The Enchanted Pig
Once upon a time there lived a king who had three daughters. Now it happened that he
had to go out to battle, so he called his daughters and said to them, "My dear
children, I am obliged to go to the wars. The enemy is approaching us with a large army.
It is a great grief to me to leave you all. During my absence take care of yourselves and
be good girls; behave well and look after everything in the house. You may walk in the
garden, and you may go into all the rooms in the palace, except the room at the back in
the right-hand corner; into that you must not enter, for harm would befall you."
"You may keep your mind easy, father," they replied. "We have never been
disobedient to you. Go in peace, and may heaven give you a glorious victory!"
When everything was ready for his departure, the king gave them the keys of all the
rooms and reminded them once more of what he had said. His daughters kissed his hands with
tears in their eyes, and wished him prosperity, and he gave the eldest the keys.
Now when the girls found themselves alone they felt so sad and dull that they did not
know what to do. So, to pass the time, they decided to work for part of the day, to read
for part of the day, and to enjoy themselves in the garden for part of the day. As long as
they did this all went well with them. But this happy state of things did not last long.
Every day they grew more and more curious, and you will see what the end of that was.
"Sisters," said the eldest princess, "all day long we sew, spin, and
read. We have been several days quite alone, and there is no corner of the garden that we
have not explored. We have been in all the rooms of our father's palace, and have admired
the rich and beautiful furniture; why should not we go into the room that our father
forbad us to enter?"
"Sister," said the youngest, "I cannot think how you can tempt us to
break our father's command. When he told us not to go into that room he must have known
what he was saying, and have had a good reason for saying it."
"Surely the sky won't fall about our heads if we do go in," said the second
princess. "Dragons and such like monsters that would devour us will not be hidden in
the room. And how will our father ever find out that we have gone in?"
While they were speaking thus, encouraging each other, they had reached the room; the
eldest fitted the key into the lock, and snap! the door stood open.
The three girls entered, and what do you think they saw?
The room was quite empty, and without any ornament, but in the middle stood a large
table, with a gorgeous cloth, and on it lay a big open book.
Now the princesses were curious to know what was written in the book, especially the
eldest, and this is what she read, "The eldest daughter of this king will marry a
prince from the East."
Then the second girl stepped forward, and turning over the page she read, "The
second daughter of this king will marry a prince from the West."
The girls were delighted, and laughed and teased each other.
But the youngest princess did not want to go near the table or to open the book. Her
elder sisters however left her no peace, and will she, nill she, they dragged her up to
the table, and in fear and trembling she turned over the page and read, "The youngest
daughter of this king will be married to a pig from the North."
Now if a thunderbolt had fallen upon her from heaven it would not have frightened her
more.
She almost died of misery, and if her sisters had not held her up, she would have sunk
to the ground and cut her head open.
When she came out of the fainting fit into which she had fallen in her terror, her
sisters tried to comfort her, saying, "How can you believe such nonsense? When did it
ever happen that a king's daughter married a pig?"
"What a baby you are!" said the other sister; "has not our father enough
soldiers to protect you, even if the disgusting creature did come to woo you?"
The youngest princess would fain have let herself be convinced by her sisters' words,
and have believed what they said, but her heart was heavy. Her thoughts kept turning to
the book, in which stood written that great happiness waited her sisters, but that a fate
was in store for her such as had never before been known in the world.
Besides, the thought weighed on her heart that she had been guilty of disobeying her
father. She began to get quite ill, and in a few days she was so changed that it was
difficult to recognize her; formerly she had been rosy and merry, now she was pale and
nothing gave her any pleasure. She gave up playing with her sisters in the garden, ceased
to gather flowers to put in her hair, and never sang when they sat together at their
spinning and sewing.
In the meantime the king won a great victory, and having completely defeated and driven
off the enemy, he hurried home to his daughters, to whom his thoughts had constantly
turned. Everyone went out to meet him with cymbals and fifes and drums, and there was
great rejoicing over his victorious return. The king's first act on reaching home was to
thank Heaven for the victory he had gained over the enemies who had risen against him. He
then entered his palace, and the three princesses stepped forward to meet him. His joy was
great when he saw that they were all well, for the youngest did her best not to appear
sad.
In spite of this, however, it was not long before the king noticed that his third
daughter was getting very thin and sad looking. And all of a sudden he felt as if a hot
iron were entering his soul, for it flashed through his mind that she had disobeyed his
word. He felt sure he was right; but to be quite certain he called his daughters to him,
questioned them, and ordered them to speak the truth. They confessed everything, but took
good care not to say which had led the other two into temptation.
