A certain miller had little by
little fallen into poverty, and had nothing left but his mill and a large
apple-tree behind it. Once when he had gone into the forest5 to fetch wood, an
old man stepped up to him whom he had never seen before, and said, "Why
dost thou plague thyself with cutting wood, I will make thee rich, if thou wilt
promise me what is standing behind thy mill?" "What can that be but
my apple-tree?" thought the miller, and said, "Yes," and gave a
written promise to the stranger. He, however, laughed mockingly and said,
"When three years have passed, I will come and carry away what belongs to
me," and then he went. When the miller got home, his wife came to meet him
and said, "Tell me, miller, from whence comes this sudden wealth into our
house? All at once every box and chest was filled; no one brought it in, and I know
not how it happened." He answered, "It comes from a stranger who met
me in the forest, and promised me great treasure. I, in return, have promised
him what stands behind the mill; we can very well give him the big apple-tree
for it." "Ah, husband," said the terrified wife, "that must
have been the devil! He did not mean the apple-tree, but our daughter, who was
standing behind the mill sweeping the yard."
The
miller's daughter was a beautiful, pious girl, and lived through the three
years in the fear of God and without sin. When therefore the time was over, and
the day came when the Evil-one was to fetch her, she washed herself clean, and
made a circle round herself with chalk. The devil appeared quite early, but he
could not come near to her. Angrily, he said to the miller, "Take all
water away from her, that she may no longer be able to wash herself, for
otherwise I have no power over her." The miller was afraid, and did so.
The next morning the devil came again, but she had wept on her hands, and they
were quite clean. Again he could not get near her, and furiously said to the
miller, "Cut her hands off, or else I cannot get the better of her."
The miller was shocked and answered, "How could I cut off my own child's
hands?" Then the Evil-one threatened him and said, "If thou dost not
do it thou art mine, and I will take thee thyself." The father became
alarmed, and promised to obey him. So he went to the girl and said, "My
child, if I do not cut off both thine hands, the devil will carry me away, and
in my terror I have promised to do it. Help me in my need, and forgive me the
harm I do thee." She replied, "Dear father, do with me what you will,
I am your child." Thereupon she laid down both her hands, and let them be
cut off. The devil came for the third time, but she had wept so long and so
much on the stumps, that after all they were quite clean. Then he had to give
in, and had lost all right over her.
The
miller said to her, "I have by means of thee received such great wealth
that I will keep thee most delicately as long as thou livest." But she
replied, "Here I cannot stay, I will go forth, compassionate people will
give me as much as I require." Thereupon she caused her maimed arms to be
bound to her back, and by sunrise she set out on her way, and walked the whole
day until night fell. Then she came to a royal garden, and by the shimmering of
the moon she saw that trees covered with beautiful fruits grew in it, but she
could not enter, for there was much water round about it. And as she had walked
the whole day and not eaten one mouthful, and hunger tormented her, she
thought, "Ah, if I were but inside, that I might eat of the fruit, else
must I die of hunger!" Then she knelt down, called on God the Lord, and
prayed. And suddenly an angel came towards her, who made a dam in the water, so
that the moat became dry and she could walk through it. And now she went into
the garden and the angel went with her. She saw a tree covered with beautiful
pears, but they were all counted. Then she went to them, and to still her
hunger, ate one with her mouth from the tree, but no more. The gardener was
watching; but as the angel was standing by, he was afraid and thought the
maiden was a spirit, and was silent, neither did he dare to cry out, or to
speak to the spirit. When she had eaten the pear, she was satisfied, and went
and concealed herself among the bushes. The King to whom the garden belonged,
came down to it next morning, and counted, and saw that one of the pears was
missing, and asked the gardener what had become of it, as it was not lying
beneath the tree, but was gone. Then answered the gardener, "Last night, a
spirit came in, who had no hands, and ate off one of the pears with its
mouth." The King said, "How did the spirit get over the water, and
where did it go after it had eaten the pear?" The gardener answered,
"Some one came in a snow-white garment from heaven who made a dam, and
kept back the water, that the spirit might walk through the moat. And as it
must have been an angel, I was afraid, and asked no questions, and did not cry
out. When the spirit had eaten the pear, it went back again." The King
said, "If it be as thou sayest, I will watch with thee to-night."
When
it grew dark the King came into the garden and brought a priest with him, who
was to speak to the spirit. All three seated themselves beneath the tree and
watched. At midnight the maiden came creeping out of the thicket, went to the
tree, and again ate one pear off it with her mouth, and beside her stood the
angel in white garments. Then the priest went out to them and said,
"Comest thou from heaven or from earth? Art thou a spirit, or a human
being?" She replied, "I am no spirit, but an unhappy mortal deserted
by all but God." The King said, "If thou art forsaken by all the
world, yet will I not forsake thee." He took her with him into his royal
palace, and as she was so beautiful and good, he loved her with all his heart,
had silver hands made for her, and took her to wife.
