The Enchanted Pig · page 21 2 3101‘If you will only give it to me,’ said the Princess, ‘I will give you anything you choose to ask for, for I cannot bear to see him in this state.’102‘Here, then, my dear child,’ said the witch, ‘take this thread, but do not let him know about it, for if he did it would lose its healing power.103At night, when he is asleep, you must get up very quietly, and fasten the thread round his left foot as firmly as possible; and you will see in the morning he will not have changed back into a Pig, but will still be a man.104I do not want any reward.105I shall be sufficiently repaid by knowing that you are happy.106It almost breaks my heart to think of all you have suffered, and I only wish I had known it sooner, as I should have come to your rescue at once.’107When the old witch had gone away the Princess hid the thread very carefully, and at night she got up quietly, and with a beating heart she bound the thread round her husband’s foot.108Just as she was pulling the knot tight there was a crack, and the thread broke, for it was rotten.109Her husband awoke with a start, and said to her, ‘Unhappy woman, what have you done?110Three days more and this unholy spell would have fallen from me, and now, who knows how long I may have to go about in this disgusting shape?111I must leave you at once, and we shall not meet again until you have worn out three pairs of iron shoes and blunted a steel staff in your search for me.’112So saying he disappeared.113Now, when the Princess was left alone she began to weep and moan in a way that was pitiful to hear; but when she saw that her tears and groans did her no good, she got up, determined to go wherever fate should lead her.114On reaching a town, the first thing she did was to order three pairs of iron sandals and a steel staff, and having made these preparations for her journey, she set out in search of her husband.115On and on she wandered over nine seas and across nine continents; through forests with trees whose stems were as thick as beer-barrels; stumbling and knocking herself against the fallen branches, then picking herself up and going on; the boughs of the trees hit her face, and the shrubs tore her hands, but on she went, and never looked back.116At last, wearied with her long journey and worn out and overcome with sorrow, but still with hope at her heart, she reached a house.checked by a teacher117Now who do you think lived there?118The Moon.119The Princess knocked at the door, and begged to be let in that she might rest a little.120The mother of the Moon, when she saw her sad plight, felt a great pity for her, and took her in and nursed and tended her.121And while she was here the Princess had a little baby.122One day the mother of the Moon asked her:123‘How was it possible for you, a mortal, to get hither to the house of the Moon?’124Then the poor Princess told her all that happened to her, and added ‘I shall always be thankful to Heaven for leading me hither, and grateful to you that you took pity on me and on my baby, and did not leave us to die.125Now I beg one last favour of you; can your daughter, the Moon, tell me where my husband is?’126‘She cannot tell you that, my child,’ replied the goddess, ‘but, if you will travel towards the East until you reach the dwelling of the Sun, he may be able to tell you something.’127Then she gave the Princess a roast chicken to eat, and warned her to be very careful not to lose any of the bones, because they might be of great use to her.128When the Princess had thanked her once more for her hospitality and for her good advice, and had thrown away one pair of shoes that were worn out, and had put on a second pair, she tied up the chicken bones in a bundle, and taking her baby in her arms and her staff in her hand, she set out once more on her wanderings.129On and on and on she went across bare sandy deserts, where the roads were so heavy that for every two steps that she took forwards she fell back one; but she struggled on till she had passed these dreary plains; next she crossed high rocky mountains, jumping from crag to crag and from peak to peak.130Sometimes she would rest for a little on a mountain, and then start afresh always farther and farther on.131She had to cross swamps and to scale mountain peaks covered with flints, so that her feet and knees and elbows were all torn and bleeding, and sometimes she came to a precipice across which she could not jump, and she had to crawl round on hands and knees, helping herself along with her staff.132At length, wearied to death, she reached the palace in which the Sun lived.133She knocked and begged for admission.134The mother of the Sun opened the door, and was astonished at beholding a mortal from the distant earthly shores, and wept with pity when she heard of all she had suffered.135Then, having promised to ask her son about the Princess’s husband, she hid her in the cellar, so that the Sun might notice nothing on his return home, for he was always in a bad temper when he came in at night.136The next day the Princess feared that things would not go well with her, for the Sun had noticed that some one from the other world had been in the palace.137But his mother had soothed him with soft words, assuring him that this was not so.138So the Princess took heart when she saw how kindly she was treated, and asked:139‘But how in the world is it possible for the Sun to be angry?140He is so beautiful and so good to mortals.’141‘This is how it happens,’ replied the Sun’s mother.142‘In the morning when he stands at the gates of paradise he is happy, and smiles on the whole world, but during the day he gets cross, because he sees all the evil deeds of men, and that is why his heat becomes so scorching; but in the evening he is both sad and angry, for he stands at the gates of death; that is his usual course.143From there he comes back here.’144She then told the Princess that she had asked about her husband, but that her son had replied that he knew nothing about him, and that her only hope was to go and inquire of the Wind.145Before the Princess left the mother of the Sun gave her a roast chicken to eat, and advised her to take great care of the bones, which she did, wrapping them up in a bundle.146She then threw away her