The Gold Children
Once upon a time there was a poor Man and his Wife, who had nothing in the world but their hut, and they lived from hand to mouth by catching fish. But once it happened that the man, sitting by the water’s edge, threw in his net and drew out a golden Fish. And while he was looking at the fish with great wonderment, it exclaimed, “Do you hear, fisherman? throw me back into the water, and I will change your hut into a fine castle.” But the Fisherman replied, “What use is a castle to me if I have nothing to eat?” “That is taken care about,” rejoined the Fish, “for in the castle you will find a cupboard which, on opening, you will see full of dishes of the most delicate food, and as much as you like.”
“Well, if that be so,” said the Man, “you shall soon have your wish.”
“Yes,” said the Fish, “but there is one condition: that you disclose to nobody in the world, whoever he may be, from whence your luck comes, for if you speak a single word about it, all will be lost.”
The Man threw the wonderful Fish back into the water and went home, and where formerly stood his hut was a large castle. The sight made him open his eyes, and, stepping in, he found his Wife dressed out in costly clothes, sitting in a magnificent room. She appeared very much pleased, and said, “Husband, how has all this happened? this is very nice!”
“Yes,” replied her Husband, “it pleases me also; but now I am tremendously hungry, so give me something to eat.”
His Wife said, “I have got nothing, and I am sure I do not know where to find any food in this new house!”
“Oh! there is a great cupboard; open that,” said the Husband; and, as soon as she did so, behold! there were cakes, meat, fruit, and wine. At the sight of these the Wife laughed exultingly, and cried, “What else can you wish for now, my dear?” and she and he commenced eating and drinking at once. But, when they had had enough, the Wife asked, “Now, my husband, whence comes all this?” “Ah,” he replied, “do not ask me! I dare not tell you, for if I let out the secret to any one our fortune will fly.” “Well, if I may not know, I am sure I do not want,” replied she; but she was not in earnest, and let him have no peace night or day, teasing and tormenting him so long, till at last, in a fit of impatience, he let out that all their fortune came from a golden Fish which he had caught and set at liberty again. Scarcely were the words out of his mouth when all the fine castle, with its cupboard, disappeared, and they found themselves again in their old hut.
Now was the Man obliged to take up with his old trade of fishing, and fortune so favoured him that he pulled out a second time the golden Fish. “Alas!” said the Fish, “let me go again, and I will give you back your castle, with the cupboard of meat and wine; only keep it secret and reveal not on any account from whence they spring, or again you will lose all.”
“I will take care,” replied the Fisherman, and threw the Fish into the water. At home immediately everything was in its former splendour, and the wife rejoiced at her good fortune; but her curiosity could not rest, and after a couple of days she began to plague her husband again to tell her the source of their prosperity. For a long time the man held his tongue, but at length he got into such a passion that he broke out and told the secret. At the same moment the castle disappeared, and they found themselves in the old hut. “There, are you satisfied now?” said the Man to his Wife; “now we may feel the pangs of hunger again.” “Ah,” she replied, “I would rather not have wealth at all than not know whence it comes; for then I have no peace of mind.”
The Man went fishing again, and in a few days he was lucky enough to pull up the golden Fish for the third time. “Well, well,” said the Fish, “I see I am fated to fall into your hands, so take me home, and cut me into six pieces; two of which you must give to your wife to eat, two to your horse, and two you must put in the ground, and then you will be blessed.”
The Man took home the Fish, and did as it had said, and it happened that from the two pieces which he sowed in the ground two golden lilies grew up; from the eating of the two pieces by the mare, two golden foals were born; and from the wife’s eating of her share, she brought forth two golden children.
The children grew up beautiful and fair, and with them the two lilies and the two foals; and one day the children said to their father, “We will mount our golden steeds and travel in the world.”
But he replied sorrowfully, “How shall I manage, when you are out, to know how you are getting on?”
“The two golden lilies,” said they, “will remain here, and by them you can see how we prosper; are they fresh, so are we well; do they droop, so are we ill; do they die, so are we dead.”
