XXVIII.—THE BEAUTIFUL DAMSEL AND THE
WICKED OLD WOMAN.
In the woods stood a cottage. In it lived a man and his
wife, but they had no children. Well, they went on a
pilgrimage to beseech God to give them a child. God gave
them a daughter. She grew and prospered. The prince
about that time rode up to the place, as he was out hunting,
and sent his attendant, saying: `Be so good as to go and
ask for a draught of water at yon cottage.' The attendant
went to ask for the water just when the child was weeping,
and pearls were rolling down from her eyes. Her mother
pacified her; she began to smile; all manner of flowers
bloomed. The servant went out and said: `Prince, I have
seen a little girl; when she weeps, pearls roll down; and
when she smiles, all manner of flowers bloom.' The prince
went into the cottage, and began to tease the child to make
her cry. She cried, and pearls rolled down. He then
begged her mother to pacify her. When she smiled, the
prince saw that all manner of flowers bloomed.
The girl continued to grow, and the prince always rode
round that way when he went hunting. Well, she grew up.
The prince said: `Old man, give me your daughter to wife.'
She now embroidered handkerchiefs with eagles. But the
emperor said: `Where are your wits gone to, my son, that
you want to take a peasant girl to wife?' Then the prince
took one of the handkerchiefs that she had embroidered,
and carried it to the emperor, whereat the emperor clapped
his hands. `Marry,' said he, `my son, marry!' Then he
conducted her homeward, but in his suite was an old woman
who had her daughter with her. Well, as they were on
their way, the prince stopped to shoot something, and the
old woman took everything from the damsel, scooped out
her eyes, and thrust her into a cavern in the ground, and
dressed her daughter in her apparel; so the prince took her
to wife without recognising her.
But round the cavern there grew a multitude of bushes.
An old man came to gather brushwood. The girl, the
damsel, was sitting in the cavern, and in front of her a heap
of pearls, which she had wept as she sat; but she had no
eyes. `Take me,' said she, `kind old man, and pick up this
jewellery here.' Well, the old man took her, collected the
jewellery, and led her home. At the old man's there were no
children, but there was an old woman. She, the damsel,
said: `Collect the jewellery in a bag, and carry it to the town
for sale; and if a certain old woman meets you, then don't
sell to her, but say: "Give what you have about you." '
Well, he carried it to the town and met the old woman. The
old woman said: `Sell me the jewellery!' `Purchase.' `How
much for it?' `Give what you have about you?' She gave
him an eye. Then the damsel began with one eye to
embroider a handkerchief. Again the old man carried
jewellery to the town. The old woman again said: `Old
man, sell me the jewellery!' `Purchase.' `How much for it?'
`Give what you have about you?' She gave him the other
eye. The damsel then began to embroider still more
beautifully. The old man said: `There's a dinner at the
emperor's.' The damsel said to him: `Go, kind old man,
to the dinner and take a jug, that you may beg some soup
for me.' She also tied a handkerchief of her own sewing on
the old man's neck. When the prince espied the handkerchief
on the old man's neck, he cried: `Whence come you,
old man?' `From the farm yonder, prince; and there is
also a damsel living at my house, so be so kind as to give
her something in this jug.' `But, old man, where did you
get that handkerchief?' `I found a damsel in a cavern in the
ground, and she embroidered it.' The prince at once recognised
it by the embroidery. `'Tis she! 'tis she!' But the old
woman's daughter he packed off to tend swine. That's all.
