Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/475

 Miscella nea. 453

stones," said the boy." " Throw them all down to me," said the Jew ; " be sure not to leave any." And when he had got them all he called up, " What do you see now in the nests ? " " Bones," said the boy. " And your bones will be among them," said the Jew, and walked off. The poor boy, who could not get down, sat down and cried himself to sleep. In his sleep the Virgin Mary came and told him, " The tree is hollow inside ; climb down it, and you will come to a slab of stone with a ring ; lift it and descend." When he woke up, he began to think about his dream, and, looking, found that the tree was hollow, and there was room for him to get down. He climbed down, and lifting the stone slab, saw forty steps, and descended them. Sitting at the bottom he found an ogre, whose eyelids had grown down to his knees, which prevented him from seeing, so that he was very miserable, dirty, and unkempt. The boy cut his eye- lids for him, and combed his hair, and washed him, and changed his clothes. The ogre was so grateful that he said, " Stay with me and be my son." For three months the boy abode with the ogre. The ogre had a house with thirty stories, and all the stories, except that in which he lived, were packed with corn, gold, and jewels. Outside was a beautiful garden, and in the garden tank the accursed women used to come and bathe. The boy fell in love with the youngest of them, and one day, while she was in the water, stole her clothes, and made her become his wife. One day, however, she managed to get her clothes back, and told him she must leave him, and was going to the White Castle, and he might come and find her there. The ogre gave his adopted son an invincible sword and club that would hack and knock when bidden, and a carpet which would carry one anywhere one told it. The boy sat down on the carpet and wished himself at the White Castle. In the evening they had not got to their destination, and he stopped to rest under a plane-tree. (Here follows the incident of birds and monster, as in " The Three Apples ; " the monster is killed by the magic sword, the birds say, " Take wine and meat for your journey, and when we say, ' Kri,' give us meat (kreas), and when we say, ' Kra,' give us wine (kras6)." )

In the morning the boy started again and reached the White Castle, where he found his wife. She said, "I will not come back with you unless you can get my father's blessing. He is at the Iron Castle, besieged by his enemies." Seating himself on his