The Three Feathers

: English Fairy Tales

Once upon a time there lived a girl who was wooed and married by a man

she never saw; for he came a-courting her after nightfall, and when they

were married he never came home till it was dark, and always left before

dawn.



Still he was good and kind to her, giving her everything her heart could

desire, so she was well content for a while. But, after a bit, some of

her friends, doubtless full of envy for h
r good luck, began to whisper

that the unseen husband must have something dreadful the matter with him

which made him averse to being seen.



Now from the very beginning the girl had wondered why her lover did not

come a-courting her as other girls' lovers came, openly and by day, and

though, at first, she paid no heed to her neighbours' nods and winks,

she began at last to think there might be something in what they said.

So she determined to see for herself, and one night when she heard her

husband come into her room, she lit her candle suddenly and saw him.



And, lo and behold! he was handsome as handsome; beautiful enough to

make every woman in the world fall in love with him on the spot. But

even as she got her glimpse of him, he changed into a big brown bird

which looked at her with eyes full of anger and blame.



"Because you have done this faithless thing," it said, "you will see me

no more, unless for seven long years and a day you serve for me

faithfully."



And she cried with tears and sobs, "I will serve seven times seven years

and a day if you will only come back. Tell me what I am to do."



Then the bird-husband said, "I will place you in service, and there you

must remain and do good work for seven years and a day, and you must

listen to no man who may seek to beguile you to leave that service. If

you do I will never return."



To this the girl agreed, and the bird, spreading its broad brown wings,

carried her to a big mansion.



"Here they need a laundry-maid," said the bird-husband. "Go in, ask to

see the mistress, and say you will do the work; but remember you must do

it for seven years and a day."



"But I cannot do it for seven days," answered the girl. "I cannot wash

or iron."



"That matters nothing," replied the bird. "All you have to do is to

pluck three feathers from under my wing close to my heart, and these

feathers will do your bidding whatever it may be. You will only have to

put them on your hand, and say, 'By virtue of these three feathers from

over my true love's heart may this be done,' and it will be done."



So the girl plucked three feathers from under the bird's wing, and after

that the bird flew away.



Then the girl did as she was bidden, and the lady of the house engaged

her for the place. And never was such a quick laundress; for, see you,

she had only to go into the wash-house, bolt the door and close the

shutters, so that no one should see what she was at; then she would out

with the three feathers and say, "By virtue of these three feathers from

over my true love's heart may the copper be lit, the clothes sorted,

washed, boiled, dried, folded, mangled, ironed," and lo! there they came

tumbling on to the table, clean and white, quite ready to be put away.

So her mistress set great store by her and said there never was such a

good laundry-maid. Thus four years passed and there was no talk of her

leaving. But the other servants grew jealous of her, all the more so,

because, being a very pretty girl, all the men-servants fell in love

with her and wanted to marry her.



But she would have none of them, because she was always waiting and

longing for the day when her bird-husband would come back to her in

man's form.



Now one of the men who wanted her was the stout butler, and one day as

he was coming back from the cider-house he chanced to stop by the

laundry, and he heard a voice say, "By virtue of these three feathers

from over my true love's heart may the copper be lit, the clothes

sorted, boiled, dried, folded, mangled, and ironed."



He thought this very queer, so he peeped through the keyhole. And there

was the girl sitting at her ease in a chair, while all the clothes came

flying to the table ready and fit to put away.



Well, that night he went to the girl and said that if she turned up her

nose at him and his proposal any longer, he would up and tell the

mistress that her fine laundress was nothing but a witch; and then, even

if she were not burnt alive, she would lose her place.



Now the girl was in great distress what to do, since if she were not

faithful to her bird-husband, or if she failed to serve her seven years

and a day in one service, he would alike fail to return; so she made an

excuse by saying she could think of no one who did not give her enough

money to satisfy her.



At this the stout butler laughed. "Money?" said he. "I have seventy

pounds laid by with master. Won't that satisfy thee?"



"Happen it would," she replied.