After
a year the King had to take the field, so he commended his young Queen to the
care of his mother and said, "If she is brought to bed take care of her,
nurse her well, and tell me of it at once in a letter." Then she gave
birth to a fine boy. So the old mother made haste to write and announce the
joyful news to him. But the messenger rested by a brook on the way, and as he
was fatigued by the great distance, he fell asleep. Then came the Devil, who
was always seeking to injure the good Queen, and exchanged the letter for
another, in which was written that the Queen had brought a monster into the
world. When the King read the letter he was shocked and much troubled, but he
wrote in answer that they were to take great care of the Queen and nurse her
well until his arrival. The messenger went back with the letter, but rested at
the same place and again fell asleep. Then came the Devil once more, and put a
different letter in his pocket, in which it was written that they were to put
the Queen and her child to death. The old mother was terribly shocked when she
received the letter, and could not believe it. She wrote back again to the
King, but received no other answer, because each time the Devil substituted a
false letter, and in the last letter it was also written that she was to
preserve the Queen's tongue and eyes as a token that she had obeyed.
But
the old mother wept to think such innocent blood was to be shed, and had a hind
brought by night and cut out her tongue and eyes, and kept them. Then said she
to the Queen, "I cannot have thee killed as the King commands, but here
thou mayst stay no longer. Go forth into the wide world with thy child, and
never come here again." The poor woman tied her child on her back, and
went away with eyes full of tears. She came into a great wild forest, and then
she fell on her knees and prayed to God, and the angel of the Lord appeared to
her and led her to a little house on which was a sign with the words,
"Here all dwell free." A snow-white maiden came out of the little
house and said, 'Welcome, Lady Queen," and conducted her inside. Then they
unbound the little boy from her back, and held him to her breast that he might
feed, and laid him in a beautifully-made little bed. Then said the poor woman,
"From whence knowest thou that I was a queen?" The white maiden
answered, "I am an angel sent by God, to watch over thee and thy
child." The Queen stayed seven years in the little house, and was well
cared for, and by God's grace, because of her piety, her hands which had been
cut off, grew once more.
At
last the King came home again from the war, and his first wish was to see his
wife and the child. Then his aged mother began to weep and said, "Thou
wicked man, why didst thou write to me that I was to take those two innocent
lives?" and she showed him the two letters which the Evil-one had forged,
and then continued, "I did as thou badest me," and she showed the
tokens, the tongue and eyes. Then the King began to weep for his poor wife and
his little son so much more bitterly than she was doing, that the aged mother
had compassion on him and said, "Be at peace, she still lives; I secretly
caused a hind to be killed, and took these tokens from it; but I bound the
child to thy wife's back and bade her go forth into the wide world, and made
her promise never to come back here again, because thou wert so angry with
her." Then spoke the King, "I will go as far as the sky is blue, and
will neither eat nor drink until I have found again my dear wife and my child,
if in the meantime they have not been killed, or died of hunger."
Thereupon
the King travelled about for seven long years, and sought her in every cleft of
the rocks and in every cave, but he found her not, and thought she had died of
want. During the whole of this time he neither ate nor drank, but God supported
him. At length he came into a great forest, and found therein the little house
whose sign was, "Here all dwell free." Then forth came the white maiden,
took him by the hand, led him in, and said, "Welcome, Lord King," and
asked him from whence he came. He answered, "Soon shall I have travelled
about for the space of seven years, and I seek my wife and her child, but
cannot find them." The angel offered him meat and drink, but he did not
take anything, and only wished to rest a little. Then he lay down to sleep, and
put a handkerchief over his face.
Thereupon
the angel went into the chamber where the Queen sat with her son, whom she
usually called "Sorrowful," and said to her, "Go out with thy
child, thy husband hath come." So she went to the place where he lay, and
the handkerchief fell from his face. Then said she, "Sorrowful, pick up
thy father's handkerchief, and cover his face again." The child picked it
up, and put it over his face again. The King in his sleep heard what passed,
and had pleasure in letting the handkerchief fall once more. But the child grew
impatient, and said, "Dear mother, how can I cover my father's face when I
have no father in this world? I have learnt to say the prayer, 'Our Father,
which art in Heaven,' thou hast told me that my father was in Heaven, and was
the good God, and how can I know a wild man like this? He is not my
father." When the King heard that, he got up, and asked who they were.
Then said she, "I am thy wife, and that is thy son, Sorrowful." And
he saw her living hands, and said, "My wife had silver hands." She
answered, "The good God has caused my natural hands to grow again;"
and the angel went into the inner room, and brought the silver hands, and
showed them to him. Hereupon he knew for a certainty that it was his dear wife
and his dear child, and he kissed them, and was glad, and said, "A heavy
stone has fallen from off mine heart." Then the angel of God gave them one
meal with her, and after that they went home to the King's aged mother. There
were great rejoicings everywhere, and the King and Queen were married again,
and lived contentedly to their happy end.
Translated by Margaret Hunt.
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