The king was so distressed when he heard it that he was almost overcome by grief. But
he took heart and tried to comfort his daughters, who looked frightened to death. He saw
that what had happened had happened, and that a thousand words would not alter matters by
a hair's breadth.
Well, these events had almost been forgotten when one fine day a prince from the East
appeared at the court and asked the king for the hand of his eldest daughter. The king
gladly gave his consent. A great wedding banquet was prepared, and after three days of
feasting the happy pair were accompanied to the frontier with much ceremony and rejoicing.
After some time the same thing befell the second daughter, who was wooed and won by a
prince from the West.
Now when the young princess saw that everything fell out exactly as had been written in
the book, she grew very sad. She refused to eat, and would not put on her fine clothes nor
go out walking, and declared that she would rather die than become a laughing-stock to the
world. But the king would not allow her to do anything so wrong, and he comforted her in
all possible ways.
So the time passed, till lo and behold! one fine day an enormous pig from the North
walked into the palace, and going straight up to the king said, "Hail! oh king. May
your life be as prosperous and bright as sunrise on a clear day!"
"I am glad to see you well, friend," answered the king, "but what wind
has brought you hither?"
"I come a wooing," replied the pig.
Now the king was astonished to hear so fine a speech from a pig, and at once it
occurred to him that something strange was the matter. He would gladly have turned the
pig's thoughts in another direction, as he did not wish to give him the princess for a
wife; but when he heard that the court and the whole street were full of all the pigs in
the world he saw that there was no escape, and that he must give his consent. The pig was
not satisfied with mere promises, but insisted that the wedding should take place within a
week, and would not go away till the king had sworn a royal oath upon it.
The king then sent for his daughter, and advised her to submit to fate, as there was
nothing else to be done. And he added, "My child, the words and whole behavior of
this pig are quite unlike those of other pigs. I do not myself believe that he always was
a pig. Depend upon it some magic or witchcraft has been at work. Obey him, and do
everything that he wishes, and I feel sure that Heaven will shortly send you
release."
"If you wish me to do this, dear father, I will do it," replied the girl.
In the meantime the wedding day drew near. After the marriage, the pig and his bride
set out for his home in one of the royal carriages. On the way they passed a great bog,
and the pig ordered the carriage to stop, and got out and rolled about in the mire till he
was covered with mud from head to foot; then he got back into the carriage and told his
wife to kiss him. What was the poor girl to do? She bethought herself of her father's
words, and, pulling out her pocket handkerchief, she gently wiped the pig's snout and
kissed it.
By the time they reached the pig's dwelling, which stood in a thick wood, it was quite
dark. They sat down quietly for a little, as they were tired after their drive; then they
had supper together, and lay down to rest. During the night the princess noticed that the
pig had changed into a man. She was not a little surprised, but remembering her father's
words, she took courage, determined to wait and see what would happen.
And now she noticed that every night the pig became a man, and every morning he was
changed into a pig before she awoke. This happened several nights running, and the
princess could not understand it at all. Clearly her husband must be bewitched. In time
she grew quite fond of him, he was so kind and gentle.
One fine day as she was sitting alone she saw an old witch go past. She felt quite
excited, as it was so long since she had seen a human being, and she called out to the old
woman to come and talk to her. Among other things the witch told her that she understood
all magic arts, and that she could foretell the future, and knew the healing powers of
herbs and plants.
"I shall be grateful to you all my life, old dame," said the princess,
"if you will tell me what is the matter with my husband. Why is he a pig by day and a
human being by night?"
"I was just going to tell you that one thing, my dear, to show you what a good
fortuneteller I am. If you like, I will give you a herb to break the spell."
"If you will only give it to me," said the princess, "I will give you
anything you choose to ask for, for I cannot bear to see him in this state."
"Here, then, my dear child," said the witch, "take this thread, but do
not let him know about it, for if he did it would lose its healing power. At night, when
he is asleep, you must get up very quietly, and fasten the thread round his left foot as
firmly as possible; and you will see in the morning he will not have changed back into a
pig, but will still be a man. I do not want any reward. I shall be sufficiently repaid by
knowing that you are happy. It almost breaks my heart to think of all you have suffered,
and I only wish I had known it sooner, as I should have come to your rescue at once."
When the old witch had gone away the princess hid the thread very carefully, and at
night she got up quietly, and with a beating heart she bound the thread round her
husband's foot. Just as she was pulling the knot tight there was a crack, and the thread
broke, for it was rotten.
Her husband awoke with a start, and said to her, "Unhappy woman, what have you
done? Three days more and this unholy spell would have fallen from me, and now, who knows
how long I may have to go about in this disgusting shape? I must leave you at once, and we
shall not meet again until you have worn out three pairs of iron shoes and blunted a steel
staff in your search for me." So saying he disappeared.
