Wednesday, 4 January 2023

Good Reading: "The Dwarf's Cap" by Ludwig Bechstein (translated into English)


There was once a miller who had three sons and a daughter. He loved his daughter dearly, but could not stand his sons. He was always unhappy with them and made their lives miserable by repeating that they could never do anything right. The greatly distressed brothers wanted to get away from their father's house, but all they could do was to sit together and sigh without knowing what to do.

One day, when the three brothers were sitting together like that, one of them sighed, "Oh, if only we had a dwarf's cap each! Then we could be well off!"

"A dwarf's cap? What's that?" asked one of his brothers.

"The dwarves who live in the green mountains have little caps. People sometimes call them mist caps. Those who wear the caps, become invisible. And that is a fing thing, dear brothers, for then you can avoid people who never care for you or talk nicely to you. You can go wherever you want, take what you want, and no one sees you as long as you wear the dwarf's cap."

"But how do we get such a rare little cap?" asked the third and youngest of the brothers.

The eldest brother answered, "The dwarves are quaint little people. They like to play, and sometimes they throw their little caps into the air for fun. In a flash you can see them - and in a flash they catch their little caps and put them back on their heads and are invisible again. What you have to do is to find a dwarf and catch his cap when he throws it into the air. Then the dwarf cannot make himself invisible and you can catch him. If you do, you will be the master of the dwarves, and can keep the little cap to make yourself invisible.

"There is still more: You may ask the dwarves to pay you to get the cap back. With what you get you may live well for the rest of your life, for the dwarves find metals in the earth, make secret remedies from plants and things in nature. They are so clever than that can make a fool a wise person; a lazy student a professor; and a lawyer's clerk a minister."

"That was something!" cried one of the brothers. "Go and get a little cap for us so we can get away from here!"

"I will," said the eldest brother. Soon he was on his way to the green mountains. It was a long way off. Before evening the boy came to the dwarf mountains. There he lay down in the green grass in a place where there were swirl marks in the grass, for he thought they were traces of dwarves dancing in the moonlight. After a while he saw quite a few dwarfs coming very near him. They were tumbling over each other and throwing little cap into the air and having fun. Soon a small cap fell beside him. He grasped for it but was not quick enough. The owner of the cap was quicker and got his cap back, shouting, "A thief! A thief!"

The call made the whole flock of dwarves throw themselves over the boy. He was unable to shake them off. The dwarves captured him and took him deep down into their underground dwellings.

When the eldest brother did not come back, his two younger brothers and sister all grieved, but the old miller gnarled, "What do I care!"

As the days passed and the boy did not come back, the father was all the more grumpy and hard with the two remaining brothers. The second brother said to the youngest, "If I go the the dwarf mountains I may get a dwarf's cap. Either our brother has got one and gone away to make his fortune, forgetting about us - or he has failed. In any case I will try to get a dwarf's cap! If I succeed I will certainly be back. In case I do not succeed, this may be our last farewell."

The brothers parted, and the second brother wandered to the green mountains. Everything that had happened to his brother there, happened to him. The dwarf he tried to snatch a cap from, was quicker than him and shouted "Thief! Thief!" At once a bunch of dwarves pounced on the boy and tied him so he could not move a limb. Then they took him deep into an underground dwelling-place.

At home in the mill the youngest brother waited for his brother to come back, but in vain. By and by he grew very sad, for he knew now that his middle brother had failed. His sister grieved too, but their father said, "Those who don't like it at home can go elsewhere - the world is wide. Let him run. I am glad he is out of sight, out of mind!"

The youngest brother had endured very much gruff treatment from his father, but before his two older brothers were gone, they had at least been three to share it. He said to his sister, "Dear sister, I do not think I can stand our father's language and degrading remarks any longer, now that I am only one to bear his abuses. They are a too heavy load to bear alone. Earlier we were at least three to share it. Father does not love me, and I cannot help it. So I will go away, and only if I succeed I will be back. Goodbye and good luck!"

The sister did not want her youngest brother to leave, for she loved him best of all, but all the same he left.

As he walked, he thought carefully over how to set about getting one of the dwarfs' caps. When he came to the green mountains, he too came across the rings in the grass and thought, "These show where the dwarfs play and dance at night." He lay down at dusk and waited till the dwarfs came, played, and threw their caps into the air.

