The Skilful Huntsman

There was once a young fellow who had learnt the trade of locksmith,
and told his father he would now go out into the world and seek his
fortune. Very well, said the father, I am quite content with that,
and gave him some money for his journey. So he traveled about and
looked for work. After a time he resolved not to follow the trade of
locksmith any more, for he no longer liked it, but he took a fancy
for hunting.

Then there met him in his rambles a huntsman dressed in green, who
asked whence he came and whither he was going. The youth said he was
a locksmith's apprentice, but that the trade no longer pleased him,
and he had a liking for huntsmanship, would he teach it to him. "Oh,
yes," said the huntsman, "if you will go with me." Then the young
fellow went with him, apprenticed himself to him for some years, and
learnt the art of hunting. After this he wished to try his luck
elsewhere, and the huntsman gave him nothing in the way of payment
but an air-gun, which had, however, this property, that it hit its
mark without fail whenever he shot with it. Then he set out and
found himself in a very large forest, which he could not get to the
end of in one day. When evening came he seated himself in a high
tree in order to escape from the wild beasts.

Towards midnight, it seemed to him as if a tiny little light
glimmered in the distance. Then he looked down through the branches
towards it, and kept well in his mind where it was. But in the first
place he took off his hat and threw it down in the direction of the
light, so that he might go to the hat as a mark when he had
descended. He got down and went to his hat, put it on again and went
straight forwards. The farther he went, the larger the light grew,
and when he got close to it he saw that it was an enormous fire, and
that three giants were sitting by it, who had an ox on the spit, and
were roasting it. Presently one of them said, "I must just taste if
the meat will soon be fit to eat," and pulled a piece off, and was
about to put it in his mouth when the huntsman shot it out of his
hand. "Well, really," said the giant, "if the wind has not blown the
bit out of my hand," and helped himself to another. But when he was
just about to bite into it, the huntsman again shot it away from him.
On this the giant gave the one who was sitting next him a box on the
ear, and cried angrily, "Why are you snatching my piece away from
me?" "I have not snatched it away," said the other, "a sharpshooter
must have shot it away from you."

The giant took another piece, but again could not keep it in his
hand, for the huntsman shot it out. Then the giant said, "That must
be a good shot to shoot the bit out of one's very mouth, such an one
would be useful to us." And he cried aloud, "Come here, you
sharpshooter, seat yourself at the fire beside us and eat your fill,
we will not hurt you, but if you will not come, and we have to bring
you by force, you are a lost man."

On this the youth went up to them and told them he was a skilled
huntsman, and that whatever he aimed at with his gun, he was certain
to hit. Then they said if he would go with them he should be well
treated, and they told him that outside the forest there was a great
lake, behind which stood a tower, and in the tower was imprisoned a
lovely princess, whom they wished very much to carry off. "Yes,"
said he, "I will soon get her for you." Then they added, "But there
is still something else, there is a tiny little dog, which begins to
bark directly any one goes near, and as soon as it barks every one in
the royal palace wakens up, and for this reason we cannot get there,
can you undertake to shoot it dead?" "Yes," said he, "that will be
quite fun for me." After this he got into a boat and rowed over the
lake, and as soon as he landed, the little dog came running out, and
was about to bark, but the huntsman took his airgun and shot it dead.

When the giants saw that, they rejoiced, and thought they already had
the king's daughter safe, but the huntsman wished first to see how
matters stood, and told them that they must stay outside until he
called them. Then he went into the castle, and all was perfectly
quiet within, and every one was asleep. When he opened the door of
the first room, a sword was hanging on the wall which was made of
pure silver, and there was a golden star on it, and the name of the
king, and on a table near it lay a sealed letter which he broke open,
and inside it was written that whosoever had the sword could kill
everything which opposed him. So he took the sword from the wall,
hung it at his side and went onwards, then he entered the room where
the king's daughter was lying sleeping, and she was so beautiful that
he stood still and, holding his breath, looked at her. He thought to
himself, "How can I give an innocent maiden into the power of the
wild giants, who have evil in their minds?" He looked about further,
and under the bed stood a pair of slippers, on the right one was her
father's name with a star, and on the left her own name with a star.
She wore also a large scarf of silk embroidered with gold, and on the
right side was her father's name, and on the left her own, all in
golden letters. Then the huntsman took a pair of scissors and cut
the right corner off, and put it in his knapsack, and then he also
took the right slipper with the king's name, and thrust that in. Now
the maiden still lay sleeping, and she was quite sewn into her
night-dress, and he cut a morsel from this also, and thrust it in
with the rest, but he did all without touching her.