Now, when the princess was left alone she began to weep and moan in a way that was
pitiful to hear; but when she saw that her tears and groans did her no good, she got up,
determined to go wherever fate should lead her.
On reaching a town, the first thing she did was to order three pairs of iron sandals
and a steel staff, and having made these preparations for her journey, she set out in
search of her husband. On and on she wandered over nine seas and across nine continents;
through forests with trees whose stems were as thick as beer barrels; stumbling and
knocking herself against the fallen branches, then picking herself up and going on; the
boughs of the trees hit her face, and the shrubs tore her hands, but on she went, and
never looked back. At last, wearied with her long journey and worn out and overcome with
sorrow, but still with hope at her heart, she reached a house.
Now who do you think lived there? The moon.
The princess knocked at the door, and begged to be let in that she might rest a little.
The mother of the moon, when she saw her sad plight, felt a great pity for her, and took
her in and nursed and tended her. And while she was here the princess had a little baby.
One day the mother of the moon asked her, "How was it possible for you, a mortal,
to get hither to the house of the moon?"
Then the poor princess told her all that happened to her, and added "I shall
always be thankful to Heaven for leading me hither, and grateful to you that you took pity
on me and on my baby, and did not leave us to die. Now I beg one last favor of you; can
your daughter, the moon, tell me where my husband is?"
"She cannot tell you that, my child," replied the goddess, "but, if you
will travel towards the East until you reach the dwelling of the sun, he may be able to
tell you something."
Then she gave the princess a roast chicken to eat, and warned her to be very careful
not to lose any of the bones, because they might be of great use to her.
When the princess had thanked her once more for her hospitality and for her good
advice, and had thrown away one pair of shoes that were worn out, and had put on a second
pair, she tied up the chicken bones in a bundle, and taking her baby in her arms and her
staff in her hand, she set out once more on her wanderings.
On and on and on she went across bare sandy deserts, where the roads were so heavy that
for every two steps that she took forwards she fell back one; but she struggled on till
she had passed these dreary plains; next she crossed high rocky mountains, jumping from
crag to crag and from peak to peak. Sometimes she would rest for a little on a mountain,
and then start afresh always farther and farther on. She had to cross swamps and to scale
mountain peaks covered with flints, so that her feet and knees and elbows were all torn
and bleeding, and sometimes she came to a precipice across which she could not jump, and
she had to crawl round on hands and knees, helping herself along with her staff.
At length, wearied to death, she reached the palace in which the sun lived. She knocked
and begged for admission. The mother of the sun opened the door, and was astonished at
beholding a mortal from the distant earthly shores, and wept with pity when she heard of
all she had suffered. Then, having promised to ask her son about the princess's husband,
she hid her in the cellar, so that the sun might notice nothing on his return home, for he
was always in a bad temper when he came in at night.
The next day the princess feared that things would not go well with her, for the sun
had noticed that some one from the other world had been in the palace. But his mother had
soothed him with soft words, assuring him that this was not so. So the princess took heart
when she saw how kindly she was treated, and asked, "But how in the world is it
possible for the sun to be angry? He is so beautiful and so good to mortals."
"This is how it happens," replied the sun's mother. "In the morning when
he stands at the gates of paradise he is happy, and smiles on the whole world, but during
the day he gets cross, because he sees all the evil deeds of men, and that is why his heat
becomes so scorching; but in the evening he is both sad and angry, for he stands at the
gates of death; that is his usual course. From there he comes back here."
She then told the princess that she had asked about her husband, but that her son had
replied that he knew nothing about him, and that her only hope was to go and inquire of
the wind.
Before the princess left the mother of the sun gave her a roast chicken to eat, and
advised her to take great care of the bones, which she did, wrapping them up in a bundle.
She then threw away her second pair of shoes, which were quite worn out, and with her
child on her arm and her staff in her hand, she set forth on her way to the wind.
In these wanderings she met with even greater difficulties than before, for she came
upon one mountain of flints after another, out of which tongues of fire would flame up;
she passed through woods which had never been trodden by human foot, and had to cross
fields of ice and avalanches of snow. The poor woman nearly died of these hardships, but
she kept a brave heart, and at length she reached an enormous cave in the side of a
mountain. This was where the wind lived. There was a little door in the railing in front
of the cave, and here the princess knocked and begged for admission. The mother of the
wind had pity on her and took her in, that she might rest a little. Here too she was
hidden away, so that the wind might not notice her.
The next morning the mother of the wind told her that her husband was living in a thick
wood, so thick that no axe had been able to cut a way through it; here he had built
himself a sort of house by placing trunks of trees together and fastening them with withes
and here he lived alone, shunning human kind.
