There was a man who had three sons, the youngest of
whom was called Dummling, and was despised, mocked, and put down on every
occasion.
It happened that the eldest wanted
to go into the forest to hew wood, and before he went his mother gave him a
beautiful sweet cake and a bottle of wine in order that he might not suffer
from hunger or thirst.
When he entered the forest there met
him a little grey-haired old man who bade him good-day, and said, "Do give
me a piece of cake out of your pocket, and let me have a draught of your wine;
I am so hungry and thirsty." But the prudent youth answered, "If I
give you my cake and wine, I shall have none for myself; be off with you,"
and he left the little man standing and went on.
But when he began to hew down a
tree, it was not long before he made a false stroke, and the axe cut him in the
arm, so that he had to go home and have it bound up. And this was the little
grey man's doing.
After this the second son went into
the forest, and his mother gave him, like the eldest, a cake and a bottle of
wine. The little old grey man met him likewise, and asked him for a piece of
cake and a drink of wine. But the second son, too, said with much reason,
"What I give you will be taken away from myself; be off!" and he left
the little man standing and went on. His punishment, however, was not delayed;
when he had made a few strokes at the tree he struck himself in the leg, so
that he had to be carried home.
Then Dummling said, "Father, do
let me go and cut wood." The father answered, "Your brothers have
hurt themselves with it, leave it alone, you do not understand anything about
it." But Dummling begged so long that at last he said, "Just go then,
you will get wiser by hurting yourself." His mother gave him a cake made
with water and baked in the cinders, and with it a bottle of sour beer.
When he came to the forest the
little old grey man met him likewise, and greeting him, said, "Give me a
piece of your cake and a drink out of your bottle; I am so hungry and
thirsty." Dummling answered, "I have only cinder-cake and sour beer;
if that pleases you, we will sit down and eat." So they sat down, and when
Dummling pulled out his cinder-cake, it was a fine sweet cake, and the sour
beer had become good wine. So they ate and drank, and after that the little man
said, "Since you have a good heart, and are willing to divide what you
have, I will give you good luck. There stands an old tree, cut it down, and you
will find something at the roots." Then the little man took leave of him.
Dummling went and cut down the tree,
and when it fell there was a goose sitting in the roots with feathers of pure
gold. He lifted her up, and taking her with him, went to an inn where he
thought he would stay the night. Now the host had three daughters, who saw the
goose and were curious to know what such a wonderful bird might be, and would
have liked to have one of its golden feathers.
The eldest thought, "I shall
soon find an opportunity of pulling out a feather," and as soon as
Dummling had gone out she seized the goose by the wing, but her finger and hand
remained sticking fast to it.
The second came soon afterwards,
thinking only of how she might get a feather for herself, but she had scarcely
touched her sister than she was held fast.
At last the third also came with the
like intent, and the others screamed out, "Keep away; for goodness' sake
keep away!" But she did not understand why she was to keep away. "The
others are there," she thought, "I may as well be there too,"
and ran to them; but as soon as she had touched her sister, she remained
sticking fast to her. So they had to spend the night with the goose.
The next morning Dummling took the
goose under his arm and set out, without troubling himself about the three
girls who were hanging on to it. They were obliged to run after him
continually, now left, now right, just as he was inclined to go.
In the middle of the fields the
parson met them, and when he saw the procession he said, "For shame, you
good-for-nothing girls, why are you running across the fields after this young
man? is that seemly?" At the same time he seized the youngest by the hand
in order to pull her away, but as soon as he touched her he likewise stuck
fast, and was himself obliged to run behind.
Before long the sexton came by and
saw his master, the parson, running behind three girls. He was astonished at
this and called out, "Hi, your reverence, whither away so quickly? do not
forget that we have a christening to-day!" and running after him he took
him by the sleeve, but was also held fast to it.
Whilst the five were trotting thus
one behind the other, two labourers came with their hoes from the fields; the
parson called out to them and begged that they would set him and the sexton
free. But they had scarcely touched the sexton when they were held fast, and
now there were seven of them running behind Dummling and the goose.
Soon afterwards he came to a city,
where a king ruled who had a daughter who was so serious that no one could make
her laugh. So he had put forth a decree that whosoever should be able to make
her laugh should marry her. When Dummling heard this, he went with his goose
and all her train before the King's daughter, and as soon as she saw the seven
people running on and on, one behind the other, she began to laugh quite
loudly, and as if she would never leave off. Thereupon Dummling asked to have
her for his wife, and the wedding was celebrated. After the King's death,
Dummling inherited the kingdom and lived a long time contentedly with his wife.
No comments:
Post a Comment