When the Queen
rejoiced thereat, the Virgin Mary said, “Is thy heart not yet softened? If thou wilt own that thou openedst the forbidden door, I will give
thee back thy two little sons.” But for the third time the Queen
answered, “No, I did not open the forbidden door.” Then the Virgin let
her sink down to earth once more, and took from her likewise her third
child. Next morning, when the loss was reported abroad, all the people cried
loudly, “The Queen is a man-eater. She must be judged,” and the King
was no longer able to restrain his councillors. Thereupon a trial was
held, and as she could not answer, and defend herself, she was
condemned to be burnt alive. The wood was got together, and when she
was fast bound to the stake, and the fire began to burn round about
her, the hard ice of pride melted, her heart was moved by repentance,
and she thought, “If I could but confess before my death that I opened
the door.” Then her voice came back to her, and she cried out loudly,
“Yes, Mary, I did it;” and straight-way rain fell from the sky and
extinguished the flames of fire, and a light broke forth above her, and
the Virgin Mary descended with the two little sons by her side, and the
new-born daughter in her arms. She spoke kindly to her, and said, “He
who repents his sin and acknowledges it, is forgiven.” Then she gave
her the three children, untied her tongue, and granted her happiness
for her whole life. 4 The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was

A certain father had two sons, the elder of whom was smart and
sensible, and could do everything, but the younger was stupid and could
neither learn nor understand anything, and when people saw him they
said, “There’s a fellow who will give his father some trouble!” When
anything had to be done, it was always the elder who was forced to do
it; but if his father bade him fetch anything when it was late, or in
the night-time, and the way led through the churchyard, or any other
dismal place, he answered “Oh, no, father, I’ll not go there, it makes
me shudder!” for he was afraid. Or when stories were told by the fire
at night which made the flesh creep, the listeners sometimes said “Oh,
it makes us shudder!” The younger sat in a corner and listened with the
rest of them, and could not imagine what they could mean. “They are
always saying ‘it makes me shudder, it makes me shudder!’ It does not
make me shudder,” thought he. “That, too, must be an art of which I
understand nothing.”

Now it came to pass that his father said to him one day “Hearken to me,
thou fellow in the corner there, thou art growing tall and strong, and
thou too must learn something by which thou canst earn thy living. Look
how thy brother works, but thou dost not even earn thy salt.” “Well,
father,” he replied, “I am quite willing to learn something—indeed, if
it could but be managed, I should like to learn how to shudder. I don’t
understand that at all yet.” The elder brother smiled when he heard
that, and thought to himself, “Good God, what a blockhead that brother
of mine is! He will never be good for anything as long as he lives. He
who wants to be a sickle must bend himself betimes.”

The father sighed, and answered him “thou shalt soon learn what it is
to shudder, but thou wilt not earn thy bread by that.”

Soon after this the sexton came to the house on a visit, and the father
bewailed his trouble, and told him how his younger son was so backward
in every respect that he knew nothing and learnt nothing. “Just think,”
said he, “when I asked him how he was going to earn his bread, he
actually wanted to learn to shudder.” “If that be all,” replied the
sexton, “he can learn that with me. Send him to me, and I will soon
polish him.” The father was glad to do it, for he thought, “It will
train the boy a little.” The sexton therefore took him into his house,
and he had to ring the bell. After a day or two, the sexton awoke him
at midnight, and bade him arise and go up into the church tower and
ring the bell. “Thou shalt soon learn what shuddering is,” thought he,
and secretly went there before him; and when the boy was at the top of
the tower and turned round, and was just going to take hold of the bell
rope, he saw a white figure standing on the stairs opposite the
sounding hole. “Who is there?” cried he, but the figure made no reply,
and did not move or stir. “Give an answer,” cried the boy, “or take thy
self off, thou hast no business here at night.”

The sexton, however, remained standing motionless that the boy might
think he was a ghost. The boy cried a second time, “What do you want
here?—speak if thou art an honest fellow, or I will throw thee down the
steps!” The sexton thought, “he can’t intend to be as bad as his
words,” uttered no sound and stood as if he were made of stone. Then
the boy called to him for the third time, and as that was also to no
purpose, he ran against him and pushed the ghost down the stairs, so
that it fell down ten steps and remained lying there in a corner. Thereupon he rang the bell, went home, and without saying a word went
to bed, and fell asleep. The sexton’s wife waited a long time for her
husband, but he did not come back. At length she became uneasy, and
wakened the boy, and asked, “Dost thou not know where my husband is? He
climbed up the tower before thou didst.” “No, I don’t know,” replied
the boy, “but some one was standing by the sounding hole on the other
side of the steps, and as he would neither give an answer nor go away,
I took him for a scoundrel, and threw him downstairs, just go there and
you will see if it was he. I should be sorry if it were.” The woman ran
away and found her husband, who was lying moaning in the corner, and
had broken his leg. She carried him down, and then with loud screams she hastened to the
boy’s father. “Your boy,” cried she, “has been the cause of a great
misfortune! He has thrown my husband down the steps and made him break
his leg. Take the good-for-nothing fellow away from our house.” The
father was terrified, and ran thither and scolded the boy. “What wicked
tricks are these?” said he, “the devil must have put this into thy
head.” “Father,” he replied, “do listen to me. I am quite innocent. He
was standing there by night like one who is intending to do some evil. I did not know who it was, and I entreated him three times either to
speak or to go away.” “Ah,” said the father, “I have nothing but
unhappiness with you. Go out of my sight. I will see thee no more.”

“Yes, father, right willingly, wait only until it is day. Then will I
go forth and learn how to shudder, and then I shall, at any rate,
understand one art which will support me.” “Learn what thou wilt,”
spake the father, “it is all the same to me. Here are fifty thalers for
thee. Take these and go into the wide world, and tell no one from
whence thou comest, and who is thy father, for I have reason to be
ashamed of thee.” “Yes, father, it shall be as you will.