There was once a King, but where he reigned and how he was called I know nothing about. He had no son, only a daughter who was always ill, and no doctor could cure her; then it was prophesied to the King that his Daughter would eat herself well with an apple. So he made it known all over the kingdom, whoever brought his Daughter some apples with which she could eat herself well should marry her and be king. Now, a Peasant, who had three sons, heard of it; and he said to the eldest, “Go to the garden, take a basket full of those beautiful apples with the red cheeks, and carry them to the court. Perhaps the King’s Daughter will be able to eat herself well with them; and then you can marry her and be king.” The chap did as he was bid, and took to the road. When he had walked awhile he met quite a little Iron Man, who asked him what he had in his basket. So Hele, for that was his name, said, “Frogs’ legs!” The little Man then said, “Well, so it shall be, and remain;” and then went on. At last Hele came to the castle, and had it announced that he had got some apples which would cure the King’s Daughter if she ate them. At that the King was mightily pleased, and had Hele in court. Oh, dear! when he opened it, instead of apples, he had frogs’ legs in the basket, and they were kicking about still. The King got into a great rage and had him kicked out of the house. When he got home he told his Father how he had fared. Then the Father sent his next son, whose name was Saeme, but it went just the same with him as with Hele. The little Iron Man met him very soon, and asked him what he had in the basket, and Saeme said, “Sow-bristles;” and the little Man said, “Well, so it shall be, and remain.” When he arrived at the King’s castle, and said he had apples with which the King’s Daughter could eat herself well, they would not let him in, and told him there had already been one who had made fools of them. But Saeme insisted he had really such apples; they should only let him in. At last they believed him, and took him before the King; but when he opened the basket he had nothing but sow-bristles. That annoyed the King most dreadfully, so that he had Saeme whipped out of the house. When he got home he told them what had happened to him. Then came the youngest boy, whom they had always called stupid Jack, and asked the Father whether he, too, might go with apples. “Yes,” said the Father, “you are just the right sort of fellow; if the clever ones can’t succeed, what will you be able to do?” The boy did not believe it. “Well, Father, I will go too.” “Get away, you stupid chap!” said the Father; “you must wait till you grow wiser;” and then turned his back upon him; but the boy tugged at his smock-frock behind and said, “Now, Father, I will go too.” “Well, just as you like; go—you will be sure to come back,” he answered in a spiteful way. The boy was beyond measure delighted, and jumped for joy. “Ay, there! act like a fool! You get stupider from one day to the next,” said the Father. That did not affect Jack a bit, who would not be disturbed in his joy. As night soon came on, he thought he would wait the next morning; any how, he would not be able to get to court that day. He could not sleep that night in bed, and when he only slumbered a little he dreamed of beautiful maidens, of castles, gold, silver, and all that sort of thing. Early next morning he went his way, and soon the little Man in his iron dress met him and asked him what he had in the basket. “Apples,” he answered, “with which the King’s Daughter should eat herself well.” “Well,” said the little Man, “such it shall be, and remain.” But at court they would not let Jack in at all; for that there had been two who had said they brought apples, and one had frogs’ legs, and the other sow-bristles. But Jack insisted tremendously he had no frogs’ legs, but the most beautiful apples that grew in the kingdom. As he spoke so nicely the door-keeper thought he could not be telling a lie, and let him in; and they did quite right too, for, when Jack uncovered the basket before the King, gold-yellow apples came tumbling out. The King was delighted, and had some of them taken to his daughter at once, and waited in anxious expectation until they should bring him word what effect they had. Not long after news is brought him; but what think you it was? It was the Daughter herself! As soon as she had ate of those apples she had jumped out of bed quite well. What the King’s delight was cannot be described.
But now the King would not give Jack his Daughter to marry, and said that he must first make him a boat that would swim more like a boat on land than in the water. Jack agrees to the condition, and goes home and tells how he has fared. So the Father sends Hele into the wood to make such a boat; he worked away diligently, and whistled the while. At midday, when the sun was at the highest, comes the little Iron Man, and asks what he is making. “Wooden boat,” answers he. The little Man answered, “Well, so it shall be, and remain.” In the evening Hele thinks he has made the boat; but, when he is going to get into it, it’s nothing but wooden bowls. The next day Saeme goes into the wood; but it went no other with him than with Hele. On the third day stupid Jack goes: he works very hard, so that the wood resounded all through with his heavy blows, and he sang and whistled besides right merrily. The little Man came to him at midday when it was the hottest, and asked him what he was making. “A boat which will go on dry land more like a boat than on the water,” he answered, “and that when he had done it he should marry the King’s daughter.” “Well,” said the little Man, “such a one it shall be, and remain.” In the evening, when the sun had turned to gold, Jack was ready with his boat and all things belonging to it; he got in and rowed towards the castle; but the boat went as fast as the wind. The King sees it from a long way off; but will not give Jack his Daughter yet, and says he must first take a hundred hares out grazing from early morning to late in the evening, and if one were missing he should not have his Daughter. Jack is quite contented, and the next day goes out with his herd to the meadow, and keeps a sharp look out that none stray away. Not many hours had passed away when a maid comes from the castle, and says, Jack is to give her a hare directly, as some visitors had arrived. But Jack saw through that well enough, and said he would not give her one; the King might treat his visitors to hare-pepper. But the maid did not believe him, and at last set to scolding. So Jack said that if the King’s Daughter came herself he would give her a hare. The maid told them that in the castle, and the King’s Daughter did go herself. But in the mean time the little Man had come again to Jack and asked him, what he was doing there. “Oh, he had got to watch a hundred hares so that none ran away, and that he was to marry the King’s Daughter, and be King.” “Good!” said the little Man, “there’s a whistle for you, and when one runs away only just whistle and he will come back again.” When the King’s Daughter came, Jack gave her a hare into her apron. But when she had got about a hundred steps off, Jack whistles, and the hare jumps out of the cloth, and jump, jump! is back to the herd directly. In the evening the hare-herd whistles again, and looks to see they are all right, and drive them to the castle. The King wondered how Jack had been able to take care of a hundred hares, so that none should run off: but he would not yet give him his Daughter so easily, but said he must get him a feather from the old Griffin’s tail.
