The Brown Fairy Book

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The Brown Fairy Book

Edited by
Andrew Lang

Dedicated
to
Diana Scott Lang

Preface

The stories in this Fairy Book come from all quarters of the
world. For example, the adventures of 'Ball-Carrier and the Bad
One' are told by Red Indian grandmothers to Red Indian children
who never go to school, nor see pen and ink. 'The Bunyip' is
known to even more uneducated little ones, running about with no
clothes at all in the bush, in Australia. You may see
photographs of these merry little black fellows before their
troubles begin, in 'Northern Races of Central Australia,' by
Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. They have no lessons except in
tracking and catching birds, beasts, fishes, lizards, and snakes,
all of which they eat. But when they grow up to be big boys and
girls, they are cruelly cut about with stone knives and
frightened with sham bogies all for their good' their parents
say and I think they would rather go to school, if they had their
choice, and take their chance of being birched and bullied.
However, many boys might think it better fun to begin to learn
hunting as soon as they can walk. Other stories, like 'The
Sacred Milk of Koumongoe,' come from the Kaffirs in Africa, whose
dear papas are not so poor as those in Australia, but have plenty
of cattle and milk, and good mealies to eat, and live in houses
like very big bee-hives, and wear clothes of a sort, though not
very like our own. 'Pivi and Kabo' is a tale from the brown
people in the island of New Caledonia, where a boy is never
allowed to speak to or even look at his own sisters; nobody knows
why, so curious are the manners of this remote island. The story
shows the advantages of good manners and pleasant behaviour; and
the natives do not now cook and eat each other, but live on fish,
vegetables, pork, and chickens, and dwell in houses. 'What the
Rose did to the Cypress,' is a story from Persia, where the
people, of course, are civilised, and much like those of whom you
read in 'The Arabian Nights.' Then there are tales like 'The Fox
and the Lapp ' from the very north of Europe, where it is dark
for half the year and day-light for the other half. The Lapps
are a people not fond of soap and water, and very much given to
art magic. Then there are tales from India, told to Major
Campbell, who wrote them out, by Hindoos; these stories are 'Wali
Dad the Simple-hearted,' and 'The King who would be Stronger than
Fate,' but was not so clever as his daughter. From Brazil, in
South America, comes 'The Tortoise and the Mischievous Monkey,'
with the adventures of other animals. Other tales are told in
various parts of Europe, and in many languages; but all people,
black, white, brown, red, and yellow, are like each other when
they tell stories; for these are meant for children, who like the
same sort of thing, whether they go to school and wear clothes,
or, on the other hand, wear skins of beasts, or even nothing at
all, and live on grubs and lizards and hawks and crows and
serpents, like the little Australian blacks.

The tale of 'What the Rose did to the Cypress,' is translated out
of a Persian manuscript by Mrs. Beveridge. 'Pivi and Kabo' is
translated by the Editor from a French version; 'Asmund and
Signy' by Miss Blackley; the Indian stories by Major Campbell,
and all the rest are told by Mrs. Lang, who does not give them
exactly as they are told by all sorts of outlandish natives, but
makes them up in the hope white people will like them, skipping
the pieces which they will not like. That is how this Fairy Book
was made up for your entertainment.

Contents

What the Rose did to the Cypress
Ball-Carrier and the Bad One
How Ball-Carrier finished his Task
The Bunyip
Father Grumbler
The Story of the Yara
The Cunning Hare
The Turtle and his Bride
How Geirald the Coward was Punished
Habogi
How the Little Brother set Free his Big Brothers
The Sacred Milk of Koumongoe
The Wicked Wolverine
The Husband of the Rat's Daughter
The Mermaid and the Boy
Pivi and Kabo
The Elf Maiden
How Some Wild Animals became Tame Ones
Fortune and the Wood-Cutter
The Enchanted Head
The Sister of the Sun
The Prince and the Three Fates
The Fox and the Lapp
Kisa the Cat
The Lion and the Cat
Which was the Foolishest?
Asmund and Signy
Rubezahl
Story of the King who would be Stronger then Fate
Story of Wali Dad the Simple-hearted
Tale of a Tortoise and of a Mischievous Monkey
The Knights of the Fish

The Brown Fairy Book

What the Rose did to the Cypress[FN#1]

Once upon a time a great king of the East, named
Saman-lalposh,[FN#2] had three brave and clever sons--Tahmasp,
Qamas, and Almas-ruh-baksh.[FN#3] One day, when the king was
sitting in his hall of audience, his eldest son, Prince Tahmasp,
came before him, and after greeting his father with due respect,
said: 'O my royal father! I am tired of the town; if you will
give me leave, I will take my servants to-morrow and will go into
the country and hunt on the hill-skirts; and when I have taken
some game I will come back, at evening-prayer time.' His father
consented, and sent with him some of his own trusted servants,
and also hawks, and falcons, hunting dogs, cheetahs and leopards.