So the very next night the butler came to her with the seventy pounds in

golden sovereigns, and she held out her apron and took them, saying she

was content; for she had thought of a plan. Now as they were going

upstairs together she stopped and said:



"Mr. Butler, excuse me for a minute. I have left the shutters of the

wash-house open, and I must shut them, or they will be banging all night

and disturb master and missus!"



Now though the butler was stout and beginning to grow old, he was

anxious to seem young and gallant; so he said at once:



"Excuse me, my beauty, you shall not go. I will go and shut them. I

shan't be a moment!"



So off he set, and no sooner had he gone than she out with her three

feathers, and putting them on her hand, said in a hurry:



"By virtue of the three feathers from over my true love's heart may the

shutters never cease banging till morning, and may Mr. Butler's hands be

busy trying to shut them."



And so it happened.



Mr. Butler shut the shutters, but--bru-u-u! there they were hanging open

again. Then he shut them once more, and this time they hit him on the

face as they flew open. Yet he couldn't stop; he had to go on. So there

he was the whole livelong night. Such a cursing, and banging, and

swearing, and shutting, never was, until dawn came, and, too tired to be

really angry, he crept back to his bed, resolving that come what might

he would not tell what had happened to him and thus get the laugh on

him. So he kept his own counsel, and the girl kept the seventy pounds,

and laughed in her sleeve at her would-be lover.



Now after a time the coachman, a spruce middle-aged man, who had long

wanted to marry the clever, pretty laundry-maid, going to the pump to

get water for his horses overheard her giving orders to the three

feathers, and peeping through the keyhole as the butler had done, saw

her sitting at her ease in a chair while the clothes, all washed and

ironed and mangled, came flying to the table.



So, just as the butler had done, he went to the girl and said, "I have

you now, my pretty. Don't dare to turn up your nose at me, for if you do

I'll tell mistress you are a witch."



Then the girl said quite calmly, "I look on none who has no money."



"If that is all," replied the coachman, "I have forty pounds laid by

with master. That I'll bring and ask for payment to-morrow night."



So when the night came the girl held out her apron for the money, and as

she was going up the stairs she stopped suddenly and said, "Goody me!

I've left my clothes on the line. Stop a bit till I fetch them in."



Now the coachman was really a very polite fellow, so he said at once:



"Let me go. It is a cold, windy night and you'll be catching your

death."



So off he went, and the girl out with her feathers and said:



"By virtue of the three feathers from over my true love's heart may the

clothes slash and blow about till dawn, and may Mr. Coachman not be able

to gather them up or take his hand from the job."



And when she had said this she went quietly to bed, for she knew what

would happen. And sure enough it did. Never was such a night as Mr.

Coachman spent with the wet clothes flittering and fluttering about his

ears, and the sheets wrapping him into a bundle, and tripping him up,

while the towels slashed at his legs. But though he smarted all over he

had to go on till dawn came, and then a very weary, woebegone coachman

couldn't even creep away to his bed, for he had to feed and water his

horses! And he, also, kept his own counsel for fear of the laugh going

against him; so the clever laundry-maid put the forty pounds with the

seventy in her box, and went on with her work gaily. But after a time

the footman, who was quite an honest lad and truly in love, going by the

laundry peeped through the keyhole to get a glimpse of his dearest dear,

and what should he see but her sitting at her ease in a chair, and the

clothes coming all ready folded and ironed on to the table.



Now when he saw this he was greatly troubled. So he went to his master

and drew out all his savings; and then he went to the girl and told her

that he would have to tell the mistress what he had seen, unless she

consented to marry him.



"You see," he said, "I have been with master this while back, and have

saved up this bit, and you have been here this long while back and must

have saved as well. So let us put the two together and make a home, or

else stay on at service as pleases you."



Well, she tried to put him off; but he insisted so much that at last she

said:



"James! there's a dear, run down to the cellar and fetch me a drop of

brandy. You've made me feel so queer!" And when he had gone she out

with her three feathers, and said, "By virtue of the three feathers from

over my true love's heart may James not be able to pour the brandy

straight, except down his throat."



