Ганс Андерсен - Fairy Tales

Her father, the old king, was very sad about all this, but he couldn’t forbid her from being so bad because he had once said that he didn’t want to have anything to do with her suitors. So, she could do as she pleased. Every time a prince came to claim the princess and make a guess to win her, he would lose, and so he was hanged or beheaded. He had been warned in time, after all. He didn’t have to court her! The old king was so upset about all the sorrow and misery that he kneeled with all his soldiers one whole day every year and prayed that the princess would become good and kind, but this she absolutely refused to do. Old women who drank strong spirits dyed their drinks quite black before they drank them. That’s how grieved they were, and more than that they couldn’t do.

“What a hideous princess!” Johannes said. “She really should have a spanking. That would be good for her. If I were the old king, I’d beat her till she bled!”

Just then they heard the people outside shouting “hurrah!” The princess was riding by, and truly she was so beautiful that everyone forgot how evil she was. That’s why they shouted “hurrah.” Riding beside her on coal-black horses were twelve lovely maidens, all in white silk dresses and holding a gold tulip. The princess herself was riding a chalk-white horse, decorated with diamonds and rubies, her riding outfit was made of pure gold, and the whip she had in her hand looked like a sunbeam. The gold crown on her head was like little stars from the sky, and her coat was sewn from thousands of lovely butterfly wings, but she was even more beautiful than all her clothes.

When Johannes saw her, his face turned as red as dripping blood, and he couldn’t say a word because the princess looked just like the lovely girl with the golden crown that he had seen in his dream the night his father died. He thought she was so beautiful that he couldn’t help falling in love with her. It couldn’t be true, he said, that she was an evil witch who had men hanged or beheaded if they couldn’t guess what she asked of them. “Everyone has the right to propose to her, after all, even the poorest tramp. I’m going up to the castle. I just can’t help myself!”

They all told him not to do it; he would meet the same fate as all the others. The traveling companion also advised him against it, but Johannes was sure it would turn out well. He polished his shoes and brushed his clothes, washed his face and hands, combed his lovely yellow hair, and went quite alone into the city and to the castle.

“Come in!” said the old king when Johannes knocked on the door. He opened the door and saw the old king come towards him, wearing a robe and embroidered slippers. He had a gold crown on his head, a scepter in one hand, and a golden apple in the other. “Just a minute,” he said and put the apple under his arm, so he could shake hands with Johannes. But as soon as he heard that Johannes was a suitor, he began to cry so violently that the scepter and apple fell on the floor, and he had to dry his eyes on his robe. The poor old king!

“Don’t do it!” he said. “It will go badly for you like it has for all the others. Just look at this,” and he led Johannes into the princess’ flower garden, which was frightful! From every tree four or five princes, who had proposed to the princess but were unable to guess her thoughts, were hanging. Whenever it was windy, the bones rattled and scared the little birds so much that they didn’t dare fly into that garden. All the flowers were tied up with human bones, and skulls sat grinning in the herb pots. That was some garden for a princess!

“Just look,” said the king. ”You’ll have the same fate as all these others you see here. Please give it up! You’re really making me unhappy because I take it all to heart.”

Johannes kissed the good, old king on the hand and assured him that it would surely go well, since he was so fond of the lovely princess.

Just then the princess came riding into the castle grounds with all her attendants, and they went out to greet her. She was so lovely and gave Johannes her hand, and now he thought even more of her than before. She certainly couldn’t be the evil, wicked witch that everyone said she was! They went up to the hall, and the little pages brought peppernut cookies and jam for them, but the old king was so sad that he couldn’t eat anything, and the peppernut cookies were too hard for him anyway.

It was decided that Johannes would come back to the castle the next morning, when the judges and the entire council would be gathered, and they would hear how he’d fare at guessing. If it went well, he would come again two more times, but so far no one had guessed the first time, and so they had all lost their lives.

Johannes was not at all worried about how it would go. He was happy thinking only about the lovely princess and believed firmly that the good Lord would help him. He didn’t have the slightest idea how, but he didn’t want to think about it either. He danced along the country road on his way back to the inn, where the traveling companion was waiting for him.

Johannes couldn’t say enough about how nicely the princess had greeted him, and how beautiful she was. He was already longing for the next day when he would return to the castle and try his luck at guessing.

But the traveling companion shook his head and was pretty sad. “I’m really fond of you,” he said, “and we could have been together for a long time yet, but now I’m already going to lose you. Poor, dear Johannes! I could cry, but I don’t want to disrupt your joy on what might be the last evening we’re together. We’ll be merry, really merry. Tomorrow when you’re gone, I’ll allow myself to cry.”

All the people in the city soon found out that a new suitor for the princess had arrived, so there was great sadness. The theater was closed, and all the bakery women put black ribbons on their candied pigs. The king and queen prayed on their knees in church, and there was great misery because it couldn’t turn out any different for Johannes than it had for all the other suitors.

In the evening the traveling companion made a big bowl of punch and told Johannes that they were going to be very merry and drink a toast to the princess. But when Johannes had drunk two glasses, he became so sleepy that he couldn’t hold his eyes open. He had to sleep. The traveling companion lifted him slowly from the chair and put him to bed, and when it was dark, he took the two big wings he had cut from the swan and fastened them to his shoulders. In his pocket he put the largest bundle he had gotten from the old woman who had broken her leg, opened the window, and flew over the city, right to the castle, where he sat in a corner under the window that led to the princess’ bedroom.

It was very quiet throughout the city. When the clock struck 11:15, the window opened, and the princess, dressed in a big white coat and with long black wings, flew out over the city to a large mountain. The traveling companion made himself invisible so she couldn’t see him, flew after her, and whipped the princess with his switch so that blood ran where he struck. They rushed through the air. The wind caught her coat and spread it out on all sides, like a big sail, and the moon shone through it.

“What a hailstorm! What a hailstorm!” the princess cried with every stroke from the whip, and it served her right. Finally she got to the mountain and knocked. It sounded like thunder as the mountain opened, and the princess went inside. The traveling companion followed, for no one could see him; he was quite invisible. They walked through a large, long hallway whose walls sparkled strangely; over a thousand glowing spiders ran up and down the wall, lighting like fire. Then they went into a large chamber, built of silver and gold where red and blue flowers as big as sunflowers shone from the walls, but no one could pick those flowers because the stems were awful, poisonous snakes, and the flowers themselves were fire coming from their mouths. The whole ceiling was bedecked with shining glow worms and sky-blue bats that flapped their thin wings—it looked very strange. There was a throne in the middle of the floor, carried by four horse skeletons that had harnesses of red fire spiders. The throne itself was made of milk-white glass, and the pillows to sit on were small black mice, that bit each other in the tails. There was a canopy over it of rose-colored spider-webs, decorated with the most beautiful little green flies that shone like gemstones. In the middle of the throne sat an old troll with a crown on his ugly head, and a scepter in his hand. He kissed the princess on the forehead, let her sit beside him on the precious throne, and then the music started. Big black grasshoppers played the harmonica, and the owl struck himself on the stomach because he didn’t have a drum. It was a weird concert. Small black pixies with fireflies on their caps danced around the hall. No one could see the traveling companion for he had positioned himself right behind the throne and heard and saw everything. The courtiers, who entered at that point, were so stately and elegant, but anyone with eyes in his head could notice what they were. They were nothing other than broomsticks with cabbage heads that the troll had conjured into life and given embroidered clothes. But it didn’t matter, for they were only for decoration.