Page:WishfulfillmentAndSymbolism.djvu/81

Rh Finnur, who also sallied forth, they spurned the assistance of a magic being who offered to serve them, and went from court to court. Finnur, who fell in with them at the courts of the kings, made himself loved everywhere by his skilful service and his strength and was presented with magic gifts. A little table which laid itself, a jug in which a drink came when one wished in it, and magic shears with which one could obtain the most beautiful clothes.

In the fourth kingdom in which the youths met a virgin queen reigned who suffered no man among her retinue or in her vicinity who had not been castrated. The princes allowed themselves to be castrated, Finnur preferred to be banished on a desert isle, where he and others to whom the same fate had fallen, maintained themselves with his magic gift. The queen observed this and desired an explanation from him. She wished to possess unconditionally the little magic table, whereupon Finnur demanded to spend one night in her room sleeping on the floor. Four men with lights and drawn swords watched the bed in which the queen slept. For the magic jug he demanded to sleep in her bed at her feet. Eight men watched this time but Finnur did not stir. For the magic shears he demanded to sleep beside the queen but outside the bed coverings. The watch this time consisted of twelve men. Finnur wished now for the assistance of the magician mentioned in the beginning. In the same moment he found himself lying underneath the bed clothes beside the queen and the men who would run him through on that account could not stir a limb, they were transfixed until the queen cried to them: "Hey, put out the lights, put up your swords, and do not strike now for he is, with his fiddle, on a journey in my beautiful garden."

The following morning Finnur was enthroned beside the queen and a magnificent wedding celebrated.

The last quoted portion shows how rich in imagery the fairy-tale sexuality is. Garden and flowers are in general preferred figures in the fairy tales, for representing or concealing, to indicate the human sexual organs.

The fairy tale "The Proud Queen" (Rittershaus, XLVII, p. 198) deals with the oft recurring motive found in fairy tales, that the unmarried, haughty queen mocks her suitors, has them shaved bald and their clothes covered with white spots until one of the