75 lines
3.8 KiB
Text
75 lines
3.8 KiB
Text
Old Rinkrank
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There was once on a time a King who had a daughter, and he caused a
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glass mountain to be made, and said that whosoever could cross to the
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other side of it without falling should have his daughter to wife. Then
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there was one who loved the King's daughter, and he asked the King if
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he might have her. "Yes," said the King; "if you can cross the mountain
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without falling, you shall have her." And the princess said she would
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go over it with him, and would hold him if he were about to fall. So
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they set out together to go over it, and when they were half way up the
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princess slipped and fell, and the glass-mountain opened and shut her
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up inside it, and her betrothed could not see where she had gone, for
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the mountain closed immediately. Then he wept and lamented much, and
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the King was miserable too, and had the mountain broken open where she
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had been lost, and though the would be able to get her out again, but
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they could not find the place into which she had fallen. Meanwhile the
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King's daughter had fallen quite deep down into the earth into a great
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cave. An old fellow with a very long gray beard came to meet her, and
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told her that if she would be his servant and do everything he bade
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her, she might live, if not he would kill her. So she did all he bade
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her. In the mornings he took his ladder out of his pocket, and set it
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up against the mountain and climbed to the top by its help, and then he
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drew up the ladder after him. The princess had to cook his dinner, make
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his bed, and do all his work, and when he came home again he always
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brought with him a heap of gold and silver. When she had lived with him
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for many years, and had grown quite old, he called her Mother Mansrot,
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and she had to call him Old Rinkrank. Then once when he was out, and
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she had made his bed and washed his dishes, she shut the doors and
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windows all fast, and there was one little window through which the
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light shone in, and this she left open. When Old Rinkrank came home, he
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knocked at his door, and cried, "Mother Mansrot, open the door for me."
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"No," said she, "Old Rinkrank, I will not open the door for thee." Then
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he said,
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"Here stand I, poor Rinkrank,
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On my seventeen long shanks,
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On my weary, worn-out foot,
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Wash my dishes, Mother Mansrot."
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"I have washed thy dishes already," said she. Then again he said,
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"Here stand I, poor Rinkrank,
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On my seventeen long shanks,
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On my weary, worn-out foot,
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Make me my bed, Mother Mansrot."
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"I have made thy bed already," said she. Then again he said,
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"Here stand I, poor Rinkrank,
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On my seventeen long shanks,
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On my weary, worn-out foot,
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Open the door, Mother Mansrot."
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Then he ran all round his house, and saw that the little window was
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open, and thought, "I will look in and see what she can be about, and
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why she will not open the door for me." He tried to peep in, but could
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not get his head through because of his long beard. So he first put his
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beard through the open window, but just as he had got it through,
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Mother Mansrot came by and pulled the window down with a cord which she
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had tied to it, and his beard was shut fast in it. Then he began to cry
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most piteously, for it hurt him very much, and to entreat her to
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release him again. But she said not until he gave her the ladder with
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which he ascended the mountain. Then, whether he would or not, he had
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to tell her where the ladder was. And she fastened a very long ribbon
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to the window, and then she set up the ladder, and ascended the
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mountain, and when she was at the top of it she opened the window. She
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went to her father, and told him all that had happened to her. The King
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rejoiced greatly, and her betrothed was still there, and they went and
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dug up the mountain, and found Old Rinkrank inside it with all his gold
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and silver. Then the King had Old Rinkrank put to death, and took all
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his gold and silver. The princess married her betrothed, and lived
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right happily in great magnificence and joy.
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