Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree
Once upon a time there was a king who had a wife, whose name was Silver-Tree, and a
daughter, whose name was Gold-Tree. On a certain day of the days, Gold-Tree and
Silver-Tree went to a glen, where there was a well, and in it there was a trout.
Said Silver-Tree, "Troutie, bonny little fellow, am not I the most beautiful queen
in the world?"
"Oh! indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why, Gold-Tree, your daughter."
Silver-Tree went home, blind with rage. She lay down on the bed, and vowed she would
never be well until she could get the heart and the liver of Gold-Tree, her daughter, to
eat.
At nightfall the king came home, and it was told him that Silver-Tree, his wife, was
very ill. He went where she was, and asked her what was wrong with her.
"Oh! only a thing which you may heal if you like."
"Oh! indeed there is nothing at all which I could do for you that I would not
do."
"If I get the heart and the liver of Gold-Tree, my daughter, to eat, I shall be
well."
Now it happened about this time that the son of a great king had come from abroad to
ask Gold-Tree for marrying. The king now agreed to this, and they went abroad.
The king then went and sent his lads to the hunting hill for a he goat, and he gave its
heart and its liver to his wife to eat; and she rose well and healthy.
A year after this Silver-Tree went to the glen, where there was the well in which there
was the trout.
"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, "am not I the most beautiful
queen in the world?"
"Oh! indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why, Gold-Tree, your daughter."
"Oh! well, it is long since she was living. It is a year since I ate her heart and
liver."
"Oh! indeed she is not dead. She is married to a great prince abroad."
Silver-Tree went home, and begged the king to put the long-ship in order, and said,
"I am going to see my dear Gold-Tree, for it is so long since I saw her." The
long-ship was put in order, and they went away.
It was Silver-Tree herself that was at the helm, and she steered the ship so well that
they were not long at all before they arrived.
The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-Tree knew the long-ship of her father
coming.
"Oh!" said she to the servants, "my mother is coming, and she will kill
me."
"She shall not kill you at all; we will lock you in a room where she cannot get
near you."
This is how it was done; and when Silver-Tree came ashore, she began to cry out,
"Come to meet your own mother, when she comes to see you."
Gold-Tree said that she could not, that she was locked in the room, and that she could
not get out of it.
"Will you not put out," said Silver-Tree, "your little finger through
the keyhole, so that your own mother may give a kiss to it?"
She put out her little finger, and Silver-Tree went and put a poisoned stab in it, and
Gold-Tree fell dead.
When the prince came home, and found Gold-Tree dead, he was in great sorrow, and when
he saw how beautiful she was, he did not bury her at all, but he locked her in a room
where nobody would get near her.
In the course of time he married again, and the whole house was under the hand of this
wife but one room, and he himself always kept the key of that room. On a certain day of
the days her forgot to take the key with him, and the second wife got into the room. What
did she see there but the most beautiful woman that she ever saw.
She began to turn and try to wake her, and she noticed the poisoned stab in her finger.
She took the stab out, and Gold-Tree rose alive, as beautiful as she was ever.
At the fall of night the prince came home from the hunting hill, looking very downcast.
"What gift," said his wife, "would you give me that I could make you
laugh?"
"Oh! indeed, nothing could make me laugh, except Gold-Tree were to come alive
again."
"Well, you'll find her alive down there in the room."
When the prince saw Gold-Tree alive her made great rejoicings, and he began to kiss
her, and kiss her, and kiss her. Said the second wife, "Since she is the first one
you had it is better for you to stick to her, and I will go away."
"Oh! indeed you shall not go away, but I shall have both of you."
At the end of the year, Silver-Tree went to the glen, where there was the well, in
which there was the trout.
"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, "am not I the most beautiful
queen in the world?"
"Oh! indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why Gold-Tree, your daughter."
"Oh! well, she is not alive. It is a year since I put the poisoned stab into her
finger."
"Oh! indeed she is not dead at all, at all."
Silver-Tree went home, and begged the king to put the long-ship in order, for that she
was going to see her dear Gold-Tree, as it was so long since she saw her. The long-ship
was put in order, and they went away. It was Silver-Tree herself that was at the helm, and
she steered the ship so well that they were not long at all before they arrived.
The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-Tree knew her father's ship coming.
"Oh!" said she, "my mother is coming, and she will kill me."
"Not at all," said the second wife; "we will go down to meet her."
Silver-Tree came ashore. "Come down, Gold tree, love," said she, "for
your own mother has come to you with a precious drink."
"It is a custom in this country," said the second wife, "that the person
who offers a drink takes a draught out of it first."
Silver-Tree put her mouth to it, and the second wife went and struck it so that some of
it went down her throat, and she fell dead. They had only to carry her home a dead corpse
and bury her.
The prince and his two wives were long alive after this, pleased and peaceful.
I left them there.
Joseph Jacobs: Celtic Fairy Tales. London 1892, Nr. 11. (AT 709, Schottland)
Originalanmerkung:
It is unlikely, I should say impossible, that this tale, with the incident of
the dormant heroine, should have arisen independently in the Highlands; it is most likely
an importation from abroad. Yet in it occurs a most "primitive" incident, the
bigamous household of the hero... On the "survival" method of investigation this
would possibly be used as evidence for polygamy in the Highlands. Yet if, as is probably,
the story came from abroad, this trait may have come with it, and only implies polygamy in
the original home of the tale.
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