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 seemedas if news of the most secret things was brought to him throughthe air. But he had a strange custom, every day after dinner,when the table was cleared, and no one else was present, a trustyservant had to bring him one more dish. It was covered, however,and even the servant did not know what was in it, neither didanyone know, for the king never took off the cover to eat of ituntil he was quite alone.This had gone on for a long time, when one day the servant, whotook away the dish, was overcome with such curiosity that hecould not help carrying the dish into his room. When he hadcarefully locked the door, he lifted up the cover, and saw a whitesnake lying on the dish. But when he saw it he could not denyhimself the pleasure of tasting it, so he cut off a little bitand put it into his mouth. No sooner had it touched his tonguethan he heard a strange whispering of little voices outside hiswindow. He went and listened, and then noticed that it wasthe sparrows who were chattering together, and telling oneanother of all kinds of things which they had seen in the fieldsand woods. Eating the snake had given him power of understandingthe language 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 kingordered the man to be brought before him, and threatened withangry words that unless he could before the morrow point outthe thief, he himself should be looked upon as guilty and executed.In vain he declared his innocence, he was dismissed with no betteranswer.In his trouble and fear he went down into the courtyard and tookthought how to help himself out of his trouble. Nowsome ducks were sitting together quietly by a brook and takingtheir rest, and, whilst they were making their feathers smoothwith their bills, they were having a confidential conversationtogether. The servant stood by and listened. They were tellingone another of all the places where they had been waddlingabout all the morning, and what good food they had found, and onesaid in a pitiful tone, something lies heavy on my stomach, as Iwas eating in haste I swallowed a ring which lay under thequeen'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 inhis hand, she has spared no trouble to fatten herself, and hasbeen waiting to be roasted long enough. So he cut off her head,and as she was being dressed for the spit, the queen's ring wasfound inside her.The servant could now easily prove his innocence, and the king,to make amends for the wrong, allowed him to ask a favor, andpromised him the best place in the court that he could wish for.The servant refused everything, and only asked for a horse andsome money for traveling, as he had a mind to see the worldand go about a little. When his request was granted heset out on his way, and one day came to a pond, where he sawthree fishes caught in the reeds and gasping for water. Now,though it is said that fishes are dumb, he heard them lamentingthat they must perish so miserably, and, as he had a kind heart,he got off his horse and put the three prisoners back into thewater. They leapt with delight, put out their heads, and criedto him, we will remember you and repay you for saving us.He rode on, and after a while it seemed to him that he heard avoice in the sand at his feet. He listened, and heard an ant-kingcomplain, why cannot folks, with their clumsy beasts, keep offour bodies. That stupid horse, with his heavy hoofs, has beentreading down my people without mercy. So he turned on to a sidepath and the ant-king cried out to him, we will remember you - onegood turn deserves another.The path led him into a wood, and here he saw two old ravensstanding by their nest, and throwing out their young ones.Out with you, you idle, good-for-nothing creatures, criedthey, we cannot find food for you any longer, you are big enough,and can provide for yourselves. But the poor young ravens layupon the ground, flapping their wings, and crying, oh, whathelpless chicks we are. We must shift for ourselves, and yet wecannot fly. What can we do, but lie here and starve. So thegood young fellow alighted and killed his horse with his sword,and gave it to them for food. Then they came hopping up to it,satisfied their hunger, and cried, we will remember you - one goodturn deserves another.And now he had to use his own legs, and when he had walked along way, he came to a large city. There was a great noise andcrowd in the streets, and a man rode up on horseback, cryingaloud, the king's daughter wants a husband, but whoever seeks herhand must perform a hard task, and if he does not succeed hewill forfeit his life. Many had already made the attempt, butin vain, nevertheless when the youth saw the king's daughterhe was so overcome by her great beauty that he forgot alldanger, went before the king, and declared himself a suitor.So he was led out to the sea, and a gold ring was thrown intoit, before his eyes, then the king ordered him to fetch thisring up from the bottom of the sea, and added, if you come upagain without it you will be thrown in again and again until youperish amid the waves. All the people grieved for the handsomeyouth, then they went away, leaving him alone by the sea.He stood on the shore and considered what he should do, whensuddenly he saw three fishes come swimming towards him, and theywere the very fishes whose lives he had saved. The one in themiddle held a mussel in its mouth, which it laid on the shoreat the youth's feet, and when he had taken it up and opened it,there lay the gold ring in the shell. Full of joy he took it tothe king, and expected that he would grant him the promised reward.But when the proud princess perceived that he was not her equalin birth, she scorned him, and required him first to performanother task. She went down into the garden and strewed with herown hands ten sacks-full of millet-seed on the grass, then shesaid, tomorrow morning before sunrise these must be picked up,and not a single grain be wanting.The youth sat down in the garden and considered how it mightbe possible to perform this task, but he could think of nothing,and there he sat sorrowfully awaiting the break of day, when heshould be led to death. But as soon as the first rays of thesun shone into the garden he saw all the ten sacks standing sideby side, quite full, and not a single grain was missing. Theant-king had come in the night with thousands and thousands ofants, and the grateful creatures had by great industry pickedup all the millet-seed and gathered them into the sacks.Presently the king's daughter herself came down into the garden,and was amazed to see that the young man had done the task shehad given him. But she could not yet conquer her proud heart,and said, although he has performed both the tasks, he shall notbe my husband until he has brought me an apple from the tree oflife. The youth did not know where the tree of life stood, buthe set out, and would have gone on for ever, as long as his legswould carry him, though he had no hope of finding it. After hehad wandered through three kingdoms, he came one evening to awood, and lay down under a tree to sleep. But he heard arustling in the branches, and a golden apple fell into his hand.At the same time three ravens flew down to him, perched themselvesupon his knee, and said, we are the three young ravens whomyou saved from starving, when we had grown big, and heard thatyou were seeking the golden apple, we flew over the sea to theend of the world, where the tree of life stands, and have broughtyou the apple. The youth, full of joy, set out homewards, andtook the golden apple to the king's beautiful daughter, who hadno more excuses left to make. They cut the apple of life in twoand ate it together, and then her heart became full of love forhim, and they lived in undisturbed happiness to a great age.