Once upon a time three soldiers returned from the wars; one was a sergeant, one was a corporal, and the third was a simple private. One night they were caught in a forest and made a fire up to sleep by; and the sergeant had to do sentry-go. While he was walking up and down an old woman, bent double, came up to him and said:
"Please, sir, may I warm myself by
your fire?"
"Why, certainly, mother, you are
welcome to all the warmth you can get."
So the old woman sat by the fire for a
time, and when she had got thoroughly warmed she said to the sergeant:
"Thank you, soldier; here is
something for your trouble." And she handed him a purse, which seemed to
have nothing in it.
"Oh, thank you, marm," said the
sergeant, "but I wouldn't deprive you of it, especially as there is
nothing in it."
"That may be so now," said the
old woman, "but take it in your hand and turn it upside-down and, while
you hold it like that gold pieces will come pouring out of it."
He took it, and, sure enough, whenever he
held it up out came the gold pieces. So he thanked her very much, and off she
went.
Next night the corporal had to play
sentry, and the old woman came up to him and asked to sit by the side of the fire.
"Certainly, marm," said he,
"and welcome you are. I have known what it is to shiver in my bones."
So the old woman sat by the fire for a
time, and when she was leaving gave the corporal a tablecloth.
Said he, "Thank you, marm, kindly,
but we soldiers rarely use tablecloths when we are eating our vittles."
"Yes, but this gives you vittles to
eat," said the old woman. "Whenever you put this over a table or on
the ground and call out 'Be covered!' the finest dinner you could eat at once
comes upon it."
"If that is so," said the
corporal, "I'll take it and thank you kindly." And with that the old
woman departed, and the corporal woke up his comrades and called out:
"Tablecloth be covered!" And, sure enough, the finest dinner you
could imagine appeared upon the cloth.
Next night the private marched up and
down doing sentry-go, when the old woman appeared again and asked to sit by the
fire.
"Surely," said the private,
"you're as welcome as my own mother would be."
And after she had sat some time by the
fire she got up and said:
"Thank you kindly, sir; I hope this
will pay you for your trouble." And she gave him a whistle.
"And what's this for?" said the
private. "I can't play on the whistle."
"But you can blow it," said
she, "and whenever you blow it out will come a regiment of armed men that
will do whatever you tell them."
And with that the old woman departed, and
they never saw her more.
So the three soldiers travelled on till
they came to a city where there was a princess, who was so proud of her card
playing that she had agreed to marry any one who could beat her at cards. Now
the sergeant was also very proud of his card playing, and he thought he would
try his luck with the princess. So when he went up to the palace he offered to
play a game with her, but she said to him:
"What are your stakes? If I lose I
have to marry you. But if you lose what do you lose?"
So the sergeant said: "I'll stake my
purse."
"Why, what's a purse with nothing in
it!" said the princess.
"There may be nothing in it
now," said the sergeant, "but see here," and he turned the purse
upside-down and put his hand under it, and it kept on
dropping gold pieces into his hand as long as he held it upside-down.
So the princess agreed to play for the
purse. But she had arranged a mirror at the back of his head in which she could
see all his cards. And so she won easily, and he had to give up the purse.
But this princess was so charming that
the sergeant had fallen in love with her, and when he went back to his comrades
he asked the corporal to lend him his tablecloth. And he went back to the
princess and said to her:
"Will you play me for this
tablecloth?"
And she said: "It may be a very
beautiful tablecloth but it isn't quite equal to me."
Then he laid it on a table and said,
"Cloth, cover thyself." And there was a most delicious dinner spread
upon it.
But, as the princess knew she would be
able to beat him, she agreed to play him for the tablecloth, and, sure enough,
by means of the mirror, she won the tablecloth from him.
The same thing happened when he borrowed
the whistle from the private and tried his luck with the princess again. But
this time he watched what she was doing, and knew that she had cheated him
though he dared not say so. He lost again and went back to his comrades and
asked them to forgive him, but he could not help it as the princess had cheated
him. So his friends forgave him, and they all went their various ways.
Now the sergeant wandered along, and
wandered along, and wandered along, till he came to the bank of a stream on
which there grew fig trees, white and black. And he gathered some of these figs
from the different trees, and sat down by the bank to eat them. And he ate a
black fig, and then, feeling thirsty, went down to the stream to drink some of
the water, and as he looked in he found that he had two horns on the side of
his head just like a goat, instead of two ears. He didn't know what to do; but
as he was still hungry he ate one of the white figs; and when he went to drink
again he found the horns had disappeared. So then he knew that the black figs
brought the horns and the white figs took them away. So he gathered some more
of them and went back to the palace of the princess, and sent her up some of
the black figs as a present from an admirer.
And after a while there was a rumour
spread around the city that the princess had horns in her head, and would give
anything to any one who could remove them.
So the sergeant went up to the palace and
presented himself before the princess and said to her:
"I can remove your horns, but I want
my purse, and my tablecloth, and my whistle back."
Then she ordered them to be brought and
promised to give them back to him as soon as the horns were removed.
So he gave her a white fig, and as soon
as she had eaten it the horns disappeared; and he took up
the purse, the tablecloth, and the whistle. Then he said to her:
"Now, will you marry me?"
"No," she replied, "why
should I?"
"Because you didn't win these
fairly."
"That may be, or that may not be,
but I see no reason why I should marry you."
Thereupon he blew his whistle, and the
palace was filled with a regiment of soldiers. And the
sergeant said:
"If you do not marry me these men
shall seize your father and I will seize his throne."
So the princess married him, and he sent
for the corporal and the private and made them rich and prosperous, and they
all lived fairly happily together.
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