Once upon a time there was an old king who had the most
beautiful daughter in the world. One day he announced: "Whoever can keep
watch in my old castle for three nights can have the princess for his
bride."
Now, there was a young man from a
poor family who thought to himself, "Why not risk my life? I've got
nothing to lose, and a lot to win. What's there to think about?"
So he appeared before the king
and offered to keep watch in the castle for three nights.
"You may request three
things to take with you into the castle, but they have to be lifeless
objects," the king said.
"Well,
I'd like to take a carpenter's bench with a knife, a lathe, and fire."
All of these things were carried
into the castle for him. When it turned dark, he himself went inside. At first
everything was quiet. He built a fire, placed the carpenter's bench with the
knife next to it, and sat down at the lathe. Toward midnight, however, a rumbling could be heard, first softly, then more loudly: "Bif! Baf! Hehe! Holla ho!"
It became more dreadful, and then
it was somewhat quiet. Finally, a leg came down the chimney and stood right
before him.
"Hey,
there!" the young man cried out. "How about some more? One is too
little."
The noise began once again.
Another leg fell down the chimney and then another and another, until there
were nine.
"That's enough now. I've got
enough for bowling, but there are no balls. Out with them!"
There was a tremendous uproar,
and two skulls fell down the chimney. He put them in the lathe and turned them
until they were smooth. "Now they'll roll much better!"
Then he did the same with the legs and set them up like
bowling pins.
"Hey, now
I can have some fun!"
Suddenly two large black cats
appeared and strode around the fire. "Meow! Meow!" they screeched.
"We're freezing! We're freezing!"
"You fools! What are you
screaming about? Sit down by the fire and warm yourselves."
After the cats had warmed
themselves, they said, "Good fellow, we want to play a round of
cards."
"All right," he
replied, "but show me your paws. You've got such long claws that I've got
to give them a good clipping before we begin."
Upon saying this, he grabbed them
by the scruffs of their necks and lifted them to the carpenter's bench. There
he fastened them to the vise and beat them to death. Afterward he carried them
outside and threw them into a pond that lay across from the castle. Just as he
returned to the castle and wanted to settle down and warm himself by the fire,
many black cats and dogs came out of every nook and cranny, more and more, so
that he couldn't hide himself. They screamed, stamped on the fire, and kicked
it about so that the fire went out. So he grabbed his carving knife and yelled,
"Get out of here, you riffraff!"
And he began swinging the knife.
Most of the cats and dogs ran away. The others were killed, and he carried them
out and threw them into the pond. Then he went back inside to the fire and blew
the sparks so that the fire began again and he could warm himself.
After he had warmed himself, he
was tired and lay down on a large bed that stood in a corner. Just as he wanted
to fall asleep, the bed began to stir and raced around the entire castle.
"That's fine with me. Just
keep it up!"
So the bed drove around as though
six horses were pulling it over stairs and landings: "Bing bang!"
It turned upside down, from top
to bottom, and he was beneath it. So he flung the blankets and pillows into the
air and jumped off.
"Anyone who wants a ride can have one!"
Then he lay down next to the fire
until dawn.
In the morning the king arrived,
and when he saw the young man lying asleep, he thought he was dead and said,
"What a shame."
But when
the young man heard these words, he awoke, and as soon as he saw the king, he
stood up. Then the king asked him how things had gone during the night.
"Quite well. One night's
gone by smoothly, the other two will go by as well."
Indeed, the other nights were
just like the first. But he already knew what to do, and so on the fourth day,
he was rewarded with the king's beautiful daughter.
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