Angela Carter's Book Of Fairy Tales

by Angela Carter

  She said that if that was the case she would turn into a pool of water. ‘Oh! that would not trouble me,’ said the hyena man, ‘I should catch you all the same.’

  ‘Why, then I should turn into a stone,’ replied his spouse. ‘Still I should catch you,’ remarked the man.

  Just at that moment the girl’s mother shouted from her room, for she had heard the conversation: ‘Keep quiet, my daughter; is it thus that a woman tells all her secrets to her man?’ So the girl said no more.

  Next morning, when the day was breaking, the husband told his wife to rise up as he was returning to his home. He bade her make ready to accompany him a short way down the road to see him off. She did as he told her, and as soon as ever the couple were out of sight of the village the husband turned himself into a hyena and tried to catch the girl, who changed herself into a tree, then into a pool of water, then into a stone but the hyena almost tore the tree down, nearly drank all the water and half swallowed the stone.

  Then the girl changed herself into that thing which the night before her mother had managed to stop her from betraying. The hyena looked and looked everywhere and at last, fearing the villagers would come and kill him, made off.

  At once the girl changed into her own proper form and ran back to the village.

  THE THREE MEASURES OF SALT

  (GREEK)

  here was once a king with nine sons; he was faced by another king with nine daughters: in those days everyone was a king. Every morning each king used to go out to his frontier to greet the other. Once as they met at the frontier and greeted one another the king with the nine daughters said to the other: ‘Good day, my lord king, you with your nine boys, and may you never get a wife for any of them!’ When the other heard this he was smitten to the heart, and sat in a corner of his palace deep in thought. One of his sons came up: ‘What is the matter, Father, that you are so sorrowful?’ ‘Nothing, my son.’ The next brother asked him: ‘Nothing, my son; I have a headache.’ The third one came: ‘But why won’t you tell us what is the matter?’ The king said not a word. Not to make too long a story, they all asked him and to none of them would he say what was the matter. The boys left him. Midday came and the king had no appetite to eat. God brought the day to its evening; then the dawn; but the king was still wrapt in thought. The eldest son came to him again: ‘But, Father, this cannot be endured; a day and a night you are here fasting and sorrowful, and yet you won’t tell us what is the matter.’ He said: ‘But what can I say, my son?’ He told him what had happened between him and the other king: ‘When he saw me yesterday morning he said to me: “Good day, king, with your nine sons, and may you never get a wife for any of them!”’ ‘And is it this that has filled you with such great bitterness, Father? Tomorrow when you meet, you must say to him: “Good morning, my lord king, with your nine daughters, and may you never get a husband for any of them.”’ Next day very early the king went out to his frontier and when he saw the other king he said: ‘Good day, my lord king, with your nine daughters, and may you never get a husband for any of them.’ When the other king heard this, how vexed he was! He too went and sat in a corner of his palace all full of trouble.

  One of his daughters came and said: ‘What is the matter, Father?’ ‘Nothing, my daughter.’ Then the next daughter asked him: ‘Nothing at all but a headache.’ Then came the third. The king said: ‘I told you there is nothing the matter.’ Thus not to make a long story, all the nine came and asked him and he would tell none of them. Then his daughters left him. Midday came, but he would not eat. God brought the day to its evening; then the dawn; still he was wrapt in care. Then at last his daughters said: ‘But this cannot be endured: for him to sit all by himself a day and a night; to put not even a crumb of church bread in his mouth, and to refuse to breathe a word of what is the matter, but just to put us off with stories!’ The eldest went again to her father: ‘Dear Father, why please won’t you tell us what is the matter?’ ‘If you want to know, my daughter, the king over the way said to me: “Good day, my lord king, with your nine daughters, and a husband for none of them may you never have!”’ She was a clever girl and said: ‘Are you grieved for that, Father? Tomorrow you must answer him and say: “Since I have no husband for my girls, why, give me one of your sons: my eldest daughter can very easily rub three measures of salt on his face and he be none the wiser.”’ As the girl had told him, so he did.

