格林童话选 英文版 Grimms' Fairy Tales
格林兄弟 Brüder Grimm
FUNDEVOGEL
There was once a forester who went into the forest to hunt, and as heentered it he heard a sound of screaming as if a little child werethere. He followed the sound, and at last came to a high tree, and atthe top of this a little child was sitting, for the mother had fallenasleep under the tree with the child, and a bird of prey had seen itin her arms, had flown down, snatched it away, and set it on the hightree.
The forester climbed up, brought the child down, and thought tohimself: 'You will take him home with you, and bring him up with yourLina.' He took it home, therefore, and the two children grew uptogether. And the one, which he had found on a tree was calledFundevogel, because a bird had carried it away. Fundevogel and Linaloved each other so dearly that when they did not see each other theywere sad.
Now the forester had an old cook, who one evening took two pails andbegan to fetch water, and did not go once only, but many times, out tothe spring. Lina saw this and said, 'Listen, old Sanna, why are youfetching so much water?' 'If you will never repeat it to anyone, Iwill tell you why.' So Lina said, no, she would never repeat it toanyone, and then the cook said: 'Early tomorrow morning, when theforester is out hunting, I will heat the water, and when it is boilingin the kettle, I will throw in Fundevogel, and will boil him in it.'
Early next morning the forester got up and went out hunting, and whenhe was gone the children were still in bed. Then Lina said toFundevogel: 'If you will never leave me, I too will never leave you.'Fundevogel said: 'Neither now, nor ever will I leave you.' Then saidLina: 'Then will I tell you. Last night, old Sanna carried so manybuckets of water into the house that I asked her why she was doingthat, and she said that if I would promise not to tell anyone, and shesaid that early tomorrow morning when father was out hunting, shewould set the kettle full of water, throw you into it and boil you;but we will get up quickly, dress ourselves, and go away together.'
The two children therefore got up, dressed themselves quickly, andwent away. When the water in the kettle was boiling, the cook wentinto the bedroom to fetch Fundevogel and throw him into it. But whenshe came in, and went to the beds, both the children were gone. Thenshe was terribly alarmed, and she said to herself: 'What shall I saynow when the forester comes home and sees that the children are gone?They must be followed instantly to get them back again.'
Then the cook sent three servants after them, who were to run andovertake the children. The children, however, were sitting outside theforest, and when they saw from afar the three servants running, Linasaid to Fundevogel: 'Never leave me, and I will never leave you.'Fundevogel said: 'Neither now, nor ever.' Then said Lina: 'Do youbecome a rose-tree, and I the rose upon it.' When the three servantscame to the forest, nothing was there but a rose-tree and one rose onit, but the children were nowhere. Then said they: 'There is nothingto be done here,' and they went home and told the cook that they hadseen nothing in the forest but a little rose-bush with one rose on it.Then the old cook scolded and said: 'You simpletons, you should havecut the rose-bush in two, and have broken off the rose and brought ithome with you; go, and do it at once.' They had therefore to go outand look for the second time. The children, however, saw them comingfrom a distance. Then Lina said: 'Fundevogel, never leave me, and Iwill never leave you.' Fundevogel said: 'Neither now; nor ever.' SaidLina: 'Then do you become a church, and I'll be the chandelier in it.'So when the three servants came, nothing was there but a church, witha chandelier in it. They said therefore to each other: 'What can we dohere, let us go home.' When they got home, the cook asked if they hadnot found them; so they said no, they had found nothing but a church,and there was a chandelier in it. And the cook scolded them and said:'You fools! why did you not pull the church to pieces, and bring thechandelier home with you?' And now the old cook herself got on herlegs, and went with the three servants in pursuit of the children. Thechildren, however, saw from afar that the three servants were coming,and the cook waddling after them. Then said Lina: 'Fundevogel, neverleave me, and I will never leave you.' Then said Fundevogel: 'Neithernow, nor ever.' Said Lina: 'Be a fishpond, and I will be the duck uponit.' The cook, however, came up to them, and when she saw the pond shelay down by it, and was about to drink it up. But the duck swamquickly to her, seized her head in its beak and drew her into thewater, and there the old witch had to drown. Then the children wenthome together, and were heartily delighted, and if they have not died,they are living still.