by Vic Parker
When he had walked on a bit, he came to a smithy. He turned in and asked the smith if he’d be good enough to crack that nut for him.
“Ay, that’ll be an easy job,” said the smith. He took his smallest hammer, laid the nut on the anvil and gave it a blow, but it wouldn’t break.
So he took another hammer a little bigger, but that wasn’t heavy enough either.
Then he took one bigger still, but it was still the same story, and so the smith got angry, and grasped his great sledgehammer.
“Now, I’ll crack you to bits,” he said, and let drive at the nut with all his might and main. And so the nut flew to pieces with a bang that blew off half the roof of the smithy, and the whole house creaked and groaned as though it were ready to fall.
“Why! The very Devil himself must have been in that nut,” said the smith.
“So he was, you’re quite right,” said the lad, as he went away laughing.
How the Dragon was Tricked
By Andrew Lang
Once upon a time there lived a man who had two sons, but the elder son hated the younger son. One day, as they were walking through a forest, the elder youth seized hold of the other, tied him to a tree, and went on his way hoping that his brother might starve to death.
However, it happened that an old and humpbacked shepherd passed by and said, “Tell me, my son, why are you tied to that tree?”
“Because I was so crooked,” answered the young man, “but it has quite cured me, and now my back is as straight as can be.”
“I wish you would bind me to a tree,” exclaimed the shepherd, “so that my back would get straight.”
“With pleasure,” replied the youth. “If you will loosen these cords I will tie you up as firmly as I can.”
This was soon done, and then the young man drove off with the shepherd’s sheep.
By these and many other tricks the young man soon became so famous that the King demanded to see him. Soldiers captured him and brought him before the King, who said, “Because of your tricks and pranks, you should, in the eye of the law, be put to death. But if you can bring me the flying horse that belongs to the great dragon, I will spare you.”
When night came the young man made his way straight to the dragon’s home and the flying horse’s stable. He was stretching his hand cautiously out to seize the bridle, when the horse suddenly began to neigh as loud as he could. This woke the sleeping dragon, who was very angry to be disturbed and came to give the horse a beating. The horse was very upset, and when the dragon returned back to bed, he let the young man lead him quietly away.
The King said, “The flying horse is all very well, but I want something more. You must bring me the covering with the little bells that lies on the bed of the dragon, or I will have you put to death.”
When night came the young man went away to the dragon’s house and climbed up onto the roof. Then he opened a little window in the roof and let down a rope and tried to hook the bed covering to draw it up. But the little bells began to ring, and the dragon woke and drew the covering toward him, pulling the young man into the room as he did so. Then the dragon flung himself on the youth and bound him fast. He roared to his wife, saying, “Tomorrow when I go out you must stay at home and kill him and cook him. When I get back we will eat him together.”
So the following morning the dragoness took hold of the young man, and reached up on the shelf for a sharp knife with which to kill him. But as she untied the cords the better to get hold of him, the prisoner seized her and threw her into the oven. Then he snatched up the bed covering and carried it to the King.
“That is not enough,” said His Majesty. “Bring me the dragon himself, or I will have you put to death.”
“It shall be done,” answered the youth, and he disguised himself as a beggar and set out on the road to the dragon’s house. The young man found his enemy in front of his house, very busy making a box. “What is the box for?” inquired the beggar.
“It is for the man who killed my wife, and stole my flying horse and my bed covering,” said the dragon.
“He deserves nothing better,” answered the beggar. “Still that box doesn’t look big enough for a man.”
“You are wrong,” said the dragon. “The box is large enough even for me.”
“Well, of course, if you can get in, he should be able to,” the man said. “But I am sure you would find it a tight fit.”
“No, there is plenty of room,” said the dragon, tucking himself carefully inside.
But no sooner was he well in, than the young man clapped the lid on tight, and drove in nails to make it tighter still. Then he took the box on his back and brought it to the King. When the King heard that the dragon was inside, he was so excited that he would not wait. He broke the lock and lifted the lid just a little way. The King was very careful not to leave enough space for the dragon to jump out, but unluckily there was just room for his great mouth.
With one snap the very foolish King vanished down his wide jaws. The young man married the King’s daughter and ruled over the land, but what he did with the dragon nobody knows.
