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.