THE GOLD-CHILDREN
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Grimm, Jacob, Grimm, Wilhelm, Olcott, Frances Jenkins, and Cramer, Rie
From one side came cries of, “There is one!” but from the other, “Let him go! ’tis an idle fellow, as poor and bare as a church-mouse. What should we gain from him?”
So the Gold-Child rode joyfully through the forest, and no evil befell him.
One day he entered a village wherein he saw a maiden, who was so beautiful that he did not believe that any more beautiful than she existed in the world.
And as such a mighty love took possession of him, he went up to her and said, “I love you with my whole heart. Will you be my wife?”
He, too, pleased the maiden so much that she agreed and said, “Yes, I will be your wife, and be true to you your whole life long.”
They were married. Then just as they were in the greatest happiness, home came the father of the Bride. When he saw that his daughter’s wedding was being celebrated, he was astonished, and said, “Where is the Bridegroom?”
They showed him the Gold-Child, who, however, still wore his bear-skins.
Then the father said wrathfully, “A vagabond shall never have my daughter!” and was about to kill him.
Then the Bride begged as hard as she could, and said, “He is my husband, and I love him with all my heart!” until at last he allowed himself to be appeased.
Nevertheless the idea never left his thoughts, so that next morning he rose early, wishing to see whether his daughter’s husband was a common ragged beggar. But when he peeped in, he saw a magnificent golden man in the bed, and the cast-off bear-skins lying on the ground.
Then he went back, and thought, “What a good thing it was that I restrained my anger! I should have committed a great crime.”
But the Gold-Child dreamed that he rode out to the chase of a splendid stag, and when he awoke in the morning, he said to his wife, “I must go out hunting.”
She was uneasy, and begged him to stay there, and said, “You might easily meet with a great misfortune.”
But he answered, “I must and will go.”
Thereupon he got up, and rode forth into the forest. It was not long before a fine stag crossed his path exactly according to his dream. He aimed and was about to shoot it, when the stag ran away. He gave chase over hedges and ditches for the whole day without feeling tired. In the evening the stag vanished from his sight, and when the Gold-Child looked round him, he was standing before a little house, wherein was a Witch.
He knocked, and a little old woman came out and asked, “What are you doing so late in the midst of the great forest?”
“Have you not seen a stag?”
“Yes,” answered she, “I know the stag well,” and thereupon a little dog which had come out of the house with her, barked at the man violently.
“Will you be silent, you odious toad,” said he, “or I will shoot you dead.”
Then the Witch cried out in a passion, “What! will you slay my little dog?” and immediately she transformed him, so that he lay like a stone.
Meanwhile his Bride awaited him in vain, and thought, “That which I so greatly dreaded, which lay so heavily on my heart, has come upon him!”
But at home, the other brother was standing by the Gold-Lilies, when one of them suddenly drooped. “Alas!” said he, “my brother has met with some great misfortune! I must away to see if I can possibly rescue him.”
Then he mounted his Golden Horse, and rode forth and entered the great forest, where his brother lay turned to stone. The old Witch came out of her house and called him, wishing to entrap him also.
He did not go near her, but said, “I will shoot you, if you do not bring my brother to life again.”
She touched the stone, though very unwillingly, with her forefinger. Then he was immediately restored to his human shape.
The two Gold-Children rejoiced, when they saw each other again. They kissed and caressed each other, and rode away together out of the forest, the one home to his Bride, the other to his father.
The father then said, “I knew well that you had rescued your brother, for the Golden Lily suddenly rose up and blossomed out again.”
Then they lived happily, and all prospered with them until their death.