The Brown Fairy Book

by Andrew Lang

  'What is that in my bamboo?' said the woman. And she blew in at one end, and blew little Pivi out at the other, like a pea from a pea-shooter.

  'Oh!' cried the woman, 'what a state you are in! What have you been doing?'

  'It was Kabo who broke my leg at the slinging game,' said Pivi.

  'Well, I am sorry for you,' said the woman; 'will you come with me, and do what I tell you?'

  'I will!' said Pivi, for the woman was very kind and pretty. She took Pivi into a shed where she kept her fruit laid him on a bed of mats, and made him as comfortable as she could, and attended to his broken leg without cutting off the flesh round the bone, as these people usually do.

  'You will be still, won't you, Pivi?' she said. 'If you hear a little noise you will pretend to be dead. It is the Black Ant who will come and creep from your feet up to your head. Say nothing, and keep quiet, won't you, Pivi?'

  'Certainly, kind lady,' said Pivi, 'I will lie as still as can be.'

  'Next will come the big Red Ant—you know him?'

  'Yes, I know him, with his feet like a grasshopper's.'

  'He will walk over your body up to your head. Then you must shake all your body. Do you understand, Pivi?'

  'Yes, dear lady, I shall do just as you say.'

  'Very good,' said the woman, going out and shutting the door.

  Pivi lay still under his coverings, then a tiny noise was heard, and the Black Ant began to march over Pivi, who lay quite still. Then came the big Red Ant skipping along his body, and then Pivi shook himself all over. He jumped up quite well again, he ran to the river, he looked into the water and saw that he was changed from a bird into a fine young man!

  'Oh, lady,' he cried, 'look at me now! I am changed into a man, and so handsome!'

  'Will you obey me again?' said the woman.

  'Always; whatever you command I will do it,' said Pivi, politely.

  'Then climb up that cocoa-nut tree, with your legs only, not using your hands,' said the woman.

  Now the natives can run up cocoa-nut trees like squirrels, some using only one hand; the girls can do that. But few can climb without using their hands at all.

  'At the top of the tree you will find two cocoa-nuts. You must not throw them down, but carry them in your hands; and you must descend as you went up, using your legs only.'

  'I shall try, at least,' said Pivi. And up he went, but it was very difficult, and down he came.

  'Here are your cocoa-nuts,' he said, presenting them to the woman.

  'Now, Pivi, put them in the shed where you lay, and when the sun sets to cool himself in the sea and rise again not so hot in the dawn you must go and take the nuts.'

  All day Pivi played about in the river, as the natives do, throwing fruit and silvery showers of water at each other. When the sun set he went into the hut. But as he drew near he heard sweet voices talking and laughing within.

  'What is that? People chattering in the hut! Perhaps they have taken my cocoa-nuts,' said Pivi to himself.

  In he went, and there he found two pretty, laughing, teasing girls. He hunted for his cocoanuts, but none were there.

  Down he ran to the river. 'Oh, lady, my nuts have been stolen! ' he cried.

  'Come with me, Pivi, and there will be nuts for you,' said the woman.

  They went back to the hut, where the girls were laughing and playing.

  'Nuts for you?' said the woman, 'there are two wives for you, Pivi, take them to your house.'

  'Oh, good lady,' cried Pivi, 'how kind you are!'

  So they were married and very happy, when in came cross old Kabo.

  'Is this Pivi?' said he. 'Yes, it is—no, it isn't. It is not the same Pivi—but there is a kind of likeness. Tell me, are you Pivi?'

  'Oh, yes!' said Pivi. 'But I am much better looking, and there are my two wives, are they not beautiful?'

  'You are mocking me, Pivi! Your wives? How? Where did you get them? You, with wives! '

  Then Pivi told Kabo about the kind woman, and all the wonderful things that had happened to him.

  'Well, well!' said Kabo, 'but I want to be handsome too, and to have pretty young wives.'

  'But how can we manage that?' asked Pivi.

  'Oh, we shall do all the same things over again—play at slinging, and, this time, you shall break my leg, Pivi!'

