Czech Folk Tales

So he went to the king and said: “I see that your majesty is in trouble. I should like to go and look for the princesses.”

“How much do you want for it?” said the king.

“Thirty pounds.”

Well, the king gave him the money without any more ado, adding that, if he found the princesses, he would get half of his kingdom.

They fell to drinking again and had a splendid time.

There was a drummer near them, and he heard them saying that they were to look for the princesses. So he went to the king and said: “I hear that your majesty is prostrated by sore trouble. I, too, would like to look for the princesses.”

“How much do you want for it?”

“Forty pounds, at least.”

The king gave him the money without more ado. The two officers and the drummer left that inn for another, and so they went on spending their money recklessly in one drinking-house after another. The drummer went with the other two, but he was more careful than they were. He was not such a spendthrift as the two officers.

They asked him where he meant to go.

“Wherever you go, I will go too,” he replied.

“Then why don’t you join us and lead a gay life?”

“That I can’t do until I know where to find the princesses.”

They invited him to join them, but he refused to do it.

At last they bought some bread and other food, and they all set out together on their journey. They came to a dark forest, and for a fortnight they searched it through and through, but they could find nothing. They couldn’t find their way out of the forest either, so they agreed that one of them should climb to the top of the highest tree to see which way they ought to go. The drummer, being the youngest, climbed up a pine-tree. He called out:

“I can see a cottage. Look, I will throw my hat towards it, and do you follow the hat.”

Well, they went on until they reached the cottage.

“Go into the room,” says the drummer.

“After you,” said both the officers at once.

So the drummer stepped inside, and an old crone welcomed him.

“Welcome, Drummer Anthony,” said she. “How did you get here?”

“I have come to deliver the princesses, and only for that.”

“Well, you will find them, but those other two fellows will get them from you by a trick.”

She gave him a rope three hundred fathoms long and told him to bind it round his body. She also gave him some wine and a sponge. Then she said: “Not far from here there is a well. When you come to it, you must say that you will let yourself down into the well, if the other fellows will drink the fountain dry.”

When they got to the well, the captain and the lieutenant began to drink the fountain, but it was just as full as before.

“If we kept on drinking this fountain till doomsday,” they said, “we could not drink it dry.”

So the drummer took the sponge, and at once the water began to disappear, and soon the well was dry. They began to quarrel as to who should go down the well. The one on the right side said the other ought to go, but at last they agreed that the drummer, who was the lightest, should go.

So he went down, and, when he reached the bottom of the well, he found a stone there. He drew it aside, and then he saw the light of the other world. He lowered himself on the rope into the other world. There he saw a beautiful palace. He went towards it. When he reached it, he saw that the table was laid for two persons. He ate his meal and then went into the second room. There he laid himself down to sleep, and when he awoke in the morning, he found the Princess Anne in the third room.

“Welcome,” she said; “what has brought you here?”

He told her that he had come to deliver her.

She said: “I don’t know whether you will succeed in that. Here is a sword; see if you can brandish it.”

The drummer took hold of the sword, but he could not even lift it, it was so heavy.

Then the princess gave him a ring. “Take this,” she said, “and whenever you think of me, you will become strong. I have to hold the dragon in my lap for a whole hour. As soon as he comes, he will smell a man. But you must cut him in two, for then I shall be delivered. Just at nine o’clock he comes.”

Just at nine o’clock the palace began to tremble and the dragon came in. But the drummer encountered him and struck him in two with the sword.

After that the princess took him into another room. “Now you have delivered me,” she said. “But my sister is in worse trouble still. She has to hold a dragon in her lap for two hours, and that dragon is even stronger than this one.”

Then they went into the fourth room, where was the Princess Antonia. She, too, greeted him, and told him that he would be able to deliver her if he could brandish the sword beside her. He tried, but he could not even move it. Then she gave him a ring and told him that, whenever he thought of her, he would have the strength of two hundred men. She said, too, that if he succeeded in setting her free she would marry him.