Well! so it happened. Try as he would, James could not get the brandy

into the glass. It splashed a few drops into it, then it trickled over

his hand, and fell on the floor. And so it went on and on till he grew

so tired that he thought he needed a dram himself. So he tossed off the

few drops and began again; but he fared no better. So he took another

little drain, and went on, and on, and on, till he got quite fuddled.

And who should come down into the cellar but his master to know what the

smell of brandy meant!



Now James the footman was truthful as well as honest, so he told the

master how he had come down to get the sick laundry-maid a drop of

brandy, but that his hand had shaken so that he could not pour it out,

and it had fallen on the ground, and that the smell of it had got to his

head.



"A likely tale," said the master, and beat James soundly.



Then the master went to the mistress, his wife, and said: "Send away

that laundry-maid of yours. Something has come over my men. They have

all drawn out their savings as if they were going to be married, yet

they don't leave, and I believe that girl is at the bottom of it."



But his wife would not hear of the laundry-maid being blamed; she was

the best servant in the house, and worth all the rest of them put

together; it was his men who were at fault. So they quarrelled over it;

but in the end the master gave in, and after this there was peace, since

the mistress bade the girl keep herself to herself, and none of the men

would say ought of what had happened for fear of the laughter of the

other servants.



So it went on until one day when the master was going a-driving, the

coach was at the door, and the footman was standing to hold the coach

open, and the butler on the steps all ready, when who should pass

through the yard, so saucy and bright with a great basket of clean

clothes, but the laundry-maid. And the sight of her was too much for

James, the footman, who began to blub.



"She is a wicked girl," he said. "She got all my savings, and got me a

good thrashing besides."



Then the coachman grew bold. "Did she?" he said. "That was nothing to

what she served me." So he up and told all about the wet clothes and the

awful job he had had the livelong night. Now the butler on the steps

swelled with rage until he nearly burst, and at last he out with his

night of banging shutters.



"And one," he said, "hit me on the nose."



This settled the three men, and they agreed to tell their master the

moment he came out, and get the girl sent about her business. Now the

laundry-maid had sharp ears and had paused behind a door to listen; so

when she heard this she knew she must do something to stop it. So she

out with her three feathers and said, "By virtue of the three feathers

from over my true love's heart may there be striving as to who suffered

most between the men so that they get into the pond for a ducking."



Well! no sooner had she said the words than the three men began

disputing as to which of them had been served the worst; then James up

and hit the stout butler, giving him a black eye, and the fat butler

fell upon James and pommelled him hard, while the coachman scrambled

from his box and belaboured them both, and the laundry-maid stood by

laughing.



So out comes the master, but none of them would listen, and each wanted

to be heard, and fought, and shoved, and pommelled away until they

shoved each other into the pond, and all got a fine ducking.



Then the master asked the girl what it was all about, and she said:



"They all wanted to tell a story against me because I won't marry them,

and one said his was the best, and the next said his was the best, so

they fell a-quarrelling as to which was the likeliest story to get me

into trouble. But they are well punished, so there is no need to do

more."



Then the master went to his wife and said, "You are right. That

laundry-maid of yours is a very wise girl."



So the butler and the coachman and James had nothing to do but look

sheepish and hold their tongues, and the laundry-maid went on with her

duties without further trouble.



Then when the seven years and a day were over, who should drive up to

the door in a fine gilded coach but the bird-husband restored to his

shape as a handsome young man. And he carried the laundry-maid off to be

his wife again, and her master and mistress were so pleased at her good

fortune that they ordered all the other servants to stand on the steps

and give her good luck. So as she passed the butler she put a bag with

seventy pounds in it into his hand and said sweetly, "That is to

recompense you for shutting the shutters."



And when she passed the coachman she put a bag with forty pounds into

his hand and said, "That is your reward for bringing in the clothes."

But when she passed the footman she gave him a bag with a hundred pounds

in it, and laughed, saying, "That is for the drop of brandy you never

brought me!"



So she drove off with her handsome husband, and lived happy ever after.



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