At the place where the prince intended to hunt he saw a most
beautiful deer. He ordered that it should not be killed, but
trapped or captured with a noose. The deer looked about for a
place where he might escape from the ring of the beaters, and
spied one unwatched close to the prince himself. It bounded high
and leaped right over his head, got out of the ring, and tore
like the eastern wind into the waste. The prince put spurs to
his horse and pursued it; and was soon lost to the sight of his
followers. Until the world-lighting sun stood above his head in
the zenith he did not take his eyes off the deer; suddenly it
disappeared behind some rising ground, and with all his search he
could not find any further trace of it. He was now drenched in
sweat, and he breathed with pain; and his horse's tongue hung
from its mouth with thirst. He dismounted and toiled on, with
bridle on arm, praying and casting himself on the mercy of
heaven. Then his horse fell and surrendered its life to God. On
and on he went across the sandy waste, weeping and with burning
breast, till at length a hill rose into sight. He mustered his
strength and climbed to the top, and there he found a giant tree
whose foot kept firm the wrinkled earth, and whose crest touched
the very heaven. Its branches had put forth a glory of leaves,
and there were grass and a spring underneath it, and flowers of
many colours.

Gladdened by this sight, he dragged himself to the water's edge,
drank his fill, and returned thanks for his deliverance from
thirst.

He looked about him and, to his amazement, saw close by a royal
seat. While he was pondering what could have brought this into
the merciless desert, a man drew near who was dressed like a
faqir, and had bare head and feet, but walked with the free
carriage of a person of rank. His face was kind, and wise and
thoughtful, and he came on and spoke to the prince.

'O good youth! how did you come here? Who are you? Where do you
come from?'

The prince told everything just as it had happened to him, and
then respectfully added: 'I have made known my own circumstances
to you, and now I venture to beg you to tell me your own. Who
are you? How did you come to make your dwelling in this
wilderness?'

To this the faqir replied: 'O youth! it would be best for you to
have nothing to do with me and to know nothing of my fortunes,
for my story is fit neither for telling nor for hearing.' The
prince, however, pleaded so hard to be told, that at last there
was nothing to be done but to let him hear.

'Learn and know, O young man! that I am King Janangir[FN#4] of
Babylon, and that once I had army and servants, family and
treasure; untold wealth and belongings. The Most High God gave
me seven sons who grew up well versed in all princely arts. My
eldest son heard from travellers that in Turkistan, on the
Chinese frontier, there is a king named Quimus, the son of Timus,
and that he has an only child, a daughter named Mihr-afruz,[FN#5]
who, under all the azure heaven, is unrivalled for beauty.
Princes come from all quarters to ask her hand, and on one and
all she imposes a condition. She says to them: "I know a riddle;
and I will marry anyone who answers it, and will bestow on him
all my possessions. But if a suitor cannot answer my question I
cut off his head and hang it on the battlements of the citadel."
The riddle she asks is, "What did the rose do to the cypress?"

'Now, when my son heard this tale, he fell in love with that
unseen girl, and he came to me lamenting and bewailing himself.
Nothing that I could say had the slightest effect on him. I
said: "Oh my son! if there must be fruit of this fancy of yours,
I will lead forth a great army against King Quimus. If he will
give you his daughter freely, well and good; and if not, I will
ravage his kingdom and bring her away by force." This plan did
not please him; he said: "It is not right to lay a kingdom waste
and to destroy a palace so that I may attain my desire. I will
go alone; I will answer the riddle, and win her in this way." At
last, out of pity for him, I let him go. He reached the city of
King Quimus. He was asked the riddle and could not give the true
answer; and his head was cut off and hung upon the battlements.
Then I mourned him in black raiment for forty days.

