第73章 KARI WOODENGOWN(3)

`Do you see anything now?' said the Bull.

`Yes, I see a small castle, far, far away,' said the Princess.

`It is not so very little after all,' said the Bull.

After a long, long time they came to a high hill, where there was a precipitous wall of rock.

`Do you see nothing now?' said the Bull.

`Yes, now I see the castle quite near, and now it is much, much larger,' said the King's daughter.

`Thither shall you go,' said the Bull; `immediately below the castle there is a pig-sty, where you shall dwell.When you get there, you will find a wooden gown which you are to put on, and then go to the castle and say that you are called Kari Woodengown, and that you are seeking a place.But now you must take out your little knife and cut off my head with it, and then you must flay me and roll up my hide and put it there under the rock, and beneath the hide you must lay the copper leaf, and the silver leaf, and the golden apple.Close beside the rock a stick is standing, and when you want me for anything you have only to knock at the wall of rock with that.'

At first she would not do it, but when the Bull said that this was the only reward that he would have for what he had done for her, she could do no otherwise.So though she thought it very cruel, she slaved on and cut at the great animal with the knife till she had cut off his head and hide, and then she folded up the hide and laid it beneath the mountain wall, and put the copper leaf, and the silver leaf, and the golden apple inside it.

When she had done that she went away to the pig-sty, but all the way as she went she wept, and was very sorrowful.Then she put on the wooden gown, and walked to the King's palace.When she got there she went into the kitchen and begged for a place, saying that her name was Kari Woodengown.

The cook told her that she might have a place and leave to stay there at once and wash up, for the girl who had done that before had just gone away.`And as soon as you get tired of being here you will take yourself off too,' said he.

`No,' said she, `that I shall certainly not.'

And then she washed up, and did it very tidily.

On Sunday some strangers were coming to the King's palace, so Kari begged to have leave to carry up the water for the Prince's bath, but the others laughed at her and said, `What do you want there?

Do you think the Prince will ever look at such a fright as you?'

She would not give it up, however, but went on begging until at last she got leave.When she was going upstairs her wooden gown made such a clatter that the Prince came out and said, `What sort of a creature may you be?'

`I was to take this water to you,' said Kari.

`Do you suppose that I will have any water that you bring?'

said the Prince, and emptied it over her.

She had to bear that, but then she asked permission to go to church.She got that, for the church was very near.But first she went to the rock and knocked at it with the stick which was standing there, as the Bull had told her to do.Instantly a man came forth and asked what she wanted.The King's daughter said that she had got leave to go to church and listen to the priest, but that she had no clothes to go in.So he brought her a gown that was as bright as the copper wood, and she got a horse and saddle too from him.When she reached the church she was so pretty and so splendidly dressed that every one wondered who she could be, and hardly anyone listened to what the priest was saying, for they were all looking far too much at her, and the Prince himself liked her so well that he could not take his eyes off her for an instant.

As she was walking out of church the Prince followed her and shut the church door after her, and thus he kept one of her gloves in his hand.Then she went away and mounted her horse again; the Prince again followed her, and asked her whence she came.

`Oh! I am from Bathland,' said Kari.And when the Prince took out the glove and wanted to give it back to her, she said:

`Darkness behind me, but light on my way, That the Prince may not see where I'm going to-day!'

The Prince had never seen the equal of that glove, and he went far and wide, asking after the country which the proud lady, who rode away without her glove, had said that she came from, but there was no one who could tell him where it lay.

Next Sunday some one had to take up a towel to the Prince.

`Ah! may I have leave to go up with that?' said Kari.

`What would be the use of that?' said the others who were in the kitchen; `you saw what happened last time.'

Kari would not give in, but went on begging for leave till she got it, and then she ran up the stairs so that her wooden gown clattered again.Out came the Prince, and when he saw that it was Kari, he snatched the towel from her and flung it right in her eyes.

`Be off at once, you ugly Troll,' said he; `do you think that Iwill have a towel that has been touched by your dirty fingers?'

After that the Prince went to church, and Kari also asked leave to go.They all asked how she could want to go to church when she had nothing to wear but that wooden gown, which was so black and hideous.But Kari said she thought the priest was such a good man at preaching that she got so much benefit from what he said, and at last she got leave.

She went to the rock and knocked, whereupon out came the man and gave her a gown which was much more magnificent than the first.It was embroidered with silver all over it, and it shone like the silver wood, and he gave her also a most beautiful horse, with housings embroidered with silver, and a bridle of silver too.