Page:Grimm's Household Tales, vol.1.djvu/515

Rh In Servian see Wuk, No. 7. Whittington and his Cat, is an English story of the same kind.

From Zwehrn. A story from Paderborn is almost exactly like it. The description of the runner is taken from it; in the Hessian story, he had fastened a cannon to his leg to make himself go more slowly. In the Paderborn story there is a Listener besides, who, when he takes the stopping from his ears, can hear the dead under ground singing. A third story from the district of Schwalm is more imperfect, but has some incidents which are special. In it only four men go about together, the Listener, the Runner, the Hower, and the Strong-One. The Runner fetches the game, the Blower blows a blast which drives the people out of the villages, or up the chimneys, and then takes whatsoever is to be found in their houses—bread, meat, and eggs. The Strong-One carries these things away, and the Listener has to be on the look out to hear if the hussars are fallowing them. They go one day to the King's court, and the King's daughter is ill, and can only be cured by a herb that grows a hundred miles off, and must be procured in four-and-twenty hours. It is made known that whosoever brings it shall have as much treasure as he desires. The four comrades undertake the task. The physicians describe the herb exactly, and the Runner sets out. He brings it before the appointed time, and the princess recovers. Thereupon the King asks how much money he wants to have? "As much as my brother (the Strong-One) can carry." The King thinks, "He has some moderation," and says, "Yes," with pleasure. The Strong-One makes himself an enormous sack, sweeps up all the gold in the treasure-chamber, but that is too little, and the King is forced to wive all that there is in the whole kingdom. When the Strong-One has gone away with his wealth, the King sends some hussars after him. The Listener hears them coming, the Runner sees if it is true, and when they have marched up, the Blower blows them into the air and none of them are ever heard of or seen again. A popular book, The History of the Pomeranian Maiden Kunigunda, who, after many strange adventures, became a Queen (new and improved edition, Elbing, 1804), consists of similar and in some degree identical sagas. Kunigunda also has seven servants; Marrow-bone, who is so strong that in an hour he cuts down a number of trees in a forest, and wants to carry them away as well; Birdswift, who has bound his legs so close together that he is only able to take short steps, otherwise he would outrun the deer and hares and never be able to catch anything; Sharp-shot who has bandaged his eyes, because he sees too clearly, and can see all the game for four miles