spare your life.' Then the soldier pulled out his pipe and lighted it
at the blue light, and as soon as a few wreaths of smoke had ascended,
the manikin was there with a small cudgel in his hand, and said: 'What
does my lord command?' 'Strike down to earth that false judge there,
and his constable, and spare not the king who has treated me so ill.'
Then the manikin fell on them like lightning, darting this way and
that way, and whosoever was so much as touched by his cudgel fell to
earth, and did not venture to stir again. The king was terrified; he
threw himself on the soldier's mercy, and merely to be allowed to live
at all, gave him his kingdom for his own, and his daughter to wife.



THE RAVEN

There was once a queen who had a little daughter, still too young to
run alone. One day the child was very troublesome, and the mother
could not quiet it, do what she would. She grew impatient, and seeing
the ravens flying round the castle, she opened the window, and said:
'I wish you were a raven and would fly away, then I should have a
little peace.' Scarcely were the words out of her mouth, when the
child in her arms was turned into a raven, and flew away from her
through the open window. The bird took its flight to a dark wood and
remained there for a long time, and meanwhile the parents could hear
nothing of their child.

Long after this, a man was making his way through the wood when he
heard a raven calling, and he followed the sound of the voice. As he
drew near, the raven said, 'I am by birth a king's daughter, but am
now under the spell of some enchantment; you can, however, set me
free.' 'What am I to do?' he asked. She replied, 'Go farther into the
wood until you come to a house, wherein lives an old woman; she will
offer you food and drink, but you must not take of either; if you do,
you will fall into a deep sleep, and will not be able to help me. In
the garden behind the house is a large tan-heap, and on that you must
stand and watch for me. I shall drive there in my carriage at two
o'clock in the afternoon for three successive days; the first day it
will be drawn by four white, the second by four chestnut, and the last
by four black horses; but if you fail to keep awake and I find you
sleeping, I shall not be set free.'

The man promised to do all that she wished, but the raven said, 'Alas!
I know even now that you will take something from the woman and be
unable to save me.' The man assured her again that he would on no
account touch a thing to eat or drink.

When he came to the house and went inside, the old woman met him, and
said, 'Poor man! how tired you are! Come in and rest and let me give
you something to eat and drink.'

'No,' answered the man, 'I will neither eat not drink.'

But she would not leave him alone, and urged him saying, 'If you will
not eat anything, at least you might take a draught of wine; one drink
counts for nothing,' and at last he allowed himself to be persuaded,
and drank.

As it drew towards the appointed hour, he went outside into the garden
and mounted the tan-heap to await the raven. Suddenly a feeling of
fatigue came over him, and unable to resist it, he lay down for a
little while, fully determined, however, to keep awake; but in another
minute his eyes closed of their own accord, and he fell into such a
deep sleep, that all the noises in the world would not have awakened
him. At two o'clock the raven came driving along, drawn by her four
white horses; but even before she reached the spot, she said to
herself, sighing, 'I know he has fallen asleep.' When she entered the
garden, there she found him as she had feared, lying on the tan-heap,
fast asleep. She got out of her carriage and went to him; she called
him and shook him, but it was all in vain, he still continued
sleeping.

The next day at noon, the old woman came to him again with food and
drink which he at first refused. At last, overcome by her persistent
entreaties that he would take something, he lifted the glass and drank
again.

Towards two o'clock he went into the garden and on to the tan-heap to
watch for the raven. He had not been there long before he began to
feel so tired that his limbs seemed hardly able to support him, and he
could not stand upright any longer; so again he lay down and fell fast
asleep. As the raven drove along her four chestnut horses, she said
sorrowfully to herself, 'I know he has fallen asleep.' She went as
before to look for him, but he slept, and it was impossible to awaken
him.

The following day the old woman said to him, 'What is this? You are
not eating or drinking anything, do you want to kill yourself?'

He answered, 'I may not and will not either eat or drink.'

But she put down the dish of food and the glass of wine in front of
him, and when he smelt the wine, he was unable to resist the
temptation, and took a deep draught.

When the hour came round again he went as usual on to the tan-heap in
the garden to await the king's daughter, but he felt even more
overcome with weariness than on the two previous days, and throwing
himself down, he slept like a log. At two o'clock the raven could be
seen approaching, and this time her coachman and everything about her,
as well as her horses, were black.


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