  'With all the pleasure in life,' said Pivi, who was always ready to oblige.

  So they went slinging, and Pivi broke Kabo's leg, and Kabo fell into the river, and floated into the bamboo, and the woman blew him out, just as before. Then she picked up Kabo, and put him in the shed, and told him what to do when the Black Ant came, and what to do when the Red Ant came. But he didn't!

  When the Black Ant came, he shook himself, and behold, he had a twisted leg, and a hump back, and was as black as the ant.

  Then he ran to the woman.

  'Look, what a figure I am!' he said; but she only told him to climb the tree, as she had told Pivi.

  But Kabo climbed with both hands and feet, and he threw down the nuts, instead of carrying them down, and he put them in the hut. And when he went back for them there he found two horrid old black hags, wrangling, and scolding, and scratching! So back he went to Pivi with his two beautiful wives, and Pivi was very sorry, but what could he do? Nothing, but sit and cry.

  So, one day, Kabo came and asked Pivi to sail in his canoe to a place where he knew of a great big shell-fish, enough to feed on for a week. Pivi went, and deep in the clear water they saw a monstrous shell-fish, like an oyster, as big as a rock, with the shell wide open.

  'We shall catch it, and dry it, and kipper it,' said Pivi, 'and give a dinner to all our friends!'

  'I shall dive for it, and break it off the rock,' said Kabo, 'and then you must help me to drag it up into the canoe.'

  There the shell-fish lay and gaped, but Kabo, though he dived in, kept well out of the way of the beast.

  Up he came, puffing and blowing: ' Oh, Pivi,' he cried, 'I cannot move it. Jump in and try yourself!'

  Pivi dived, with his spear, and the shell-fish opened its shell wider yet, and sucked, and Pivi disappeared into its mouth, and the shell shut up with a snap!

  Kabo laughed like a fiend, and then went home.

  'Where is Pivi?' asked the two pretty girls. Kabo pretended to cry, and told how Pivi had been swallowed.

  'But dry your tears, my darlings,' said Kabo, 'I will be your husband, and my wives shall be your slaves. Everything is for the best, in the best of all possible worlds.'

  'No, no!' cried the girls, 'we love Pivi. We do not love anyone else. We shall stay at home, and weep for Pivi!'

  'Wretched idiots!' cried Kabo; 'Pivi was a scoundrel who broke my leg, and knocked me into the river.'

  Then a little cough was heard at the door, and Kabo trembled, for he knew it was the cough of Pivi!

  'Ah, dear Pivi!' cried Kabo, rushing to the door. 'What joy! I was trying to console your dear wives.'

  Pivi said not one word. He waved his hand, and five and twenty of his friends came trooping down the hill. They cut up Kabo into little pieces. Pivi turned round, and there was the good woman of the river.

  'Pivi,' she said, 'how did you get out of the living tomb into which Kabo sent you?'

  'I had my spear with me,' said Pivi. 'It was quite dry inside the shell, and I worked away at the fish with my spear, till he saw reason to open his shell, and out I came.' Then the good woman laughed; and Pivi and his two wives lived happy ever afterwards.

  (Moncelon. Bulletin de la Societe d'Anthropologie. Series iii. vol. ix., pp. 613-365.)

  The Elf Maiden

  *

  Once upon a time two young men living in a small village fell in love with the same girl. During the winter, it was all night except for an hour or so about noon, when the darkness seemed a little less dark, and then they used to see which of them could tempt her out for a sleigh ride with the Northern Lights flashing above them, or which could persuade her to come to a dance in some neigh
bouring barn. But when the spring began, and the light grew longer, the hearts of the villagers leapt at the sight of the sun, and a day was fixed for the boats to be brought out, and the great nets to be spread in the bays of some islands that lay a few miles to the north. Everybody went on this expedition, and the two young men and the girl went with them.

  They all sailed merrily across the sea chattering like a flock of magpies, or singing their favourite songs. And when they reached the shore, what an unpacking there was! For this was a noted fishing ground, and here they would live, in little wooden huts, till autumn and bad weather came round again.

