76 lines
4.7 KiB
Text
76 lines
4.7 KiB
Text
Clever Grethel
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There was once a cook named Grethel, who wore shoes with red rosettes,
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and when she walked out with them on, she turned herself this way and
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that, and thought, "You certainly are a pretty girl!" And when she came
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home she drank, in her gladness of heart, a draught of wine, and as
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wine excites a desire to eat, she tasted the best of whatever she was
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cooking until she was satisfied, and said, "The cook must know what the
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food is like."
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It came to pass that the master one day said to her, "Grethel, there is
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a guest coming this evening; prepare me two fowls very daintily." "I
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will see to it, master," answered Grethel. She killed two fowls,
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scalded them, plucked them, put them on the spit, and towards evening
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set them before the fire, that they might roast. The fowls began to
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turn brown, and were nearly ready, but the guest had not yet arrived.
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Then Grethel called out to her master, "If the guest does not come, I
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must take the fowls away from the fire, but it will be a sin and a
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shame if they are not eaten directly, when they are juiciest." The
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master said, "I will run myself, and fetch the guest." When the master
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had turned his back, Grethel laid the spit with the fowls on one side,
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and thought, "Standing so long by the fire there, makes one hot and
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thirsty; who knows when they will come? Meanwhile, I will run into the
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cellar, and take a drink." She ran down, set a jug, said, "God bless it
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to thy use, Grethel," and took a good drink, and took yet another
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hearty draught.
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Then she went and put the fowls down again to the fire, basted them,
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and drove the spit merrily round. But as the roast meat smelt so good,
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Grethel thought, "Something might be wrong, it ought to be tasted!" She
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touched it with her finger, and said, "Ah! how good fowls are! It
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certainly is a sin and a shame that they are not eaten directly!" She
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ran to the window, to see if the master was not coming with his guest,
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but she saw no one, and went back to the fowls and thought, "One of the
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wings is burning! I had better take it off and eat it." So she cut it
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off, ate it, and enjoyed it, and when she had done, she thought, "the
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other must go down too, or else master will observe that something is
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missing." When the two wings were eaten, she went and looked for her
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master, and did not see him. It suddenly occurred to her, "Who knows?
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They are perhaps not coming at all, and have turned in somewhere." Then
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she said, "Hallo, Grethel, enjoy yourself, one fowl has been cut into,
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take another drink, and eat it up entirely; when it is eaten you will
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have some peace, why should God's good gifts be spoilt?" So she ran
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into the cellar again, took an enormous drink and ate up the one
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chicken in great glee. When one of the chickens was swallowed down, and
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still her master did not come, Grethel looked at the other and said,
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"Where one is, the other should be likewise, the two go together;
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what's right for the one is right for the other; I think if I were to
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take another draught it would do me no harm." So she took another
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hearty drink, and let the second chicken rejoin the first.
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While she was just in the best of the eating, her master came and
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cried, hurry up, "Haste thee, Grethel, the guest is coming directly
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after me!" "Yes, sir, I will soon serve up," answered Grethel. Meantime
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the master looked to see that the table was properly laid, and took the
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great knife, wherewith he was going to carve the chickens, and
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sharpened it on the steps. Presently the guest came, and knocked
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politely and courteously at the house-door. Grethel ran, and looked to
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see who was there, and when she saw the guest, she put her finger to
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her lips and said, "Hush! hush! get away as quickly as you can, if my
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master catches you it will be the worse for you; he certainly did ask
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you to supper, but his intention is to cut off your two ears. Just
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listen how he is sharpening the knife for it!" The guest heard the
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sharpening, and hurried down the steps again as fast as he could.
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Grethel was not idle; she ran screaming to her master, and cried, "You
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have invited a fine guest!" "Eh, why, Grethel? What do you mean by
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that?" "Yes," said she, "he has taken the chickens which I was just
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going to serve up, off the dish, and has run away with them!" "That's a
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nice trick!" said her master, and lamented the fine chickens. "If he
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had but left me one, so that something remained for me to eat." He
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called to him to stop, but the guest pretended not to hear. Then he ran
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after him with the knife still in his hand, crying, "Just one, just
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one," meaning that the guest should leave him just one chicken, and not
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take both. The guest, however, thought no otherwise than that he was to
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give up one of his ears, and ran as if fire were burning under him, in
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order to take them both home with him.
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