Yes, indeed, that would suit her right down to the ground; she would gladly give him two kisses with every dollar, and feel grateful, besides.

So she got the whistle, but when she reached the castle, the whistle disappeared all of a sudden. Esben had wished it back again, and toward evening he came along, driving his hares like a herd of sheep. The king reckoned and counted and added, but all to no purpose, for not the least little hare was missing.

When Esben was herding his hares the third day, they sent the princess to him to get away his pipe from him. She was tickled to death, and finally offered him two hundred dollars if he would let her have the whistle, and would also tell her what she had to do in order to fetch it safely home with her.

"Yes, it is a very valuable whistle," said Esben, "and I will not sell it," but at last, as a favor to her, he said he would let her have it if she gave him two hundred dollars, and a kiss for every dollar to boot.

But if she wanted to keep it, why, she must take good care of it, for that was her affair.

"That is a very high price for a hare-whistle," said the princess, and she really shrank from kissing him, "but since we are here in the middle of the forest, where no one can see or hear us, I'll let it pa.s.s, for I positively must have the whistle," said she. And when Esben had pocketed the price agreed upon, she received the whistle, and held it tightly clutched in her hand all the way home; yet when she reached the castle, and wanted to show it, it disappeared out of her hands. On the following day the queen herself set out, and she felt quite sure that she would succeed in coaxing the whistle away from him.

She was stingier, and only offered fifty dollars; but she had to raise her bid until she reached three hundred. Esben said it was a magnificent whistle, and that the price was a beggarly one; but seeing that she was the queen, he would let it pa.s.s. She was to pay him three hundred dollars, and for every dollar she was to give him a buss to boot, then she should have the whistle. And he was paid in full as agreed, since as regards the busses the queen was not so stingy.

When she had the whistle in her hands, she tied it fast, and hid it well, but she fared not a whit better than either of the others; when she wanted to show the whistle it was gone, and in the evening Esben came home, driving his hares as though they were a well-trained flock of sheep.

"You are stupid women!" said the king. "I suppose I will have to go to him myself if we really are to obtain this trumpery whistle. There seems to be nothing else left to do!" And the following day, when Esben was once more herding his hares, the king followed him, and found him at the same place where the women had bargained with him.

They soon became good friends, and Esben showed him the whistle, and blew into one end and the other, and the king thought the whistle very pretty, and finally insisted on buying it, even though it cost him a thousand dollars.

"Yes, it is a magnificent whistle," said Esben, "and I would not sell it for money. But do you see that white mare over yonder?" said he, and pointed into the forest.

"Yes, she belongs to me, that is my Snow Witch!" cried the king, for he knew her very well.

"Well, if you will give me a thousand dollars, and kiss the white mare that is grazing on the moor by the big pine, to boot, then you can have my whistle!" said Esben.

"Is that the only price at which you will sell?" asked the king.

"Yes," said Esben.

"But at least may I not put a silken handkerchief between?" asked the king.

This was conceded him, and thus he obtained the whistle. He put it in the purse in his pocket, and carefully b.u.t.toned up the pocket. Yet when he reached the castle, and wanted to take it out, he was in the same case as the women, for he no longer had the whistle. And in the evening Esben came home with his herd of hares, and not the least little hare was missing.

The king was angry, and furious because he had made a fool of them all, and had swindled the king's self out of the whistle into the bargain, and now he wanted to do away with Esben. The queen was of the same opinion, and said it was best to behead such a knave when he was caught in the act.

Esben thought this neither fair nor just; for he had only done what he had been asked to do, and had defended himself as best he knew how.

But the king said that this made no difference to him; yet if Esben could manage to fill the big brewing-cauldron till it ran over, he would spare his life.

The job would be neither long nor hard, said Esben, he thought he could warrant that, and he began to tell about the old woman with her nose in the tree-trunk, and in between he said, "I must make up plenty of stories, to fill the cauldron,"--and then he told of the whistle, and the chamber-maid who came to him and wanted to buy the whistle for a hundred dollars, and about all the kisses that she had had to give him to boot, up on the hillock by the forest; and then he told about the princess, how she had come and kissed him so sweetly for the whistle's sake, because no one could see or hear it in the forest--"I must make up plenty of stories, in order to fill the cauldron," said Esben. Then he told of the queen, and of how stingy she had been with her money, and how liberal with her busses--"for I must make up plenty of stories in order to fill the cauldron," said Esben.

"But I think it must be full now!" said the queen.

"O, not a sign of it!" said the king.

Then Esben began to tell how the king had come to him, and about the white mare who was grazing on the moor, "and since he insisted on having the whistle he had to--he had to--well, with all due respect, I have to make up plenty of stories in order to fill the cauldron," said Esben.

