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witch, and how no one could have delivered him from the well but |
herself, and that to-morrow they would go together into his kingdom. |
Then they went to sleep, and next morning when the sun awoke them, a |
carriage came driving up with eight white horses, which had white |
ostrich feathers on their heads, and were harnessed with golden |
chains, and behind stood the young king's servant Faithful Henry. |
Faithful Henry had been so unhappy when his master was changed into a |
frog, that he had caused three iron bands to be laid round his heart, |
lest it should burst with grief and sadness. The carriage was to |
conduct the young king into his kingdom. Faithful Henry helped them |
both in, and placed himself behind again, and was full of joy because |
of this deliverance. And when they had driven a part of the way the |
king's son heard a cracking behind him as if something had broken. |
So he turned round and cried, "Henry, the carriage is breaking." |
"No, master, it is not the carriage. It is a band from my heart, |
which was put there in my great pain when you were a frog and |
imprisoned in the well." Again and once again while they were on |
their way something cracked, and each time the king's son thought the |
carriage was breaking, but it was only the bands which were springing |
from the heart of Faithful Henry because his master was set free and |
was happy. |
Hard by a great forest dwelt a wood-cutter with his wife, who had an |
only child, a little girl three years old. They were so poor, |
however, that they no longer had daily bread, and did not know how to |
get food for her. One morning the wood-cutter went out sorrowfully |
to his work in the forest, and while he was cutting wood, suddenly |
there stood before him a tall and beautiful woman with a crown of |
shining stars on her head, who said to him 'I am the virgin mary, |
mother of the child jesus. You are poor and needy, bring your child |
to me, I will take her with me and be her mother, and care for her.' |
The wood-cutter obeyed, brought his child, and gave her to the virgin |
mary, who took her up to heaven with her. There the child fared |
well, ate sugar-cakes, and drank sweet milk, and her clothes were of |
gold, and the little angels played with her. And when she was |
fourteen years of age, the virgin mary called her one day and said |
'dear child, I am about to make a long journey, so take into your |
keeping the keys of the thirteen doors of heaven. Twelve of these |
you may open, and behold the glory which is within them, but the |
thirteenth, to which this little key belongs, is forbidden you. Take |
care not to open it, or you will be unhappy.' The girl promised to be |
obedient, and when the virgin mary was gone, she began to examine the |
dwellings of the kingdom of heaven. Each day she opened one of them, |
until she had made the round of the twelve. In each of them sat one |
of the apostles in the midst of a great light, and she rejoiced in |
all the magnificence and splendor, and the little angels who always |
accompanied her rejoiced with her. Then the forbidden door alone |
remained, and she felt a great desire to know what could be hidden |
behind it, and said to the angels 'I will not open it entirely, and I |
will not go inside, but I will unlock it so that we can see just a |
little through the opening.' 'Oh'no, said the little angels, 'that |
would be a sin. The virgin mary has forbidden it, and it might |
easily cause your unhappiness.' Then she was silent, but the desire |
in her heart was not stilled, but gnawed there and tormented her, and |
let her have no rest. And once when the angels had all gone out, she |
thought 'now I am quite alone, and I could peep in. If I do, no one |
will ever know.' She sought out the key, and when she had got it in |
her hand, she put it in the lock, and when she had put it in, she |
turned it round as well. Then the door sprang open, and she saw |
there the trinity sitting in fire and splendor. She stayed there |
awhile, and looked at everything in amazement, then she touched the |
light a little with her finger, and her finger became quite golden. |
Immediately a great fear fell on her. She shut the door violently, |
and ran hi there. But her terror would not quit her, let her do what she |
'Yes, said the girl, for the second time. Then she perceived the |
finger which had become golden from touching the fire of heaven, and |
saw well that the child had sinned, and said for the third time 'have |
you not done it.' 'No, said the girl for the third time. Then said |
the virgin mary 'you have not obeyed me, and besides that you have |
lied, you are no longer worthy to be in heaven.' Then the girl fell |
into a deep sleep, and when she awoke she lay on the earth below, and |
in the midst of a wilderness. She wanted to cry out, but she could |
bring forth no sound. She sprang up and wanted to run away, but |
whithersoever she turned herself, she was continually held back by |
thick hedges of thorns through which she could not break. In the |
desert, in which she was imprisoned, there stood an old hollow tree, |
and this had to be her dwelling-place. Into this she crept when |
night came, and here she slept. Here, too, she found a shelter from |
might, and her heart beat continually and would not be still, the gold too |
stayed on her finger, and would not go away, let her rub it and wash it |
never so much. It was not long before the virgin mary came back from her |
journey. She called the girl before her, and asked to have the keys of |
heaven back. When the maiden gave her the bunch, the virgin looked into |
her eyes and said 'have you not opened the thirteenth door also.' 'No, she |
replied. Then she laid her hand on the girl's heart, and felt how it beat |
and beat, and saw right well that she had disobeyed her order and had |
opened the door. Then she said once again 'are you certain that you have |
not done it.' |
storm and rain, but it was a miserable life, and bitterly did she |
weep when she remembered how happy she had been in heaven, and how |
the angels had played with her. Roots and wild berries were her only |
food, and for these she sought as far as she could go. In the autumn |
she picked up the fallen nuts and leaves, and carried them into the |
hole. The nuts were her food in winter, and when snow and ice came, |
she crept amongst the leaves like a poor little animal that she might |
not freeze. Before long her clothes were all torn, and one bit of |
them after another fell off her. As soon, however, as the sun shone |
warm again, she went out and sat in front of the tree, and her long |
hair covered her on all sides like a mantle. Thus she sat year after |
year, and felt the pain and the misery of the world. One day, when |