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There was a
king before now, and he married, and he had but one daughter. When his
wife departed, he would marry none but one whom her clothes would fit. His
daughter one day tried her mother’s dress on, and she came and she let her
father see how it fitted her. It was fitting her well. When her father saw
her he would marry no woman but her. She went, crying where her muime was;
and her foster mother said to her, "What was the matter with her?" She
said “That her father was insisting that he would marry her." Her muime
told her to say to him, "That she would not marry him till he should get
her a gown of the swan's down." He went, and at the end of a day and a
year he came, and the gown with him. She again to take the counsel of her
muime. "Say to him," said her muime, "that thou wilt not marry him till he
gets thee a gown moorland canach." She said this to him. He went, and at
the end of a day and year he returned, and a gown of the moorland canach
with him. "Say now to him," said her muime, "that thou wilt not marry him
till he brings thee a gown of silk that will stand ground on the ground
with gold and silver." At the end of a day and year he returned with the
gown. "Say to him now," said her muime, “that thou wilt not marry him till
he brings thee a golden shoe, and a silver shoe." He got her a golden shoe
and a silver shoe. "Say to him now," said her muime, "that thou wilt not
marry him unless be brings thee a kist that will lock without and within,
and for which it is all the same to be on sea or on land." When she got
the kist, she folded the best of her mother's clothes, and of her own
clothes in it. Then she went herself into the kist, and she asked her
father to put it out on the sea to try how it would swim. Her father put
it out; when it was put out, it was going, and going, till it went out of
sight.
It went on
shore on the other side; and a herd came where it was, intending to break
it, in hopes that there were finding in the chest. When he was going to
break it she called out, "Do not so; but say to thy father to come here,
and he will get that which will better him for life." His father came, and
he took her with him to his own house. It was with a king that he was
herd, and the king's house was near him. "If I could get," said she,
"leave to go to service to this great house yonder." "They want none,"
said the herd, "unless they want one under the hand of the cook." The herd
went to speak for her, and she went as a servant maid under the hand of
the cook. When the rest were going to the sermon; and when they asked her
if she was going to it, she said that she was not; that she had a little
bread to bake, and that she could not go to it. When they went away, she
took herself to the herd's house, and she put on a gown of the down of the
swan. She went to the sermon, and she sat opposite the king's son. The
king's son took love for her. She went a while before the sermon skailed,
she reached the herd's house, she changed her clothes, and she was in
before them. When the rest came home, it was talking about the gentlewoman
that was at the sermon they were.
The next
Sunday they said to her, "Was she going to the sermon;" and she said,
"That she was not, that she had a little bread to bake." When they went
away, she reached the herd's house, and she put on a gown of the moorland
canach; and she went to the sermon. The king's son was seated where he was
the Sunday before, and she sat opposite to him. She came out before them,
and she changed, and she was at the house before them; and when the rest
came home. it was talking about the great gentlewoman that was at the
sermon they were. The third Sunday, they said to her, "Was she going to
the sermon;" and she said, "That she was not, that she had a little bread
to bake." When they went away, she reached the herd's house; she put on
the gown that would stand on the ground with gold and silver, and the
golden shoe and the silver shoe, and she went to the sermon. The king's
son was seated where she was the Sunday before, and she sat where he was.
A watch was set on the doors this Sunday. She arose, she saw a cranny, and
she jumped out at the cranny; but they kept hold of one of the shoes.
The king's
son said, "Whomsoever that shoe would fit, she it was he would marry."
Many were
trying the shoe on, and taking off their toes and heels to try if it would
fit them; but there were none whom the shoe would fit. 'Mere was a little
bird in the top of a tree, always saying as every one was trying on the
shoe, "Beeg beeg ha nan doot a heeg ach don tjay veeg a ha fo laiv a
hawchkare." "Wee wee, it comes not on thee; but on the wee one under the
hand of the cook." When he could get none whom the shoe would fit, the
king's son lay down, and his mother went to the kitchen to talk over the
matter. "Wont you let me see the shoe?" said she; "I will not do it any
harm at all events." "Thou! thou ugly dirty thing, that it should fit
thee." She went down, and she told this to her son. "Is it not known,"
said he, "that it wont fit her at all events? and can't you give it her to
please her?" As soon as the shoe went on the floor, the shoe jumped on her
foot. "What will you give me," said she, "to let you see the other one?"
She reached the herd's house, and she put on the shoes, and the dress that
would stand on the floor with gold and silver. When she returned, there
was but to send word for a minister, and she herself and the king's son
married. |