Jack starts at once, and marches right briskly on. In the evening he arrives at a castle, where he asks for a night’s lodging, for at that time there was no such things as hotels; and the master of the castle greets him very civilly, and asks him where he is going to? Jack answers, “To the old Griffin.” “Oh, indeed! to the old Griffin; they say he knows everything, and I have lost the key to an iron money-chest; perhaps you would be good enough to ask him where it is?” “Certainly,” said Jack, “that I will.” Early the next morning he started off again on his road, and arrives at another castle, where he again passes the night. When the people learned that he was going to the old Griffin, they said “a daughter was ill in the house; they had already tried every possible remedy, but without effect; would he be kind enough to ask old Griffin what would cure her?” Jack said he would do it with pleasure, and went on again. He arrives at a lake; and, instead of a ferry-boat, there was a big man who had to carry everybody over. The man asked him where he was bound for? “To the old Griffin,” said Jack. “When you get to him,” said the man, “just ask him why I am obliged to carry everybody over the water.” “Yes, to be sure,” said Jack; “goodness gracious! yes, willingly!” The man then took him up on his shoulder, and carried him over. At last Jack arrives at the old Griffin’s house, and only found the wife at home—not old Griffin. The woman asked him what he wanted, so he told her he must have a feather from old Griffin’s tail; and that in a castle they had lost the key to the money-chest, and he was to ask the Griffin where it was; and then, in another castle, the daughter was ill, and he was to know what would make her well again; then not far from there was water, and the man who was obliged to carry everybody over, and he should very much like to know why the man was obliged to carry everybody over. “But,” said the Woman, “look you, my good friend, no Christian can speak with a Griffin; he eats them all up; but, if you like, you can lie there under his bed, and at night, when he is fast asleep, you can reach out and pull a feather out of his tail; and as to those things that you want to know, I will ask him myself.” Jack was quite satisfied with the arrangement, and got under the bed. In the evening old Griffin came home, and when he stepped into the room he said, “Wife, I smell a Christian!” “Yes,” said the Wife, “there has been one here to-day, but he went away again.” So old Griffin said no more. In the middle of the night, when Griffin was snoring away lustily, Jack reached up and pulled a feather out of his tail.
The Griffin jumped up suddenly, and cried, “Wife, I smell a Christian! and it was just as if some one had been plucking at my tail.” The wife said, “You have no doubt been dreaming. I have told you already that one has been here to-day, but that he went away again. He told me all sorts of things: that in a castle they had lost the key of the money-chest, and could not find it.” “Oh, the fools!” exclaimed the Griffin; “the key lies in the wood-shed, behind the door, under a log of wood.” “And further, he said that in a castle the daughter was ill, and they knew no means to cure her.” “Oh, the fools!” said the Griffin, “under the cellar steps a toad has made its nest of her hair, and if she got the hair back again she would be well.” “And, then again, he said, at a certain place there was a lake, and a man who was obliged to carry everybody over.” “Oh, the fool!” said the old Griffin, “if he were only to put somebody into the middle he need not carry any more over.”
Early next morning the old Griffin got up and went out, and so Jack gets from under the bed with such a beautiful feather, and he had heard what the Griffin had said about the key, the daughter, and the man. The wife repeated it all to him so that he should not forget, and then he started off towards home. He came to the man at the water first, and he asked him directly what the Griffin had said; but Jack said he must carry him over first, and then he would tell him. So he carried him over; and when they got there Jack told him he only had to put somebody into the middle and then he need carry no more. The man was delighted beyond measure, and told Jack that out of gratitude he should like to carry him over and back once more. But Jack said nay, he would save him the trouble; he was quite contented with him already, and then went on. Then he arrived at the castle where the daughter was ill; he took her on his shoulder, for she was not able to walk, and carried her down the cellar stairs, and then took the toad’s nest from under the bottom step, and put it into the daughter’s hand, and all at once she jumps off his shoulder, up the stairs before him, and is quite well. Now the father and mother were delighted indeed, and made Jack presents of gold and silver, and whatever he wanted they gave him. When Jack arrived at the other castle he went straight to the wood-shed and found the key right enough behind the door, under the log of wood, and took it to the master. He was not a little pleased and gave Jack in return a great deal of gold that was in the box, and all sorts of things besides, such as cows, and sheep, and goats. When Jack got to the King with all those things, with the money, and gold and silver, and the cows, sheep, and goats, the King asked him wherever he had come by all that. So Jack said the old Griffin would give one as much as one liked. The King thought he could find a use for that sort of thing himself, and so started off to the Griffin; but when he got to the water he happened to be the first who arrived there since Jack, and the man put him in the middle and walked off, and the King was drowned.
So Jack married the King’s Daughter and became King.