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 murder 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.



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