Soon after, the Baron himself came to his brother’s castle, and what was his surprise! But he took the girl out for a walk, as he said, along the cliffs. And when he got her all alone, he took her by the arms and was going to throw her over. But she begged hard for her life[102]. “I have not done anything,” she said, “please do not kill me; I will do whatever you wish. I will never see you or your son again till you desire it.” Then the Baron took off his gold ring and threw it into the sea, saying, “Never let me see your face till you can show me that ring”, and he let her go[103].
The poor girl wandered on and on till at last she came to a great noble’s castle[104], and she said that she could do any work. So they gave her some kitchen work, and she began to cook food.
One day the Baron and his brother and his son, her husband, came up to the noble’s house. She didn’t know what to do, but thought they would not see her in the castle kitchen. So she went back to her work with a sigh and set to cleaning a huge big fish that was to be boiled for their dinner. And, as she was cleaning it, she saw something shine inside it[105]. What do you think she found? Why, there was the Baron’s ring, the very one he had thrown over the cliff[106]. She was glad indeed to see it, you may be sure. Then she cooked the fish as nicely as she could and served it up. Well, when the fish came on the table, the guests liked it so well that they asked the noble who cooked it. He said he didn’t know but called to his servants, “Hey, there, send the cook who cooked that fine fish.” So they went down to the kitchen and told the girl she was wanted in the hall.
When the guests saw such a young and beautiful cook, they were surprised. But the Baron was very angry. So the girl went up to him with her hand before her with the ring on it, and she put it down before him on the table. Then at last, the Baron saw that no one could fight against Fate, and he handed her to a seat and announced to all the company that this was his son’s true wife. And he took her and his son home to his castle, and they all lived happy.
The Master and His Pupil
There was once a very learned man in the north-country who knew all the languages under the sun and who was acquainted with all the mysteries of the world. He had one big book bound in black calf and clasped with iron and with iron corners and chained to a table on the floor. When he read this book, he unlocked it with an iron key. This famous book contained all the secrets of the spiritual world. It told how many angels there were in heaven and how they marched in their ranks and sang and what were their several functions, and what was the name of each great angel of might. And it told of the demons, how many of them there were and what were their several powers and their labours and their names and how they might be summoned[107] and how tasks might be imposed on them[108] and how they might be chained to be as slaves to man[109].
Now the master had a pupil who was a foolish lad, and he acted as servant to the great master. The boy was never allowed[110] to look into the black book, hardly to enter the private room.
One day the master was out. The lad was very curious. So he hurried to the chamber where his master kept his wonderful apparatus for changing copper into gold and lead into silver. There was his magic mirror in which he could see all that was passing in the world. There also was the shell which when held to the ear[111] whispered all the words that were spoken by anyone the master desired to know about. The lad tried in vain[112] with the crucibles to turn copper and lead into gold and silver. He looked long and vainly into the mirror; smoke and clouds passed over it, but he saw nothing plain. And the shell produced to his ear only indistinct murmurings, like the breaking of distant seas on an unknown shore. “I can do nothing,” he said; “as I don’t know the right words to utter, and they are locked up in that magic book.”
He looked round, and, see! the book was not locked. The master had forgotten to lock it before he went out. The boy rushed to it and opened the volume. It was written with red and black ink, and much of it he could not understand. But he put his finger on a line and spelled it through.
At once the room was darkened, and the house trembled; a clap of thunder rolled through the passage and the old room, and there stood before him a horrible, horrible form, breathing fire, and with eyes like burning lamps. It was the demon, whom he had called up[113] to serve him.
“Set me a task![114]” said he with a voice like the roaring of an iron furnace.
The boy only trembled, and his hair stood up.
“Set me a task, or I shall strangle you!”
But the lad could not speak. Then the evil spirit stepped towards him and putting forth his hands touched his throat. The fingers burned his flesh. “Set me a task!”
“Water that flower,” cried the boy in despair, pointing to a geranium which stood in a pot on the floor. Instantly, the spirit left the room, but in another instant he returned with a barrel on his back and poured its contents over the flower; and again and again he went and came and poured more and more water till the floor of the room was ankle-deep[115].
“Enough, enough!” gasped the lad, but the demon did not hear him. The lad didn’t know the words by which to send him away, and still he fetched water.
It rose to the boy’s knees and still more water was poured. It mounted to his waist, and the demon still kept on bringing barrels full. It rose to his armpits, and he scrambled to the table-top. And now the water in the room stood up to the window and washed against the glass and around his feet on the table. It still rose; it reached his breast. The poor boy cried, but all was useless. The evil spirit was pouring and pouring and pouring water. But the master remembered on his journey that he had not locked his book and therefore returned, and at the moment when the water was bubbling about the pupil’s chin, rushed into the room and spoke the words which cast the demon back into his fiery home.
Jack the Giant-Killer
When good King Arthur[116] reigned, there lived a farmer who had one only son called Jack. He was brisk and very smart, so nobody or nothing could worst him.
In those days, the country was kept by a huge giant. He was eighteen feet in height and about three yards round the waist, of a fierce and grim countenance, the terror of all the neighbouring towns and villages. He lived in a cave in the midst of the Mount, and whenever he wanted food he would go and furnish himself with whatever came in his way[117]. Everybody at his approach ran out of their houses while he seized on their cattle. The Giant could carry a dozen oxen on his back at a time[118], and as for their sheep and hogs, he would tie them round his waist. He had done this for many years, so that all the people were in despair.
One day, Jack came to the townhall when the magistrates were sitting in council about the Giant. He asked, “What reward will be given to the man who kills the Giant?” “The giant’s treasure,” they said, “will be the reward.” Jack said, “Then let me undertake it.[119]”
So he got a horn, shovel, and axe, and went over to the Mount in the beginning of a dark winter’s evening, when he began to work. Before morning, he had dug a pit twenty-two feet deep and nearly as broad, covering it over with long sticks and straw. Then he strewed a little mould over it, so that it appeared like[120] plain ground. Jack then sat on the opposite side of the pit, farthest from the Giant’s lodging, and just at the break of day, he put the horn to his mouth and blew very hard.
This noise roused the Giant, who rushed from his cave, crying, “Hey you, have you come here to disturb my rest? You shall pay dearly for this.[121] I will have satisfaction! I will take you whole and broil you for breakfast.”