Lang - The blue fairy book

Andrew Lang (March 31, 1844, Selkirk July 20, 1912, Banchory,Kincardineshire) was a prolific Scots man of letters. He was apoet, novelist, and literary critic, and contributor toanthropology. He now is best known as the collector of folk andfairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at St Andrews University arenamed for him. Source: Wikipedia

Once upon a time in a certain country there lived a king whosepalace was surrounded by a spacious garden. But, though thegardeners were many and the soil was good, this garden yieldedneither flowers nor fruits, not even grass or shady trees.

The King was in despair about it, when a wise old man said tohim:

Your gardeners do not understand their business: but whatcan you expect of men whose fathers were cobblers andcarpenters? How should they have learned to cultivate yourgarden?

You are quite right, cried the King.

Therefore, continued the old man, you should send for agardener whose father and grandfather have been gardeners beforehim, and very soon your garden will be full of green grass and gayflowers, and you will enjoy its delicious fruit.

So the King sent messengers to every town, village, and hamletin his dominions, to look for a gardener whose forefathers had beengardeners also, and after forty days one was found.

Come with us and be gardener to the King, they said tohim.

How can I go to the King, said the gardener, a poor wretchlike me?

That is of no consequence, they answered. Here are newclothes for you and your family.

But I owe money to several people.

We will pay your debts, they said.

So the gardener allowed himself to be persuaded, and went awaywith the messengers, taking his wife and his son with him; and theKing, delighted to have found a real gardener, entrusted him withthe care of his garden. The man found no difficulty in makingthe royal garden produce flowers and fruit, and at the end of ayear the park was not like the same place, and the King showeredgifts upon his new servant.

The gardener, as you have heard already, had a son, who was avery handsome young man, with most agreeable manners, and every dayhe carried the best fruit of the garden to the King, and all theprettiest flowers to his daughter. Now this princess waswonderfully pretty and was just sixteen years old, and the King wasbeginning to think it was time that she should be married.

My dear child, said he, you are of an age to take a husband,therefore I am thinking of marrying you to the son of my primeminister.

Father, replied the Princess, I will never marry the son ofthe minister.

Why not? asked the King.

Because I love the gardeners son, answered the Princess.

On hearing this the King was at first very angry, and then hewept and sighed, and declared that such a husband was not worthy ofhis daughter; but the young Princess was not to be turned from herresolution to marry the gardeners son.

Then the King consulted his ministers. This is what youmust do, they said. To get rid of the gardener you mustsend both suitors to a very distant country, and the one whoreturns first shall marry your daughter.

The King followed this advice, and the ministers son waspresented with a splendid horse and a purse full of gold pieces,while the gardeners son had only an old lame horse and a pursefull of copper money, and every one thought he would never comeback from his journey.

The day before they started the Princess met her lover and saidto him:

Be brave, and remember always that I love you. Take thispurse full of jewels and make the best use you can of them for loveof me, and come back quickly and demand my hand.

The two suitors left the town together, but the ministers sonwent off at a gallop on his good horse, and very soon was lost tosight behind the most distant hills. He traveled on for somedays, and presently reached a fountain beside which an old womanall in rags sat upon a stone.

Good-day to you, young traveler, said she.

But the ministers son made no reply.

Have pity upon me, traveler, she said again. I am dyingof hunger, as you see, and three days have I been here and no onehas given me anything.

Let me alone, old witch, cried the young man; I can donothing for you, and so saying he went on his way.

That same evening the gardeners son rode up to the fountainupon his lame gray horse.

Good-day to you, young traveler, said the beggar-woman.

Good-day, good woman, answered he.

Young traveler, have pity upon me.

Take my purse, good woman, said he, and mount behind me, foryour legs cant be very strong.

The old woman didnt wait to be asked twice, but mounted behindhim, and in this style they reached the chief city of a powerfulkingdom. The ministers son was lodged in a grand inn, thegardeners son and the old woman dismounted at the inn forbeggars.

The next day the gardeners son heard a great noise in thestreet, and the Kings heralds passed, blowing all kinds ofinstruments, and crying:

The King, our master, is old and infirm. He will give agreat reward to whoever will cure him and give him back thestrength of his youth.

Then the old beggar-woman said to her benefactor:

This is what you must do to obtain the reward which the Kingpromises. Go out of the town by the south gate, and there youwill find three little dogs of different colors; the first will bewhite, the second black, the third red. You must kill themand then burn them separately, and gather up the ashes. Putthe ashes of each dog into a bag of its own color, then go beforethe door of the palace and cry out, A celebrated physician hascome from Janina in Albania. He alone can cure the King andgive him back the strength of his youth. The Kingsphysicians will say, This is an impostor, and not a learned man,and they will make all sorts of difficulties, but you will overcomethem all at last, and will present yourself before the sickKing. You must then demand as much wood as three mules cancarry, and a great cauldron, and must shut yourself up in a roomwith the Sultan, and when the cauldron boils you must throw himinto it, and there leave him until his flesh is completelyseparated from his bones. Then arrange the bones in theirproper places, and throw over them the ashes out of the threebags. The King will come back to life, and will be just as hewas when he was twenty years old. For your reward you mustdemand the bronze ring which has the power to grant you everythingyou desire. Go, my son, and do not forget any of myinstructions.

The young man followed the old beggar-womans directions. On going out of the town he found the white, red, and black dogs,and killed and burnt them, gathering the ashes in three bags. Then he ran to the palace and cried: