Saturday, 2 July 2022

Good Reading: "As Pretty As Seven" by Ludwig Bechstein (translated into English)

Once on a time, in a certain village, lived a worthy pair in a small cottage. They had but one child, a daughter, and she was a treasure in her way. She worked, sewed, washed and spun as much as seven others, and was as pretty as seven as well.

On account of her pretty face, everybody stared at her. She did not like this, so she put a veil over her face when she went to church on Sundays; for she was pious as well as hard-working.

One day the king's son saw her and admired her graceful form and figure and her good manners; but he could not see her face because of the veil. He asked his servants why she wore this veil, and they told him it was because she was so modest.

"If the girl is so modest about her beauty," said the king's son, "I am sure she would make a good wife. Go, take this gold ring to her and say I wish to speak with her if she will come this evening to the great oak-tree," he said to one of his servants.

The servant did as he was bidden; and the girl, believing that the prince wished to give her some work, went to the great oak at the fixed time. There the prince told her he loved her and would marry her.

But she said, "I am a poor girl and you are a rich prince, so your father would be very angry if I should become your wife."

The prince, however, would not be put off; and she at last promised him an answer in two days. But the prince could not stand waiting so long, so the morning after their meeting he sent her a pair of silver shoes and begged her to meet him once more under the oak. When they met, he asked her if she had decided yet; but she said she had not yet had time, for she had been too busy about household affairs, and besides, she was a poor girl and he a rich prince, and it would only enrage his father if he should marry her.

But the prince begged and entreated her so long to listen to him that at long last she promised to consider the matter and tell her parents of it.

The next day the prince sent her a gold cloak and asked her to meet him under the oak-tree for the third time. But the girl was as unprepared as before to listen to any proposal, and told him again she was too poor and he too rich and his father would be terribly angry if the prince married her.

The prince, however, meant that if she became his wife now, by and by she would be a queen. He seemed so much in earnest in all he said that at last she agreed to meet him every evening under the oak-tree.

Now the king knew nothing about this. But there was at the castle a cunning old courtier who was always spying into the young prince's doings. This courtier discovered these meetings and reported them to the king.

The king at once sent his servants with orders to burn down the cottage where the girl lived, so that she and her parents could perish together. But although the cottage was burnt and the helpless old couple were killed, the maiden luckily escaped and took refuge in an empty barn.

As soon as the coast was clear, the maiden came out of her hiding-place and searching among the ruins of the cottage, She found a few small matters which were yet of use. She sold them and for the money she bought a suit of men's clothing. Then she went to the court dressed as a male servant who needed a place to work.

The king asked the newcomer his name; and the answer he got was "Misfortune."

The king was so pleased with the youth's manners that he hired him at once and grew so fond of him that he preferred him to any other servant.

Meanwhile the prince had heard and seen that the cottage of his betrothed was burnt to the ground, and believed that she had perished in the flames. The king said it too, and he was very anxious that his son should marry the daughter of a neighbouring king.

When the wedding was agreed on, the whole court and the entire royal household accompanied the young prince to the home of the bride. Among the others, but almost last in the procession, went Misfortune, sad at heart and weighed down by grief. As she rode she sang:

    "As Pretty as Seven they used to call me,

    and Misfortune when I came here."

The prince heard the singing and asked who it was.

"It is my servant Misfortune, I think," answered the king.

Soon they heard the song again:

    "As Pretty as Seven they used to call me,

    and Misfortune when I came here."

Then the prince asked again if it were really only a servant of the king's who sang so beautifully, and the king said he knew it could be no one else. But as the procession drew closer to the palace of the intended bride, the same clear voice sang louder than before:

    "As Pretty as Seven they used to call me,

    and Misfortune when I came here."

When the prince heard the same words a third time, he rode as fast as he could back to the end of the procession. There he saw Misfortune and recognised the girl he loved. However, he just nodded kindly to her for the time, and then rode back to his place in the procession and in due course entered the palace where his bride waited him.

Then by and by, when all the guests were come and were collected in the great council-chamber to hear the betrothal before the ceremony commenced, the young prince said to his future father-in-law, "Sire, before I am betrothed to your daughter, please give me your answer to this riddle. I have a beautiful casket, and lost the key to it some time ago. But now, just as I have got a new key, the old key has been found. Tell me, then, which key should I use?"

"Oh, that would be the old one," answered the king. "The old key should be had in honour and the new one laid aside."

"Very well, sire," said the prince. "Then do not be angry with me if I put aside your daughter, for she is the new key, and there stands the old one!"

As he spoke he took the hand of the servant Misfortune and led her to his father, saying, "My lord, here is my bride."

But the old king was quite frightened and said, "Oh, no, dear son, that is my servant Misfortune!"

Many of the people exclaimed too, "Yes, that is Misfortune!"

"No, no," said the young prince, "this is not the servant Misfortune, but the woman I love."

And then taking a courteous leave of the assembly, he took his sweetheart to the most charming of the castles that he owned and installed her there as his wife and the mistress of all his wealth.

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