Soon eleven o’clock came. The hall began to tremble and the dragon appeared. But, as he was coming in, Anthony was ready for him near the door, and he managed to cut the dragon in two.

Now, when the two princesses had been set free, they gathered all the precious stones they could to take with them, and went to the opening that led into the world. But the drummer had quite forgotten the old crone’s warning about the other two fellows, and he sent the princesses up before him. Each of the officers took a princess for himself, and the drummer was left behind at the bottom of the well. When his turn came, he was careful enough to tie a stone to the rope. His companions on the top pulled it up a little way and then suddenly let it drop, throwing down other stones into the well to kill the drummer. But he had remembered the crone’s warning that his friends would try to trick him. So he jumped aside and remained there in the other world.

He went back to the palace and entered the seventh room. On the table were three boxes. He opened the first and found a whistle inside it. He blew the whistle, and in came some generals and asked what was his majesty’s will. He said he had only whistled to find out if they were attending to their duty. Then he looked into the second box, and there he saw a bugle. He blew the bugle, and in came some officers, who said just what the generals had said. In the third box he found a drum. He beat the drum, and immediately he was surrounded by infantry and cavalry, a great multitude of soldiers. He asked whether any of them had ever been in Europe. Two men were found among them who had been shipwrecked.

“Where is the ship?” said the drummer.

“Here on the seacoast,” they replied.

At that, Anthony decked himself out in a royal robe and started on his travels for Europe.

Meanwhile the two princesses had reached home. One was engaged to be married to the lieutenant, the other to the captain. But when the time for the wedding came, both the princesses, still thinking of Anthony, asked for a delay of one year, and their royal father granted their request.

Anthony arrived safely in that land. He met a traveller and said to him, “Look here, why should you not change clothes with me?”

He was glad to do so, and Anthony went on to the town in which the princesses lived and sought out a goldsmith. He asked the goldsmith for work.

“I haven’t work enough for myself,” said the goldsmith.

“Well,” said the drummer, “I have had an order for two rings, although I was only walking the street.”

“You are a lucky fellow,” said the goldsmith, and his wife, when she heard of it, spoke in the drummer’s favour, so he was taken on as assistant.

“Now,” said he, “give me what I want and I will make the rings. But nobody must enter my room: I will take my meals in at the door.”

On the third day one ring was finished, and this one was meant for the Princess Anne.

“You must take this ring to the Princess Anne, master,” said he.

“So I will,” said the goldsmith; “but what is your price for it?”

“A thousand pounds,” said he.

“If that’s so, I won’t go. They would put me in jail.”

“Be easy,” said Anthony, “nothing will happen to you.”

So the goldsmith went to the palace, and sent in a message that his assistant had made a ring for the Princess Anne. She sent a message that she had not ordered a ring, but she would look at it. As soon as she saw it, she asked: “How much do you want for this?” He replied that he was almost afraid to say that it was worth a thousand pounds.

“Oh! it is worth much more than that,” she said, and she paid the sum at once.

The goldsmith returned home and told his wife what he had got for the ring. She wondered what sort of person their new assistant was. The master brought the money to him, but the assistant would not accept it.

“You can keep the money for yourself,” he said, “and I have just finished the ring for the Princess Antonia. You will have to go to the palace again with this.”

This time the master-goldsmith was ready enough to go. “How much am I to ask for this ring?” he said.

“Ask two thousand pounds.”

So he was brought to the princess, and he told her that his apprentice had made a ring for her. She answered that she had not ordered a ring. “However, show it to me.”

As soon as she glanced at it, she said: “How much do you want for this?”

“Two thousand pounds.”

“Oh! it’s worth much more than that,” she said.

So she paid down the money and told the master-goldsmith to fetch his assistant to her. As soon as the master came home, he told his wife everything. She was still more astonished.

“O Lord!” she said, “I cannot understand it at all.”

