Farmer Weatherbeard
: The Red Fairy BookTHERE was once upon a time a man and a woman who had an
only son, and he was called Jack. The woman thought that
it was his duty to go out to service, and told her husband that he
was to take him somewhere.
`You must get him such a good place that he will become master
of all masters,' she said, and then she put some food and a roll of
tobacco into a bag for them.
Well, they wen
they could make the lad as good as they were themselves, but
better than that they could not make him. When the man came
home to the old woman with this answer, she said, `I shall be
equally well pleased whatever you do with him; but this I do say,
that you are to have him made a master over all masters.' Then
she once more put some food and a roll of tobacco into the bag,
and the man and his son had to set out again.
When they had walked some distance they got upon the ice,
and there they met a man in a carriage who was driving a black
horse.
`Where are you going?' he said.
`I have to go and get my son apprenticed to someone who will
be able to teach him a trade, for my old woman comes of such
well-to-do folk that she insists on his being taught to be master of
all masters,' said the man.
`We are not ill met, then,' said the man who was driving, `for
I am the kind of man who can do that, and I am just looking out
for such an apprentice. Get up behind with you,' he said to the
boy, and off the horse went with them straight up into the air.
`No, no, wait a little!' screamed the father of the boy. `I
ought to know what your name is and where you live.'
`Oh, I am at home both in the north and the south and the
east and the west, and I am called Farmer Weatherbeard,' said
the master. `You may come here again in a year's time, and then
I will tell you if the lad suits me.' And then they set off again
and were gone.
When the man got home the old woman inquired what had
become of the son.
`Ah! Heaven only knows what has become of him!' said the man.
`They went up aloft.' And then he told her what had happened.
But when the woman heard that, and found that the man did
not at all know either when their son would be out of his apprentice-
ship, or where he had gone, she packed him off again to find out,
and gave him a bag of food and a roll of tobacco to take away
with him.
When he had walked for some time he came to a great wood,
and it stretched before him all day long as he went on, and when
night began to fall he saw a great light, and went towards it.
After a long, long time he came to a small hut at the foot of a
rock, outside which an old woman was standing drawing water up
from a well with her nose, it was so long.
`Good-evening, mother,' said the man.
`Good-evening to you too,' said the old woman. `No one
has called me mother this hundred years.'
`Can I lodge here to-night?' said the man.
`No,' said the old woman. But the man took out his roll of
tobacco, lighted a little of it, and then gave her a whiff. Then
she was so delighted that she began to dance, and thus the man
got leave to stay the night there. It was not long before he asked
about Farmer Weatherbeard.
She said that she knew nothing about him, but that she ruled over
all the four-footed beasts, and some of them might know him. So
she gathered them all together by blowing a whistle which she
had, and questioned them, but there was not one of them which
knew anything about Farmer Weatherbeard.
`Well,' said the old woman, `there are three of us sisters; it
may be that one of the other two knows where he is to be found.
You shall have the loan of my horse and carriage, and then you
will get there by night; but her house is three hundred miles off,
go the nearest way you will.'
The man set out and got there at night. When he arrived,
this old woman also was standing drawing water out of the well
with her nose.
`Good-evening, mother,' said the man.
`Good-evening to you,' said the old woman. `No one has ever
called me mother this hundred years.'
`Can I lodge here to-night?' said the man.
`No,' said the old woman.
Then he took out the roll of tobacco, took a whiff, and gave the
old woman some snuff on the back of her hand. Then she was so
delighted that she began to dance, and the man got leave to stay
all night. It was not long before he began to ask about Farmer
Weatherbeard.
She knew nothing about him, but she ruled over all the fishes,
she said, and perhaps some of them might know something. So
she gathered them all together by blowing a whistle which she
had, and questioned them, but there was not one of them which
knew anything about Farmer Weatherbeard.
`Well,' said the old woman, `I have another sister; perhaps
she may know something about him. She lives six hundred miles
off, but you shall have my horse and carriage, and then you will
get there by nightfall.'
So the man set off and he got there by nightfall. The old
woman was standing raking the fire, and she was doing it with her
nose, so long it was.
`Good-evening, mother,' said the man.