After this another and another of my sons were seized by the same
desire, and in the end all my seven sons went, and all were
killed. In grief for their death I have abandoned my throne, and
I abide here in this desert, withholding my hand from all State
business and wearing myself away in sorrow.'

Prince Tahmasp listened to this tale, and then the arrow of love
for that unseen girl struck his heart also. Just at this moment
of his ill-fate his people came up, and gathered round him like
moths round a light. They brought him a horse, fleet as the
breeze of the dawn; he set his willing foot in the stirrup of
safety and rode off. As the days went by the thorn of love
rankled in his heart, and he became the very example of lovers,
and grew faint and feeble. At last his confidants searched his
heart and lifted the veil from the face of his love, and then set
the matter before his father, King Saman-lal-posh. 'Your son,
Prince Tahmasp, loves distractedly the Princess Mihr-afruz,
daughter of King Quimus, son of Timus.' Then they told the king
all about her and her doings. A mist of sadness clouded the
king's mind, and he said to his son: 'If this thing is so, I will
in the first place send a courier with friendly letters to King
Quimus, and will ask the hand of his daughter for you. I will
send an abundance of gifts, and a string of camels laden with
flashing stones and rubies of Badakhsham In this way I will bring
her and her suite, and I will give her to you to be your solace.
But if King Quimus is unwilling to give her to you, I will pour a
whirlwind of soldiers upon him, and I will bring to you, in this
way, that most consequential of girls.' But the prince said that
this plan would not be right, and that he would go himself, and
would answer the riddle. Then the king's wise men said: 'This is
a very weighty matter; it would be best to allow the prince to
set out accompanied by some persons in whom you have confidence.
Maybe he will repent and come back.' So King Saman ordered all
preparations for the journey to be made, and then Prince Tahmasp
took his leave and set out, accompanied by some of the courtiers,
and taking with him a string of two-humped and raven-eyed camels
laden with jewels, and gold, and costly stuffs.

By stage after stage, and after many days' journeying, he arrived
at the city of King Quimus. What did he see? A towering citadel
whose foot kept firm the wrinkled earth, and whose battlements
touched the blue heaven. He saw hanging from its battlements
many heads, but it had not the least effect upon him that these
were heads of men of rank; he listened to no advice about laying
aside his fancy, but rode up to the gate and on into the heart of
the city. The place was so splendid that the eyes of the ages
have never seen its like, and there, in an open square, he found
a tent of crimson satin set up, and beneath it two jewelled drums
with jewelled sticks. These drums were put there so that the
suitors of the princess might announce their arrival by beating
on them, after which some one would come and take them to the
king's presence. The sight of the drums stirred the fire of
Prince Tahmasp's love. He dismounted, and moved towards them;
but his companions hurried after and begged him first to let them
go and announce him to the king, and said that then, when they
had put their possessions in a place of security, they would
enter into the all important matter of the princess. The prince,
however, replied that he was there for one thing only; that his
first duty was to beat the drums and announce himself as a
suitor, when he would be taken, as such, to the king, who would
then give him proper lodgment. So he struck upon the drums, and
at once summoned an officer who took him to King Quimus.

When the king saw how very young the prince looked, and that he
was still drinking of the fountain of wonder, he said: 'O youth!
leave aside this fancy which my daughter has conceived in the
pride of her beauty. No one can answer er her riddle, and she
has done to death many men who had had no pleasure in life nor
tasted its charms. God forbid that your spring also should be
ravaged by the autumn winds of martyrdom.' All his urgency,
however, had no effect in making the prince withdraw. At length
it was settled between them that three days should be given to
pleasant hospitality and that then should follow what had to be
said and done. Then the prince went to his own quarters and was
treated as became his station.

King Quimus now sent for his daughter and for her mother,
Gulrukh,[FN#6] and talked to them. He said to Mibrafruz: '
Listen to me, you cruel flirt! Why do you persist in this folly?
Now there has come to ask your hand a prince of the east, so
handsome that the very sun grows modest before the splendour of
his face; he is rich, and he has brought gold and jewels, all for
you, if you will marry him. A better husband you will not find.'

But all the arguments of father and mother were wasted, for her
only answer was: 'O my father! I have sworn to myself that I
will not marry, even if a thousand years go by, unless someone
answers my riddle, and that I will give myself to that man only
who does answer it.'