One of the dwarves came quite close to him and threw his little cap into the air, but the clever boy did not reach for it. He thought, "I have plenty of time. I must make the little man come nearer to me."

The dwarf picked up again his little cap that had fallen down very close to the boy. It did not take long before a second small cap fell next to the boy, but still he did not reach for it. Finally a third cap came falling down - it even landed on his hand. In the wink of an eye he grasped it and quickly jumped up.

"Thief!" screamed the dwarf who owned the cap. A swarm of dwarves came to get it back, but before they got to the boy he had made himself invisible, and then, since he had the little cap, he was their master, and the dwarves could neither get him or harm him. They all started to wail and whine pitifully for the cap, He could get anyting he wanted for it, they promised.

"Where are my two brothers?" asked the boy.

"They are down in the green mountain!" answered the dwarf that owned the cap he had taken.

"And what are they doing down there?"

"They serve us!"

"Is that so! They serve you, and now you serve me. Take me down to my brothers; their service is over, and yours is about to begin!"

He had a cap, and had become their master! The grieving dwarves took him to an opening into the green mountain. Down below were glorious and large open spaces, large halls and small rooms and shelves, all formed to meet the needs of the dwarf people. The boy's brothers were brought to him. They exclaimed as soon as they saw him, "Have they got you too, dear brother? So we three are together again, but to toil deep in the mountains and never see the light of day again, the green forest and the golden fields!" the two brothers sobbed.

"Oh, just wait a little, dear brothers," said the youngest, "the tides are about to turn." Then he had the dwarves bring them good clothes, good food and milk, after they had been groomed. Afterwards the dwarves had to entertain them with song and play and ballet and pantomime, and then the brothers went to sleep in soft beds. The youngest brother held the cap firmly all the time, even in sleep.

When they woke up, the underground palace was lighted by many candles. The brothers got a glass carriage drawn by four horses, and drove to see what more was to be seen in the green mountains. Soon they came to gemstone caves silver and gold decor, splendor and glory.

Then it was time to strike a bargain with the dwarves. What to ask for instead of the cap? First, delicious herbs to heal their father's mind, if possible. Second, a good dowry for their dear sister. Third, enough precious stones and art devices to lighten their lives, and then a car full of money and another, comfortable car for the brothers, along with lessons in driving them.

The dwarves turned and writhed so pitifully that it could have made a stone pity them if a stone had a human heart, but it did not help them.

"If you do not want to give us these things," said the brother with the cap, "I may stay here and take all your caps. Then we will see what will happen. I may also gather toads and put them in your beds."

"Have mercy! Not toads!" The dwarves feared toads terribly.

"Now then," said the brother with the cap, "I did not ask for all you have, only a tiny, tiny bit. I could ask for more too and keep the cap, being your master continually, for by wearing the cap I would not die, you know. So will you give me the things I ask for from your bounty?"

"Yes, yes!" sighed and groaned the dwarves and went to work to make and get everything he had asked for.

In the meantime things were going poorly in the mill of the surly old miller. After the youngest brother had left, he grumbled, "He's off too! That is what you get when you raise children! The only ones left now are you and me, dear daughter."

She began to cry.

"Crying again!" grumbled the old man. "Do you want me to believe you are crying over your brothers? I rather think it is over the poor man you love and want to marry. But he has nothing, like an empty sack. He has nothing much, you have nothing much, and I have nothing much. We all three have nothing much. For can you hear the mill wheel turning? I can not hear anything. It stands still. The mill who is still, is a bad mill. I cannot grind, you cannot marry, and you cannot have a wedding, for that would have been a beggar's wedding."

The daughter had to listen to such speeches every day, and suffered in silence until one fine morning when three carriages came up to the mill and three finely dressed fellows stepped out. The miller and his daughter came out and stared at them.

"Good morning, good morning! Here we are again!" said the three brothers. The oldest handed a big cup of precious liquid to their old father, and he drank it. Then he cried and fell - his financial worries were over!

The sad sister got a good draught too. The young man who loved her came by at the same time, and they gave him enough to get a farm and marry too.

All of a sudden the mill wheels started turning after they had stood still for weeks. Round and round they turned, round and round.

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