  The maiden and the two young men happened to share the same hut with some friends, and fished daily from the same boat. And as time went on, one of the youths remarked that the girl took less notice of him than she did of his companion. At first he tried to think that he was dreaming, and for a long while he kept his eyes shut very tight to what he did not want to see, but in spite of his efforts, the truth managed to wriggle through, and then the young man gave up trying to deceive himself, and set about finding some way to get the better of his rival.

  The plan that he hit upon could not be carried out for some months; but the longer the young man thought of it, the more pleased he was with it, so he made no sign of his feelings, and waited patiently till the moment came. This was the very day that they were all going to leave the islands, and sail back to the mainland for the winter. In the bustle and hurry of departure, the cunning fisherman contrived that their boat should be the last to put off, and when everything was ready, and the sails about to be set, he suddenly called out:

  'Oh, dear, what shall I do! I have left my best knife behind in the hut. Run, like a good fellow, and get it for me, while I raise the anchor and loosen the tiller.'

  Not thinking any harm, the youth jumped back on shore and made his way up the steep hank. At the door of the hut he stopped and looked back, then started and gazed in horror. The head of the boat stood out to sea, and he was left alone on the island.

  Yes, there was no doubt of it—he was quite alone; and he had nothing to help him except the knife which his comrade had purposely dropped on the ledge of the window. For some minutes he was too stunned by the treachery of his friend to think about anything at all, but after a while he shook himself awake, and determined that he would manage to keep alive somehow, if it were only to revenge himself.

  So he put the knife in his pocket and went off to a part of the island which was not so bare as the rest, and had a small grove of trees. :From one of these he cut himself a bow, which he strung with a piece of cord that had been left lying about the huts.

  When this was ready the young man ran down to the shore and shot one or two sea-birds, which he plucked and cooked for supper.

  In this way the months slipped by, and Christmas came round again. The evening before, the youth went down to the rocks and into the copse, collecting all the drift wood the sea had washed up or the gale had blown down, and he piled it up in a great stack outside the door, so that he might not have to fetch any all the next day. As soon as his task was done, he paused and looked out towards the mainland, thinking of Christmas Eve last year, and the merry dance they had had. The night was still and cold, and by the help of the Northern Lights he could almost sea across to the opposite coast, when, suddenly, he noticed a boat, which seemed steering straight for the island. At first he could hardly stand for joy, the chance of speaking to another man was so delightful; but as the boat drew near there was something, he could not tell what, that was different from the boats which he had been used to all his life, and when it touched the shore he saw that the people that filled it were beings of another world than ours. Then he hastily stepped behind the wood stack, and waited for what might happen next.

  The strange folk one by one jumped on to the rocks, each bearing a load of something that they wanted. Among the women he remarked two young girls, more beautiful and better dressed than any of the rest, carrying between them two great baskets full of provisions. The young man peeped out cautiously to see what all this crowd could be doing inside the tiny hut, but in a moment he drew back again, as the girls returned, and looked about as if they wanted to find out what sort of a place the island was.

  Their sharp eyes soon discovered the form of a man crouching behind the bundles of sticks, and at first they felt a little frightened, and started as if they would run away. But the youth remained so still, that they took courage and laughed gaily to each other. 'What a strange creature, let us try what he is made of,' said one, and she stooped down and gave him a pinch.

  Now the young man had a pin sticking in the sleeve of his jacket, and the moment the girl's hand touched him she pricked it so sharply that the blood came. The girl screamed so loudly that the people all ran out of their huts to see what was the matter. But directly they caught sight of the man they turned and fled in the other direction, and picking up the goods they had brought with them scampered as fast as they could down to the shore. In an instant, boat, people, and goods had vanished completely.

  In their hurry they had, however, forgotten two things: a bundle of keys which lay on the table, and the girl whom the pin had pricked, and who now stood pale and helpless beside the wood stack.

  'You will have to make me your wife,' she said at last, 'for you have drawn my blood, and I belong to you.'

