格林童话选 英文版 Grimms' Fairy Tales
格林兄弟 Brüder Grimm
THE WHITE SNAKE
A long time ago there lived a king who was famed for his wisdomthrough all the land. Nothing was hidden from him, and it seemed as ifnews of the most secret things was brought to him through the air. Buthe had a strange custom; every day after dinner, when the table wascleared, and no one else was present, a trusty servant had to bringhim one more dish. It was covered, however, and even the servant didnot know what was in it, neither did anyone know, for the king nevertook off the cover to eat of it until he was quite alone.
This had gone on for a long time, when one day the servant, who tookaway the dish, was overcome with such curiosity that he could not helpcarrying the dish into his room. When he had carefully locked thedoor, he lifted up the cover, and saw a white snake lying on the dish.But when he saw it he could not deny himself the pleasure of tastingit, so he cut of a little bit and put it into his mouth. No sooner hadit touched his tongue than he heard a strange whispering of littlevoices outside his window. He went and listened, and then noticed thatit was the sparrows who were chattering together, and telling oneanother of all kinds of things which they had seen in the fields andwoods. Eating the snake had given him power of understanding thelanguage of animals.
Now it so happened that on this very day the queen lost her mostbeautiful ring, and suspicion of having stolen it fell upon thistrusty servant, who was allowed to go everywhere. The king ordered theman to be brought before him, and threatened with angry words thatunless he could before the morrow point out the thief, he himselfshould be looked upon as guilty and executed. In vain he declared hisinnocence; he was dismissed with no better answer.
In his trouble and fear he went down into the courtyard and tookthought how to help himself out of his trouble. Now some ducks weresitting together quietly by a brook and taking their rest; and, whilstthey were making their feathers smooth with their bills, they werehaving a confidential conversation together. The servant stood by andlistened. They were telling one another of all the places where theyhad been waddling about all the morning, and what good food they hadfound; and one said in a pitiful tone: 'Something lies heavy on mystomach; as I was eating in haste I swallowed a ring which lay underthe queen's window.' The servant at once seized her by the neck,carried her to the kitchen, and said to the cook: 'Here is a fineduck; pray, kill her.' 'Yes,' said the cook, and weighed her in hishand; 'she has spared no trouble to fatten herself, and has beenwaiting to be roasted long enough.' So he cut off her head, and as shewas being dressed for the spit, the queen's ring was found inside her.
The servant could now easily prove his innocence; and the king, tomake amends for the wrong, allowed him to ask a favour, and promisedhim the best place in the court that he could wish for. The servantrefused everything, and only asked for a horse and some money fortravelling, as he had a mind to see the world and go about a little.When his request was granted he set out on his way, and one day cameto a pond, where he saw three fishes caught in the reeds and gaspingfor water. Now, though it is said that fishes are dumb, he heard themlamenting that they must perish so miserably, and, as he had a kindheart, he got off his horse and put the three prisoners back into thewater. They leapt with delight, put out their heads, and cried to him:'We will remember you and repay you for saving us!'
his heavy hoofs, has been treading down my peoplewithout mercy!' So he turned on to a side path.
He rode on, and after a while it seemed to him that he heard a voicein the sand at his feet. He listened, and heard an ant-king complain:'Why cannot folks, with their clumsy beasts, keep off our bodies? Thatstupid horse, with his heavy hoofs, has been treading down my peoplewithout mercy!' So he turned on to a side path and the ant-king criedout to him: 'We will remember you--one good turn deserves another!'
The path led him into a wood, and there he saw two old ravens standingby their nest, and throwing out their young ones. 'Out with you, youidle, good-for-nothing creatures!' cried they; 'we cannot find foodfor you any longer; you are big enough, and can provide foryourselves.' But the poor young ravens lay upon the ground, flappingtheir wings, and crying: 'Oh, what helpless chicks we are! We mustshift for ourselves, and yet we cannot fly! What can we do, but liehere and starve?' So the good young fellow alighted and killed hishorse with his sword, and gave it to them for food. Then they camehopping up to it, satisfied their hunger, and cried: 'We will rememberyou--one good turn deserves another!'
And now he had to use his own legs, and when he had walked a long way,he came to a large city. There was a great noise and crowd in thestreets, and a man rode up on horseback, crying aloud: 'The king'sdaughter wants a husband; but whoever seeks her hand must perform ahard task, and if he does not succeed he will forfeit his life.' Manyhad already made the attempt, but in vain; nevertheless when the youthsaw the king's daughter he was so overcome by her great beauty that heforgot all danger, went before the king, and declared himself asuitor.
So he was led out to the sea, and a gold ring was thrown into it,before his eyes; then the king ordered him to fetch this ring up fromthe bottom of the sea, and added: 'If you come up again without it youwill be thrown in again and again until you perish amid the waves.'All the people grieved for the handsome youth; then they went away,leaving him alone by the sea.
He stood on the shore and considered what he should do, when suddenlyhe saw three fishes come swimming towards him, and they were the veryfishes whose lives he had saved. The one in the middle held a musselin its mouth, which it laid on the shore at the youth's feet, and whenhe had taken it up and opened it, there lay the gold ring in theshell. Full of joy he took it to the king and expected that he wouldgrant him the promised reward.
But when the proud princess perceived that he was not her equal inbirth, she scorned him, and required him first to perform anothertask. She went down into the garden and strewed with her own hands tensacksful of millet-seed on the grass; then she said: 'Tomorrow morningbefore sunrise these must be picked up, and not a single grain bewanting.'
The youth sat down in the garden and considered how it might bepossible to perform this task, but he could think of nothing, andthere he sat sorrowfully awaiting the break of day, when he should beled to death. But as soon as the first rays of the sun shone into thegarden he saw all the ten sacks standing side by side, quite full, andnot a single grain was missing. The ant-king had come in the nightwith thousands and thousands of ants, and the grateful creatures hadby great industry picked up all the millet-seed and gathered them intothe sacks.
Presently the king's daughter herself came down into the garden, andwas amazed to see that the young man had done the task she had givenhim. But she could not yet conquer her proud heart, and said:'Although he has performed both the tasks, he shall not be my husbanduntil he had brought me an apple from the Tree of Life.' The youth didnot know where the Tree of Life stood, but he set out, and would havegone on for ever, as long as his legs would carry him, though he hadno hope of finding it. After he had wandered through three kingdoms,he came one evening to a wood, and lay down under a tree to sleep. Buthe heard a rustling in the branches, and a golden apple fell into hishand. At the same time three ravens flew down to him, perchedthemselves upon his knee, and said: 'We are the three young ravenswhom you saved from starving; when we had grown big, and heard thatyou were seeking the Golden Apple, we flew over the sea to the end ofthe world, where the Tree of Life stands, and have brought you theapple.' The youth, full of joy, set out homewards, and took the GoldenApple to the king's beautiful daughter, who had now no more excusesleft to make. They cut the Apple of Life in two and ate it together;and then her heart became full of love for him, and they lived inundisturbed happiness to a great age.