Once there was a young bookbinder who was tramping about the country in search of pleasure more than a job. By soon all his money was spent and he thought it was high time to seek for work and fill his purse again. He was lucky enough to meet with a master bookbinder at once.
The man said as soon as he had introduced the young bookbinder to his new workshop, "You will suit me very well if you will always do the work I give you and nothing else. All you have to do is to sew these books together in the order I place them; but this book, lying apart here, you must not touch, much less look into, or it will be your ruin. Remember, you may read every other in the shop if you do stay away from that one."
The young fellow minded what his master said and for two long years everything went well. His hard work and careful work soon won the heart of his master, and he was often left whole days to himself - now and then for a week at a time.
One day, however, when his master was away, he was seized with an uncontrollable urge to look into the book that he had been forbidden ever to move from its place. He had already read through every other book in the shop and although his conscience told him that he had no right to look into this one, he got so curious that he lifted the book from the shelf and turned its pages. There were secret, elaborate spells on every page. As the young bookbinder read the spells, he found that everything happened as they said. When he said one of the rhymes in the book, at once the thing wished for lay before his eyes.
The book taught him beside how to change himself into whatever form he wished; and as a last experiment he changed himself into a swallow and the book into a little grain in his beak, and flew to his father's house. His father was much astonished when a bird flew in at his window and then turned into his son. He had not seen him for two years, but welcomed him heartily.
"Now, dear father," said the son, "now we can be happy and contented, for I have with me a book that makes wise men of both of us."
The old man was well pleased at this, for lately he had become poor. The young fellow changed himself into a fine fat ox and bade his father take him to market and sell him at a high price. "But before you let my buyer have me," he added, "take care to untie the cord round my left back foot, or you will lose me altogether."
A great crowd gathered around the old man as soon as he came to the market. All would like to buy the fine fat ox. After a long bargaining, a jolly butcher paid a heavy sum for the fat ox and led him off in triumph. But his triumph lasted only briefly, for when he went to look after his prize in the morning, he found just a bundle of straw instead of a fine fat ox. The bookbinder had made himself a human again, and slipped back to his father's house to the gold they had got by deceit.
After a while the old man and his son had used up the money they had got by cheating the butcher, and wanted to try another trick. The son took the shape of a gallant black horse, and his father led him to a horse-fair to be sold. Many people were gathered round this time too, but one of them was the master-bookbinder. When he came home and the bookbinder and his book of spells were gone, and had found it out too.
The wizard now wanted to have the horse, and his first offer was much more than anybody else cared to give. The father did not know the wizard and sold the horse to him. The animal began to shiver and tremble violently to make his father understand he had done a mistake, but he found no ways of doing in when he was in the garb of a horse.
The wizard led the horse off to the stable. There the old man would have loosened the string about the horse's neck, but the wizard suspected some trick and would not let him do it. The father then went home. He took comfort in the belief that his son could easily deliver himself from his buyer too, as he could change his form.
In every stall a crowd of people was waiting to see the wonderful horse, for there had been much talk of him throughout the fair. In the crowd was a little fellow who ventured to stroke and pat the animal. The horse allowed him to do as he liked, and when the boy, taking courage, patted him on the neck, he bent his head down and softly whispered in the lad's ear, "Have you got a knife with you, my boy?"
"Yes," was the astonished reply, "a sharp one!"
"Then cut the string round my left hindfoot," the horse whispered softly again.
The boy did so, and at the same moment the horse disappeared and there was only a bundle of straw left in the stable. But out of the window a swallow flew up high into the clear blue sky.
The wizard had left the stable for a moment. As soon as he saw what had happened, he changed himself into a hawk and pursued the swallow as fast as he could. Right before he had the swallow in his claws the swallow swirled downwards and towards a castle. In the garden a princess was walking. Then the bookbinder made himself into a ring and dropped into the lap of the princess as she sat on a bank. She wondered where the ring could come from and put it on her finger.
But the hawk had seen it all with his keen eyes and he quickly changed into a handsome youth, and then bowed gracefully to the princess and asked her to return to him the ring he had used for some trick.
The fair princess laughed and blushed and drew the ring from her finger, but then it fell to the ground and rolled into a hole in the shape of a grain of millet. In the twinkling of an eye the wizard changed into a turkey-cock and pecked about for the grain, but the seed at the same time had became a fox and bit off the head of the cock.
Now the fox changed into a man and thanked the princess for her protection and begged that he might always have it - he wanted to marry her.
The princess was scared with all that had happened, for she was young and inexperienced in the ways of wizards. However, she told the youth that she would have him if he forsook witchcraft and remained unchangeably true to her. This he readily promised, and to show his good faith he threw his book of old spells into the fire.
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