door. Joringel was full of joy; he touched the door with the flower,
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and it sprang open. He walked in through the courtyard, and listened
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for the sound of the birds. At last he heard it. He went on and found
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the room from whence it came, and there the witch was feeding the birds
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in the seven thousand cages.
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When she saw Joringel she was angry, very angry, and scolded and spat
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poison and gall at him, but she could not come within two paces of him.
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He did not take any notice of her, but went and looked at the cages
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with the birds; but there were many hundred nightingales, how was he to
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find his Jorinda again?
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Just then he saw the old woman quietly take away a cage with a bird in
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it, and go towards the door.
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Swiftly he sprang towards her, touched the cage with the flower, and
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also the old woman. She could now no longer bewitch any one; and
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Jorinda was standing there, clasping him round the neck, and she was as
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beautiful as ever!
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