With these words they rode away, and soon came to an inn wherein were many people, who, when they saw the two golden children, laughed at them mockingly. One of them, when he heard the jeers, was ashamed, and would not go onward, but turned round and went home to his father; while the other rode on till he came to a large forest. Just as he was about to ride into it, the people said to him, “You had better not go there, for the forest is full of robbers, who will act badly to you, and certainly when they see you are golden, and your horse too, they will kill you.”
But the youth would not be frightened, and said, “I must and will go.”
Then he took bear-skins, and covered with them himself and his horse; so that nothing golden could be seen, and, this done, he rode confidently into the wood. When he had ridden a little way he heard a rustling among the bushes, and soon distinguished voices talking to one another. One said, “Here comes one!” but another said, “Let him alone; he’s only a bear-hunter, and as poor and cold as a church mouse. What should we do with him?”
So the Gold Child rode without danger through the forest, and came to no harm. Next it happened that he came to a village, wherein he saw a maiden so beautiful that he thought there could be no one more so in the world. He conceived a great love for her, and went to her and asked her whether she would be his wife. The maiden was very much pleased, and consented, saying, “Yes, I will become your wife, and be faithful to you all your life.” Then they celebrated the wedding together, and just as they were in the middle of their festivities the father of the bride returned, and, when he saw that his daughter was married, he asked, in great astonishment, where the bridegroom was? They showed him the Golden Child, who still wore his bear-skins around him, and the father exclaimed, “Never shall a bear-hunter marry my daughter,” and he would have murdered him. The bride begged for his life, saying, “He is my husband, and I love him with all my heart,” and she begged so piteously that her father at last spared him.
The father, however, was always thinking about this man, and one morning he rose early in order to look at his daughter’s husband, and see whether he were a common and ragged beggar or no. But when he looked, behold there was a magnificent Golden Man in the bed, while the thrown-off bear-skin laid upon the ground. So the father went away, thinking “What a good thing it was I restrained my passion, or I should have made a grand mistake.”
The same night the Gold Child dreamt that he hunted a fine stag, and, when he awoke in the morning, he said to his bride, “I must be off to the hunt!” She was grieved, and begged him to stay, and said, “A great misfortune may easily happen to you;” but he answered, “I must and will go!” So he rode away into the forest, and soon met a proud stag, just as he had dreamed. He aimed at it, and would have shot, but the stag sprang off. Then he followed it over hedges and ditches without wearying the whole day, and at evening it disappeared from his sight. When now the Gold Child looked round, he stood before a little house, wherein dwelt a Witch. He knocked at the door, and a little old woman came, and asked, “What are you doing so late in the midst of this forest?”
“Have you not seen a stag?” he inquired.
“Yes,” she replied; “I know the stag well:” and just then a little dog which was in-doors barked loudly at the stranger. “Will you be quiet, you rascally dog?” he cried; “or I will shoot you dead.” At this the Witch exclaimed in a great passion, “What! will you kill my dog?” and bewitched him at once, so that he lay there like a stone. His poor wife meanwhile waited for him in vain, and soon she thought, “Ah! what I feared in the anguish of my heavy heart has fallen upon him.”
But at home the other brother stood by the golden lily, and suddenly one of them fell off. “Ah, Heaven!” said he, “some great misfortune has happened to my brother. I must be off, and see if, haply, I can save him.”
But the father said, “Stop here. If I lose you too, what will become of me?”
“I must and will go,” said the youth. So he mounted his golden horse, and rode away till he came to the large forest where his brother lay in the form of a stone. Out of her house came the old Witch, called to him, and would have enchanted him too, but he went not near her, but said “I will shoot you down if you do not restore to me my brother.”
She was frightened, but still she acted very unwillingly, and, touching the stone with her fingers, the Gold Child took again his human form. The two Gold Children were overjoyed when they saw one another again, and kissed and embraced, and rode together out of the forest. There they parted—the one returned to his bride, and the other to his father. When the latter arrived, his father said to him, “I knew that you had saved your brother, for the golden lily all at once revived, and now flourishes again.”
After this time they lived contentedly and happily, and all went well with them till the end of their lives.