Then he went forth and left her lying asleep undisturbed, and when he
came to the gate again, the giants were still standing outside
waiting for him, and expecting that he was bringing the princess.
But he cried to them that they were to come in, for the maiden was
already in their power, that he could not open the gate to them, but
there was a hole through which they must creep. Then the first
approached, and the huntsman wound the giant's hair round his hand,
pulled the head in, and cut it off at one stroke with his sword, and
then drew the rest of him in. He called to the second and cut his
head off likewise, and then he killed the third also, and he was well
pleased that he had freed the beautiful maiden from her enemies, and
he cut out their tongues and put them in his knapsack. Then thought
he, "I will go home to my father and let him see what I have already
done, and afterwards I will travel about the world, the luck which
God is pleased to grant me will easily find me."

But when the king in the castle awoke, he saw the three giants lying
there dead. So he went into the sleeping-room of his daughter, awoke
her, and asked who could have killed the giants. Then said she, "Dear
father, I know not, I have been asleep." But when she arose and would
have put on her slippers, the right one was gone, and when she looked
at her scarf it was cut, and the right corner was missing, and when
she looked at her night-dress a piece was cut out of it. The king
summoned his whole court together, soldiers and every one else who
was there, and asked who had set his daughter at liberty, and killed
the giants.

Now it happened that he had a captain, who was one-eyed and a hideous
man, and he said that he had done it. Then the old king said that as
he had accomplished this, he should marry his daughter. But the
maiden said, "Rather than marry him, dear father, I will go away into
the world as far as my legs can carry me." But the king said that if
she would not marry him she should take off her royal garments and
wear peasant's clothing, and go forth, and that she should go to a
potter, and begin a trade in earthen vessels.

So she put off her royal apparel, and went to a potter and borrowed
crockery enough for a stall, and she promised him also that if she
had sold it by the evening, she would pay for it. Then the king said
she was to seat herself in a corner with it and sell it, and he
arranged with some peasants to drive over it with their carts, so
that everything should be broken into a thousand pieces. When
therefore the king's daughter had placed her stall in the street, by
came the carts, and broke all she had into tiny fragments. She began
to weep and said, "Alas, how shall I ever pay for the pots now." The
king, however, had wished by this to force her to marry the captain;
but instead of that, she again went to the potter, and asked him if
he would lend to her once more. He said, no, she must first pay for
what she already had.

Then she went to her father and cried and lamented, and said she
would go forth into the world. Then said he, "I will have a little
hut built for you in the forest outside, and in it you shall stay all
your life long and cook for every one, but you shall take no money
for it." When the hut was ready, a sign was hung on the door whereon
was written, to-day given, to-morrow sold. There she remained a long
time, and it was rumored about the world that a maiden was there who
cooked without asking for payment, and that this was set forth on a
sign outside her door.

The huntsman heard it likewise, and thought to himself, that would
suit you. You are poor, and have no money. So he took his air-gun
and his knapsack, wherein all the things which he had formerly
carried away with him from the castle as tokens of his truthfulness
were still lying, and went into the forest, and found the hut with
the sign, to-day given, to-morrow sold. He had put on the sword with
which he had cut off the heads of the three giants, and thus entered
the hut, and ordered something to eat to be given to him. He was
charmed with the beautiful maiden, who was indeed as lovely as any
picture. She asked him whence he came and whither he was going, and
he said, "I am roaming about the world." Then she asked him where he
had got the sword, for that truly her father's name was on it. He
asked her if she were the king's daughter. "Yes," answered she.
"With this sword," said he, "did I cut off the heads of three
giants." And he took their tongues out of his knapsack in proof.
Then he also showed her the slipper, and the corner of the scarf, and
the piece of the night-dress.

Hereupon she was overjoyed, and said that he was the one who had
delivered her. On this they went together to the old king, and
fetched him to the hut, and she led him into her room, and told him
that the huntsman was the man who had really set her free from the
giants. And when the aged king saw all the proofs of this, he could
no longer doubt, and said that he was very glad he knew how
everything had happened, and that the huntsman should have her to
wife, on which the maiden was glad at heart. Then she dressed the
huntsman as if he were a foreign lord, and the king ordered a feast
to be prepared. When they went to table, the captain sat on the left
side of the king's daughter, but the huntsman was on the right, and
the captain thought he was a foreign lord who had come on a visit.
When they had eaten and drunk, the old king said to the captain that
he would set before him something which he must guess. "Supposing
someone said that he had killed the three giants and he were asked
where the giants, tongues were, and he were forced to go and look,
and there were none in their heads. How could that have happened?"
The captain said, "Then they cannot have had any." "Not so," said the
king. "Every animal has a tongue," and then he likewise asked what
punishment should be meted out to anyone who made such an answer.
The captain replied, "He ought to be torn in pieces." Then the king
said he had pronounced his own sentence, and the captain was put in
prison and then torn in four pieces, but the king's daughter was
married to the huntsman. After this he brought his father and mother,
and they lived with their son in happiness, and after the death of
the old king he received the kingdom.