The master told Anthony that the princess bade him come and see her.

“She can come to me,” was his reply.

When the princess heard that, she lost no time, but took some royal garments for him, and drove to Anthony’s house in the royal coach. She went straight to him and said, “I am come to bring you home with me, Anthony.”

She bade him put on the royal robe she had brought with her for him, and they drove together to the palace, and their marriage was celebrated not long after.

The two officers thought the king would banish them or inflict some punishment upon them, but he pardoned them and gave them sufficient money to live at the court. Anthony himself did not care for royalty. He and his wife arranged that they would return to the place where he had first found the princesses. So they departed for that land, but a storm drove them on shore near to the place where he had met the old crone. She gave him welcome.

“So you are back again,” she said.

They explained to her that what they wished was to go back to that palace beneath the fountain.

“Well,” she said, “I will show you the way to the other world, and I will let you down the well.”

They came to the opening, and Anthony was about to enter the well, but the old hag begged him to wait with her and let the princess go on before.

So the princess was let down to the bottom of the well, and then the crone said: “I won’t let you follow her unless you first cut off my head.”

“This is a strange way to repay the good you have done me,” said Anthony.

“Well, unless you promise this you will never see your princess again.”

So he had to promise, and with that she waved her wand and a road appeared, which led them straight to the princess. Then Anthony struck off the crone’s head, and they found themselves amid crowds of farmers who were ploughing and soldiers standing at attention, and one and all welcoming their new lords. For this land was an enchanted land, and the old crone was a witch.

THE TWIN BROTHERS

Once there was a princess, and she was under a curse and enchantment, so that she had to spend her life in the shape of a fish. One day a woman happened to be working in the meadow by the river, and she saw a flock of birds flying above the river and talking to the fish. The woman wondered what it was that was there, so she went to the waterside and looked in. All she saw was a fish swimming about. So she said: “I should like to eat you, fish. I feel sure you would do me good.”

Now, when she said that, the fish answered: “You could save me. You will have twin sons, although you have never had any children before.”

The woman said that, if she could help her in that, there was nothing the fish could ask that she would not do to deliver her.

The fish answered: “Catch me and take me to your field. There you must bury me and plant a rose-tree over me. When the roses first come into bloom you will bear twin sons. After three years, dig in the place where you buried me and you will find two swords, and these you must keep. Your mare will have two foals and your bitch will have two pups, and each of your twins will have a sword, a horse, and a dog. Those swords will have the virtue that they will help your sons to victory over everybody. I shall be delivered as soon as my body has rotted.”

When the twin sons grew up they were very clever, and so they said: “We must try our luck in the world. We are bold enough. One of us will go to the East and one to the West. Each of us must look at his sword every morning to see if the other needs his help. For the sword will begin to rust as soon as one of us is in peril.”

So they cast lots which way they should go, and each of them took his sword, his horse, and his dog, and away they went.

The first rode through deep forests, and he met a fierce dragon and a lion; so he attacked the dragon, which had nine heads. The lion stayed quiet while the knight attacked the dragon, and at last he succeeded in cutting one of the dragon’s heads off. He felt tired then, and the lion took his place; then the knight cut two more heads off the dragon. And so it went on till he had all the heads cut off. Then he cut out the tongues from all the nine heads and kept them, and so went forward on his adventurous journey.

Now, it chanced that there were some woodcutters in these forests, and one of them collected all the dragon’s heads, having come across them by chance. That dragon used to come to the town and devour one person every visit. This time the lot had fallen upon the princess, and so she was to be devoured by the dragon. So the town was all hung with black cloth. The woodcutter knew all about this, so he went with the heads to the town to sue for the princess, for it had been proclaimed that whoever killed the dragon should be her husband. When the princess saw that such a low-born man was to be her husband she was taken aback, and tried by all the means in her power to delay the wedding.

