XVIII.—THE SPIRIT OF A BURIED MAN.
A poor scholar was going by the highway into a town, and
found under the walls of the gate the body of a dead
man, unburied, trodden by the feet of the passers-by. He
had not much in his purse, but willingly gave enough to
bury him, that he might not be spat upon and have sticks
thrown at him. He performed his devotions over the fresh
heaped-up grave, and went on into the world to wander. In
an oak wood sleep overpowered him, and when he awoke,
he espied with wonderment a bag full of gold. He thanked
the unseen beneficent hand, and came to the bank of a
large river, where it was necessary to be ferried over. The
two ferrymen, observing the bag full of gold, took him into
the boat, and just at an eddy took from him the gold and
threw him into the water. As the waves carried him away
insensible, he by accident clutched a plank, and by its aid
floated successfully to the shore. It was not a plank, but
the spirit of the buried man, who addressed him in these
words: `You honoured my remains by burial; I thank
you for it. In token of gratitude I will teach you how you
can transform yourself into a crow, into a hare, and into a
deer.' Then he taught him the spell. The scholar, when
acquainted with the spell, could with ease transform himself
into a crow, into a hare, and into a deer. He wandered far,
he wandered wide, till he wandered to the court of a mighty
king, where he remained as an archer in attendance at the
court. This king had a beautiful daughter, but she dwelt
on an inaccessible island, surrounded on all sides by the
sea. She dwelt in a castle of copper, and possessed a sword
such that he who brandished it could conquer the largest
army. Enemies had invaded the territory of the king; he
needed and desired the victorious sword. But how to
obtain it, when nobody had up to that time succeeded in
getting on to the lonely island? He therefore made proclamation
that whoever should bring the victorious sword
from the princess should obtain her hand, and, moreover,
should sit upon the throne after him. No one was venturesome
enough to attempt it, till the wandering scholar, then
an archer attached to the court, stood before the king
announcing his readiness to go, and requesting a letter, that
on receipt of that token the princess might give up the weapon
to him. All men were astonished, and the king entrusted
him with a letter to his daughter. He went into the forest,
without knowing in the least that another archer attached
to the court was dogging his steps. He first transformed
himself into a hare, then into a deer, and darted off with
haste and speed; he traversed no small distance, till he
stood on the shore of the sea. He then transformed himself
into a crow, flew across the water of the sea, and didn't rest
till he was on the island. He went into the castle of copper,
delivered to the beautiful princess the letter from her father,
and requested her to give him the victorious sword. The
beautiful princess looked at the archer. He captured her
heart at once. She asked inquisitively how he had been
able to get to her castle, which was on all sides surrounded
by water and knew no human footsteps. Thereupon the
archer replied that he knew secret spells by which he
could transform himself into a deer, a hare, and a crow.
The beautiful princess, therefore, requested the archer to
transform himself into a deer before her eyes. When he
made himself into a graceful deer, and began to fawn and
bound, the princess secretly pulled a tuft of fur from his
back. When he transformed himself again into a hare, and
bounded with pricked up ears, the princess secretly pulled
a little fur off his back. When he changed himself into a
crow and began to fly about in the room, the princess
secretly pulled a few feathers from the bird's wings. She
immediately wrote a letter to her father and delivered
up the victorious sword. The young scholar flew across
the sea in the form of a crow, then ran a great distance in
that of a deer, till in the neighbourhood of the wood he
bounded as a hare. The treacherous archer was already
there in ambush, saw when he changed himself into
a hare, and recognised him at once. He drew his bow,
let fly the arrow, and killed the hare. He took from him
the letter and carried off the sword, went to the castle,
delivered to the king the letter and the sword of victory,
and demanded at once the fulfilment of the promise that
had been made. The king, transported with joy, promised
him immediately his daughter's hand, mounted his horse,
and rode boldly against his enemies with the sword.
Scarcely had he espied their standards, when he brandished
the sword mightily several times, and that towards the four
quarters of the world. At every wave of the sword large
masses of enemies fell dead on the spot, and others, seized
with panic, fled like hares. The king returned joyful with
victory, and sent for his beautiful daughter, to give her to
wife to the archer who brought the sword. A banquet
was prepared. The musicians were already striking up,
the whole castle was brilliantly lighted; but the princess
sat sorrowful beside the assassin-archer. She knew at once
that he was in nowise the man whom she saw in the castle
on the island, but she dared not ask her father where the
other handsome archer was; she only wept much and
secretly: her heart beat for the other.
The poor scholar, in the hare's skin, lay slain under the
oak, lay there a whole year, till one night he felt himself
awakened from a mighty sleep, and before him stood the
well-known spirit, whose body he had buried. He told him
what had happened to him, brought him back to life, and
said: `To-morrow is the princess's wedding; hasten,
therefore, to the castle without a moment's delay; she will
recognise you; the archer, too, who killed you treacherously,
will recognise you.' The young man sprang up promptly,
went to the castle with throbbing heart, and entered the grand
saloon, where numerous guests were eating and drinking.
The beautiful princess recognised him at once, shrieked
with joy, and fainted; and the assassin-archer, the moment
he set eyes on him, turned pale and green from fear. Then
the young man related the treason and murderous act of the
archer, and in order to prove his words, turned himself in
presence of all the assembled company into a graceful deer,
and began to fawn upon the princess. She placed the
tuft of fur pulled off him in the castle on the back of the
deer, and the fur immediately grew into its place. Again
he transformed himself into a hare, and similarly the piece
of fur pulled off, which the princess had kept, grew
into its place immediately on contact. All looked on in
astonishment till the young man changed himself into a
crow. The princess brought out the feathers which she
had pulled from its wings in the castle, and the feathers
immediately grew into their places. Then the old king
commanded the assassin-archer to be put to death. Four
horses were led out, all wild and unbroken. He was bound
to them by his hands and feet, the horses were started off
by the whip, and at one bound they tore the assassin-archer
to pieces. The young man obtained the hand of
the young and charming princess. The whole castle was
in a brilliant blaze of light, they drank, they ate with mirth;
and the princess did not weep, for she possessed the
husband that she wished for.
