43 lines
2.5 KiB
Text
43 lines
2.5 KiB
Text
The Hare's Bride
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There was once a woman and her daughter who lived in a pretty garden
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with cabbages; and a little hare came into it, and during the winter
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time ate all the cabbages. Then says the mother to the daughter, "Go
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into the garden, and chase the hare away." The girl says to the little
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hare, "Sh-sh, hare, you are still eating up all our cabbages." Says the
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hare, "Come, maiden, and seat yourself on my little hare's tail, and
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come with me into my little hare's hut." The girl will not do it. Next
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day the hare comes again and eats the cabbages, then says the mother to
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the daughter, "Go into the garden, and drive the hare away." The girl
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says to the hare, "Sh-sh, little hare, you are still eating all the
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cabbages." The little hare says, "Maiden, seat thyself on my little
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hare's tail, and come with me into my little hare's hut." The maiden
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refuses. The third day the hare comes again, and eats the cabbages. On
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this the mother says to the daughter, "Go into the garden, and hunt the
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hare away." Says the maiden, "Sh-sh, little hare, you are still eating
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all our cabbages." Says the little hare, "Come, maiden, seat thyself on
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my little hare's tail, and come with me into my little hare's hut." The
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girl seats herself on the little hare's tail, and then the hare takes
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her far away to his little hut, and says, "Now cook green cabbage and
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millet-seed, and I will invite the wedding-guests." Then all the
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wedding-guests assembled. (Who were the wedding-guests?) That I can
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tell you as another told it to me. They were all hares, and the crow
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was there as parson to marry the bride and bridegroom, and the fox as
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clerk, and the altar was under the rainbow.
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The girl, however, was sad, for she was all alone. The little hare
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comes and says, "Open the doors, open the doors, the wedding-guests are
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merry." The bride says nothing, but weeps. The little hare goes away.
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The little hare comes back and says, "Take off the lid, take off the
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lid, the wedding-guests are hungry." The bride again says nothing, and
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weeps. The little hare goes away. The little hare comes back and says,
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"Take off the lid, take off the lid, the wedding-guests are waiting."
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Then the bride says nothing, and the hare goes away, but she dresses a
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straw-doll in her clothes, and gives her a spoon to stir with, and sets
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her by the pan with the millet-seed, and goes back to her mother. The
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little hare comes once more and says, "Take off the lid, take off the
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lid," and gets up, and strikes the doll on the head so that her cap
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falls off.
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Then the little hare sees that it is not his bride, and goes away and
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is sorrowful.
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