When they were
full, the little white horse said to Ferdinand the Faithful, “Now mount
me, and go with me into the ship, and then when the giants come, say,

“Peace, peace, my dear little giants,
I have had thought of ye,
Something I have brought for ye;”


and when the birds come, thou shalt again say,

“Peace, peace, my dear little birds,
I have had thought of ye,
Something I have brought for ye;”


then they will do nothing to thee, and when thou comest to the castle,
the giants will help thee. Then go up to the castle, and take a couple
of giants with thee. There the princess lies sleeping; thou must,
however, not awaken her, but the giants must lift her up, and carry her
in her bed to the ship.” And now everything took place as the little
white horse had said, and Ferdinand the Faithful gave the giants and
the birds what he had brought with him for them, and that made the
giants willing, and they carried the princess in her bed to the King. And when she came to the King, she said she could not live, she must
have her writings, they had been left in her castle. Then by the
instigation of Ferdinand the Unfaithful, Ferdinand the Faithful was
called, and the King told him he must fetch the writings from the
castle, or he should die. Then he went once more into the stable, and
bemoaned himself and said, “Oh, my dear little white horse, now I am to
go away again, how am I to do it?” Then the little white horse said he
was just to load the ships full again. So it happened again as it had
happened before, and the giants and the birds were satisfied, and made
gentle by the meat. When they came to the castle, the white horse told
Ferdinand the Faithful that he must go in, and that on the table in the
princess’s bed-room lay the writings. And Ferdinand the Faithful went
in, and fetched them. When they were on the lake, he let his pen fall
into the water; then said the white horse, “Now I cannot help thee at
all.” But he remembered his flute, and began to play on it, and the
fish came with the pen in its mouth, and gave it to him. So he took the
writings to the castle, where the wedding was celebrated. The Queen, however, did not love the King because he had no nose, but
she would have much liked to love Ferdinand the Faithful. Once,
therefore, when all the lords of the court were together, the Queen
said she could do feats of magic, that she could cut off any one’s head
and put it on again, and that one of them ought just to try it. But
none of them would be the first, so Ferdinand the Faithful, again at
the instigation of Ferdinand the Unfaithful, undertook it and she hewed
off his head, and put it on again for him, and it healed together
directly, so that it looked as if he had a red thread round his throat. Then the King said to her, “My child, and where hast thou learnt that?”
“Yes,” she said, “I understand the art; shall I just try it on thee
also?” “Oh, yes,” said he. But she cut off his head, and did not put it
on again; but pretended that she could not get it on, and that it would
not keep fixed. Then the King was buried, but she married Ferdinand the
Faithful. He, however, always rode on his white horse, and once when he was
seated on it, it told him that he was to go on to the heath which he
knew, and gallop three times round it. And when he had done that, the
white horse stood up on its hind legs, and was changed into a King’s
son. 127 The Iron Stove

In the days when wishing was still of some use, a King’s son was
bewitched by an old witch, and shut up in an iron stove in a forest. There he passed many years, and no one could deliver him. Then a King’s
daughter came into the forest, who had lost herself, and could not find
her father’s kingdom again. After she had wandered about for nine days,
she at length came to the iron stove. Then a voice came forth from it,
and asked her, “Whence comest thou, and whither goest, thou?” She
answered, “I have lost my father’s kingdom, and cannot get home again.”
Then a voice inside the iron stove said, “I will help thee to get home
again, and that indeed most swiftly, if thou wilt promise to do what I
desire of thee. I am the son of a far greater King than thy father, and
I will marry thee.”

Then was she afraid, and thought, “Good heavens! What can I do with an
iron stove?” But as she much wished to get home to her father, she
promised to do as he desired. But he said, “Thou shalt return here, and
bring a knife with thee, and scrape a hole in the iron.” Then he gave
her a companion who walked near her, but did not speak, but in two
hours he took her home; there was great joy in the castle when the
King’s daughter came home, and the old King fell on her neck and kissed
her. She, however, was sorely troubled, and said, “Dear father, what I
have suffered! I should never have got home again from the great wild
forest, if I had not come to an iron stove, but I have been forced to
give my word that I will go back to it, set it free, and marry it.”
Then the old King was so terrified that he all but fainted, for he had
but this one daughter. They therefore resolved they would send, in her
place, the miller’s daughter, who was very beautiful. They took her
there, gave her a knife, and said she was to scrape at the iron stove. So she scraped at it for four-and-twenty hours, but could not bring off
the least morsel of it. When day dawned, a voice in the stove said, “It
seems to me it is day outside.” Then she answered, “It seems so to me
too; I fancy I hear the noise of my father’s mill.”

“So thou art a miller’s daughter! Then go thy way at once, and let the
King’s daughter come here.” Then she went away at once, and told the
old King that the man outside there, would have none of her he wanted
the King’s daughter. They, however, still had a swine-herd’s daughter,
who was even prettier than the miller’s daughter, and they determined
to give her a piece of gold to go to the iron stove instead of the
King’s daughter. So she was taken thither, and she also had to scrape
for four-and-twenty hours. She, however, made nothing of it. When day
broke, a voice inside the stove cried, “It seems to me it is day
outside!” Then answered she, “So it seems to me also; I fancy I hear my
father’s horn blowing.”

“Then thou art a swine-herd’s daughter! Go away at once, and tell the
King’s daughter to come, and tell her all must be done as promised, and
if she does not come, everything in the kingdom shall be ruined and
destroyed, and not one stone be left standing on another.” When the
King’s daughter heard that she began to weep, but now there was nothing
for it but to keep her promise. So she took leave of her father, put a
knife in her pocket, and went forth to the iron stove in the forest. When she got there, she began to scrape, and the iron gave way, and
when two hours were over, she had already scraped a small hole.