The three days passed; then the riddle was asked: 'What did the
rose do to the cypress?' The prince had an eloquent tongue,
which could split a hair, and without hesitation he replied to
her with a verse: 'Only the Omnipotent has knowledge of secrets;
if any man says, " I know " do not believe him.'

Then a servant fetched in the polluted, blue-eyed headsman, who
asked: 'Whose sun of life has come near its setting?' took the
prince by the arm, placed him upon the cloth of execution, and
then, all merciless and stony hearted, cut his head from his body
and hung it on the battlements.

The news of the death of Prince Tahmasp plunged his father into
despair and stupefaction. He mourned for him in black raiment
for forty days; and then, a few days later, his second son,
Prince Qamas, extracted from him leave to go too; and he, also,
was put to death. One son only now remained, the brave,
eloquent, happy-natured Prince Almas-ruh-bakhsh. One day, when
his father sat brooding over his lost children, Almas came before
him and said: 'O father mine! the daughter of King Quimus has
done my two brothers to death; I wish to avenge them upon her.'
These words brought his father to tears. 'O light of your
father! ' he cried, 'I have no one left but you, and now you ask
me to let you go to your death.'

'Dear father!' pleaded the prince, 'until I have lowered the
pride of that beauty, and have set her here before you, I cannot
settle down or indeed sit down off my feet.'

In the end he, too, got leave to go; but he went a without a
following and alone. Like his brothers, he made the long journey
to the city of Quimus the son of Timus; like them he saw the
citadel, but he saw there the heads of Tahmasp and Qamas. He
went about in the city, saw the tent and the drums, and then went
out again to a village not far off. Here he found out a very old
man who had a wife 120 years old, or rather more. Their lives
were coming to their end, but they had never beheld face of child
of their own. They were glad when the prince came to their
house, and they dealt with him as with a son. He put all his
belongings into their charge, and fastened his horse in their
out-house. Then he asked them not to speak of him to anyone, and
to keep his affairs secret. He exchanged his royal dress for
another, and next morning, just as the sun looked forth from its
eastern oratory, he went again into the city. He turned over in
his mind without ceasing how he was to find out the meaning of
the riddle, and to give them a right answer, and who could help
him, and how to avenge his brothers. He wandered about the city,
but heard nothing of service, for there was no one in all that
land who understood the riddle of Princess Mihr-afruz.

One day he thought he would go to her own palace and see if he
could learn anything there, so he went out to her garden-house.
It was a very splendid place, with a wonderful gateway, and walls
like Alexander's ramparts. Many gate-keepers were on guard, and
there was no chance of passing them. His heart was full of
bitterness, but he said to himself: 'All will be well! it is here
I shall get what I want.' He went round outside the garden wall
hoping to find a gap, and he made supplication in the Court of
Supplications and prayed, 'O Holder of the hand of the helpless!
show me my way.'

While he prayed he bethought himself that he could get into the
garden with a stream of inflowing water. He looked carefully
round, fearing to be seen, stripped, slid into the stream and was
carried within the great walls. There he hid himself till his
loin cloth was dry. The garden was a very Eden, with running
water amongst its lawns, with flowers and the lament of doves and
the jug-jug of nightingales. It was a place to steal the senses
from the brain, and he wandered about and saw the house, but
there seemed to be no one there. In the forecourt was a royal
seat of polished jasper, and in the middle of the platform was a
basin of purest water that flashed like a mirror. He pleased
himself with these sights for a while, and then went back to the
garden and hid himself from the gardeners and passed the night.
Next morning he put on the appearance of a madman and wandered
about till he came to a lawn where several pert-faced girls were
amusing themselves. On a throne, jewelled and overspread with
silken stuffs, sat a girl the splendour of whose beauty lighted
up the place, and whose ambergris and attar perfumed the whole
air. 'That must be Mihrafruz,' he thought, 'she is indeed
lovely.' Just then one of the attendants came to the water's
edge to fill a cup, and though the prince was in hiding, his face
was reflected in the water. When she saw this image she was
frightened, and let her cup fall into the stream, and thought,
'Is it an angel, or a peri, or a man?' Fear and trembling took
hold of her, and she screamed as women scream. Then some of the
other girls came and took her to the princess who asked: 'What is
the matter, pretty one?'

