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The Pink from Grimms' Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Translated by Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Read by Bob Neufeld.
There was once upon a time a queen to whom God had given no children. Every morning she
went into the garden and prayed to God in heaven to bestow on her a son or a daughter.
Then an angel from heaven came to her and said: 'Be at rest, you shall have a son with
the power of wishing, so that whatsoever in the world he wishes for, that shall he have.'
Then she went to the king, and told him the joyful tidings, and when the time was come
she gave birth to a son, and the king was filled with gladness.
Every morning she went with the child to the garden where the wild beasts were kept, and
washed herself there in a clear stream. It happened once when the child was a little
older, that it was lying in her arms and she fell asleep. Then came the old cook, who knew
that the child had the power of wishing, and stole it away, and he took a hen, and cut
it in pieces, and dropped some of its blood on the queen's apron and on her dress. Then
he carried the child away to a secret place, where a nurse was obliged to suckle it, and
he ran to the king and accused the queen of having allowed her child to be taken from
her by the wild beasts. When the king saw the blood on her apron, he believed this,
fell into such a passion that he ordered a high tower to be built, in which neither sun
nor moon could be seen and had his wife put into it, and walled up. Here she was to stay
for seven years without meat or drink, and die of hunger. But God sent two angels from
heaven in the shape of white doves, which flew to her twice a day, and carried her food
until the seven years were over. The cook, however, thought to himself: 'If
the child has the power of wishing, and I am here, he might very easily get me into
trouble.' So he left the palace and went to the boy, who was already big enough to speak,
and said to him: 'Wish for a beautiful palace for yourself with a garden, and all else that
pertains to it.' Scarcely were the words out of the boy's mouth, when everything was there
that he had wished for. After a while the cook said to him: 'It is not well for you
to be so alone, wish for a pretty girl as a companion.' Then the king's son wished for
one, and she immediately stood before him, and was more beautiful than any painter could
have painted her. The two played together, and loved each other with all their hearts,
and the old cook went out hunting like a nobleman. The thought occurred to him, however, that
the king's son might some day wish to be with his father, and thus bring him into great
peril. So he went out and took the maiden aside, and said: 'Tonight when the boy is
asleep, go to his bed and plunge this knife into his heart, and bring me his heart and
tongue, and if you do not do it, you shall lose your life.' Thereupon he went away, and
when he returned next day she had not done it, and said: 'Why should I shed the blood
of an innocent boy who has never harmed anyone?' The cook once more said: 'If you do not do
it, it shall cost you your own life.' When he had gone away, she had a little hind brought
to her, and ordered her to be killed, and took her heart and tongue, and laid them on
a plate, and when she saw the old man coming, she said to the boy: 'Lie down in your bed,
and draw the clothes over you.' Then the wicked wretch came in and said: 'Where are the boy's
heart and tongue?' The girl reached the plate to him, but the king's son threw off the quilt,
and said: 'You old sinner, why did you want to kill me? Now will I pronounce thy sentence.
You shall become a black poodle and have a gold collar round your neck, and shall eat
burning coals, till the flames burst forth from your throat.' And when he had spoken
these words, the old man was changed into a poodle dog, and had a gold collar round
his neck, and the cooks were ordered to bring up some live coals, and these he ate, until
the flames broke forth from his throat. The king's son remained there a short while longer,
and he thought of his mother, and wondered if she were still alive. At length he said
to the maiden: 'I will go home to my own country; if you will go with me, I will provide for
you.' 'Ah,' she replied, 'the way is so long, and what shall I do in a strange land where
I am unknown?' As she did not seem quite willing, and as they could not be parted from each
other, he wished that she might be changed into a beautiful pink, and took her with him.
Then he went away to his own country, and the poodle had to run after him. He went to
the tower in which his mother was confined, and as it was so high, he wished for a ladder
which would reach up to the very top. Then he mounted up and looked inside, and cried:
'Beloved mother, Lady Queen, are you still alive, or are you dead?' She answered: 'I
have just eaten, and am still satisfied,' for she thought the angels were there. Said
he: 'I am your dear son, whom the wild beasts were said to have torn from your arms; but
I am alive still, and will soon set you free.' Then he descended again, and went to his father,
and caused himself to be announced as a strange huntsman, and asked if he could offer him
service. The king said yes, if he was skilful and could get game for him, he should come
to him, but that deer had never taken up their quarters in any part of the district or country.
Then the huntsman promised to procure as much game for him as he could possibly use at the
royal table. So he summoned all the huntsmen together, and bade them go out into the forest
with him. And he went with them and made them form a great circle, open at one end where
he stationed himself, and began to wish. Two hundred deer and more came running inside
the circle at once, and the huntsmen shot them. Then they were all placed on sixty country
carts, and driven home to the king, and for once he was able to deck his table with game,
after having had none at all for years. Now the king felt great joy at this, and commanded
that his entire household should eat with him next day, and made a great feast. When
they were all assembled together, he said to the huntsman: 'As you are so clever, you
shall sit by me.' He replied: 'Lord King, your majesty must excuse me, I am a poor huntsman.'
But the king insisted on it, and said: 'You shall sit by me,' until he did it. Whilst
he was sitting there, he thought of his dearest mother, and wished that one of the king's
principal servants would begin to speak of her, and would ask how it was faring with
the queen in the tower, and if she were alive still, or had perished. Hardly had he formed
the wish than the marshal began, and said: 'Your majesty, we live joyously here, but
how is the queen living in the tower? Is she still alive, or has she died?' But the king
replied: 'She let my dear son be torn to pieces by wild beasts; I will not have her named.'
Then the huntsman arose and said: 'Gracious lord father she is alive still, and I am her
son, and I was not carried away by wild beasts, but by that wretch the old cook, who tore
me from her arms when she was asleep, and sprinkled her apron with the blood of a chicken.'
Thereupon he took the dog with the golden collar, and said: 'That is the wretch!' and
caused live coals to be brought, and these the dog was compelled to devour before the
sight of all, until flames burst forth from its throat. On this the huntsman asked the
king if he would like to see the dog in his true shape, and wished him back into the form
of the cook, in the which he stood immediately, with his white apron, and his knife by his
side. When the king saw him he fell into a passion, and ordered him to be cast into the
deepest dungeon. Then the huntsman spoke further and said: 'Father, will you see the maiden
who brought me up so tenderly and who was afterwards to *** me, but did not do it,
though her own life depended on it?' The king replied: 'Yes, I would like to see her.' The
son said: 'Most gracious father, I will show her to you in the form of a beautiful flower,'
and he thrust his hand into his pocket and brought forth the pink, and placed it on the
royal table, and it was so beautiful that the king had never seen one to equal it. Then
the son said: 'Now will I show her to you in her own form,' and wished that she might
become a maiden, and she stood there looking so beautiful that no painter could have made
her look more so. And the king sent two waiting-maids and two
attendants into the tower, to fetch the queen and bring her to the royal table. But when
she was led in she ate nothing, and said: 'The gracious and merciful God who has supported
me in the tower, will soon set me free.' She lived three days more, and then died happily,
and when she was buried, the two white doves which had brought her food to the tower, and
were angels of heaven, followed her body and seated themselves on her grave. The aged king
ordered the cook to be torn in four pieces, but grief consumed the king's own heart, and
he soon died. His son married the beautiful maiden whom he had brought with him as a flower
in his pocket, and whether they are still alive or not, is known to God.
End of The Pink.