The knight happened to come to the town just then, and he saw a good inn, so he rode up to it. The innkeeper came at once to ask what he could do for him. Now, there were other guests there, and it was a busy place. The guests were all talking of the one matter: when the princess was going to marry the man who had killed the dragon. The wedding ought to have been long ago, but the bride and her parents kept putting it off. The knight listened to all this talk, and then he asked:

“Are you sure that it was that woodcutter who killed the dragon?”

They answered that it certainly was, for the heads were preserved in the palace.

The knight said nothing, but when he thought the proper time had come he rode to the palace. The princess saw him from the window, and she wondered who it might be. He was ushered in, and he went straight to the princess and told her everything. He asked her whether he might attend the wedding.

She answered: “I am not at all pleased with my marriage. I would much rather marry you, sir.”

He asked her why.

“If he killed the dragon he must be a great man.”

“He is such a low-born man,” said she, “that it is not likely that he killed the dragon.”

“I should like to see him,” said he.

So they brought the woodcutter before him, and the knight asked to see the heads. So they brought the heads. He looked at the heads and said:

“There are no tongues in these heads. Where are the tongues?”

Then he turned to the woodcutter: “Did you really kill the cruel dragon?” he said.

The woodcutter persisted in his story.

“And how did you cut the heads off?”

“With my hatchet.”

“Why, you couldn’t do it with your hatchet. You are a liar.”

The woodcutter was taken aback and did not know what to say. He was frightened already, but he said: “It happened that the dragon didn’t have any tongues.”

The knight produced the tongues and said: “Here are the tongues, and it was I who killed the cruel dragon.”

The princess took hold of him and embraced and kissed him, and she was ready to marry him on the spot. As for the woodcutter, he was kicked out in disgrace, and they put him into jail for some time too. So the princess married the knight and they lived happily together.

One day, looking out of the window, he saw in the distance, among the mountains, a black castle. He asked his wife what castle it was and to whom it belonged.

“That is an enchanted castle, and nobody who goes into it ever returns.”

But he could not rest, and he was eager to explore the castle. So one morning he ordered his horse to be saddled, and, accompanied by his dog, he rode to the castle. When they reached it they found the gate open. As he went in he saw men and animals all turned to stone. In the hall an old hag was sitting by the fire. When she saw him she pretended to tremble.

“Dear lord,” said she, “bind your dog. He might bite me.”

He said: “Do not be afraid. He will do you no harm.”

He bent down to pat the dog, and at that moment the hag took her wand and struck him with it. He was turned to stone, and his horse and dog too.

The princess waited for her lord, but he did not return. She mourned for him, and the citizens, who loved their lord, were grieved at his loss.

Now, the other brother looked at his sword, and the sword began to rust; so he was sure that his brother was in trouble. He felt that he must help him, so he rode off in that direction and came to the town. The town was hung with black flags. As he rode through the streets the citizens saw him, and they thought he was their lord, for he had a horse and a dog just like their lord’s horse and dog. When the princess saw him, she embraced him and said: “Where have you been so long, my dear husband?”

He said that he had lost his way in the forest and that he had fallen among robbers, and, since he had no choice, he had to pretend to be a robber too, and to promise to stay with them and to show them good hiding-places. The robbers, so he said, admitted him to be of their company, and he had not been able to escape before this.

Everybody was delighted, and the lord’s brother was careful enough not to say that he was only the brother. But, whenever they went to bed, he put his sword between himself and the lady. The princess was troubled at this, and she tried to find different explanations for the conduct of her supposed husband. One morning, as he was looking out of the window, he saw that same castle, and he asked what castle it was.

She answered: “I have told you already that it is an enchanted castle, and that nobody who goes there ever returns.”

So he thought: “It is surely there that my brother is.”

He ordered his horse to be saddled and, without saying a word to anybody, he rode off to the castle. As soon as he entered the castle he saw his brother and his dog turned to stone. He saw, too, all the petrified knights and their horses, and the hag sitting and keeping up the fire.