"Stop, stop! It is full, fellow!" cried the king. "Can't you see that it is running over?"

The king and the queen were of the opinion that it would be best for Esben to receive the princess and half the kingdom; there did not seem anything else to do.

"Yes, it was a magnificent whistle!" said Esben.

NOTE

"The King's Hares" (Asbjornsen, N.F.E., p. 190, No. 98. After different variants from Roken, Aadal, Bier and Asker, Riugerike and Hardanger) is the story of the cauldron full of lies, which has probably found special favor in Norway because of its outcome, not very flattering for the king and queen. It is noticeable that in Northern fairy-tales those kings who will not give up their daughters to the heroes at any cost are handled with considerable disrespect.

XXVI

HELGE-HAL IN THE BLUE HILL

Once upon a time there was a sinister old couple, who lived out under the open sky. All that they had were three sons, an old cook-pot, an old frying-pan, and an old cat. Then the man died, and after a time his wife died, too. Now their estate was to be divided. So the oldest took the old cook-pot, and the second took the old frying-pan, and Ebe Ashpeter had no choice. He had to take the old cat, and they did not ask him whether he wanted to or not.

"Brother Peter can sc.r.a.pe out the cook-pot after he has loaned it out,"

said Ebe. "Brother Paul gets a crust of bread when he lends out his frying-pan; but what am I to do with this wretched cat?" And he was angry and envious. Yet he scratched the cat and stroked it, and this pleased the cat so that she began to purr, and raised her tail in the air.

"Wait, wait, I'll help you yet," said the cat, "wait, wait, I'll help you yet!"

There was nothing to bite or break in the hut. Brother Peter and Brother Paul had each of them gone off in a different direction. So Ebe set out, too, with the cat in the lead, himself following; but after a time he turned and went home again, to see whether the floor had been swept, and the cat tripped on alone. After she had gone her way, tipp, tapp, tipp, tapp, for a while, she came to a great rock, and there she met an enormous herd of reindeer. The cat crept softly around the herd, and then with one leap sprang between the horns of the finest buck.

"If you do not go where I want you to, I'll scratch out your eyes, and drive you over rock and precipice!" said she. So the buck did not dare do anything save what the cat wished, and off they went over stick and stone, from cliff to cliff, close by Ebe, who was just polishing the door-sill of his house, and with one bound right into the castle.

"I am to deliver a kind greeting from Ebe, and ask whether my lord king might care to have this buck reindeer to drive," said the cat. Yes, he could make good use of such a young, handsome animal, some time, when he had occasion to drive out to visit a neighboring king.

"This Ebe must be a proud and powerful lord," said the king, "if he can make me such presents."

"Yes, he is the greatest lord in all your land and kingdom," said the cat, but no matter how many questions the king asked, he learned nothing more.

"Tell him that I am much obliged," said the king, and he sent him a whole cart-load of handsome presents. But Ebe looked past them and paid no attention to them.

"Brother Peter can sc.r.a.pe out his cook-pot when he has loaned it out, and Brother Paul gets a crust of bread when he lends out his frying-pan; but what am I to do with this wretched cat!" said he, and felt angry and envious; but still he scratched the cat, and stroked her, and this pleased her so much that she began to purr, and raised her tail in the air.

"Wait, wait, I will help you yet," said the cat, "wait, wait, I will help you yet!"

The next day they both set out again, the cat in the lead, and Ebe following. After a while he turned back to see whether the folding-table at home had been scoured. And the cat tripped on alone. After she had gone her way, tipp, tapp, tipp, tapp, for a while, she came to a dense forest slope. There she found an enormous herd of elk. The cat crept softly up, and suddenly there she sat between the horns of one of the stateliest of the bull elks.

"If you do not go where I want you to, I will scratch out your eyes, and drive you over rock and precipice!" said the cat. The elk did not dare do anything save what the cat wished, and so off they went, like lightning, over stick and stone, from cliff to cliff, right past Ebe, who stood before the house scouring the shutters, and with one bound into the king's castle.

"I am to deliver a kind greeting from Ebe, and ask whether my lord king might not care to have this bull elk for courier service." It was quite clear that should the king want a swift messenger, some time, he could not find a swifter in all his kingdom.

"This Ebe must be a most distinguished lord, since he finds such presents for me," said the king.

"Yes, indeed, one might call him a distinguished lord," said the cat, "his wealth is without end or limit." But no matter how many other questions the king asked, he received no more explicit information.

"Tell him that I am much obliged, and to do me the honor to call when he is pa.s.sing here some time," said the king, and sent him a robe as handsome as the one he himself was wearing, and three cartloads of handsome presents. But Ebe did not even want to put on the royal robe, and hardly looked at the other presents.