`Good-evening to you,' said the old woman. `No one has
called me mother this hundred years.'
`Can I lodge here to-night?' said the man.
`No,' said the old woman. But the man pulled out his roll of
tobacco again, and filled his pipe with some of it, and gave the old
woman enough snuff to cover the back of her hand. Then she was
so delighted that she began to dance, and the man got leave to stay
in her house. It was not long before he asked about Farmer
Weatherbeard. She knew nothing at all about him, she said, but
she governed all the birds; and she gathered them together
with her whistle. When she questioned them all, the eagle was
not there, but it came soon afterwards, and when asked, it said
that it had just come from Farmer Weatherbeard's. Then the old
woman said that it was to guide the man to him. But the eagle
would have something to eat first, and then it wanted to wait
until the next day, for it was so tired with the long journey that it
was scarcely able to rise from the earth.
When the eagle had had plenty of food and rest, the old woman
plucked a feather out of its tail, and set the man in the feather's
place, and then the bird flew away with him, but they did not get
to Farmer Weatherbeard's before midnight.
When they got there the Eagle said: `There are a great many
dead bodies lying outside the door, but you must not concern
yourself about them. The people who are inside the house are all
so sound asleep that it will not be easy to awake them; but you
must go straight to the table-drawer, and take out three bits of
bread, and if you hear anyone snoring, pluck three feathers from
his head; he will not waken for that.'
The man did this; when he had got the bits of bread he first
plucked out one feather.
`Oof!' screamed Farmer Weatherbeard.
So the man plucked out another, and then Farmer Weatherbeard
shrieked `Oof!' again; but when the man had plucked the third,
Farmer Weatherbeard screamed so loudly that the man thought
that brick and mortar would be rent in twain, but for all that he
went on sleeping. And now the Eagle told the man what he was
to do next, and he did it. He went to the stable door, and there
he stumbled against a hard stone, which he picked up, and beneath
it lay three splinters of wood, which he also picked up. He knocked
at the stable door and it opened at once. He threw down the three
little bits of bread and a hare came out and ate them. He caught
the hare. Then the Eagle told him to pluck three feathers out of
its tail, and put in the hare, the stone, the splinters of wood and
himself instead of them, and then he would be able to carry them
all home.
When the Eagle had flown a long way it alighted on a stone.
`Do you see anything?' it asked.
`Yes; I see a flock of crows coming flying after us,' said the
man.
`Then we shall do well to fly on a little farther,' said the Eagle,
and off it set.
In a short time it asked again, `Do you see anything now?'
`Yes; now the crows are close behind us,' said the man.
`Then throw down the three feathers which you plucked out of
his head,' said the Eagle.
So the man did this, and no sooner had he flung them down
than the feathers became a flock of ravens, which chased the crows
home again. Then the Eagle flew on much farther with the man,
but at length it alighted on a stone for a while.
`Do you see anything?' it said.
`I am not quite certain,' said the man, `but I think I see
something coming in the far distance.'
`Then we shall do well to fly on a little farther,' said the Eagle,
and away it went.
`Do you see anything now?' it said, after some time had gone
by.
`Yes; now they are close behind us,' said the man.
`Then throw down the splinters of wood which you took from
beneath the gray stone by the stable door,' said the Eagle. The
man did this, and no sooner had he flung them down than they
grew up into a great thick wood, and Farmer Weatherbeard had to
go home for an axe to cut his way through it. So the Eagle flew on
a long, long way, but then it grew tired and sat down on a fir tree.
`Do you see anything?' it asked.
`Yes; I am not quite certain,' said the man, `but I think I can
catch a glimpse of something far, far away.'
`Then we shall do well to fly on a little farther,' said the Eagle,
and it set off again.
`Do you see anything now?' it said after some time had gone by.
`Yes; he is close behind us now,' said the man.
`Then you must fling down the great stone which you took away
from the stable door,' said the Eagle.
The man did so, and it turned into a great high mountain of
stone, which Farmer Weatherbeard had to break his way through
before he could follow them. But when he had got to the middle
of the mountain he broke one of his legs, so he had to go home to
get it put right.