'O princess! I went for water, and I saw an image, and I was
afraid.' So another girl went to the water and saw the same
thing, and came back with the same story. The princess wished to
see for herself; she rose and paced to the spot with the march of
a prancing peacock. When she saw the image she said to her
nurse: 'Find out who is reflected in the water, and where he
lives.' Her words reached the prince's ear, he lifted up his
head; she saw him and beheld beauty such as she had never seen
before. She lost a hundred hearts to him, and signed to her
nurse to bring him to her presence. The prince let himself be
persuaded to go with the nurse, but when the princess questioned
him as to who he was and how he had got into her garden, he
behaved like a man out of his mind--sometimes smiling, sometimes
crying, and saying: ' I am hungry,'Or words misplaced and random,
civil mixed with the rude.

'What a pity!' said the princess, 'he is mad!' As she liked him
she said: 'He is my madman; let no one hurt him.' She took him
to her house and told him not to go away, for that she would
provide for all his wants. The prince thought, 'It would be
excellent if here, in her very house, I could get the answer to
her riddle; but I must be silent, on pain of death.'

Now in the princess's household there was a girl called
Dil-aram[FN#7]; she it was who had first seen the image of the
prince. She came to love him very much, and she spent day and
night thinking how she could make her affection known to him.
One day she escaped from the princess's notice and went to the
prince, and laid her head on his feet and said: ' Heaven has
bestowed on you beauty and charm. Tell me your secret; who are
you, and how did you come here? I love you very much, and if you
would like to leave this place I will go with you. I have wealth
equal to the treasure of the miserly Qarun.' But the prince only
made answer like a man distraught, and told her nothing. He said
to himself, ' God forbid that the veil should be taken in vain
from my secret; that would indeed disgrace me.' So, with
streaming eyes and burning breast, Dil-aram arose and went to her
house and lamented and fretted.

Now whenever the princess commanded the prince's attendance,
Dil-aram, of all the girls, paid him attention and waited on him
best. The princess noticed this, and said: 'O Dil-aram! you must
take my madman into your charge and give him whatever he wants.'
This was the very thing Dil- aram had prayed for. A little later
she took the prince into a private place and she made him take an
oath of secrecy, and she herself took one and swore, ' By Heaven!
I will not tell your secret. Tell me all about yourself so that
I may help you to get what you want.' The prince now recognised
in her words the perfume of true love, and he made compact with
her. 'O lovely girl! I want to know what the rose did to the
cypress. Your mistress cuts off men's heads because of this
riddle; what is at the bottom of it, and why does she do it?'
Then Dil-aram answered: ' If you will promise to marry me and to
keep me always amongst those you favour, I will tell you all I
know, and I will keep watch about the riddle.'

'O lovely girl,' rejoined he, 'if I accomplish my purpose, so
that I need no longer strive for it, I will keep my compact with
you. When I have this woman in my power and have avenged my
brothers, I will make you my solace.'

'O wealth of my life and source of my joy!' responded Dil-aram,
'I do not know what the rose did to the cypress; but so much I
know that the person who told Mihr-afruz about it is a negro whom
she hides under her throne. He fled here from Waq of the
Caucasus--it is there you must make inquiry; there is no other
way of getting at the truth.'On hearing these words, the prince
said to his heart, 'O my heart! your task will yet wear away much
of your life.'

He fell into long and far thought, and Dil-aram looked at him and
said: 'O my life and my soul! do not be sad. If you would like
this woman killed, I will put poison into her cup so that she
will never lift her head from her drugged sleep again.'

'O Dil-aram! such a vengeance is not manly. I shall not rest
till I have gone to Waq of the Caucasus and have cleared up the
matter.' Then they repeated the agreement about their marriage,
and bade one another goodbye.

The prince now went back to the village, and told the old man
that he was setting out on a long journey, and begged him not to
be anxious, and to keep safe the goods which had been entrusted
to him.

The prince had not the least knowledge of the way to Waq of the
Caucasus, and was cast down by the sense of his helplessness. He
was walking along by his horse's side when there appeared before
him an old man of serene countenance, dressed in green and
carrying a staff, who resembled Khizr.[FN#8] The prince thanked
heaven, laid the hands of reverence on his breast and salaamed.
The old man returned the greeting graciously, and asked: 'How
fare you? Whither are you bound? You look like a traveller.'

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