Free The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales (Penguin Classics) by Franz Xaver von Schonwerth Page A

contemptuously. “Give me that little horn, but let me tie some roots around it so that it doesn’t burst into pieces when I blow on it.”
    The devil began worrying when he heard that. “Stop!” he shouted. “That’s no fair! I can’t get back to hell without thathorn.” He dashed off with the horn and left all his money with Hans.
    Hans brought the money back to the farmer’s wife. She sent him off to his father, along with the money, hoping that he would stay there. And that’s how Hans the Strong Man returned home as a rich man.

LOUSEHEAD
    One day a little gray lady met a woodcutter in the forest. It was raining, and she was carrying a dirty old sack on her shoulders. “Are you having a hard time too?” she asked.
    “I’ve seen better days,” the woodcutter replied.
    “I can help you, if you do as I tell you. In fourteen years I want you to bring me something that you do not yet know to exist.” And then the old woman vanished. When the woodcutter returned home and told his wife what had happened, she became frightened, for she felt sure she was with child. “Nothing good can come of that!” she said to him.
    The woodcutter’s wife gave birth to a boy, who grew to be a tall lad. When he turned fourteen, he ran into the woods, and his mother ran right after him. The little gray woman was waiting for him, and when she saw his mother, she threw the sack over her head and turned her into a white mare. The woman caught the boy, and the boy held the horse by the reins. The woman skipped around in front of him and took the boy deep into the woods to her castle. They went to the stables, and she said: “Do as I say. You don’t need to give this horse much to eat, but feed the brown one well.” The boy had no idea what had happened to his mother, and he did exactly as he was told. After a few days the woman reappeared and praised the boy, for the white horse was thin as a rail, and the brown one well fed and healthy. The woman left, and the mare nearly collapsed.
    The boy loosened the sack under the harness. All of a sudden the horse started talking to him: “Give me more food. I am your mother!” The boy didn’t have to hear that twice, andas soon as the mare had recovered and was strong enough to trot, he fled with it. They marched into the woods, down to the sea, and then on out into the world.
    The two reached a palace, and of course there was a royal stable there too. The boy rode in on horseback. The mare was just fine, but what use did they have for the boy?
    It turned out that one of the cooks at the palace had died, and so the boy was asked if he knew how to cook. He hesitated for a moment, ran back to the stable, and asked his mother what he should say. The mare said: “Just say yes to anything they ask.” And so the boy became a cook. He would sneak from the kitchen into the stables to get advice from his mother. When the dishes at the table all began to smell and taste better than ever before, the young cook was summoned, and he appeared in the hall with a cap on his head.
    The king was annoyed. The princes and princesses laughed and the youngest asked him: “Do you have some kind of problem with your hair?”
    The boy blushed and said: “Yes.”
    And from then on he was known as Lousehead.
    The king sent him from the kitchen to the gardens. The royal gardens were a wilderness of weeds and thistles. By following his mother’s instructions, the boy was able to turn it into a little paradise, and he grew apples and pears, lettuce, radishes, and garlic. The sons and daughters of the king and the king himself came to see the garden. The children teased him, but the king had nothing but praise for him.
    One day, war broke out, and the three princes had to go to battle. The stableboy went with them and rode his mare. During the battle he said to the princes: “Stay close to me.” The youngest did as he said, but the others did not, and the enemy captured them. Lousehead raced like a lightning