While he was doing this the Eagle flew off to the man's home
with him, and with the hare, and when they had got home the man
went to the churchyard, and had some Christian earth laid upon the
hare, and then it turned into his son Jack.
When the time came for the fair the youth turned himself into
a light-coloured horse, and bade his father go to the market with
him. `If anyone should come who wants to buy me,' said he,
`you are to tell him that you want a hundred dollars for me; but
you must not forget to take off the halter, for if you do I shall
never be able to get away from Farmer Weatherbeard, for he is the
man who will come and bargain for me.'
And thus it happened. A horse-dealer came who had a great
fancy to bargain for the horse, and the man got a hundred dollars
for it, but when the bargain was made, and Jack's father had got
the money, the horse-dealer wanted to have the halter.
`That was no part of our bargain,' said the man, `and the
halter you shall not have, for I have other horses which I shall
have to sell.'
So each of them went his way. But the horse dealer had not
got very far with Jack before he resumed his own form again, and
when the man got home he was sitting on the bench by the stove.
The next day he changed himself into a brown horse and told
his father that he was to set off to market with him. `If a man should
come who wants to buy me,' said Jack, `you are to tell him that you
want two hundred dollars, for that he will give, and treat you besides;
but whatsoever you drink, and whatsoever you do, don't forget to
take the halter off me, or you will never see me more.'
And thus it happened. The man got his two hundred dollars for
the horse, and was treated as well, and when they parted from each
other it was just as much as he could do to remember to take off
the halter. But the buyer had not got far on his way before the
youth took his own form again, and when the man reached home
Jack was already sitting on the bench by the stove.
On the third day all happened in the same way. The youth
changed himself into a great black horse, and told his father that if
a man came and offered him three hundred dollars, and treated him
well and handsomely into the bargain, he was to sell him, but
whatsoever he did, or how much soever he drank, he must not forget
to take off the halter, or else he himself would never get away
from Farmer Weatherbeard as long as he lived.
`No,' said the man, `I will not forget.'
When he got to the market, he received the three hundred
dollars, but Farmer Weatherbeard treated him so handsomely that
he quite forgot to take off the halter; so Farmer Weatherbeard went
away with the horse.
When he had got some distance he had to go into an inn to get
some more brandy; so he set a barrel full of red-hot nails under his
horse's nose, and a trough filled with oats beneath its tail, and then
he tied the halter fast to a hook and went away into the inn.
So the horse stood there stamping, and kicking, and snorting, and
rearing, and out came a girl who thought it a sin and a shame to
treat a horse so ill.
`Ah, poor creature, what a master you must have to treat you
thus!' she said, and pushed the halter off the hook so that the horse
might turn round and eat the oats.
`I am here!' shrieked Farmer Weatherbeard, rushing out of
doors. But the horse had already shaken off the halter and flung
himself into a goose-pond, where he changed himself into a little
fish. Farmer Weatherbeard went after him, and changed himself
into a great pike. So Jack turned himself into a dove, and Farmer
Weatherbeard turned himself into a hawk, and flew after the dove
and struck it. But a Princess was standing at a window in the
King's palace watching the struggle.
`If thou didst but know as much as I know, thou wouldst fly
in to me through the window,' said the Princess to the dove.
So the dove came flying in through the window and changed
itself into Jack again, and told her all as it had happened.
`Change thyself into a gold ring, and set thyself on my finger,'
said the Princess.
`No, that will not do,' said Jack, `for then Farmer Weatherbeard
will make the King fall sick, and there will be no one who can make
him well again before Farmer Weatherbeard comes and cures him,
and for that he will demand the gold ring.'
`I will say that it was my mother's, and that I will not part with
it,' said the Princess.
So Jack changed himself into a gold ring, and set himself on
the Princess's finger, and Farmer Weatherbeard could not get at
him there. But then all that the youth had foretold came to
pass.
The King became ill, and there was no doctor who could cure
him till Farmer Weatherbeard arrived, and he demanded the ring
which was on the Princess's finger as a reward.
So the King sent a messenger to the Princess for the ring.
She, however, refused to part with it, because she had inherited it
from her mother. When the King was informed of this he fell
into a rage, and said that he would have the ring, let her have
inherited it from whom she might.