second pair of shoes, which were quite worn out, and with her child on her arm and her staff in her hand, she set forth on her way to the Wind.147In these wanderings she met with even greater difficulties than before, for she came upon one mountain of flints after another, out of which tongues of fire would flame up; she passed through woods which had never been trodden by human foot, and had to cross fields of ice and avalanches of snow.148The poor woman nearly died of these hardships, but she kept a brave heart, and at length she reached an enormous cave in the side of a mountain.149This was where the Wind lived.150There was a little door in the railing in front of the cave, and here the Princess knocked and begged for admission.151The mother of the Wind had pity on her and took her in, that she might rest a little.152Here too she was hidden away, so that the Wind might not notice her.153The next morning the mother of the Wind told her that her husband was living in a thick wood, so thick that no axe had been able to cut a way through it; here he had built himself a sort of house by placing trunks of trees together and fastening them with withes and here he lived alone, shunning human kind.154After the mother of the Wind had given the Princess a chicken to eat, and had warned her to take care of the bones, she advised her to go by the Milky Way, which at night lies across the sky, and to wander on till she reached her goal.155Having thanked the old woman with tears in her eyes for her hospitality, and for the good news she had given her, the Princess set out on her journey and rested neither night nor day, so great was her longing to see her husband again.156On and on she walked until her last pair of shoes fell in pieces.157So she threw them away and went on with bare feet, not heeding the bogs nor the thorns that wounded her, nor the stones that bruised her.158At last she reached a beautiful green meadow on the edge of a wood.159Her heart was cheered by the sight of the flowers and the soft cool grass, and she sat down and rested for a little.160But hearing the birds chirping to their mates among the trees made her think with longing of her husband, and she wept bitterly, and taking her child in her arms, and her bundle of chicken bones on her shoulder, she entered the wood.161For three days and three nights she struggled through it, but could find nothing.162She was quite worn out with weariness and hunger, and even her staff was no further help to her, for in her many wanderings it had become quite blunted.163She almost gave up in despair, but made one last great effort, and suddenly in a thicket she came upon the sort of house that the mother of the Wind had described.164It had no windows, and the door was up in the roof.165Round the house she went, in search of steps, but could find none.166What was she to do?167How was she to get in?168She thought and thought, and tried in vain to climb up to the door.169Then suddenly she be-thought her of the chicken bones that she had dragged all that weary way, and she said to herself: ‘They would not all have told me to take such good care of these bones if they had not had some good reason for doing so.170Perhaps now, in my hour of need, they may be of use to me.’171So she took the bones out of her bundle, and having thought for a moment, she placed the two ends together.172To her surprise they stuck tight; then she added the other bones, till she had two long poles the height of the house; these she placed against the wall, at a distance of a yard from one another.173Across them she placed the other bones, piece by piece, like the steps of a ladder.checked by a teacher174As soon as one step was finished she stood upon it and made the next one, and then the next, till she was close to the door.175But just as she got near the top she noticed that there were no bones left for the last rung of the ladder.176What was she to do?177Without that last step the whole ladder was useless.178She must have lost one of the bones.179Then suddenly an idea came to her.180Taking a knife she chopped off her little finger, and placing it on the last step, it stuck as the bones had done.181The ladder was complete, and with her child on her arm she entered the door of the house.182Here she found everything in perfect order.183Having taken some food, she laid the child down to sleep in a trough that was on the floor, and sat down herself to rest.184When her husband, the Pig, came back to his house, he was startled by what he saw.185At first he could not believe his eyes, and stared at the ladder of bones, and at the little finger on the top of it.186He felt that some fresh magic must be at work, and in his terror he almost turned away from the house; but then a better idea came to him, and he changed himself into a dove, so that no witchcraft could have power over him, and flew into the room without touching the ladder.187Here he found a woman rocking a child.188At the sight of her, looking so changed by all that she had suffered for his sake, his heart was moved by such love and longing and by so great a pity that he suddenly became a man.189The Princess stood up when she saw him, and her heart beat with fear, for she did not know him.190But when he had told her who he was, in her great joy she forgot all her sufferings, and they seemed as nothing to her.191He was a very handsome man, as straight as a fir tree.192They sat down together and she told him all her adventures, and he wept with pity at the tale.193And then he told her his own history.194‘I am a King’s son.195Once when my father was fighting against some dragons, who were the scourge of our country, I slew the youngest dragon.196His mother, who was a witch, cast a spell over me and changed me into a Pig.197It was she who in the disguise of an old woman gave you the thread to bind round my foot.198So that instead of the three days that had to run before the spell was broken, I was forced to remain a Pig for three more years.199Now that we have suffered for each other, and have found each other again, let us forget the past.’200And in their joy they kissed one another.1 2 3← previousPrincess Rosettenext →The Norka↑ back to The Red Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/12/page/2/