  Next day when they greeted one another very early, he said to the other king: ‘Since I have no husband for any of my girls, give me one of your sons; my eldest daughter is a match for him; very easily can she rub three measures of salt on his face and he be none the wiser.’ So they made the match and married the eldest son with the eldest daughter. When they lay down in bed the first evening the prince said to his newly wed princess: ‘You have managed it very well, you clever girl, and now we are married; but tell me what are these three measures of salt which you would rub on my head and I be none the wiser?’ She said: ‘I won’t tell you.’ ‘Tell me or I will go away and leave you.’ ‘Go then; only let me know where you are going so that I can send you a letter sometimes.’ ‘I am going to Salonika.’ So the youth made all ready. She too went off in a ship and reached that same place before him.

  By the shore she met an old woman who said to her: ‘You must be newly come here. If you like, I have a house I can let you have near the sea, a house for a king’s daughter.’ The girl went up into the house and then she said to the old woman: ‘A prince will be coming here in a day or two and you must bring him here.’ ‘At your orders, my lady,’ said the old woman. Next day the prince arrived. The old woman went down to the shore and said to him: ‘I can bring you to a house fit for a prince; you will also have there a girl to kiss.’ He went up into the house and saw the princess. ‘Good day, and you are very much like my wife: what am I to think of it?’ ‘Well, well, my good Christian,’ says she: ‘Man to man and thing to thing, likenesses there are everywhere.’ But of course the woman was the wife herself. All day they talked and in the evening they lay down together. She became with child and had a boy baby: when he was born the room was full of light, for on his brow was the star of morning. Within the year the prince wanted to go away, and she said: ‘And won’t you leave some present for your child?’ Then he took out his gold watch and hung it on the baby, and to the old woman he gave a present of a thousand gold pieces. When he had gone, his wife embarked in a ship and came to her country before him. The boy she handed over to a nurse and he was brought up in a golden room below the earth which she had constructed in her father’s palace. She warned all the maidservants that they must say nothing to the prince when he came back about her being away; only that she had had a cold and been ill all the year. Next day the prince arrived; he asked how his wife was. They said: ‘As I could wish your ill-wishers were, and this all because of your absence.’ Then he came to find her and they kissed one another, and he said: ‘I am told that you have been ill because of our separation, but it was all your fault because you would not tell me about those three measures of salt which you said you would rub on me and I be none the wiser. Now tell me,’ said he. ‘No, I won’t tell you.’ ‘Obstinate are you? Well, so am I. Either you will tell me or I shall go away and leave you.’ ‘Go then; only tell me where you will be that I may be able some time to send you a letter.’ ‘In Aigina,’ said he.

  When he went off, she too went by another way and took ship and came to Aigina before him. There on the shore she found the same old woman – it was really her Fate – and again she went with her to a house on the shore. Next day the prince also arrived and the old woman took him to the same house and left him there and then went off. As soon as the prince saw the woman in the house he ran and kissed her. She said: ‘And what makes you so passionate just from seeing me?’ ‘I have a wife just like you and she came to my mind.’ ‘Man to man and thing to thing, likenesses there are everywhere.’ All day they were there talking and in the evening they lay down together and so ev
ery evening, until she was with child and had a boy baby; when he was born the room was full of light, for on his brow was the shining moon. Before a year was over he gave the boy his gold walking-stick for a remembrance: he kissed him; gave the old woman another thousand gold pieces as a present and went away. Thus he went off and his wife after him. She came first to her house and handed over this second child to the same nurse and gave the servants a present not to tell that she had been away; in the palace she again played the part of the sorrowful woman. When her husband came next day, he questioned the servants about his wife, and they told him that all the year she had shut herself up in sorrow. The servants went back again and the prince came to his wife and said: ‘Whatever you may have suffered, it is all the fault of your ladyship. But now do tell me what are those three measures of salt you would rub on my face and I be none the wiser: if you won’t, I shall be off again.’ ‘And a good journey to you; only tell me where you are going and I shall know if at any time I want to send you any news.’ ‘I’m going to Venice.’