`Well, it's of no use to be angry about it,' said the Princess, `for
I can't get it off. If you want the ring you will have to take the
finger too!'
`I will try, and then the ring will very soon come off,' said
Farmer Weatherbeard.
`No, thank you, I will try myself,' said the Princess, and she
went away to the fireplace and put some ashes on the ring.
So the ring came off and was lost among the ashes.
Farmer Weatherbeard changed himself into a hare, which
scratched and scraped about in the fireplace after the ring until the
ashes were up to its ears. But Jack changed himself into a fox,
and bit the hare's head off, and if Farmer Weatherbeard was
possessed by the evil one all was now over with him.[25]
[25] From P. C. Asbjornsen.
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Aya, sweet maid, was the only child of a daimyo of the Province of Omi. Mother had she none, and her father was a noble lord and a warrior. He was at the Court of the Shogun, or he had weighty affairs at the capital, or he went here and there with... For A Little Girl Of Three
BY UNCLE NED. Moo, moo! What can I do For my little girl of three? I will eat the sweet grass, I will give her a glass Of my milk for her tea; Moo, moo! that 's what I'll do For my d... Fortunatus
In the city of Famagosta, in the island of Cyprus, there lived a very rich gentleman. His name was Theodorus: he married a lady who was the greatest beauty in Cyprus, and she was as rich as himself; she was called Graciana. They both had every ple... Fortune And The Wood-cutter
Several hundreds of years ago there lived in a forest a wood-cutter and his wife and children. He was very poor, having only his axe to depend upon, and two mules to carry the wood he cut to the neighbouring town; but he worked hard, and was alw... Fourth Voyage
Rich and happy as I was after my third voyage, I could not make up my mind to stay at home altogether. My love of trading, and the pleasure I took in anything that was new and strange, made me set my affairs in order, and begin my journey through... Frederick And Catherine
There was once a man called Frederick: he had a wife whose name was Catherine, and they had not long been married. One day Frederick said. 'Kate! I am going to work in the fields; when I come back I shall be hungry so let me have something nice cook... From Shepherd-boy To King
On a desolate plain, a little shepherd-boy stood alone. His day's work was over and he had wandered through field and forest listening to the twittering of the birds and the soft sound of the summer breezes as they gently swayed the branches of th... Fulfilled
It was Christmas eve, and in the great house on the hill there was much rejoicing and preparation for the feasting on the morrow. A knock came at the door, and two strangers stood there. "We have lost our way," they said, "and the night is dark an... Fundevogel
There was once a forester who went into the forest to hunt, and as he entered it he heard a sound of screaming as if a little child were there. He followed the sound, and at last came to a high tree, and at the top of this a little child was sitting... Galvanism
There was once a learned Italian, Galvani. He had an electric machine, and he showed his students what electricity was. He rubbed the glass hard with silk with something smeared over it, and then he approached to the glass a brass knob which was a... Game Of The Cat
This is another slate game, in which, by means of a tale and appropriate indications on the slate, a rude figure of a cat is delineated. It requires, however, some little ingenuity to accomplish it. Tommy would once go to see his cousin Charles. [... Game Of The Fox
One child is Fox. He has a knotted handkerchief, and a home to which he may go whenever he is tired, but while out of home he must always hop on one leg. The other children are geese, and have no home. When the Fox is coming out he says,-- ... Game Of The Gipsy
One child is selected for Gipsy, one for Mother, and one for Daughter Sue. The Mother says,-- I charge my daughters every one To keep good house while I am gone. You and you (points) but specially you, [Or sometimes, but ... Game-rhymes
The most obvious method of arranging the rhymes employed in the amusements of children is to commence with the simple lines used by the nurse in the infantine toe, finger, and face-games, then proceeding to bo-peep, and concluding with the more co... Gay And Spy
(A Rhyming Story for Little Folk) One beautiful day in the month of May, A little girl whose name was Gay (They called her that, because, you see, She was always cheerful as she could be) Went for a walk in the wood... Geirlaug The King's Daughter
One day a powerful king and his beautiful wife were sitting in the gardens of their capital city, talking earnestly about the future life of their little son, who was sleeping by their side in his beautiful golden cradle. They had been married for...