  'Why not? I am quite willing,' answered he. 'But how do you suppose we can manage to live till summer comes round again?'

  'Do not be anxious about that,' said the girl; 'if you will only marry me all will be well. I am very rich, and all my family are rich also.'

  Then the young man gave her his promise to make her his wife, and the girl fulfilled her part of the bargain, and food was plentiful on the island all through the long winter months, though he never knew how it got there. And by-and-by it was spring once more, and time for the fisher-folk to sail from the mainland.

  'Where are we to go now?' asked the girl, one day, when the sun seemed brighter and the wind softer than usual.

  'I do not care where I go,' answered the young man; 'what do you think?'

  The girl replied that she would like to go somewhere right at the other end of the island, and build a house, far away from the huts of the fishing-folk. And he consented, and that very day they set off in search of a sheltered spot on the banks of a stream, so that it would be easy to get water.

  In a tiny bay, on the opposite side of the island they found the very thing, which seemed to have been made on purpose for them; and as they were tired with their long walk, they laid themselves down on a bank of moss among some birches and prepared to have a good night's rest, so as to be fresh for work next day. But before she went to sleep the girl turned to her husband, and said: 'If in your dreams you fancy that you hear strange noises, be sure you do not stir, or get up to see what it is.'

  'Oh, it is not likely we shall hear any noises in such a quiet place,' answered he, and fell sound asleep.

  Suddenly he was awakened by a great clatter about his ears, as if all the workmen in the world were sawing and hammering and building close to him. He was just going to spring up and go to see what it meant, when he luckily remembered his wife's words and lay still. But the time till morning seemed very long, and with the first ray of sun they both rose, and pushed aside the branches of the birch trees. There, in the very place they had chosen, stood a beautiful house—doors and windows, and everything all complete!

  'Now you must fix on a spot for your cow-stalls,' said the girl, when they had breakfasted off wild cherries; 'and take care it is the proper size, neither too large nor too small.' And the husband did as he was bid, though he wondered what use a cow-house could be, as they had no cows to put in it. But as he was a little afraid of his wife, who knew so much more than he, he asked no questions.

  This night also he was awakened by the same sounds as before, and in the morning they found, near the stream, the most beautiful cow-house that ever was s
een, with stalls and milk-pails and stools all complete, indeed, everything that a cow-house could possibly want, except the cows. Then the girl bade him measure out the ground for a storehouse, and this, she said, might be as large as he pleased; and when the storehouse was ready she proposed that they should set off to pay her parents a visit.

  The old people welcomed them heartily, and summoned their neighbours, for many miles round, to a great feast in their honour. In fact, for several weeks there was no work done on the farm at all; and at length the young man and his wife grew tired of so much play, and declared that they must return to their own home. But, before they started on the journey, the wife whispered to her husband: 'Take care to jump over the threshold as quick as you can, or it will be the worse for you.'

  The young man listened to her words, and sprang over the threshold like an arrow from a bow; and it was well he did, for, no sooner was he on the other side, than his father-in-law threw a great hammer at him, which would have broken both his legs, if it had only touched them.

  When they had gone some distance on the road home, the girl turned to her husband and said: 'Till you step inside the house, be sure you do not look back, whatever you may hear or see.'

  And the husband promised, and for a while all was still; and he thought no more about the matter till he noticed at last that the nearer he drew to the house the louder grew the noise of the trampling of feet behind him. As he laid his hand upon the door he thought he was safe, and turned to look. There, sure enough, was a vast herd of cattle, which had been sent after him by his father-in-law when he found that his daughter had been cleverer than he. Half of the herd were already through the fence and cropping the grass on the banks of the stream, but half still remained outside and faded into nothing, even as he watched them.

  However, enough cattle were left to make the young man rich, and he and his wife lived happily together, except that every now and then the girl vanished from his sight, and never told him where she had been. For a long time he kept silence about it; but one day, when he had been complaining of her absence, she said to him: 'Dear husband, I am bound to go, even against my will, and there is only one way to stop me. Drive a nail into the threshold, and then I can never pass in or out.'