  Again he took ship and she followed, arriving before him. The same old woman appeared and took her to a great big palace on the shore. In two or three days the prince arrived. The old woman said to him: ‘You are welcome, prince. Pray be so good as to come to my house and stay there as long as you please, because I have a girl there for you.’ ‘Wonderful,’ said he. Then he went and again he saw the woman; he said: ‘Oh, how like you are to my wife!’ ‘Man to man and thing to thing, likenesses there are everywhere.’ Not to make a long story, she became with child and bore a daughter; the room was full of light, for on her forehead was the shining of the sun. They christened the child and called her Alexandra. Before the year was out the prince wanted to go away and the princess said to him: ‘Won’t you at least make the baby some present for her to remember you?’ Says he: ‘Of course. Even without you telling me I had been thinking of it.’ He went to the shops and bought a string of precious stones of all sorts, a thing beyond price – when you say from Venice, you can imagine what it was – and he hung it on the baby’s neck; also he bought a dress all of gold, and he took off his ring and gave it to her. Then he kissed the baby and gave the old woman a thousand gold pieces as a present and went off. The princess starting after him arrived at her house before him; she handed the child over to the nurse with money for her trouble and made a present to the women servants not to tell of her. Again she shut herself up in the palace pretending to be full of grief. In two or three days her husband came and asked the servants: ‘How is my wife?’ said he. ‘As I would wish your ill-wishers were, and all for your absence.’ He went and found her in a sad state. He said: ‘And whom can you blame? You have asked for what has happened to you. Why wouldn’t you tell me what are those three measures of salt which you would smear over my face and I be none the wiser? But tell me now.’ ‘I won’t tell you.’ ‘This cannot be endured. Tell me or I will leave you and take another wife.’ ‘Well, go and marry again and I will come and give you my blessing.’ Then he made up a match with another princess nearby and fixed say next Sunday for the wedding.

  All the world went to give them their blessing and the instruments of music were playing. Then his first wife dressed herself in her best and fitted out her three children finely; to the eldest she gave the watch, to the second the walking-stick, and the youngest she adorned with the string of jewels and the ring. The nurse brought them and they all went to join in the blessings at the marriage service. All the women danced in the hall and their eyes were upon the children and the mother because all the room was bright as lightning from the morning star and the sun and the moon, all on the children’s foreheads. All said: ‘Joy and delight to the mother who bore them!’ The prince too left the girl whom he was going to marry and stared at the children; the young bride was full of jealousy. Then the two boys were heard talking to their sister, who was not yet I suppose a year old and was being carried by the nurse, the boys being in front of her: ‘Little lady, little lady,’ said the boys, ‘little Alexandra, listen to the watch, tick tick tick: mother in the room all decked with gold.’ When the prince heard this he could endure no longer and right in the middle of the marriage service he left his new bride and ran up to the children. He looked at them and saw the string of jewels and the watch and the ring, and so he recognized them.

  His former wife was standing by and he asked whose children these were. ‘Yours and mine; one of them we had at Salonika, the second at Aigina, and the youngest at Venice. The woman whom you met in all those three places, each of them was I, and when I left the place I always got ahead of you. And to think that you should not know your own children! These were the three measures of salt which I was to smear on your face and you be none the wiser.’ He lifted up the children and in his delight kissed them all. He took them to his former house and their mother too with them. And so the new bride was left there with the bath grown cold and she half-married.

  THE RESOURCEFUL WIFE

  (INDIAN TRIBAL)

  woman was so mad with love for her lover that she gave him all the rice in the bin, and had to fill it with chaff so that her husband would not notice what she had done. By and by the days for sowing came round, and the woman knew she could no more deceive her husband.

  One day her husband went to plough his field which lay near a tank. The next morning his wife went very early to the tank, made herself naked and smeared mud all over her body. She sat down in the grass waiting for him. When he came, she suddenly stood up and in a loud voice cried, ‘I am going to take away your two bullocks. But if you need them you can give me the grain in your bin and I will fill it with chaff instead. But one or the other I must have, for I am hungry.’

