Fairy Tales

been lying across the back of one of the oxen. “Put a stone in,” Big Claus said, “otherwise I’m afraid I won’t sink.”

“It’ll work out,” said Little Claus, but he put a large rock in the sack, tied the rope tightly, and pushed it over. Plop! Big Claus was thrown into the river and sank to the bottom right away.

“I’m afraid he won’t find the cattle,” said Little Claus, and then he drove home with the ones he had.

THE PRINCESS ON THE PEA

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a prince. He wanted a princess, but she had to be a real princess. He traveled all around the world to find one, but there was always something wrong. There were enough princesses, but he couldn’t quite find out if they were real—there was always something that wasn’t quite right. So he came home again and was very sad because he wanted a real princess so very much.

One evening there was a terrible storm. There was lightning and thunder. Rain was pouring down, and it was quite frightening. Then someone knocked at the town gates, and the old king went to open them.

There was a princess standing out there. But what a sight she was in the rain and terrible weather! Water was streaming from her hair and clothes, and it ran in at the toe of her shoes and out at the heel. She said she was a real princess.

“Well, we will find out about that!” thought the old queen, but she didn’t say anything. She went into the bedroom, took off all the sheets and blankets, and placed a pea on the bed-spring. Then she laid twenty mattresses on top of the pea, and on the mattresses she placed twenty down comforters.

The princess was to sleep there for the night.

In the morning they asked her how she had slept.

“Oh, just terribly!” said the princess. “I almost didn’t close my eyes the whole night! God knows what could have been in the bed? I was lying on something hard, so I am completely black and blue all over my body. It’s quite dreadful!”

So they knew that she was a real princess since she had felt the pea through twenty mattresses and twenty down comforters. Only a real princess could have such sensitive skin.

The prince married her because he knew that now he had a real princess, and the pea was displayed in the art museum, where it can still be seen if no one has taken it.

See, that was a real story!

THE TRAVELING COMPANION

POOR JOHANNES WAS TERRIBLY sad, because his father was very sick and would not live much longer. Only the two of them were in the little room. The lamp on the table was about to burn out, and it was very late at night.

“You’ve been a good son, Johannes,” said his sick father. “The Lord will surely help you further in this life,” and he looked at him with serious gentle eyes, drew a deep breath, and died. It was as if he were sleeping. But Johannes wept. Now he had no one in the world, neither mother nor father, sister nor brother. Poor Johannes! He lay on his knees beside his father’s bed, kissed his hand, and cried a great many salty tears, but finally his eyes closed, and he fell asleep with his head on the hard edge of the bed.

Then he had a strange dream. He saw the sun and moon bow down to him, and he saw his father hale and hearty again, and he heard him laugh, the way he always laughed whenever he was really pleased. A lovely girl with a gold crown on her long beautiful hair reached out her hand to Johannes, and his father said, “Look at the bride you have! She is the most wonderful in the world.” Then he woke up, and all the splendor was gone. His father lay dead and cold in the bed, and there was no one else there. Poor Johannes!

The burial was the next week, and Johannes followed the coffin closely. He could no longer see his kind father, who had loved him so much. He heard the earth falling on the coffin, and saw the last corner of it, but then the next shovelful covered it, and the coffin was gone. He was so sad that he thought his heart would break to pieces from grief. Those around him were singing a beautiful hymn, and tears came to his eyes. He cried, and it felt good to cry in his sorrow. The sun shone brightly on the green trees, as if it wanted to say, “You mustn’t be so sad, Johannes! Can’t you see how blue the sky is? Your father is up there now and is asking the good Lord to watch out for you.”

“I’ll always be good,” Johannes said, “then I’ll also go to heaven and be with my father, and what a joy it’ll be when we see each other again! There’s so much I have to tell him, and he’ll show me many things again, and teach me about the splendors of heaven, just as he taught me here on the earth. Oh, what a joy that will be!”

Johannes imagined this so clearly that he smiled, although the tears were still streaming down his face. Little birds sat in the chestnut trees and chirped, “tweet, tweet.” They were happy even though they were at a burial, but they probably knew that the dead man was in heaven now and had wings much more beautiful and larger than theirs. They knew he was happy because he had been good on earth, and that pleased them. Johannes saw how they flew from the green trees, way out into the world, and he felt a great desire to fly away with them. But first he cut a big wooden cross to place on his father’s grave, and when he brought it there in the evening, the grave was decorated with sand and flowers. Other people had done that, because they were all very fond of his dear departed father, who now was dead.

Early the next morning Johannes packed a little bundle. He put his inheritance in his belt—fifty dollars¹ and a couple of silver coins. He was ready to wander out into the world. But first he went to the cemetery to his father’s grave, said the Lord’s Prayer, and then, “Good bye, dear father! I will always be a good person so you can ask God to take care of me.”

In the meadow where Johannes walked, all the flowers looked so beautiful in the warm sunshine, and they nodded in the wind as if they were saying, “Welcome into the green fields, isn’t it nice here?” But Johannes looked back one more time, to see the old church where he had been baptized as a little child, and where he and his old father had gone every Sunday to sing hymns. Way up in one of the little windows in the tower he saw the church pixie with his little pointed red cap. He was shielding his face with his bent arm, so the sun wouldn’t shine in his eyes. Johannes nodded good bye to him, and the little pixie waved his red cap, laid his hand on his heart, and blew kisses again and again to show that he wished him luck and a happy journey.