The Unseen Bridegroom [Europa's Fairy Book]
Once upon a time there was a king and
queen, as many a one has been, and they had three daughters, all of them
beautiful; but the most beautiful of all was the youngest whose name was Anima.
Now it happened one day that all three sisters were playing in the meadows, and
Anima saw a bush with lovely flowers. As she wished to carry it home to plant
in her own garden she plucked at the root and plucked
and plucked again. At last it gave way, and she saw beneath it a stairway going
down farther into the earth. Being a brave girl and very curious as to where
this could lead to, without calling her sisters, she crept down the stairs for
a long, long way, till at last she came out into the open air again in a
country which she had never seen before, and not far away, in front of her, she
saw a magnificent palace.
Anima ran towards it, and when she came
to the door she knocked at the knocker and it opened without anybody being there.
So she went in and found all inside richly bedecked with marble walls and rich
trappings; and, as she went along, lovely music broke out and came with her
wherever she went. At last she came to a room with cosy couches, and she threw
herself into one because she was tired with her searching. Scarcely had she
done so, when there appeared a table coming towards her on wheels, without
anybody moving it, and upon the table were delightful fruits and cakes and cool
drinks of all kinds. So Anima took as much as she needed and fell into slumber
and did not awake till it was getting dark. And then appeared through the air
two large candlesticks, each with three candles in them; and they swam through
the air and settled upon the tables near her, so that she had plenty of light.
But she cried out: "Oh, I must go back to my father and mother; how shall
I go? How shall I go?"
Then a sweet voice near her spoke out and
said: "Abide with me and be my bride, and thou shalt have all thy heart
desires."
But Anima cried out in fear and
trembling: "But who art thou? Who art thou? Come forth and let me see
thee."
But the voice replied: "Nay, nay,
that is forbidden. Never must thou look upon my face or we must part, for my
mother, the Queen, wishes not that I should wed."
So sweet was his voice and so lonely did
Anima feel, that she consented to become his bride, and they lived happily
together, though he never came near her till all was dark, so that she could
not see him. But after a time Anima became weary even with all these splendours
and happiness, and wished to see her own people again, and said to her husband:
"Please may I go home and see my
father and my mother and my dear sisters?"
"Nay, nay, child," said the
voice of her husband, "ill will come of it if thou seest them again, and
thou and I must part."
But she kept on begging him to let her
return to her people for a visit, or at least to let them come and see her,
till at last he consented and sent a message to her father and mother and
sisters, asking them to come and spend some days with her, at a time when he
himself would have to be absent.
So the King and Queen and Anima's two
sisters came and wondered at the splendours of her new
home, and, above all, was surprised to find that they were waited on by
invisible hands, who did all for them that they could wish for. But Anima's
sisters soon became both curious and envious; they could not guess who or what
her husband was, and envied her having so wonderful a household.
So one of them said to her: "But
Anima, how marry a man without ever seeing him? There must be some reason why
he will not show himself; perhaps he is deformed, or maybe he is some beast
transformed."
But Anima laughed and said: "He is
no beast, that I am sure; and see how kind he is to me. I do not care if he is
not as handsome as he does."
Still the sisters kept on insisting that
there must be something wrong where there was something concealed, and at last
they got their mother the Queen to say to her as she was leaving: "Now,
Anima, I think it right to know who and what thy husband is. Wait till he is
asleep and light a lamp, and then see what he is."
Soon after this they all departed. And
the same night her husband came to Anima again, but she had already prepared a
lamp of oil with a spark of fire ready to kindle it. And when she heard him
sleeping by her side she lit the candle and looked at him. She was delighted to
find that he was most handsome, with a strong and well-made body. But as she
was looking at him her hand trembled with delight and three drops of oil fell
upon his cheek from the lamp she was holding. Then he woke up and saw her, and
knew that she had broken her promise, and said:
"Oh, Anima, oh, Anima, why hast thou
done this? Here we part until thou canst persuade my mother the Queen to let
thee see me again."
With that came a rumbling of thunder and
her lamp went out, and Anima fell to the ground in a swoon. And when she awoke
the palace had disappeared and she was on a bleak, bleak moor. She walked and
she walked till she came to a house by the wayside where an old woman received
her and gave her something to eat and drink, and then asked Anima how she came
there. So Anima told all that had happened to her, and the old woman said:
"Thou hast married my nephew, my
sister's son, and I fear she will never forgive thee. But pluck up courage, go
to her and demand thy husband, and she'll have to give him up to thee if thou
canst do all that she demands from thee. Take this twig; if she asks what I
think she will ask, strike it on the ground thrice and help will come to
thee."