He said: “You old hag, unless you bring my brother to life again I’ll hew you in pieces with this sword of mine.”

The hag knew that the sword had magical virtues, and so she said:

“Pray, sir, do not be angry with me. Take that box there and rub the ointment beneath his nose and he will come to life again.”

“Curse you, you evil old hag; do it yourself, and instantly.”

And he went and caught hold of her wand and struck her with it, and at once she was turned into stone. He had not meant to do that, for he did not know that the wand had such power. He took the box and rubbed the ointment beneath his brother’s nose, and the brother came to life again. Then he anointed all the others who had been turned to stone, and they all came to life again. As for the hag, he left her there just as she was.

Then the brothers rode off to the princess. When she saw them, she did not know which of them was her husband, they were so like one another.

So she said: “What am I to do now? Which of you is my lord?”

They came before her and bade her choose the right one. But still she hesitated. So her husband went up to her and took her by the hand and said: “I am the right one and that is my brother.”

He told her everything, and she was glad that her real husband had come again. So they lived happily together, and, as for the other brother, he went to seek his fortune elsewhere.

THE WATERNICK

Once upon a time there were two children, a boy and a girl. They only had a mother, who was a widow. One day their mother sent them to get some wood for the fire. Off they went. The girl was just learning to knit, so she put a ball of wool in her pocket. They went on as far as they knew the way. Then suddenly they began to wonder whether they could find their way home.

The girl said: “I will bind the end of the thread to a tree, and so we shall be able to find our way back.”

So they went on till the thread had all run out. Then they turned back, but they found that wild creatures had broken the thread. What were they to do? They wandered on till night fell, and then they saw that they would have to spend the night in the forest. They came to a pond, and they found that they could not go any farther. So they walked round the pond till the Waternick got hold of them. He took them with him, and there they were.

When he got home with them, his wife was waiting for him. Round the stove there were some shelves for vessels that they used for catching poor souls in. The Waternick and his wife were delighted with the children; they decided that they would employ them as servants, so Mrs. Waternick took charge of them. The children spent some years in this way and learned about everything under the water.

One day the Waternick went away to catch some human souls, and he gave orders to Mrs. Waternick not to leave the children alone. But the old hag fell asleep, and the children walked some distance from the hut, till they thought she would scold them, and so they returned home. But they meant to go farther the next day, if only the old hag went to sleep again. As soon as they were sure that she was asleep they ran out of the hut and went as far as they could.

The old hag woke up and cried out: “Where are you, children?”

She jumped to her feet and ran after them. They were within a few steps of getting safe away, when, alas! she overtook them. She took them back and forced them to work, and they had to stay at home besides.

When the Waternick came home, she told him all about it, and the Waternick said: “Never mind, I’ll set them to work, and they won’t have time to think about making their way home.”

So in the morning he took them to the forest and gave them a wooden hatchet and a wooden saw and bade them, fell the trees.

“When they are all cut down, you shall go back again.”

So the Waternick left them, and the children began the work at once. They took the saw and tried to cut down a tree. But the saw soon broke and they were done for. So they took the hatchet, and the hatchet split in two after one stroke. They began to cry.

“Things look bad for us,” they said.

Since they saw that they could not help themselves, they stayed where they were, and presently they fell asleep. I don’t know how long they had been sleeping. But it was already time to go back.

The Waternick came and asked: “Have you finished?”

They said that the hatchet and saw were only made of wood, and that both were broken. He took them home.

Next day the Waternick went about his work, while Mrs. Waternick was busy outside the hut. The children looked at the cups on the shelves. The cups were tilted up. So the girl lifted one of them. And she heard the words: “God speed you!” She lifted another, and the same greeting came again. So she kept on lifting the cups till she had lifted all of them. Human souls had been imprisoned under those cups. Now the hag came into the room and she saw that all the cups had been lifted. She began to curse, and she said that the children would certainly get a good thrashing when the old man came home.