The Evil One And Kitta Grau

: The Swedish Fairy Book

One day the devil met Kitta Grau:



"Where have you been, old man?" asked Kitta Grau, for she recognized

him.



"Well," said the evil one, "I have been out on the farmstead where the

newly wedded couple live. This is the third time I have tried to sow

dissension between them; but they think so much of each other that it

is a sheer impossibility."



"You talk like a real
tupid. That is something I could bring about

the very first time I went there," said Kitta Grau.



"If you can do that, you shall have a splendid pair of shoes," was the

evil one's reply.



"Mind you keep your word!" said Kitta, and turned toward the

farmstead.



There the woman was home alone; for her husband had gone to the

forest. Kitta said to the young wife:



"You really have a splendid husband."



"And that is the truth," the woman replied, "for he grants my every

wish before it is spoken."



"But take my word for it," said Kitta, "there is still a bit of

deceit in him. He has a pair of long hairs under his chin--if you

could get at them with a razor, and cut them off while he is asleep,

then he would be altogether without malice."



"Well," said the woman, "if that will help, I will be sure to keep an

eye open after dinner and attend to it, for then he always takes a

little noon-day nap."



Then Kitta Grau went out into the forest to the husband and bade him

good-day.



"You really have a very good wife," said Kitta.



"She could not be bettered," replied the husband.



"Well you might be mistaken for all that," said Kitta. "When you come

home, be on your guard, for when you go to take your noon-day nap, she

has in mind to cut your throat. So be sure not to go to sleep."



The husband did not think much of the matter; but still he thanked

Kitta Grau for her trouble.



Then he went home and ate his dinner, laid down and pretended to fall

asleep at once.



Thereupon his wife went to his shaving-kit, took out his razor, went

softly up to him and took hold of his chin with her hand.



Up flew the man.



"Do you want to murder me?" he cried, and gave his wife such a thump

that she measured her full length on the floor.



And from that day forward there was no peace in the house. Now Kitta

Grau was to receive her reward from the evil one. But he was so afraid

of her that he did not venture to give her the shoes until he stood on

one side of a stream, while she stood on the other, and then he passed

them over to her on a long pole.



"You are ever so much worse than I am," he told Kitta Grau.



The black man had made a bargain with a merchant. He had promised him

that all goods which he might buy he should sell again within three

weeks' time at a handsome profit. But, if he had prospered, after

seven years had passed he was to be the devil's own. And he did

prosper; for no matter what manner of old trash the merchant bought,

and if it were no more than an old worn-out fur coat, he was always

able to sell it again, and always at a profit.



Kitta Grau came into his shop and showed him the handsome shoes the

evil one had given her.



So the merchant said:



"May heaven keep me from him! He will surely fetch me when the time

comes; for I have made a pact with him; and I have been unable to buy

anything without selling it again in three weeks' time."



Then Kitta Grau said: "Buy me, for I am sure no one will buy me from

you!" And that is what the merchant did. He bought Kitta, had her

disrobe and cover herself with tar, and roll in a pile of feathers.

Then he put her in a glass cage as though she were a bird.



Now the first week went by, and the second week went by, and the third

week went by, and no one appeared who wanted to buy the curious bird.

And then, in due time, came the evil one, and wanted to fetch his

merchant.



"Have patience," said the merchant, "I still have something I have

bought, but have not been able to sell again in three weeks' time."



"That is something I'd like to see," said the black man. Then the

merchant showed him Kitta Grau, sitting in her glass cage. But no

sooner had the evil one seen the handsome bird than he cried:



"Oh, I see! It is you Kitta Grau! No one who knows you would buy you!"



And with that he hurried on his way.



Thus Kitta Grau could help do evil, and help do good.





NOTE



The story of "The Evil One and Kitta Grau." (Bondeson, p. 206.

From Halland) shows that it is child's play for an evil woman

to accomplish what the devil himself cannot do. Yet some one

has made an addition which redounds to Kitta's credit, and

which makes her one of the heroines of fairy-tale who know how

to take advantage of the evil one.



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