After the mother of the wind had given the princess a chicken to eat, and had warned
her to take care of the bones, she advised her to go by the Milky Way, which at night lies
across the sky, and to wander on till she reached her goal.
Having thanked the old woman with tears in her eyes for her hospitality, and for the
good news she had given her, the princess set out on her journey and rested neither night
nor day, so great was her longing to see her husband again. On and on she walked until her
last pair of shoes fell in pieces. So she threw them away and went on with bare feet, not
heeding the bogs nor the thorns that wounded her, nor the stones that bruised her. At last
she reached a beautiful green meadow on the edge of a wood. Her heart was cheered by the
sight of the flowers and the soft cool grass, and she sat down and rested for a little.
But hearing the birds chirping to their mates among the trees made her think with longing
of her husband, and she wept bitterly, and taking her child in her arms, and her bundle of
chicken bones on her shoulder, she entered the wood.
For three days and three nights she struggled through it, but could find nothing. She
was quite worn out with weariness and hunger, and even her staff was no further help to
her, for in her many wanderings it had become quite blunted. She almost gave up in
despair, but made one last great effort, and suddenly in a thicket she came upon the sort
of house that the mother of the wind had described. It had no windows, and the door was up
in the roof. Round the house she went, in search of steps, but could find none. What was
she to do? How was she to get in? She thought and thought, and tried in vain to climb up
to the door. Then suddenly she bethought her of the chicken bones that she had dragged all
that weary way, and she said to herself, "They would not all have told me to take
such good care of these bones if they had not had some good reason for doing so. Perhaps
now, in my hour of need, they may be of use to me."
So she took the bones out of her bundle, and having thought for a moment, she placed
the two ends together. To her surprise they stuck tight; then she added the other bones,
till she had two long poles the height of the house; these she placed against the wall, at
a distance of a yard from one another. Across them she placed the other bones, piece by
piece, like the steps of a ladder. As soon as one step was finished she stood upon it and
made the next one, and then the next, till she was close to the door. But just as she got
near the top she noticed that there were no bones left for the last rung of the ladder.
What was she to do? Without that last step the whole ladder was useless. She must have
lost one of the bones. Then suddenly an idea came to her. Taking a knife she chopped off
her little finger, and placing it on the last step, it stuck as the bones had done. The
ladder was complete, and with her child on her arm she entered the door of the house. Here
she found everything in perfect order. Having taken some food, she laid the child down to
sleep in a trough that was on the floor, and sat down herself to rest.
When her husband, the pig, came back to his house, he was startled by what he saw. At
first he could not believe his eyes, and stared at the ladder of bones, and at the little
finger on the top of it. He felt that some fresh magic must be at work, and in his terror
he almost turned away from the house; but then a better idea came to him, and he changed
himself into a dove, so that no witchcraft could have power over him, and flew into the
room without touching the ladder. Here he found a woman rocking a child. At the sight of
her, looking so changed by all that she had suffered for his sake, his heart was moved by
such love and longing and by so great a pity that he suddenly became a man.
The princess stood up when she saw him. and her heart beat with fear, for she did not
know him. But when he had told her who he was, in her great joy she forgot all her
sufferings, and they seemed as nothing to her. He was a very handsome man, as straight as
a fir tree. They sat down together and she told him all her adventures, and he wept with
pity at the tale. And then he told her his own history.
"I am a king's son. Once when my father was fighting against some dragons, who
were the scourge of our country, I slew the youngest dragon. His mother, who was a witch,
cast a spell over me and changed me into a pig. It was she who in the disguise of an old
woman gave you the thread to bind round my foot. So that instead of the three days that
had to run before the spell was broken, I was forced to remain a pig for three more years.
Now that we have suffered for each other, and have found each other again, let us forget
the past."
And in their joy they kissed one another.
Next morning they set out early to return to his father's kingdom. Great was the
rejoicing of all the people when they saw him and his wife; his father and his mother
embraced them both, and there was feasting in the palace for three days and three nights.
Then they set out to see her father. The old king nearly went out of his mind with joy
at beholding his daughter again. When she had told him all her adventures, he said to her,
"Did not I tell you that I was quite sure that that creature who wooed and won you as
his wife had not been born a pig? You see, my child, how wise you were in doing what I
told you."
And as the king was old and had no heirs, he put them on the throne in his place. And
they ruled as only kings rule who have suffered many things. And if they are not dead they
are still living and ruling happily.
Andrew Lang: The Red Fairy Book. London 1890, p. 104 ff. (AT 441, AT 425,
Rumänien)
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