  The man at once said that the Goddess – for so he thought her – should take the grain, for he knew he would be ruined if he lost his bullocks. ‘Very well,’ said the wife. ‘Go back now to your house, and you will find that I have taken your grain, but I have put chaff in its place.’ So saying she disappeared into the tank.

  The man ran home and found in fact that all the grain was gone and his bin was full of chaff. His wife quickly bathed and changed her clothes, and came home by way of the well where she told the other women the story with great pride.

  AUNT KATE’S GOOMER - DUST

  (NORTH AMERICAN: OZARKS)

  ne time there was a farm boy named Jack and he wanted to marry a rich girl that lived in town, but her pappy was against it. ‘Listen, Minnie,’ says the old man, ‘this feller ain’t house-broke, scarcely! He’s got cowdung on his boots! He cain’t even write his own name!’ Minnie didn’t turn no answer, but she knowed what Jack could do, and it suited her fine. Booklearning is all right, but it ain’t got nothing to do with picking out a good husband. Minnie had done made up her mind to marry Jack, no matter what anybody said.

  Jack wanted to run off and get married regardless, but Minnie says no, because she don’t figure on being poor all her life. She says we got to make Pappy give us a big farm with a good house on it. Jack he just laughed, and they didn’t do no more talking for awhile. Finally he says well, I’ll go out to Honey Mountain tomorrow, and see what Aunt Kate thinks.

  Aunt Kate knowed a lot of things that most folks never heard tell of. Jack told her what a fix him and Minnie was in, but Aunt Kate says she can’t do nothing without silver. So Jack gave her two dollars, and it was all the money he had. Then she fetched him a little box like a pepper-duster, with some yellow powder in it. ‘That’s goomer-dust,’ she says. ‘Don’t get it on you, and be careful not to get none on Minnie. But you tell her to sprinkle a little on her pappy’s pants.’

  Late that night Minnie dusted some powder on the old man’s britches, where he had hung ’em on the bedpost. Next morning he broke wind right at breakfast, so loud it rattled the pictures on the wall and scared the cat plumb out of the kitchen. The old man thought it must be something he et. But pretty soon he ripped out another one, and it wasn’t no time at all till he was making so m
uch noise that Minnie shut the windows for fear the neighbours would hear it. ‘Ain’t you goin’ down to the office, Pappy?’ says she. But just then the old man turned loose the awfullest blow-out a body ever heard, and he says, ‘No, Minnie. I’m going to bed. And I want you should fetch Doc Holton right away.’

  When Doc got there Pappy was feeling better, but pretty white and shaky. ‘Soon as I got in bed the wind died down,’ he says, ‘but it was terrible while it lasted,’ and he told Doc all about what happened. Doc examined Pappy a long time and give him some medicine to make him sleep. Minnie follered Doc out on the porch, and Doc says, ‘Did you hear them loud noises he keeps talkin’ about, like somebody breakin’ wind?’ Minnie says no, she didn’t hear nothing like that. ‘Just as I thought,’ says Doc. ‘He just imagined the whole thing. There ain’t nothing wrong with your pappy, only his nerves.’

  Pappy slept pretty good, on account of the medicine Doc give him. But next morning, soon as he got up and put his clothes on, he begun to break wind worse than ever. Finally he fired off a blast that sounded like a ten-bore shotgun, so Minnie helped him back in bed and sent for the doctor. Doc give him a shot in the arm this time. ‘Keep that man in bed,’ says he, ‘till I get Doctor Culberson to come over and look at him.’ Both of them doctors examined Pappy from head to foot, but they couldn’t find nothing wrong with him. They just shuck their heads, and give him some more sleeping medicine.

  Things went along like that for three days a-running, and finally Doc says Pappy better stay in bed all the time for awhile, and take medicine every four hours, and maybe he would be happier in a institution. ‘Put me in the asylum, just because I got wind on the guts?’ yelled Pappy. And with that he begun to raise such a row the doctor had to give him another shot in the arm.