Then she told Anima the way to her
husband's mother, and, as it was far distant, gave her directions where she
could find another sister of hers who might help her. So she came to another
house along the way where she saw another old woman, to whom she told her
story, and this old woman, the Queen's sister, gave her
a raven's feather and told her how to use it.
At last Anima came to the palace of the
Queen, the mother of her invisible husband, and when she came into her presence
demanded to see him.
"What, thou low-born mortal,"
cried the Queen; "how didst thou dare to wed my son?"
"It was his choice," said
Anima, "and I am now his wife. Surely you will let me see him once
more."
"Well," said the Queen,
"if thou canst do what I demand of thee thou shalt see my son again. And
first go into that barn where my stupid stewards have poured together all the
wheat and oats and rice into one great heap. If by nightfall thou canst
separate them into three heaps perhaps I may grant thy request."
So Anima was led to the great barn of the
Queen and there was a huge heap of grain all mixed together, and she was left
alone, and the barn was closed upon her. Then she bethought herself of the twig
that the Queen's sister had given her, and she struck it thrice upon the
ground, whereupon thousands of ants came out of the ground and began to work
upon the heap of grain, some of them taking the wheat to one corner, some the
oats to another, and the rest carrying off the grains of rice to a third. By
nightfall all the grain had been separated, and when the Queen came to let out
Anima she found the task had been done.
"Thou hast had help," she
cried; "we'll see to-morrow if thou canst do something by thyself."
Next day the Queen took her into a large
loft at the top of the palace almost filled with feathers of geese, of eider
ducks, and of swans, and from her cupboard she took twelve mattresses and said:
"See these mattresses; by the end of
the day thou must fill four of them with swans' feathers, four of them with
eider-down, and the rest with feathers of geese. Do that and then we will
see."
With that she left Anima and closed and
locked the door behind her. And Anima remembered what the other Queen's sister
had given her, and took out the raven's feather and waved it thrice.
Immediately birds, and birds, and birds came flying through the windows, and
each of them picked out different kinds of feathers and placed them in the
mattresses, so that long before night the twelve mattresses were filled as the
Queen had ordered.
Again at nightfall the Queen came in, and
as soon as she saw that the second task had been carried out, she said:
"Again thou hast had help; to-morrow
thou shalt have something to do which thou alone canst carry out."
Next day the Queen summoned her and gave
her a small flask and a letter and said to her:
"Take these to my sister, the Queen
of the Nether-World, and bring back what she will give to thee safely, and then
I may let thee see my son."
"How can I find your sister?"
said Anima.
"That thou must find for
thyself," and left her.
Poor Anima did not know which way to go,
but as she walked along the voice of some one invisible to her said softly:
"Take with thee a copper coin and a
loaf of bread and go down that deep defile there till thou comest to a deep
river and there thou wilt see an old man ferrying people across the river. Put
the coin between your teeth and let him take it from you, and he will carry you
across, but speak not to him. Then, on the other side, thou wilt come to a dark
cave, and at the entrance is a savage dog; give him the loaf of bread and he
will let thee pass and thou wilt soon come to the Queen of the Nether-World.
Take what she gives thee, but beware lest thou eat anything or sit down while thou
art within the cave."
Anima recognized the voice of her husband
and did all that he had told her, till she came to the Queen of the
Nether-World, who read the letter she had handed to her. Then she offered Anima
cake and wine, but she refused, shaking her head, but saying nothing. Then the
Queen of the Nether-World gave her a curiously wrought box and said to her:
"Take this, I pray thee, to my
sister, but beware lest thou open it on the way or ill may befall thee,"
and then dismissed her.
Anima went back past the great dog and
crossed the dark river. When she got into the forest
beyond she could not resist the temptation to open the box, and when she did so
out jumped a number of little dolls, which commenced dancing about in front of
her and around her and amused her much by their playful antics. But soon the
night was coming on, and she wanted to put them into the box, and they ran away
and hid behind the trees, and Anima knew that she could
not get them back. So she sat down upon the ground and wept, and wept, and
wept. But at last she heard the voice of her husband once more, who said:
"See what thy curiosity has again
brought upon thee; thou canst not bring back the box to my mother just as my
aunt the Queen of the Nether-World has given it to you, and so we shall not see
one another again."
But at this Anima burst out into weeping
and wailing so piteously that he took compassion on her and said:
"See that golden bough on yonder
tree; pluck it and strike the ground three times with it
and see what thou wilt see."
Anima did as she had been told, and soon
the little dolls came running from behind the trees and jumped of their own
accord into the box; and she closed it quickly and took it back to the Queen,
her husband's mother.
The Queen opened the box, and when she
found all the little dolls were in it laughed aloud and said:
"I know who has helped thee; I
cannot help myself; I suppose thou must have my son."
And as soon as she had said this Anima's
husband appeared and took her to him, and they lived happy ever afterwards.
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