“I
am a King’s son,” he said, “and I was bewitched by that wicked dwarf,
who had stolen my treasures; I have had to run about the forest as a
savage bear until I was freed by his death. Now he has got his
well-deserved punishment.”

Snow-white was married to him, and Rose-red to his brother, and they
divided between them the great treasure which the dwarf had gathered
together in his cave. The old mother lived peacefully and happily with
her children for many years. She took the two rose-trees with her, and
they stood before her window, and every year bore the most beautiful
roses, white and red. 162 The Wise Servant

How fortunate is the master, and how well all goes in his house, when
he has a wise servant who listens to his orders and does not obey them,
but prefers following his own wisdom. A clever John of this kind was
once sent out by his master to seek a lost cow. He stayed away a long
time, and the master thought, “Faithful John does not spare any pains
over his work!” As, however, he did not come back at all, the master
was afraid lest some misfortune had befallen him, and set out himself
to look for him. He had to search a long time, but at last he perceived
the boy who was running up and down a large field. “Now, dear John,”
said the master when he had got up to him, “hast thou found the cow
which I sent thee to seek?” “No, master,” he answered, “I have not
found the cow, but then I have not looked for it.” “Then what hast thou
looked for, John?” “Something better, and that luckily I have found.”
“What is that, John?” “Three blackbirds,” answered the boy. “And where
are they?” asked the master. “I see one of them, I hear the other, and
I am running after the third,” answered the wise boy. Take example by this, do not trouble yourselves about your masters or
their orders, but rather do what comes into your head and pleases you,
and then you will act just as wisely as prudent John. 163 The Glass Coffin

Let no one ever say that a poor tailor cannot do great things and win
high honors; all that is needed is that he should go to the right
smithy, and what is of most consequence, that he should have good luck. A civil, adroit tailor’s apprentice once went out travelling, and came
into a great forest, and, as he did not know the way, he lost himself. Night fell, and nothing was left for him to do, but to seek a bed in
this painful solitude. He might certainly have found a good bed on the
soft moss, but the fear of wild beasts let him have no rest there, and
at last he was forced to make up his mind to spend the night in a tree. He sought out a high oak, climbed up to the top of it, and thanked God
that he had his goose with him, for otherwise the wind which blew over
the top of the tree would have carried him away. After he had spent some hours in the darkness, not without fear and
trembling, he saw at a very short distance the glimmer of a light, and
as he thought that a human habitation might be there, where he would be
better off than on the branches of a tree, he got carefully down and
went towards the light. It guided him to a small hut that was woven
together of reeds and rushes. He knocked boldly, the door opened, and
by the light which came forth he saw a little hoary old man who wore a
coat made of bits of colored stuff sewn together. “Who are you, and
what do you want?” asked the man in a grumbling voice. “I am a poor
tailor,” he answered, “whom night has surprised here in the wilderness,
and I earnestly beg you to take me into your hut until morning.” “Go
your way,” replied the old man in a surly voice, “I will have nothing
to do with runagates; seek for yourself a shelter elsewhere.” After
these words he was about to slip into his hut again, but the tailor
held him so tightly by the corner of his coat, and pleaded so
piteously, that the old man, who was not so ill-natured as he wished to
appear, was at last softened, and took him into the hut with him where
he gave him something to eat, and then pointed out to him a very good
bed in a corner. The weary tailor needed no rocking; but slept sweetly till morning, but
even then would not have thought of getting up, if he had not been
aroused by a great noise. A violent sound of screaming and roaring
forced its way through the thin walls of the hut. The tailor, full of
unwonted courage, jumped up, put his clothes on in haste, and hurried
out. Then close by the hut, he saw a great black bull and a beautiful
stag, which were just preparing for a violent struggle. They rushed at
each other with such extreme rage that the ground shook with their
trampling, and the air resounded with their cries. For a long time it
was uncertain which of the two would gain the victory; at length the
stag thrust his horns into his adversary’s body, whereupon the bull
fell to the earth with a terrific roar, and was thoroughly despatched
by a few strokes from the stag. The tailor, who had watched the fight with astonishment, was still
standing there motionless, when the stag in full career bounded up to
him, and before he could escape, caught him up on his great horns. He
had not much time to collect his thoughts, for it went in a swift race
over stock and stone, mountain and valley, wood and meadow. He held
with both hands to the tops of the horns, and resigned himself to his
fate. It seemed, however, to him just as if he were flying away. At
length the stag stopped in front of a wall of rock, and gently let the
tailor down. The tailor, more dead than alive, required a longer time
than that to come to himself. When he had in some degree recovered, the
stag, which had remained standing by him, pushed its horns with such
force against a door which was in the rock, that it sprang open. Flames
of fire shot forth, after which followed a great smoke, which hid the
stag from his sight. The tailor did not know what to do, or whither to
turn, in order to get out of this desert and back to human beings
again. Whilst he was standing thus undecided, a voice sounded out of
the rock, which cried to him, “Enter without fear, no evil shall befall
you thee.” He hesitated, but driven by a mysterious force, he obeyed
the voice and went through the iron-door into a large spacious hall,
whose ceiling, walls and floor were made of shining polished square
stones, on each of which were cut letters which were unknown to him. He
looked at everything full of admiration, and was on the point of going
out again, when he once more heard the voice which said to him, “Step
on the stone which lies in the middle of the hall, and great good
fortune awaits thee.”

His courage had already grown so great that he obeyed the order. The
stone began to give way under his feet, and sank slowly down into the
depths. When it was once more firm, and the tailor looked round, he
found himself in a hall which in size resembled the former. Here,
however, there was more to look at and to admire.